Low Carb New Year

Warning: this blog has not been evaluated by the FDA, Dr.Oz, Dr. Atkins, or Dr. Seuss.

A year ago, I was practically a raw vegan. The juicer was making green juice daily that friends referred to as pond scum (super delicious though) and the dehydrator was humming with kale chips, banana slices and fruit roll ups. A treat was frozen banana “ice cream” from the Omega. 

My best friend is a die hard carnivore.  We’d go out for dinner and share fajitas. I’d eat all the veggies while she ate all the meat. I didn’t eat anything that had a face, and she didn’t eat unless something died. It’s been a year...she’s pretty much stuck to her meat eating ways, while I have gone on and off of my green plan. When I cheat, I cheat badly; and all the while, she’s hardly ever hungry and has lost weight. She looks fantastic. I haven’t lost a pound.

In the spirit of New Year’s resolutions, I threw my hands up in the air and she welcomed me to the dark side.  She was excited to tell me about the low carb plan she follows. I like the theory behind it.  It is hard to get used to the idea of eating animal and fat again; but not feeling hungry, or “sugared up” feels great. My blood sugar feels more balanced and I think I’m losing already.  I eat all the time. I’m even cooking again.  My plate is usually 75% low carb veggie, 25% lean protein. (lots more chewing, and no drinks with meals – but more about that another time)

She suggested a grocery list of low carb staples to start with and I’ve been mostly sticking to it. I’m reading up on it all and I am not on one particular diet or the other. I’m basically low carb, high colorful vegetables and lean meat, and seafood. That pretty much sums it up. She says to stick with berries and “bush fruits”.   A friend at work wants me to do Paleo with him and some of the "hippies", but I’m not quite there yet.

So, I came home from work tonight and gazed into the fridge. I found 2 big heads of cauliflower that I feared would soon go bad, so I grabbed them and started turning them into clean flowerets. I dumped them into a big pot, covered with water and started boiling. Without a real plan for them, I went back to the fridge. I found a roll of sausage.  I snipped the plastic off of it, dumped it into the frying pan and starting browning it. I have to admit, the smell of sausage cooking is wonderful.  Without a carb in sight, I made a last trip to the fridge for some heavy cream… I intended to mash the cauliflower and put the sausage aside for breakfast tomorrow. 

It’s a cool and rainy night and soup sounded good. Plus I can bring the left over to work for lunch.. So the plan for mashed cauliflower became cauliflower soup.  I couldn’t find the immersion blender, so the single serve blender that sat on the counter after a year of making breakfast smoothies became my soup maker.

I put some of the boiled cauliflower, it's cooking water, and salt and pepper in the blender cup.  I added a splash of cream, dried parsley and dried chives and pulsed on high. Once blended smooth, I tasted and it was good. But the sausage caught my eye, and I got a little crazy.  Two spoonfulls of browned sausage went in, another whirl in the blender and shazam! – Cauliflower and Sausage Cream soup.  OH MY GOSH…it’s smooth, rich, and the depth of flavor is wonderful! 

My daughter grabbed the crockpot for me, and into it went all of the cooked cauliflower, it’s water, the sausage AND it’s drippings (I know), the rest of the cream, more salt, pepper, dried parsley and chives. It’s cooking on low now, I’ll put it in the fridge, buy an immersion blender after work tomorrow, and after rewarming and a spin with the immersion blender, I’ll have enough of this amazing soup for the whole neighborhood. Come on over!