Bachelor on the Cheap

By Mike Thayer

Egg salad, I used to eat a lot of egg salad sandwiches when I was in the military and stationed in Korea.  The base Mess Hall there served up a warm egg salad sandwich, piled high on toast with a slice of American cheese.  That and a huge cup of java with cream and sugar was breakfast for me on many a work day.

Egg salad is actually an excellent diet food, minus the toast of course......   And it's easy to prepare, especially if you know how to boil water.

This salad only contains about 3 grams of carbs and is an excellent change of pace breakfast, snack, lunch or dinner.

Ingredients:

• 4 hard boiled eggs, peeled, chopped
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon fresh, sweet red onion, minced (sweet Vidalia is a nice alternative)
• 1 teaspoon yellow mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon of your favorite seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• A generous pinch of green onion, chopped
• A splash of pickle juice

Directions:

Wrap this in a Romaine lettuce leaf with a slice of American cheese

This isn't rocket science, in a small bowl, mix all ingredients together.   The key here is to make this salad while the boiled eggs are still warm.  Don't get me wrong, egg salad tastes great cold, but it's just that much better when it's warm!

Packing some great protein, this quick egg salad is fantastic all by itself, or you can slap it on a leaf of romaine lettuce.  You can change things up by adding a slice of American cheese to it.  Enjoy!   And enjoy the fact that all ingredients together costs about $1 - a savings bonus!

$pend Wisely My Friends...

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By Mike Thayer

Eggs are full of protein, protein that will satisfy your appetite and keep you feeling full until lunch time.

The best way to cook those eggs is scrambled.  Why?  Because you can add just about anything you want to them and making scrambled eggs is easier and faster than making an omelette. 

Eggs are Carb-Check Diet friendly and your best breakfast bet to starting off the day deliciously right!

By Mike Thayer

Here's a quick video recipe for green beans, THE Carb-Check Diet veggie friend. 

Dress up your green beans (drained) with some butter, diced onion, minced garlic, salt, pepper and about a Tablespoon (or two) of Parmesan!

Just 5 carbs per serving!

By Mike Thayer

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day.  I'm a believer in the saying that it's the most important meal of the day, as your body needs some fuel after an 8-hour session of sleep.

Here's a great way to kickstart your morning.

• 1/4 pound of pork sausage
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg, slightly scrambled
• Two slices of American cheese

You can either brown up the sausage in patty form in one pan while you cook up the onion and eggs in another, top each with cheese.....  Or you can crumble up the sausage and combine it with the onion and eggs for a one skillet breakfast, topped with cheese.  It's up to you!  If you go with the crumble, there's no need for the olive oil, the fat from the sausage will do.

This breakfast delivers about 28 grams of protein and less than 5 grams in carbs, most of those carbs coming from the onion.  That's good body fuel and those onion carbs are better for you than toast!

This is an inexpensive breakfast to prepare too, costing about $1 per serving.

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By Mike Thayer

I love mushrooms, all edible varieties, White Button, Chanterelle, Crimini, Shiitake, Portabello, Oyster and my favorite....  The coveted Morel.

Mushrooms are an excellent add to the Carb-Check Diet because they are so versatile and the carb count is almost negligible.  One cup of mushrooms (pieces/sliced) has anywhere from 2-5 grams of protein and just 2-5 grams in carbs, depending on the variety. 

You can grill them, saute them, stir-fry them, bake them, deep-fry them or eat them raw.  Include them in any number of dishes, soups, salads, casseroles, create some great appetizers or make them the main dish.

The flavors range from bland, to nutty, to beefy.  White Button mushrooms for example are considered somewhat bland in flavor, but that's actually a good thing, because they can take on just about any flavor you decide to add to them.  They're great in salads for that very reason, they provide a nice texture contrast to lettuce and really absorb and enhance the flavors in the salad dressing.   Paired with a steak, button mushrooms embrace the steak's juices and steak sauce.  And speaking of steak, Shiitake and Portabello mushrooms deliver an almost beefy flavor and can be main dishes.

Bonus: Mushrooms are reasonably priced too!  You can get an 8 ounce package of white button or "baby bella" mushrooms for less than $3 and you can get two meals out of that.

Here's a go-to recipe for me, especially during grilling season:

Marinated Portobello Mushrooms

Portobello Mushrooms (yes, the big ones) are indeed the 'steak' of veggies, one of the few veggies that can be made into a meal of its own and one of the few veggies that can handle being in a marinade for hours to take on added flavor without turning to mush.

Ingredients:

• 4 mushroom caps, cleaned, stems removed
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon steak sauce
• 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried, minced onion
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

 Directions:

Place the mushrooms in a large Ziplock bag, set aside.  Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl, pour over the mushrooms and marinade in the fridge for at least two hours.  When the coals are hot, place mushrooms over direct heat, gill side down, reserve the marinade for basting.  Grill for about 10 minutes, turning every two minutes and basting.  Despite the marinade, mushrooms can dry out, hence, the basting.  Serve immediately.  These are excellent served as a side, sliced up and enjoyed.  They're also fantastic served on a bun with lettuce and tomato like a burger. 

By Mike Thayer

Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki isn't just for gyros....   The sauce is actually a fantastic change of pace addition to any grilled meat or fish.  Use it as a topping on a burger, put a generous dollop on salmon, serve it on the side with kabobs.  It's also excellent used as a veggie dip, salad dressing, put it on a pork rind, a lettuce wrap sandwich and more.  You can pretty much substitute Tzatziki sauce for anything you might use mayonnaise on and with only about two carbs per two Tablespoon serving that makes it Carb-Check Diet friendly!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 an English cucumber, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• One Tablespoon dried dill
• One Tablespoon lemon juice (citric acid is a nice alternative)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix until thoroughly incorporated, cover and chill for about 30 minutes or until ready to use. 

Not only is Tzatziki delicious, versatile and easy to put together, it's cheap to make!   You can whip up a batch of Tzatziki for less than $5 and have plenty of leftover ingredients to make more, or create something else.

By Mike Thayer

So you don't quite know what to have for lunch, you've only got 30 minutes and that fast food joint is convenient......

Don't do it!

That fast food meal is going to come with a price and I'm not talking about what you'll pay at the counter.  I'm talking about excess carbs and sugars.  Did you know that a Taco Bell $5 Buck Box packs more than 130 carbs?  That's NOT a good thing.

Don't eat this!

This meal looks great and it may taste great, but it's not great for the body, even if you're NOT on a diet.  The Taco Bell Cravings Box starting at $5 contains about 1,000+ calories (about half of the government's recommended daily intake), has around 48 grams of fat, a WHOPPING 135 grams in carbs, 11 grams in sugars and 37 grams in protein.   That last number is great, but the rest of those numbers are frankly unacceptable.  Fast food is convenient yes, but the creators of these value meals aren't thinking about your waistline.  Even if you behaved yourself and had a reasonable breakfast, this lunch pretty much blows your day and you would essentially have to starve yourself for dinner and who wants to go to bed hungry?  I know, the $5 price is attractive, but going for the deal at lunch just isn't a good thing.

Eat this instead!

A Chicken Taco Salad that you can easily make at home!  It's delicious and yes, it includes a corn tostado base to give you that crunch, it's loaded with guacamole, salsa, black olives and shredded cheddar cheese.  The total carb count on this lunch? Just 24 grams, compare that to the 135 grams in the Taco Bell lunch.  The total calorie count on this meal is just under 500, has 16 grams of fat, just 6 grams in sugars and 29 grams of protein.  With this tasty lunch, you don't have to starve yourself for dinner to maintain your diet or go to bed hungry!  And depending on how far away you live from your job site, it can actually be a quicker meal than fast food if you've prepped all the items to put the salad together.

Don't waste time and money in the fast food drive through, eat in your own kitchen!  Your body will thank you.

By Mike Thayer

Frosted Flakes fan are 'ya? 

Stop it.

Did you know processed sugars and carbohydrates are WAY worse for you than fat?

It's true.  Sugars and bad carbs do WAY more harm to the body and contributes WAY more in weight gain than natural fat does.  Truth is, your body NEEDS some fat to function properly.

Don't eat this!

A typical bowl of Frosted Flakes and 2% milk puts the following into your body:  530 calories, 94 grams of carbohydrates, 54 grams of sugar, 20 grams of protein, 10 grams of fat.  Now if you did the recommended serving size, just one cup, you could cut all those numbers in half.  But unless you're in a hospital bed, NOBODY eats just one cup of cereal with milk.  That's the serving size listed on the label on the box, but you and I both know that most everybody ends up pouring about two cups of cereal in a typical bowl for breakfast.  Look at all those carbs and sugar in that two cup serving!  Your body doesn't need all that, not even close!  But it tastes so good right?  That's the lure......

Eat this instead!

Three strips of bacon and two eggs scrambled, over easy or sunny side up puts the following nutrition into your body:  318 calories, just 2 grams in carbs, NO sugars, 21 grams in protein and 24 grams in fat.  Yes, that sounds like a lot of fat, but it's natural fat and yes, the Frosted Flakes intake of all those processed sugars and bad carbs is far worse for your body than natural fat.  Your body actually needs good fat to process normally.  It does NOT need excess carbs and sugars.  We've been told not to eat so many eggs or bacon.....   But who started that nonsense?  Cereal companies perhaps?

I don't know about you, but I'd rather have bacon and eggs for breakfast than cold cereal and it's not that much more expensive than cereal and milk.  A large box of of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and a gallon of milk will run you about $8.  A dozen store brand eggs and a pound of Farmland bacon will run you about $9 so it costs just a little bit more, but it's better for your body and it tastes better too!

By Mike Thayer

Cauliflower pairs well with eggs

Here's a great way, a very easy and tasty way to get a not so typical veggie for breakfast in that first meal of the day.

Yesterday for lunch I had Polish sausage with a side of roasted cauliflower topped with cheddar cheese.  So for breakfast this morning and thinking about whipping up some scrambled eggs, I decided to include those leftovers to create a nice scrambled egg breakfast bowl!

The beauty of cauliflower is that it's kind of like a blank canvas, you can 'paint' just about any kind of flavor you want into it.  A boring veggie on it's own, cauliflower takes on whatever seasoning, sauce or whatever flavor you want to add to it, whether it's soy sauce, curry or in this case, sauteed with a lot of onion and garlic!

Try some cauliflower for breakfast!

Mike's Cauliflower & Sausage Breakfast Bowl

Ingredients:

• One Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped onion
• 1/2 cup leftover cauliflower
• 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese (if your leftover cauliflower doesn't already have it)
• 3 ounces of Polish sausage (or whatever leftover meat you may have on hand)
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• Two eggs, beaten
• Dash of Cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Green onion, chopped, for garnish

Directions:

Heat up a medium sized skillet over medium heat.  Add the olive oil.  Once the oil is warm (you can tell when it slides easily in tilting the pan to coat the bottom), add the onion and a dash of salt and pepper.  Stir occasionally until the onion is translucent.  Add the cauliflower with cheese and Polish sausage, another pinch of black pepper, stir to incorporate.  After the sausage and cauliflower is heated through, add the garlic, stir and let those flavors marry for about a minute.  Add the beaten eggs.  TIP:  Create deeper layers of flavor by seasoning ingredients as you go rather than seasoning a dish at the very end.  Add the dash of Cayenne pepper along with a little salt and pepper before beating the eggs.  This is going to create a better overall flavor profile for the dish.  Stir to incorporate the eggs and until the scramble reaches your desired level of consistency.  Garnish with green onion and serve. 

Not only does cauliflower pair well with eggs making for a great breakfast bowl, this meal was Carb-Check friendly.  Cauliflower has only 5 grams of carbs per cup.  This breakfast bowl as prepared has only 9 grams of carbs (2.5 from the cauliflower, 3 from the onion, 2 from the Polish sausage, 1 from the garlic, 0.5 from the cheese) and these are all good carbs!  Compare that to including the same amount of potato instead of the cauliflower in the dish along with a side of toast and that would shoot the carb count way up to 33 grams!  This bowl has plenty of protein in it to start your day too, packing 21 grams.

Utilizing leftovers this was a very Bachelor on the Cheap wallet friendly meal, costing far less than hitting the fast food drive thru or heating up one of those pre-packaged diet (and not so delicious) breakfast bowls in the microwave.

By Mike Thayer

I used to eat a lot of raw carrots, I love 'em, they have a nice crunch to them and an ever-so-slightly sweet bite.  Back in the day when I was trying to lose weight the hard way and before the Carb-Check diet came to be, you would see me with a snack plate of baby carrots and ranch dressing.  But once I discovered the carb count and developed the Carb-Check Diet, carrots were eliminated from my daily snack menu, they are just too high in carb count to be included in every day eats if you're trying to lose weight.   Carrots are more of a maintain weight food, not a weight loss food.

Replace those carrots with radishes! Radishes have a similar crunch to carrots and while they don't share the slightly sweet element of carrots, the peppery flavor of radishes still satisfies.   And yes, by all means eat those radishes with Ranch Dressing!  Pictured right radishes, Ranch and some seasoning salt, a snack of about 4 carbs with about half that coming from the Ranch dressing.

Carb Comparison:

• 1 cup of of carrots:  12 carbs
• 1 cup of radishes:  4 carbs

It's a no-brainer!

And with radishes so easy to grow in the garden - you can start harvesting in about 30 days - this is an item you don't have to purchase at the grocery store.  They're low maintenance, put some seeds in the ground, thin them out a bit once they sprout to ensure bigger radishes and 30 days later, you've got some great snacks!

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