Maggie and Wilson

Coupons - March 11-17

You may find the following coupons helpful for your low carb/low sugar shopping:

Target:

• $1.50 off TWO Market Pantry Frozen Chicken Items  
• $  .75 3 Pack Orbit Gum
• $1.00 Nature Made Vitamins
• $ .50 One Pure Via Stevia
• $1.00 Market Pantry Frozen Chicken
• $1.00 Trident/Dentyne Gum 3 Packs
• $1.00 Two Planters Snack Items
• $1.00 Two Kraft Cheese Items
• $ .75 Nature's Bounty Vitamins or Supplement
• $1.00 Stride gum 3pk
• $1.00 Two Kraft Italian Salad Dressing    

Coupons.com

• $1.00 Hidden Valley Farmhouse Dressing
• $1.00 Star Olive Oil
• $1.50 Starbucks 11oz Coffee
• $ .50 Kraft Natural Slices
• $ .50  off 2 8oz+ Shredded Cheese
• $1.00 Nature Made Vitamin B (Good for metabolism/insulin resistance)
• $1.00 Nature Made Vitamin D (Good for bone health, inflammation and possibly immunity. Many overweight people have very low Vitamin D levels)

Walgreens
Buy One Get One Free Nature Made Vitamin D, B, Co-Q10, Flaxseed & Fish Oil (You can use two manufacturer coupons on top of the BOGO special!) 

Fancy Eggs

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Easter is just a month away. For our family the main focus of Easter is Christ, not bunnies or eggs, but we do have Easter Egg hunts and decorate the house. 

Some people like to use raw eggs and blow out the insides through a pin hole. (I suppose maybe you can keep them for next year if you do that) I hard boiled them whole and used them like that.  Don't plan on eating these eggs though - they are for decoration only!!! Also plan on throwing them out when you are done displaying them.

 

 

In addition to your normal egg dying supplies consider using:

* glue pens
* beads
* stickers
* paper punches
* ribbon
* hot glue gun

Chile & Steak Stew

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This recipe was inspired byPoblano & Flank Steak Stew found at Food52.

Ingredients

• 1lb Tenderized Flank Steak
• 1 Large Anaheim Chile
• 1/2 Cup Cilantro, chopped
• 1 Yellow Squash, peeled, diced into 1" cubes
• 1/2 Small Onion
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Can Rotel Tomato & Green Chile
• 4 Cups Beef Broth
• 1t. Cumin
• 1t. Chile Powder
• 1t. salt
• 1t. pepper

1) Roast Chile
Rinse and dry outside of whole chile, hold over open flame or under broiler (on a cookie sheet or tinfoil) until skin is blistered and blackened.  Remove from heat source and wrap in tinfoil for at least 15 minutes.   Peel off skin and remove seeds.  Chop chile into small pieces.
Cheat: Use 2 small cans of green chiles

 2) Brown Meat. Cut meat into bite size pieces and brown in 1T of olive oil.  Remove from pan and set aside.

3) Add chopped cilantro, onion and yellow squash.  Saute until squash is golden brown.

4) Add garlic, spices, Rotel and return meat to pan.  Add 4 cups of beef stock Simmer for about 1.5 hours.

5) For a creamier soup add about 1/2C cream to the soup once it is done simmering.  Do not let soup boil after you add the cream.

Aprox: 230 Calories, 7 grams net carbs for 1/4th of recipe.

Stevia & Erythritol

Stevia is being used in a growing number of products as a substitute for sugar and other artificial sweeteners.  Stevia comes from a plant and is better for you than chemically altered sweeteners like Splenda.  Quite often you will also see Erythritol as an ingredient in these products. (Like in Zevia soft drinks, for example.)  What exactly is Erythritol? 

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol.  What makes it different than other sugar alcohols is that most of it is digested before it hits the large intestine and results in fewer gastro-intestinal side effects.  It's also not metabolized by the bacteria in the gut, which helps avoid some of those bathroom emergencies.  Erythritol is found naturally in foods like pears, grapes, melons and wine but can also be manufactured to be used in food products. 

Studies have been done on rats and dogs that were fed much higher amounts per kg of body weight than a person would normally eat.  The article that I read says that there were very few gastrointestinal side effects and in rats there was an increase of urine output several months into the study.  (I believe it was 10% increase.)  It is possible to get some bloating from this product, but you would have to eat a lot of it!

After the reading I have done about Stevia and Erythritol I am comfortable using both products and am also comfortable letting my children use these products.  If you have other health issues, kidney issues or IBS you may be more sensitive than the average Joe/Jane.  Always use common sense when using any food additive or supplement. 

Mark's Daily Apple has an excellent post about all of the different sugar alcohols.  I highly recommend reading it!

Also see:

• Erythritol: A Review of Biological and Toxicological Studies
• Wikipedia: Erythritol
• Wikipedia: Stevia

Cooking Tips

There are some really good tips in this list!   The tips were submitted by a variety of chefs, which is a good thing.  Sometimes the cooking tips you see in magazines are authored by Captain Obvious.