Photography Fun

I've always loved photos. In fact, Im a huge scrapbooker. Even though the last 2 years my scrapbooking has been minimum due the fact that time is just so hard to get around the house these days. I plan to go to digital scrapbooking, and make year books, because it'll just be less time involved, and honestly, when I'm behind on my scrapbooking, I GET STRESSED OUT. So.. anyway.

Photos.. I take LOTS of them, I document everything I can.. I just love to look back at them.

I do some mini photoshoots here and there for friends/family.. not much. I just enjoy doing them, because I love doing them for myself too.

Heres a peek at the shoot I did yesterday with this lovely mama to be!

Low Carb Flax Bread

Morning all,

I'm back with a recipe I think anyone with a low carb diet is going to love. I'm a bread person... so naturally when I decided to go low carb, the thought of not having bread or pasta has been devastating. I look at the loaf of yummy bread and think.. damn I'd like to smother you with some good butter and jam. No no no Amber...

I decided to find a replacement.. and this next recipe is one step in that direction! It's fairly simple, and the end results were pretty pleasing. I would describe this bread as a dense bread, fairly heavy of the sort, but to me tasting some what like wheat bread or a whole grain bread. I ate it last night with a veggie burger and it hit the spot perfect. I hope you enjoy it! It could be modified and add ingredients such as different seasoning.. I added a few sunflower seeds to the top of mine (which would differ the nutrition value adding a little bit more of carbs - but good carbs!)

My input on this recipe... I substituted the 1-2 tablespoons of artificial sweetener with 2 tablespoons of honey.. I felt it was more natural, Im not big on artificial sweetener. Also, it definitely took some working to flatten this dough out - so don't feel you did it wrong, it was pretty stiff for me but I got it flatten out. I also used a 9x13 inch pan - If it would have been 10x15 I'm not sure if I would have actually gotten it completely squared and flatten.

You can see my changes in red on this recipe. Feel free to do whatever works best for you, this is what worked for me.

Flax Bread

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flax seed meal
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1-2 Tablespoons sugar equivalent from artificial sweetener OR 2 Tablespoons of honey
• 5 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup oil

Preparation:

Flattened Dough

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare pan (a 10X15 pan with sides works best) with oiled parchment paper or asilicone mat. I set my oven to 375 convect and used a 9x13 inch pan.

1) Mix dry ingredients well -- a whisk works well.

2) Add wet to dry, and combine well. Make sure there aren't obvious strings of egg white hanging out in the batter. I actually just mixed my wet ingredients and then added one dry ingredient at a time leaving the flax meal for last. Its one less pan you have to dirty, and makes mixing less time. Works fine.

3) Let batter set for 2 to 3 minutes to thicken up some (leave it too long and it gets past the point where it's easy to spread.) I did let this sit while I oiled up my pan and got everything ready to go in. 

4) Pour batter onto pan. Because it's going to tend to mound in the middle, you'll get a more even thickness if you spread it away from the center somewhat, in roughly a rectangle an inch or two from the sides of the pan (you can go all the way to the edge, but it will be thinner). There is no "pouring" with this batter for me.. it was like a dough and I had to work it to the corners with my hands and a spatula, took about 5 minutes I swear, but I got the deed done. 

5) Bake for about 20 minutes, until it springs back when you touch the top and/or is visibly browning even more than flax already is. It took exactly 20 minutes for me when the edges started browning, it was perfectly done.

6) Cool and cut into whatever size slices you want. You don't need a sharp knife; I usually just cut it with a spatula. For a 9x13 inch pan this made about 12 slices around 3-4 inches big. 

Nutritional Information: Each of 12 servings has less than a gram of effective carbohydrate (.7 grams to be exact) plus 5 grams fiber, 6 grams protein, and 185 calories.

The end result.. YUM

Be sure to check in next week, I'll be trying something out a little sweeter!

Using a passion for great use...

Today as I am looking over all the things I want to make/bake for my new low carb low sugar diet.. it dawned on me. Why don't I share my recipes? Share my experiences... I know so many other women out there going through the same struggles I am. It's called PCOS.. and its a bummer. You can read about my story here.

Baking, cooking, gardening, and all of the above are passions of mine. Of course.. haven PCOS carbs, sugars, and all the yummy stuff really get cut out of the equation. I LOVE CARBS AND SUGARS. Like, seriously... bread at every meal.. ice cream could be an all day snack. But, this just doesn't work for me.. and with having PCOS weight tends to just come out of no where, even when you're not eating "bad"per say.. more like I normal person might eat. Being married to someone who can eat anything in sight and not gain a pound can be hard in the house.. He eats, and I gain it for him. That's fun right?

Luckily, my husband is all for clean and healthy eating. We do tons of gardening, canning, and growing our own food. We try to keep our meats as organic as possible and even grow our own meats too. In today's society.. you just can't trust where your stuff comes from anymore! That doesn't mean were perfect.. you'll find a frozen processed food in our freezer.. some snacks that I don't know any of the ingredients on. Were definitely not perfect, but we try to be on our best behavior as we can.

Plus.. eating healthy.. equals $$$$. WHY, why is is so expensive for the good stuff? You'd think in todays age with so many people over weight, they might push to lower the price on the good stuff. And being a young couple just starting in this world, with an almost 10 month old baby.. well money is definitely an issue.

These past few weeks my husband and I have really kicked it into high gear. Im trying to lose weight.. and were trying to be healthier for our little boy. He deserves that right? We've been eating great and working out almost EVERYDAY.. I also signed up for a 5k.. (yikes!) You can read about that here...

So.. being a baker.. I decided to put it to good use. Not only just for me.. but for all the other women out there who like me just try so so hard to be healthy, but its just that much harder for us compared.

Today I start with a pretty darn simple recipe. It just doesn't get more simple then this..

Parmesan Crisps
If you like cheez-its and cheese flavored crackers. I promise this will help your cravings. Just want some crunch on that salad without the croutons? Try these! Dip them anything your heart desires. They are low carb, and no sugars. BUT.. the fat is a little higher, so if you are trying to watch fat intake too, just eat in moderation.

Ingredients:
1 Bag of Shredded Parmesan Cheese (you could also use Romano or Asiago - just stick to hard cheeses)

Thats is folks. 1 ingredient.

Take a good baking pan, and coat it with some spray. You could also put on parchment paper if you have old baking sheets. Put about dollar coin size mound on there. You could really do any size that you want, you could even get creative and make shapes!

They don't spread too much, you can keep about an inch or inch and half distance between them. Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees, and bake for about 8-10 minutes. Really depending on your oven (mine tends to heat things up a bit quicker) you bake them until they are all golden.. or getting slightly brown. Don't over do them too much. Take them out, let them cool and there you go! YUM

Depending on the size of the bag you get depends on the how much you will get out. I used a 6 oz bag, and it made approximately 25-30 Crisps

Mounds Of Cheese

The After effect

I hope you enjoy them. They're so simple. Keep coming back to check out my endeavors!

Parmesan Crisps Nutrition: (This can vary on how big you make your crisps, to get an accurate nutrition value, weigh your cheese when you put it your baking sheets)

Serving Size: 1/3 cup (28g) - 6 Servings per 6 oz bag

Per Serving: Calories 110, Total Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 4g - Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 20mg, Sodium 340 mg, Potassium 30mg, Protein 10g

Total Carbs: 1g

Total Sugars: 0g

Nutrition Bonus: Calcium 30% daily value

Did I really just sign up for my first 5k?

Yes, you read that title right.. I signed up for a 5k.

You may not be gasping, but I am.

I have never, let me repeat, never been any sort of runner. Even in my most fit days of my life was I not a runner of any sort. Short distance? Yep, I could do those just fine, and was even sort of speedy.. (sort of)... but long distance running? Kill me now.

After having Kayden, I felt great.. I had lost 20 pounds out of the hospital.. and then gained some back.. and then realized.. I still have so much more weight to lose that I needed to do something.

So while in the midst of discussing my plan to my best friend.. we got the bright idea to do a 5k. She's also been working out and trying to get into shape too. Just two moms here that are dreaming of better, skinnier days ahead.

We grew up together doing sports, and spent many of many nights and weekends together working out. So.. we're not new to each others strengths and weaknesses. We know each other works, what we can and can't do.. and we're pushing each other to go further.

That's when you know you've truly got a best friend there. They aren't competing with you, they aren't trying to be better.. they're trying to help you too. They're there for you, and they're there when you send them a snap chat saying... I hate dieting - and they know exactly how you feel. They are right beside you through the whole journey, and you can talk to them about every fail and slip up you've done, and then you can also laugh at each other when you just know you are being so ridiculous in this journey to become better fit people. If you can't laugh with your friends, and you can't be honest with them... then what are they there for?

So.. Ive got 2 months to train, to lose some more of this weight that I have been struggling to lose for years. Goodbye sugars and carbs.. I will miss you so.

I really am trying to not just diet.. but change my lifestyle. Be healthier, eat cleaner, workout and stay in shape. I want to set an example for Kayden - and luckily my husband is on board. Although, he can just about eat anything his heart desires, because I gain it for him.

We signed up for the almighty Color Run. So, we're getting all decked out and going to KICK this Color Run's royal butt.

For my first run, I'll be happy to walk half and jog half. I aint about to try and kill myself, but this sure has helped some motivation. If I'm going to pay $40 to run (I could so use that on much better things) then damn, Im going to work for it.

Wish me luck!