Maker Monday: Kitchen Witchery: Adventures in Low Carb Cooking - Moussaka

My endocrinologist has asked me to follow a 50g of carbs or less daily diet for the next two months. I did the low carb thing years and years ago when the Atkins diet was just starting to be known. It was the most miserable year of eating I have ever experienced. I felt like everything was a 'No, you can't have that!' and almost nothing I liked was a, 'Yes, you can.' 

Since I had my gallbladder taken out several years ago, my body just does not process highly fatty foods very well at all. I am almost instantly sick if I try to eat something fried or heavily oiled. I am also lactose intolerant, so that takes out a lot of the traditional dairy meals and snacks. Dairy alternatives have come a long way, but some dairy items are just not replaceable. I can thankfully take Lactaid to stave off most of the negative side effects from dairy for a good number of ingredients. I left the heavy cream in the recipe below, and I desperately regretted it. I will be switching it to an oat cream or a coconut cream next time. 

This dish was inspired by a Moussaka recipe in the Going Greek on Keto cookbook by Nicholas Diakos. 

We made some changes to suit our tastes and line up more with the ingredients we had on hand as well. I do not like egg plant, so I switched that out with thin slices of zucchini. We switched the ground lamb to ground pork to help prevent my wife's gout from flaring up due to red meat. I also used some of my home canned spicy marinara instead of store bought tomato sauce to reduce both sugar and salt. 

Low Carb Moussaka

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork

2 large zucchini squash sliced thin

1 medium onion diced

1 pint home canned spicy marinara

1 cup heavy cream

1 egg

1 1/4 cups mozzarella cheese shredded

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

1 teaspoon Italian herbs

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon lite salt

Additional pinch of Italian herbs and red pepper flakes for final seasoning (optional)

1) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2) Brown ground pork in a skillet over medium heat. You could also use pork sausage, but be aware there may be added sugar and salt in pre-made sausage. While the meat is browning, slice the zucchini into either thin strips (think lasagna noodles) or thin rounds using a mandolin.

3) Add tomato sauce, spices, and herbs to meat and turn down on low to simmer stirring occasionally.

4) In a saucepan, heat heavy cream on medium low heat. Add a small shake of nutmeg. Stir in Parmesan and 1/2 cup of the mozzarella until melted and smooth. Remove cheese sauce from heat and take a small amount of the sauce out into a separate bowl to use to temper the egg so that it does not scramble. Add egg mix back to saucepan stirring until incorporated. Meat sauce should be done now.

5) Spray casserole dish with oil of your choice or non-stick spray. Put down a layer of sliced squash. Next add layer of the meat sauce and then a layer of cheese sauce. Sprinkle a thin layer of mozzarella over top of cheese sauce. Add second layer of each ingredient ending with your second layer of mozzarella. Sprinkle top with a shake or two of Italian herbs and a shake of red pepper flakes (optional).

6) Bake for 25-35 minutes until cheese on top is a golden brown. Let cool for about 10-12 minutes before eating so cheese sauce will thicken.

Nutritional Info

Calories per serving            450

Net Carbs                            8g

    Total Carbs      9g

    Fiber                2g

Protein                               21g

Fat                                       37g

After Cooking/Meal Notes:

Next time, we think we would use a cottage cheese and egg mixture in place of the cheese sauce like we do in lasagna.

We also prefer more vegetables, so we would add diced mushrooms to the meat sauce and put in another layer of sliced squash as well.

Tarot Thursday - Slavic Folklore - Lenormand Deck

 

It's been a while since I have published a Tarot Thursday post. I discovered a deck that is new to me and quite different from my usual Tarot. I had never heard of Lenormand or Lenormand Decks. They originated in France in the 1700s. Each card has a coinciding number/suit card so that you can use a regular deck of playing cards to interpret. I would imagine this would have been handy during times when Witchcraft persecutions were common. 

I've been exploring a two card reading that I am beginning to really like. One card presents your specific question, concern, situation, etc., and the other card modifies it.  So, for example if the main card is the Letter card, communication is going to be key to your query. Say then, your second card is the Moon card. Then it could be interpreted that this communication is centered around emotions. Maybe you need to communication how you are feeling about a situation to someone important to you, or perhaps someone in your life needs to communicate how they are feeling. 

I find the idea of this deceptively simple two card spread to be very clear and direct and allows me to drill down to what's really important about my query.

I picked up four decks to just get a feel for them, but so far I have really been drawn to the Slavic Folklore deck. I've been having some health concerns, and I queried what I could do to resolve them or if they could be resolved.

My primary card was the Rat, and my modifying card was the Tower.

The Rat (also called The Little Helper)
Meaning: Worry breaks down the spirit and moments of weakness erase signs of hope during the darkest times. Do not let fear win. Even the smallest creatures have hidden strength.

Mice are unexpected helpers in Russian tales. They are small enough to fit into unlikely places and come with clever solutions to difficult problems.

The Tower

The imposing walls of a tower exude authority and strength. While they do protect, they can also isolate. The boundaries of the tower create a sense of solitude. 

The fortress is the beginning, middle, and end of many tales. The hero leaves the comfort of his own castle to face a villain fortified in their tower and then returns home to his own castle once again.

I interpreted these two cards together as meaning for my particular situation that I may feel alone and helpless right now, but if I am resourceful and perhaps step out of my comfort zone I can find a solution that will help me overcome my current problem.

What will the New Year bring? Hopefully a better me ...

With Samhain just passed, we begin a new year and another turn of the wheel. I have been thinking about what I want for this year.

This year, I want to be the River. I want to flow over and under and around the obstacles that crop up in my path, moving ever onward toward my goals. I want to rush wildly with excitement, burble over with laughter often, move steadily forward on the day to day, and rest still and calm when I need to. I will be the River.

I want to pause to take better care of myself. I have never been great at self care. I have a tendency to take care of everything else before turning my focus on me. It's been especially bad since my parents passed away. Everything got shoved to the back for a year to deal with the legal, financial, and logistical details surrounding their deaths and managing the estate. That took all of my focus. I didn't even feel like I could let myself grieve until it was all taken care of because I was afraid I would fall apart. The next year was full of a mix of delayed grief and guilt over questions of if I had done everything right the prior year. Did I honor them and respect their memory enough? Was I respectful of what was left behind? I still don't know. The grief and sense of being adrift overwhelm me sometimes. No living parents, no living siblings, disconnected physically and emotionally from the extended family I do have left. They never call or write. I never hear from them without being the one to reach out. Without my parents as the binding fiber, I have lost the sense of connection I have always had with my family. Intellectually, I realize there is nothing I can do about any of that. Emotionally, it feels like the universe telling me that the feelings of isolation and not "fiting in" that I experienced growing up have all been proven correct. Regardless of why or why not, maybe it is just time to move on and find a new definition of myself without them or at least separate from them. I can't continue to define my worth by home much they outwardly show they care.

Over the past few years, my physical health has started to take hits too. I know part of it is from the stress of everything above. 

• My anxiety has been extremely high. My blood pressure has been higher than it should be, and I know the two are related to a certain extent. I've recently sought evaluation and medication for that. 
• Sleep has always been a struggle for me, but my quality and quantity of sleep has deteriorated even more in the past few years. I am exhausted but not sleepy. When my brain should be winding down for the day in prep for sleep, it's just getting a second wind to go, go, go throughout the night. It's getting harder to pull myself out of bed in the morning because I haven't been able to get to sleep the prior night. I am Vitamin D deficient, and I am taking meds for that. I am anemic, and I am taking meds for that. My thyroid glands are underactive, and I am taking meds for that. Every medical condition I have causes fatigue, and yet, I can't fall asleep at a decent hour.  It's kind of ridiculous. I have had two at-home sleep studies so far because my insurance will not cover an in-lab one to try and figure out any underlying medical causes. I should have results for the last test later this week. Hopefully it will show something conclusive or at least help cross some potential causes off the list.
• I need to take better care of my teeth. I have been avoiding the dentist like the plague for the last few years. Part of it was the Covid pandemic. Part of it was the fact that my father died because of anesthetic toxicity due to a miscalculation at the dentist office. I realize that I do not see the same dentist and that I have never heard of anything similar happening to anyone else. My anxiety doesn't care about that though. All my anxiety knows is that my dad was completely fine, he he sat down in the dentist chair to have some work done, and he was brain dead less than an hour later. It's not rational. I get that. But it's what I think of every time I go to schedule a cleaning. I have scheduled one for next month though. Hopefully I won't freak out.
• I want to do a better job of being more physically active after the holidays. I would love to lose some excess weight. I want to improve my mobility, decrease stress on my body, and hopefully just generally feel better and feel better about myself overall. 

Financially, I want to really focus on lowering and eliminating debt this year. We had to use a chunk of savings this year to do house and car repairs and replace a piece of furniture that we hadn't anticipated replacing for a while into the future. It makes me nervous to have so little in savings.  And of course with student loans reactivating, unlike all of the promises claimed, my monthly payments went up instead of down. It sucks, but nothing I can do about that. One loan will pay off in about three months, which will free up a bit of money that I can add onto the monthly payment for a credit card. I want to focus on paying extra toward those with the highest interest to lower my overall debt to income ratio. 

What will I find this time next year? Hopefully a happier, healthier, more financially secure me. That's what I am hoping for anyway. It won't be easy, but then nothing worth it ever seems to be.

Try it Tuesday - DIY Tea for Improved Health - Blood Pressue

I love finding out new ways to use herbs that I grow and spices that I have in my kitchen. Even more of a bonus when it is something that has the potential to naturally improve my day to day health. I read recently that certain blends of tea can help to lower your blood pressure. Mine has never been high, but it has been in the past few years borderline on a consistent basis. Now, I know, going to the doctor's office stresses me out. Other than my annual preventatives, I do not go unless I am really sick. Not feeling well equals wonky vitals. But, if I can do something small now to make improvements that could put me on the right road to avoid issues in the future, I will happily try it. My mother and father both had high blood pressure, which caused a lot of other issues. And the medication for it caused even more problems. I don't want that if I can avoid it.

Most of the teas available commercially that claim to promote a healthy heart and healthy blood pressure contain a combination of Hawthorne and Hibiscus. Some also contain lavender, chamomile, ginger, and fennel. Of course, I don't know what ratios to use of each, so I decided to mix and match pre-made tea blends until I get the ratios right.

For my first experiment, I am using the following to brew a pot of hopefully healthful and tasty tea.

• Traditional Medicinals Hawthorne and Hibiscus Tea
• Bigelow Lavender and Chamomile plus Probiotics Tea
• Bigelow Ginger Peach and Tumeric Tea

All three are caffeine free. I've never had a tea that claims to have probiotics in it. The color is a rich reddish brown. It smells divine. The chamomile and peach aromas are definitely in the forefront. It tastes very floral as well but not as light as just a chamomile or mint tea might. It feels like drinking a nice floral black tea. I put just a touch of German rock sugar in for sweetener, less than half a cube of sugar equivalent. Delicious. Now we'll see if it actually ends up helping lower my blood pressure.