Cauliflower Mashed “Potatoes”

Cauliflower Mashed “Potatoes”
Originally uploaded by Ozma of Oz and the Wogglebug

Lately for dinner, I've been having the same dinner: two cans of tuna, mayo, cheese and lettuce. While that's good and satiating, I noticed that I was slowly growing bored of it. To add some variety, I tried salmon but that didn't work out too well. Last night I had a bit of an eureka moment when I saw that sliced steaks are 0 carbs. I don't know why it was surprising -- I was just expecting lots of sugary additives.

What goes with steak? Potatoes! But those are strictly out on the low-carb eating plan. I googled around a bit and stumbled upon a recipe for Creamy Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes.

1 bag frozen cauliflower florets
4-6 oz of cream cheese (to taste)
1/4 cup heavy cream
2-4 oz of butter, softened (to taste)

I made these tonight and they certainly look like mashed potatoes, but thats where the similarities ended. The first batch had too much cream cheese and both batches were really watery, so I didn't have to add any cream. I'd recommend trying them, but don't try to pass them off as potatoes at your next dinner party.

Zucchini Noodles

Raw Zucchini noodles
Originally uploaded by Valerie's Adventures in Living

Since the bulk of my current eating plan includes vegetables, I've been looking for new, interesting ways to prepare vegetables. I love stir fry over rice and tomatoes in pasta, however, I can't eat rice or pasta right now. I was pretty excited to find this recipe for zucchini spaghetti noodles.

I love zucchini, although I usually eat it breaded and friend. This version is at least fried with olive oil and garlic. It requires a matchstick blade for a mandolin, which isn't something that I have, but the article mentions that they're pretty cheap. I might pick one up to give this recipe a try, especially since another blogger loves the noodles.

...we are... eating zucchini again and with no complaints...uh-huh...it was tasty, light, filling, zesty...

Negative Calorie Foods

celery
Originally uploaded by Daveybot

The other day I was listening to an episode of a now defunct podcast, and the one host said that she was allowed to eat all of the celery she wanted because it was a negative calorie food. I've heard that Enviga claims to burn more calories than it has in it, but I hadn't heard that some foods were naturally like that.

Well, the truth is, they aren't. According to an article on the Weight Loss International site, there is only one negative calorie food: cardboard. Since our bodies lack the enzymes needed to properly digest cardboard, it would pass through our body without being broken down. This passing process would take a very minimal amount of energy.

The foods on the "negative calorie" list include some really healthy choices though, like celery, broccoli and lettuce. So even if these foods don't help you lose weight by burning extra calories, they will help by being better for you than donuts and cupcakes.