I haven’t posted any updates since I got back from vacation just over a month ago.  I think I’ve just been trying to get back into routine, work, life, etc.  It’s been super hot, but I haven’t noticed it much since I spend most of my days in the office.  I am so thankful that my family gets together for birthdays and events, and I love getting to spend time together.  We got together last weekend for my brother-in-law’s birthday.  Chris turned 50 and my neice Amara was a couple days away from turning 14.  Chris has been doing absolutely amazing on his Keto journey and the transformation has been incredible!  I also got to spend some time with my sweet nephew, Callen, who is growing way too fast already!!

Callen is Derrick’s birthday-buddy, since he was born on Derrick’s 18th birthday, and he has become my selfie-buddy 🙂

Our family had been going through a lot of turmoil and grieving when Callen came into this world, just a bit too early.  Early enough where he spent his first few days in the NICU (Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit).  We spent most of Derrick’s 18th birthday in that hospital, but none of us cared about that.  We were just happy that, with the help of the nurses and doctors at that hospital, he turned out to be the most precious, healthy baby boy one could hope for!!

Just over a month earlier, we had lost my Aunt Dolly unexpectedly on February 16th, and it was pretty horrible to say the least!  It was a total nightmare for our family and honestly, we are still reeling from it.  I think it will still be some time before we aren’t.  All that aside, my Aunt hated having her picture taken!  When we lost her, I scrambled to try to find pictures of her, and there just weren’t that many.  There were several pictures that I found, remembering that she was the one that had been holding the camera, and I looked anew at the picture she saw from her eyes.  I decided when Callen was born that I didn’t care if the pictures of me were good or not, he would never have to search for pictures of us together!  So, since the moment I was able to hold him in my arms, I’ve made it a point to take a selfie (or 10) with him every single time I’ve gotten to see him.  I will eventually make him some kind of book, and he’ll probably think his old aunt is a little lame, but that’s ok… I’ll also be the aunt who spoils him totally rotten since I only have 1.5 kids left to launch from my own household…

Isn’t he the cutest though?!?

I have an older niece Rebecca that I don’t get to see quite as often, and another nephew, Jason, due in November, and I’ll make sure to continue the tradition with them, but Callen just happened to be the little gift from God that started it, and I will treasure every moment!  Those are the babies, but I have several older nieces and nephews that got big before I got cool enough to be taking selfies LOL.  Like my kids, they didn’t come with instruction manuals and all I had to do was blink my eyes and they grew right up!!

Savannah went to volleyball camp a couple weeks ago, went off to “Camp Kaylee” with my cousin last week, came home for a night, and was right back out the door with the Glenwood Youth Group for their summer camp.  She never seems to stop moving, but she reminds me so much of myself at that age that it is hard to fault her.  Next week she will be registering for COLLEGE for running start (she’ll be a junior in high school this year), so my thought is for her to enjoy whatever moments she has as a kid now.  Let me just throw out a little mommy-pride there… College… as a Junior in High School.  Yep.  She’s amazing!

Derrick is working on physical training and getting ready for the Marine Corps.  (Just a TON more mommy-pride there!!)  His running and crunches are fine, but he’s still struggling a bit with the pull-ups.  His date may have been pushed out from October to November, but what I’ve learned from the military is there is never 100% until they tell you to move your a$$ 😉

DiDi has flown the proverbial coop and has headed off onto her own, moving in with her high school sweetheart.  A little delayed off of her planned timeline, but that’s just the way life goes sometimes.  Jim and I briefly discussed whether that would affect our Keto lifestyle, but it really doesn’t.  We may have started this in an effort to support DiDi, but we definitely see the benefits to our own health, and at this point, we are committed to following through on it.  We’re not sure of exactly how much weight or sizes that we’ve dropped so far since that was not the reason we started, but it has been somewhere around a combined 50 lbs since June 17th.  That is pretty incredible really, especially when you top that with how great we feel.  We will be continuing on Keto, so I’ll keep the recipes coming!

Speaking of…

I’ve been working on a couple new ones, including a S’more Cookie.  This one is definitely still in progress, but it has potential to be amazing!!

A “graham cracker” crust base, marshmallow, and then drizzled chocolate.  Keto marshmallows just aren’t roastable, so I knew I needed to come up with a S’mores alternative.  The graham cracker is what is giving me issues at this point with its non-crispiness, but I am determined to make this happen.  It actually turned out to be pretty awesome (but a super gooey puddle), heated up in the toaster oven.

Last night, I updated my Ninja Cheesecake recipe to use Allulose as the sweetener, so I hope you all enjoy that.  It was my first experiment after getting my order of Allulose, and the batch of cheesecakes I made turned out amazing!

We went to the annual barn dance a couple weeks ago.  Our standard dish is Jalapeño Popper Chicken which has always been Keto even when I wasn’t, and we’ve decided we can never make enough of it.  Yes, my husband helps out on a few of the recipes, and he happens to be a pretty damn good cook!!  This year I also brought some Ninja Cheesecakes to share and those disappeared as well.  I can only come up with an “approximate” recipe on the Jalepeno Popper Chicken, but I’ll share it when I get the chance.

Jim made Jalapeño Popper Chicken again for my brother-in-law’s birthday, since I had my hands full adding a new favorite to my recipes.  I spent about 3 days putting together a Tiramisu recipe.  It was really just in response to a challenge from my brat sister, but I’ve definitely found my new favorite dessert!!  That was a recipe I found on another website (http://queenketo.com/sugar-free-low-carb-keto-tiramisu/)  There is absolutely nothing I want to change about the recipe other than it takes days to put it together!!  “QueenKeto” even responded to my post on Instagram!!

The Tiramisu was so amazing that I froze down a couple portions and have threatened to break fingers of anyone who touches them!!

The Tiramisu recipe introduced me to a brand new ingredient, Lupin Flour.  This stuff is amazing and absolutely packed with fiber.  I ordered a few pounds of it the other day and have been going thru my recipes and changing the flour base to see if it makes a difference.  It does!!

I made a fathead pizza crust with it a couple nights ago that turned out amazing, and definitely better than my previous versions!

I’ll share that recipe in the future along with the cheese crackers I made from the same general idea.

I don’t have those quite right or consistent yet, but it will happen.  I’m still discovering how to work with the new ingredient after all.

The burnt ones are actually the ones that got crispy, and they really do taste like cheese-its.

Well, Jim and I are headed out to the big city of Hood River for lunch and groceries, so I better go before he starts tapping his foot at me.

I hope you all are surviving the summer heat and doing something fun!

As always, my best to you and your family!

~ Sherry ~