Low Carb Noodles? Shirataki To The Rescue!

I don't eat pasta.

I used to, but it's not a part of my low carb lifestyle, and I haven't indulged in nearly 2 years (April makes 2 years of living la vida low carb!).

But I sure did like it. And sometimes, although not too often, I miss it. I still cook it for the fam on a regular basis, and it can be hard to dish out their saucy food on noodles while mine goes onto nothing, or maybe some cooked french cut green beans (surprisingly good, actually).

Well, tonight I had noodles.

Don't scold me...I didn't cheat.

I had tofu shirataki noodles I picked up from Virginia's Health Foods in Mobile the other day.

I went in looking for black soybeans (no, they didn't have them...boo-hoo), but came out with a package of the House Foods brand Shirataki spaghetti shaped noodle substitute and a bottle of much coveted (and also hard to find) black strap molasses.

Fast forward to tonight:

I made the low carb "pizza chicken" from Dana Carpender's 500 Low-Carb Recipes book, which I would fight tooth & nail for if someone tried to take. Seriously.

The recipe is described as pretty much chicken cacciatore with mozzarella cheese, which gives it a pizza-flair...hence "Pizza Chicken" (p. 244).

Oh. My. Goodness.

The recipe!

The noodles!

Both put together!

It was fab.

Now, I always feel like I have to "disclose" when I rave about low carb things:

I do not eat sugar anymore, my taste buds have probably altered. If you ate sugary/carby things this past week, you may not have the level of appreciation for low carb substitutes that I do.

For example, if you had regular Coke yesterday, you might not like diet sodas at all. But, if you drink Diet Coke all the time, then you might appreciate other diet drinks I would recommend. Make sense?

That said, my hubby & my 11 year old son both wanted to try one of the noodles plain to see how it tasted. Both agreed that it tasted like a normal noodle completely, but it did have a slightly chewier texture...just a little bit.

I found it to be just like I remember noodles being. It was divine!

Here are some stats for you:

WHEAT AND GLUTEN FREE 8 oz package, 2 servings, 20 calories per serving, .05 fat, 1 gram of protein, 3 total carbs, 2 of those are fiber, 1 net carb per serving. INGREDIENTS Filtered water, tofu (soybeans, calcium sulfate, glucono delta lactone), yam flour, calcium hydroxide.

How I prepared them:

I separated the bag into 2 servings, draining all liquid out of the portion I intended to eat tonight. Put the other half in a bowl, in it's own liquid, and right into the fridge.

I put the half for tonight into a small strainer & rinsed the heck out them. The directions say to rinse THOROUGHLY for best flavor. I had read up on these before on the web and many people recommended rinsing well with fresh water at least 3 times, which I did. I then put them in a bowl and nuked 'em for 1 minute. They were ready :)

Yes, that easy!

I'm not sure about other brands of shirataki noodles, but the Amazon website says:

"Remember, these noodles are the real deal, they may be a little more expensive than the competitors non-tofu shirataki noodles but your taste buds will thank you for it because they do not have the rubbery texture like every other kind of Shirataki noodles."

At Virginia's these noodles were $2.29. The fettuccine was a bit higher, so I stuck with the spaghetti ones (which by the way are very thin, exact same size as angel hair pasta, NOT spaghetti noodles).

So, $1.15 per serving, plus tax. Not great, considering that "regular" pasta is super cheap comparatively. But, I figure I'll buy about one bag per month and have "pasta" twice a month. That'll do fine for me. Especially since I'm used to not having ANY pasta for so long ;)

Or, I might see about locating them at a better price in bulk on the net. Hmmm...we'll see.

If you live the low carb lifestyle,

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by House Foods Tofu Shirataki Noodle Substitute.

I know I'm happy & hooked!

Happy New Year...may it be a healthy, blessed one!

Did you win? Here's the winner...

...of the $78 value Monet Neck Ring:

Monica P (GFC follower Mo)

Thank you all for participating.

I hope to have another giveaway for you all soon!

~Jean

Merry Christmas to all my followers!

I would like to wish all my followers who celebrate Christmas a very merry one!

I hope you have a joyful celebration day.

This is my favorite time of the year and a very important day in my faith.

We will be celebrating the observance of the birth of Jesus Christ as a family

and I will be taking a few days off from blogdom.

Merry Christmas!

 

Dry Shampoo...Everyone Should Have Some. Seriously!

I have found a highly useful weapon for my beauty arsenal.

Dry shampoo.

You need some. I won't go without it. Seriously.

I had a coupon for a free can of Suave Dry Shampoo a while back, so I bought some. I'm SO glad I did!

If you have read some of my other "hair-centric" posts, you know I have naturally curly hair that I typically straighten during fall and winter months (lower humidity). It's a long, boring process that does damage to my hair, so I try to keep the process down to a minimum. I've had hair stylists compliment me on my hair's health, despite the fact that I use a blow dryer & straightener. I chalk it up to my less-frequent hair washing, which I've read for years is very much recommended.
I have a lot of hair, and it's fairly coarse, so I don't really need to wash my hair but about every 3 days. On the last of these days, if my hair begins to look greasy, I just grab my handy-dandy Suave Dry Shampoo, and spray all the greasy spots. It has mineral clay which absorbs the oil, plus it has a very pleasant citrus-type scent, which "freshens" hair. BONUS: Suave is very affordable.

One of the things that made me decide to use that coupon was a youtube video I watched where one of my fave beauty gurus mentioned using dry shampoo to boost fine hair, and to help build volume when you tease your hair. Here's that video, in case you're interested in seeing how she used dry shampoo to do that:
YouTube Video

How to use it:

Locate the greasy areas (typically near the scalp) and spray those.

Some "before"/ greasy shots

 I usually spray my scalp near my ears, flip my head over and spray the nape of my neck, and my part on the top of my head.



Then, brush through where you just sprayed. All the white powder look disappears with just a few brushings.

Use more or less, depending on the thickness of your hair, the oiliness, etc. Start with less and apply more if you need more.

Here are my end results.



No more grease!

Have you ever used dry shampoo? Maybe a different brand? What did you think?
I LOVE comments, so fire away!

Christmas...Clean?

One word that doesn't typically come to mind when thinking on the delights of Christmas?

Clean.

After all, there's all the unpacking, dust, tree needles, broken ornaments, the fine layer of glitter dusting every surface in the living room, the cat sneaking in...

Yep, that's how ornaments get broken!

What I do try to accomplish while decorating for my most cherished holy day of the year is keeping the mess to a minimum.

But how?

As furnishings get moved around, sweep-sweep. Before boxes are brought in, sweep the tops clean of all dust. Sweep-sweep. After the tree is put up, sweep-sweep. After the ornaments are carefully placed (a few shattering to the floor), and the glittery ornaments are posted to their stations, sweep-sweep.

After every decoration has found its rightful place and the transformation is complete, sweep-sweep.
That's a lot of sweeping! But truly, sweeping is not that hard. It's the fight to get every trace of dirt up with a dustpan that annoys most.

Annoying

But one thing I learned from Mama: dust pans are for large items. Do NOT waste your time sweeping the same pile endlessly trying to get the fine stuff up. Use a dust-buster!

That's right. Keep a charged cordless hand vac ready for all your sweep-ups.

Once you try it, you'll never want to do without it.

Now, you'll still need that dustpan for the large things, like shards of ornament, or bigger tree needles. But for the glitter, dust, and all the smaller debris, a dust-buster makes the job SO much easier.

If you use one, you already know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, you should give it a try.

I believe in this so much I even gave a friend a cordless hand vac for Christmas a couple of years ago. With her large family, I knew it would be a big help.

If you don't already have a cordless hand vac, add it to your list before you send it to Santa!
You'll thank me later!

P.S. The kind that rests in its charger base is the handiest...it's always charged and ready.

Merry Christmas!

Disclosure: "I am sharing my holiday home decor and cleaning tips for the chance to win prizes from The SITS Girls and Great Cleaners "

New Year, New Necklace! $78 Jewelry Giveaway

As the New Year quickly approaches,

you will no doubt be thinking of how you're going to celebrate it.

Where will you go?

Whose party will you attend?

What will you wear?!?

How about a new, classy, golden "Neck Ring" by Monet?

Monet has been around for over 80 years (since 1929).

Monet jewelry has a long legacy of design.

It is a signature brand for

 "the woman who values classic pieces with refined sensibility and genuine feeling of worth".

This rich design legacy continues to inspire with iconic pieces such as this "Neck Ring".

This beautiful, timeless, close to the neck design is a modern take on a 70's jewelry icon.

It would be gorgeous with just about any outfit.

What would you wear it with to that New Year party?

The Neck Ring comes in a luxurious blue velvet-lined box.

If you decide to give it as a gift instead of keeping it for yourself,

it is ready for presentation.

The Neck Ring is a $78 value.

You now have the chance to win it for free!

The giveaway will end December 23rd, 2011, 9 p.m.

I will use Random.org to generate a random number.

That number will be the comment selected as the winner.

The item will ship out on the first postal service day after the winner responds

to the winning email notification.

You should have it in time for New Year's Eve!

Rules:

Must be US resident. Leave a separate comment for each entry method, telling what you did. The more comments/entries, the better your odds of winning, of course. Be sure to leave your email addy in each of your comments so I can contact you if you win. Can be in format "janedoe at yahoo dot com" to avoid spam bots. Mandatory entry is required before any other entries will count. If I cannot verify your entry, it will not count. Winner will be chosen using random.org. Winner will have exactly 48 hours to respond to my notification email or a new winner will be picked, no exceptions.

By entering you agree to the rules of this contest.

To enter:

(mandatory entry method)

You must be a GFC (Google Friend Connect) follower of this blog to enter the giveaway. You can do that on the right side bar of this page. If your comment is chosen, but you aren't a GFC follower, your entry will NOT count. Leave your GFC name, if different than your posting name. Then...

+1 Leave a comment on whether you would keep this Neck Ring or give it away.

Extra entries:

(be sure to come back & comment SEPARATELY for each of these extra entries, & please leave email addy in each comment)

+1 Like The Real Mom Review on Facebook (top left side bar, leave FB name if different)

+1 Comment on the The Real Mom Review FB page (anywhere)

+1 Like THIS POST on Facebook (top left side bar)

+1 Leave a new meaningful comment on any other post on this blog, tell me which topic you commented on

+1 Subscribe to this blog via email (very bottom of this page, white area)

Disclosure: I have received nothing to do this giveaway. This item was supplied by me. It is sponsored by no one but me.



Win $5,000 for your favorite school! Easy entry!

You have a chance to win $5,000 for your favorite grade school or high school.

All you have to do is register and watch the trailer for "Game of Your Life" right here:

http://www.vocalpoint.com/GameLifeBlog

(Provided by Vocal Point)

Zach, a high school gamer who lands a scholarship to an elite video game design program, has a bright future as long as he can survive the intense freshman year project that eliminates half the class in the first three months. But when Zach learns that his father is in financial trouble, he has to make a choice that will affect his future and the lives of everyone around him. This humorous and heartfelt drama is a great reminder to kids – and all of us – that the choices they make impact the people around them. “Game of Your Life” airs Friday, December 2nd 8/7c on NBC

After that, ask all your friends, family, teachers, fellow parents and PTO members – everyone you know – to watch it so they can vote for your school once a day, too.

After all, if any one of the people you tell wins, your school wins $5,000!

Good luck!

(Disclosure: I received nothing at all to post this. I just thought it seemed like a cool, decent, family movie...and hey, there aren't too many of those these days! Plus, hey, $5000 for a school!)