The Looooooong Hallway...and Biscuits

This was a first for me. I've never had a long (loooonnnngggg) front hallway before. So I had to fill it. And honestly, I'm not coming up with much. Sometimes, you just go with what you have. And if it doesn't fit, you change it. For instance, I had these two oil rubbed bronze metal panels, HUGE things that I got on clearance at Hobby Lobby. In my last house, they fit pretty well:

This was taken during Halloween last year--you can see my Witches' trunk. But you see how big they are. Well, I'm totally married to them. But the inside of my house now is...well...very gray and white. Not much oil rubbed bronze. It's a phase, I know, but I didn't want to get rid of them. So, I consulted King Krylon: (*wink*)

And with some spraying and a stint outside in the hot sun to dry, voila! I had new panels!

I put them up in my loooonng hallway, and I think they broke it up very nicely:

And I went a little "nuts" at At Home, and I bought two hallway credenzas that weren't big enough and I put them TOGETHER and made one long big credenza. I'm pretty pleased with the result:

 

Then Overstock.com provided the long hallway table in antiqued cream, and I knick-knacked it up:

Right now I'm still trying to figure out the setup of the stairs alcove:

I have the fun bench, the coat rack and a little table, but not sure what to put on the wall. A clock looks weird. A whitewashed wreath looks weird. A square/rectangle picture looks weird. So what do I put there?? To be continued...

Oh, and about the Biscuits--I don't mean biscuits in the British sense (which are technically cookies), I mean good old fashioned American-as-apple-pie BISCUITS. I am IN LOVE with a new Keto recipe I discovered. It's a recipe (that uses Carbquik of course) for BAKING POWDER BISCUITS. And they are so SO good:

I had mine with a TB of sugar free jam. They are buttery enough you don't need butter, which is great. One biscuit is 2 net carbs. Add the jam and my whole breakfast (with Keto Cocoa) was five net carbs!! 

THE RECIPE:

The Hopeless Anglophile's Keto Baking Powder Biscuits:

Servings: 8

Ingredients:

-2 Cups Carbquik

-4 Tb cold butter, chopped up

-1 heaping TB Baking Powder

-1/2 to 3/4 cups heavy cream

-2 Tb egg white (optional) 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix the chunks of cold butter with the Carbquik and baking powder by hand or with a food processor. Add egg whites and then add cream slowly, and combine to form a sticky dough. Don't roll, just knead the dough with your hands and pat into a biscuit, or form and cut with a biscuit cutter. Don't overwork them, or they won't be light and fluffy. 

Set biscuits onto a baking sheet (I use one lined with a Silpat) and stick them in the freezer for about 3-5 minutes. You can skip this step, but they will be lighter and fluffier the colder the butter is when it goes into the oven. 

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until the biscuits are set and golden brown on the top. Remove from oven and let them cool almost completely.

Note: These are very "crumbly" biscuits (especially if you omit the egg whites) so be patient. They taste AMAZING. And they freeze super well. I just freeze them individually and pop one out onto the counter to defrost while I make breakfast. Don't reheat them, they will fall apart. But you will love them. They taste like old fashioned Baking Powder biscuits and that's all I care about. 

2 net carbs per biscuit. YES PLEASE.

Rugs and Pancakes!!!

I know, a bit of an eclectic title--but I am loving putting new decor in my new home. We just got this rug from At Home and I am in LOVE with it:

It's so fun. (Yeah, nice shot of the vacuum, I know). The rug really goes well with my decor.

 So, love the rug. And now, I can love breakfast too. I am on day 4 of Keto, and it's kind of rough. Before Keto, this was my normal go-to breakfast:

Breakfast of champions, right there. Anyway, with Keto, can't have that. Or most cereals for that matter. But I can have PANCAKES. 

Now let me tell you about Keto Pancakes. They are GROSS. If you are looking for fluffy buttermilk pancakes that taste amazing, well, you're generally SOL. I've tried probably a dozen different types of pancake recipes, trying to find one that actually resembles pancakes. (I've learned not to trust pictures on Pinterest.) Most are too eggy. Or too grainy. (Did I mention I loathe almond and coconut flour because they just aren't the same?) People rave about these eggy, grainy "pancakes." All my pancake tries went right into the garbage. Or I swallowed them down in a hurry because I was hungry. 

And then the lightbulb went on: CARBQUIK.

Carbquik really is my go to for things recently. So, I decided to take the basic eggs/almond flour/cream cheese pancake recipe I found on Pinterest, and I added my own touch. Carbquik! The result? These pancakes are fluffy. They almost taste buttermilk-y. They are DIVINE. And only three net carbs for the entire stack of four pancakes. With Kerrygold and Lakanto Maple Syrup they are FOUR NET CARBS. I can have pancakes again! And I don't have to choke them down! HOORAY!! I just have to share:

The Hopeless Anglophile's "Buttermilk Pancakes":

Ingredients are very simple:

-2 oz. full fat cream cheese, softened (I soften mine in the microwave, like 15 seconds)

-1 large egg

-3 Tb Egg whites (this keeps it from tasting eggy)

-1 packet or 1/2 tsp Truvia

-3 level Tb Carbquick

You add all the ingredients to a medium bowl and you mix--with a hand mixer.

Whisking just doesn't cut it. A powerful hand mixer blends everything really well. Mix until your mixture resembles normal pancake batter. Let the batter rest for a few minutes. (I unfortunately didn't let mine "rest" very long for these pictures, so my pancakes aren't as fluffy, but you get the jist.)

Grease up a griddle with some refined coconut oil and make some pancakes!

Look at these babies:

Like seriously, yum. Add Kerrygold butter and Lakanto Maple Flavored syrup, and you are in BUSINESS. The business of PANCAKE ENJOYMENT.

These pancakes aren't eggy. They're not grainy. Normally, they're fluffier than this picture (letting the batter rest is key) but they taste AH-MAAAA-ZING. I can't stress this enough. 

So, my typical Eggs&Bacon breakfast doesn't have to be. I can have pancakes every day. 4 Net grams of carb for the whole meal (3 for the pancakes, 1 for the Lakanto). Color me happy.

I'm BAAAAAACK!!! And Low Carb...

Ah, moving is...lame, stupid, exhausting, and NOT FUN. But we survived. And I finally am getting this house to where I want it. And I love my new kitchen:

The island was originally white but I love contrasts so we had the builders paint it a dark brownish gray. And I finally have my farmhouse sink!

It's kind of taking some getting used to (stainless steel looks amazing but it's a horror to keep clean) because I'm used to a much smaller sink. I could give myself a bath in this thing. 

But I love my new appliances and can't wait to get cooking and baking in here! Speaking of which, I have found a way to cheat on my breakfast sandwiches. You know the ones, the toasted English muffin with bacon, egg and cheese...well, since I am a low carber, I figured out a way to make the entire sandwich ONE carb. Not kidding. 

And it tastes amazing:

Let me just say that I absolutely HATE Keto. Sure, it works, but I cannot eat stuff made with ALMOND FLOUR or COCONUT flour, ugh and yuck. My taste buds just revolt. The texture is all wrong when I try and make breads with these flours. And I end up making a face and throwing it all away. But I do love love love CARBQUIK:

Sorry, the pic is a little blurry. But I use two tablespoons in my "Low Carb English Muffin" recipe and the whole thing is ONE carb.

And yes, of course it's not a real English Muffin. But it tastes close enough that I can stand it. 

So here is what I do: (You make it in the microwave!)

Add an egg, strip of crispy bacon and freshly sliced cheddar and YUM. And the whole thing is ONE CARB. Or, if you're feeling like a scone, add a packet of Truvia to the mix before you cook it. Then slather with sugar free jam (careful, it adds some carbs) and clotted cream and you honestly can't tell it's low carb. 

That's my take--if it's close enough, you can mask the "off" taste with other stuff and it passes for the real thing just fine. 

Now, it happier news, I FOUND A PLATE that I've been looking for, like FOREVER:

 It's that no-name reproduction china that I love so much, and I have the matching Madison Bay Company Tea set and a few other pieces, but I was missing a dinner plate. Finding this plate was as easy as finding...a unicorn. Seriously. NO ONE likes to sell theirs. But I finally found one on Ebay. After a year of searching. And it's all mine. Hooray! Now I have all the pieces I need for a lovely green transferware breakfast! Stay tuned!