The Last Week

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Video games and coffee last week. A good combo, no?

Hey everyone! I’m back with another Last Week entry. I had originally meant to shoot for getting this post in on Sunday, but hey, things come up. Last week I played a bit of Dead Space and I’ve been going on a real PlayStation era retro trip that I’m trying hard to shake off. I’ve also been working on getting Neofeud finished, I’m to a point where I’m so close to the end I can taste it! I’ve also decided to focus on finishing Cyberpunk as a priority over my Elder Scrolls games. I also have to highlight this keto coffee drink I’ve been drinking lately. Let’s take a closer look at last week:

Last Monday I fired up Dead Space for a quick session. Unfortunately, as I feared, I saved it after I accidentally used all of my medpacks. It was purely my mistake, I was using an Xbox 360 gamepad and kept pressing X thinking it was the reload button. I quickly depleted my medpacks and was playing hard mode after that mistake. I also realized that you can smash the green boxes by using your kinesis power. I facepalmed and realized it would probably be best to start over. In my defense, the game shouldn’t allow you to use medpacks if your health is completely maxed. Just a thought. I’m probably going to speed through a new game save up to the point I was at. It sucks but it happens.

Friday night I switched it up from Friday Night Fights and had a Friday Night Flashback! I found a bunch of my PlayStation games recently and decided to play Fear Effect. I had bought the game years ago but never really had the time to play it until I dug it out of the closet. I had a pretty decent gameplay session – I died a few times, beat some bosses, and actually made it to the second disc of the game! I had a pretty good time streaming the game and am pretty excited to continue it for the next Flashback! I might put off Friday night fights for a bit to finish this title, we’ll see! 

I didn’t do any games or streaming over the weekend. My wife and I went on a nice hike through one of our fine State Forests though. We both have been on a mission to get more movement into our routine. The forest was great. We basically just hiked the trails to get a feel for the area and we also saw some deer tracks and trees that appeared to have some beaver gnaw marks on them. The forest floor was a little moist from all of the winter melt and the recent rain, so our shoes were caked with mud when we returned to our vehicle. Other than the mess it was a good time!

As far as keto/low carb goes, I’ve been working on a few products to take a look at but I do have one for this week!  I’ve been on a bit of a caffeine kick lately so unfortunately I’ve been drinking some energy drinks like Red Bull. I’m not really a huge fan of the carbonation and extra ingredients all of the time so I wanted to switch it up a bit. I like coffee and a lot of keto coffees tend to be a bit high in calories, around the 100-200 calorie range. I was looking around at my local grocery store when I eyed these KITU Super Espresso coffee drinks. These were only 35 calories and tasted pretty darn good. It has a modest ingredient list, is sweetened with monk fruit, and is 99.9% lactose free! Give it a shot if you need a low calorie, keto friendly boost! 

That’s it for Last Week! I’ll have another Last week rounded up before you know it! Stay tuned!

Keepin’ it Low Carb

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A couple of low carb (or what we thought were low carb) products.

Wow, where has the week gone? I had meant to post this earlier in the week but it seems my head was elsewhere. Anyways, I have a couple of low carb/keto products, one good one not so good, that I’d like to share my thoughts on. Let’s take a look:

Let’s get the bad out of the way first. My wife and I are pretty familiar with the Smart Sweets line of low carb candies. They’re generally safe for our low carb lifestyle and we’ve tried their fish, gummy bears, and peach rings. All of them were pretty good and when eaten in moderation caused us little or no reaction. Knowing the brand as being compatible with our lifestyle my wife picked up some of their red twist candies. Unfortunately, we kind of ignored the nutrition facts and only after we had eaten some and noticed that we felt bloated and gassy the next day we took a look at the facts. It had 28 grams of net carbs per serving, way too high to be considered compatible with our lifestyle. It was a little sad since we trusted the brand as being generally keto friendly in the past. The candies themselves were decent in flavor and texture but unfortunately the net carbs were way too high for us. We usually try to shoot for under 10 grams net per serving and this product was over double that. Sadly, that means a thumbs down for the Smart Sweets Red Twists. 

Now for the good: My wife and I were shopping one day in search of some low-carb tortillas. I think we were specifically looking for something like the Mission brand since they carry a low carb tortilla that would work with our lifestyle. We didn’t find the Mission brand, but we did find something better: EggLife egg white wraps. They definitely were a game changer. The taste and texture was strikingly close to a real flour tortilla and they would be perfect for anything from wraps to tacos. They come in a few different flavors and to top it off, they’re only around 1 gram net carbs per serving. A definite low carb winner for the week.

That’s all I’ve got to highlight for this week, next week I’ll highlight a couple more keto/low carb products that we’ve tried. Heck, maybe I’ll even get another Low Carb Happy Hour put together, who knows! I’ll be back next week with something new so stay tuned!

LCHH- Brandy Manhattan

The Brandy Manhattan is popular in Minnesota and Wisconsin, according to this website.

The Manhattan is another classic cocktail favorite of mine that many will recognize from the AMC series Mad Men. It is a rather boozy drink made with Whisky (preferably rye whisky), sweet vermouth, bitters, and garnished with a maraschino cherry. As you know, I like to keep it low-carb so I drop the garnish and substitute dry vermouth, which in turn makes it a Dry Manhattan. I also don’t have whisky available, but I do have brandy, so for this Low Carb Happy Hour I’ll be making a Minnesota/Wisconsin favorite, the Brandy Manhattan. 

2 oz. Brandy

1 oz. Dry vermouth

2-3 Ice cubes

Dash or two of Angostura bitters

Put the ice into a cocktail shaker and add a dash or two of bitters, depending on how you like your Manhattan. Add the brandy and vermouth and shake until extra chilled. Let rest to let the bubbles dissipate. Strain into a cocktail glass, preferably chilled. Enjoy!

LCHH –Tommy’s Margarita

It’s Friday again, and that means the end of another week. This week I’m feeling like unwinding with another summery drink. Margaritas are always a summer favorite and the Tommy’s Margarita is another twist on the classic recipe.

The Tommy’s Margarita is nearly the same as the classic recipe with the exception of the Triple Sec. Agave nectar replaces it in this recipe, but we’re doing a low-carb version so I substituted sucralose and a little bit of water to replace the agave syrup. 

The Agave in the recipe is meant to highlight the flavors of the tequila rather than the citrus flavors of the lime and Triple Sec. The sucralose should add the same sweetness as the agave without detracting from the flavor of the tequila. Let’s get to mixing!

My twist on a Tommy’s Margarita

• Juice of one small lime (about 1-1 ½ ounces)
• 2 oz Tequila (I used Teremana)
• 1-2 teaspoon sweetener to taste
• ½ oz water (to make up for lost volume of agave nectar)
• 2-3 ice cubes

Put the juice, tequila, sweetener and ice in a shaker and shake well for about 10 seconds. Let rest then pour or strain into your drinking vessel of choice. Enjoy!

Low Carb Happy Hour

A Low-carb Sidecar cocktail

It’s summer and after a long week of work (or work from home) it’s nice to sit down and relax with a seasonal cocktail. I practice a Low Carb/Keto lifestyle and while most hard liquor is low or zero carb, a lot of liqueurs and mixers such as Triple Sec or sour mixer are a little on the carby side. Luckily, I had a copy of The Low Carb Bartender, so I had a little bit of knowledge on how to make my own low-carb mixers and liqueurs. But, the book was published a while ago, and I wondered if the Liquor Quik flavor essences were even still available. Lo and behold, they are still available from Amazon. I was pretty excited to finally be able to make a low-carb version of my favorite summer cocktail, the Sidecar. 

The sidecar has unclear origins, but it is commonly thought to have been invented at the end of WWI in either London or Paris, with the popular Ritz Hotel of Paris claiming the origin of the drink. The drink’s name, quite obviously, is derived from the motorcycle attachment, which was commonly used during that era. 

There are a few ways to make the Sidecar, but I opt for what is known as the “English School,” which is 2 parts Cognac or brandy, 1 part Triple Sec, and 1 part lemon juice. 

Now, “How do I make low-carb Triple Sec?” you may ask. Fortunately, it’s pretty simple to do. I grabbed a ½ gallon Mason jar to mix everything up in, a 750mL bottle of vodka (I used Tito’s), some sucralose, and a bottle of Liquor Quik triple sec flavor essence. I followed the instructions on the bottle and used ⅞ cup of sucralose.  I combined the ingredients in the jar and gave it a good shake. After everything was well mixed, I returned the finished product into the original bottle — there was about an ounce left over, so I decided to make myself a sidecar!

Here’s how to make a Sidecar:

2-3 ice cubes

2 oz Cognac or Brandy

1 oz low-carb Triple Sec

1 oz lemon juice (about ½ large lemon)

Add the ice, brandy, triple sec, and lemon juice into a cocktail shaker and shake well for about ten seconds. Let it rest briefly before straining into a cocktail glass or your drinking vessel of choice. Sit back and enjoy!