Sweet Treats....Low Carb/sugar COOKIES

 Sometimes it may seem as if my entire life revolves around quilting.  To be honest it does.  Fitting real life into my need to quilt can be difficult as some of you can relate, right?  Please tell me I'm not the only one.  Laundry, dishes and cooking often take a backseat to quilting.  But there's one day a week that quilting takes the backseat.  It's usually a day early in the week.  On this day I clean the house really good, run errands, cook a meal that Mr. Podunk can eat on for at least 2 days and cook for my dad and his friend.  Both dad and his friend, Bruce, live alone and never learned to cook.  They live on packaged food which I find disgusting.  Most of the time I make them meals that can be easily frozen and reheated.  Every once in awhile they just need something extra special like cookies.

Dad is on a low carb, no sugar diet.  His diet is almost Keto. If you're unfamiliar with Keto it's a no sugar, low carb, moderate protein, high natural fat diet.  There's many versions of this diet.  From the not so healthy to super clean and healthy.  It gets a bad press and many doctors don't suggest it but my dad is living proof that it works for any age.  He's 74, has had open heart surgery, stints, high cholesterol and high blood sugar.  Since going keto he has lowered all of his high blood work.  He no longer takes any prescribed medicines.  No Metformin, no more betablockers and no more statins.

  The most interesting health improvement for him has been the 100% clogged carotid artery in his neck.  He had one side cleared a few years ago, it was NOT completely closed but I don't remember the percentage of the blockage.   After about 18 months of Keto the 100% blockage is now about 85%.  At 100% they will not do surgery to clear the blockage.   It now qualifies for surgery but he's going to see if it will clear itself. 

Eating this way isn't easy if you like sweet treats, as does dad.  He will find what he thinks is a sugar free low carb option but they aren't.  Just because a product says KETO or LOW CARB does not mean it's true.  They hide sugars and carbs in the ingredients with big words or insanely small serving sizes.

  An example would be Salsa.  One salsa company made the low carb claims and it was low carb if you ate the suggested 1 teaspoon portion size.  CRAZY!  When was the last time you ate just one teaspoon of salsa?  Me?  Never...HAHA!  

Lets get back to these amazingly delicious cookies.  The recipe can be found at the Fat For Weight Loss website here.  Many of ingredients are more than likely things you don't have in your pantry.  I know I didn't until going Keto.  These cookies are not like Tollhouse or Chips Ahoy.  The texture isn't smooth like the traditional chocolate chip cookie.  But after months/years of not eating sweets on a regular basis these are the best thing since sliced bread.  Mr. Podunk is not Keto and he gave them an OK and he ate more than one. 

There's many different brands of sugar free chocolate chips, the one I like the best is Lily's.  They can be found on Amazon, at Walmart, Meijer's and just about any health food or Wholefoods type of market.  They come in dark chocolate, semi-sweet, white, salted caramel, butterscotch and mint.

There's also some companies selling Keto mix sorta like Duncan Hines.  A friend of mine sent me a couple earlier in the year.  I don't eat a lot of cookies so I saved the Kalifornia Keto Peanut Butter cookie mix for dad at Christmas time.  You can find the mix here.   I prefer to make things from scratch it keeps my costs lower and just it just tastes better when you add all the love of making it from scratch. 

Dad's buddy Bruce is not low carb and has no teeth so I made him the standard chewy brownie.  Let me tell you this is my absolute weakness.  BROWNIES were my go to yummy treat before eating healthier.  Dear lord help me to get these delivered without caving into temptation.  Get behind me Satin!  HAHA!  

I don't keep sweets in the house, I never have since the kids left home.  I would make them when I wanted them.  And found that most of the time I was too lazy to actually make them.  These days the only time I bake is if Mr. Podunk asks or if we are going to have a family gathering.(who knows when that will happen again).  

My way of eating is mostly meat with the occasional 1/4 cup or so of low histamine veggies.  I'm not happy about eating this way.  I love ALL food and miss it very much.  Two years ago my diet was primarily plant based, you know the standard American diet.  Hopefully someday my histamine intolerance will heal and I can add back a few more foods a little more often.  A typical plate for me is meat only with meat fat or butter on the side for dipping.  The picture below as a special occasion dinner so I had steak.  An average day I eat ground beef or whatever is the cheapest.

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