Low Carb Chicken Enchiladas S Meal

Tonight I spoke with the Russian producer of

Children of the State. 

He told me he would like to have a film crew tape the arrival

of Natasha's birthday gifts this year so he can hopefully 

include it in the launch of the American showing of 

Children of the State. 

I have had my hopes dashed so many times thinking the 

film would actually be seen in the US so I am really not sure what

to expect this time. Here's hoping it will actually be launched this year

and to seeing my sweet girl get her birthday gifts.

Here she is last year getting the doll I sent her.

I will keep you all posted as soon as I hear anything.

Now back to my eating plan. 

So far I have been doing really well with staying on plan. 

We were even gone all day yesterday and I managed to not cheat. 

Tonight's dinner was especially yummy and easy to make

so I figured I would share it with all of you. 

Chicken Enchiladas 

THM S Meal

Pictured below is all you need to make a super yummy S meal 

that your family will love. 

According to Myfitnesspal the carbs on this meal are 11 grams but I 

just push a few of the beans to the side and call it good.

If you just don't want to chance that extra carb go ahead
and leave the black beans out.

Most likely you will only get 10 enchiladas instead of 12
but you won't have to stress that you went over the
THM 10 carb rule. 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/80290805834181903/

2  cans 12.5 oz chicken breast

1 can 15 oz black beans

1 can 4 oz chiles

1 can 29 oz enchilada sauce

12 carb balance tortillas

3 cups Mexican Style Blend Cheese

optional-not pictures  1 or 2 cans 2.25 oz sliced black olives

I like the flavor of the enchilada sauce to soak into my chicken 

so I open and drain the chicken and place it in the crockpot. 

If you don't have a great crockpot I highly recommend this one. 

Mine is the older model but I love that it is programmable and 

has a locking lid so I don't spill food all over my car

when I take my yummy food to church events or family gatherings. 

One year I spilled BBQ Beef all over the back of the car

before getting a crockpot with a locking lid. 

It was a nightmare to get the BBQ sauce out of the car carpet. 

Remember that any purchase made through my affiliate links go 

towards helping Prudence find her forever family. 

After I put the chicken in the crockpot I 

pour in about 1 cup of the enchilada sauce, the green chiles

and the black beans (drained and rinsed). 

I let this cook in the crockpot on warm for 3 hours. 

You do not have to do this. 

You could just pour all the indigence in a pan and warm it up for a few minutes

or you could even just mix it all together and leave it cold until you 

cook it in the tortillas. 

I also only use 2 or 3 low carb tortillas because my family is mostly

really thin people who don't need to eat my really expensive low carb tortillas. 

I make 2 or 3 low carb ones for me to use as left overs for lunch

during the week. 

While the chicken is warming up I pour just enough of the 

enchilada sauce on the bottom of a 8x8 pan and a 9x13 pan. 

I then use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out the meat mixture 

and spread it in the tortilla. 

Then I roll up the tortilla and stick in in the pan. 

When all the tortillas are rolled and in the pan I pour

the rest of the enchilada sauce over them 

and sprinkle on the 3 cups of cheese. 

Next I drain the olives and sprinkle them on some of the tortillas. 

Not everyone in my family likes olives so I leave a few olive free. 

I preheat the oven to 350 and bake for about 20 minutes 

so the cheese is bubbly. 

Tonight I made some yummy guacamole to put on top of my enchiladas. 

Tweaking recipes that my family already likes to be low carb for me are my favorite recipes. 

I hope this meal is helpful for your family as you work toward 

your healthy eating habits and your happy pant's size. 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 12.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 296
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 9 g	14 %
Saturated Fat 5 g	23 %
Monounsaturated Fat 1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 47 mg	16 %
Sodium 1052 mg	44 %
Potassium 128 mg	4 %
Total Carbohydrate 16 g	5 %
Dietary Fiber 4 g	18 %
Sugars 2 g
Protein 16 g	31 %
Vitamin A	8 %
Vitamin C	10 %
Calcium	19 %
Iron	6 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

THM Sweetened Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal for 2

I love being on the THM eating plan but I have

 a hard time finding E breakfast that I like. 

So I am really excited to share one of my 

favorite breakfast that is also an E meal (meaning higher in carbs and lower in fats).

I don't know how to add the pin link so here is the link below
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/80290805834171052/

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal 

2 servings

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

1/2 cup Red Mill Steel Cut Oats

2 Tsp Ground Sweet Blend

1 pinch Sea Salt

1 Tsp Kirkland Ground Saigon Cinnamon 

1 peeled and sliced Gala apple

Fill pot with water, almond milk, sweet blend, cinnamon, salt and steal cut oats
and bring to a boil.


I only like the sweet blend when it is ground up so I purchased
a little coffee grinder and keep my sweet blend ground in an airtight container.
I do use gentle sweet in other recipes as it is already ground for you
but it has an ingredient in it that is very dangerous for animals so I try hard to
only use it in recipes that I think have an aftertaste when using sweet blend.
I think this recipes taste fine with sweet blend as long as I grind it first.

I provided a link below if you want to order one from Amazon.
Remember any purchased made through my Amazon or THM links
earn me a small percentage that will be donated to Prudence adoption account.

Peal and slice the apple.
I like to use my handy dandy Apple Peeler Corer.
I provided a link below if you want to order one from Amazon.
Remember any purchased made through my Amazon or THM links
earn me a small percentage that will be donated to Prudence adoption account.

Put the chunked up apple slices in the boiling pot. Reduce the heat to simmer

and cover with a lid for about 15 minutes. 

Stir every 5 minutes or so.

Remove lid and let simmer for about 5 more minutes. 

Oatmeal is not an exact science because some people like their's runnier 

or firmer than others. 

So you might have to experiment with the amount of water and 

cook time to get the texture to be what you prefer. 

My daughter and I love this oatmeal and we hope you enjoy it too. 

Below is the nutrient facts according to Myfitnesspal.
This is a great E breakfast that keeps you full.
Have a wonderful day!

Nutrition Facts
Servings 2.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 221
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 4 g	6 %
Saturated Fat 1 g	3 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 166 mg	7 %
Potassium 66 mg	2 %
Total Carbohydrate 48 g	16 %
Dietary Fiber 8 g	32 %
Sugars 9 g
Protein 8 g	15 %
Vitamin A	3 %
Vitamin C	6 %
Calcium	14 %
Iron	11 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Here is an adorable photo of my girl on Knowledge Day. 

This photo is provided by the orphanage's FB page. 

I love being able to see her grow up and 

seeing all the wonderful activities they provide for her. 

For those new to my blog who don't know our story you can 

read more about it in an article I wrote for 

The Moscow Times.

Helping Orphans and Eating Healthy

In my attempt to try to heal from our failed adoption I have 

decided to start blogging again. 

But now in hopes of honoring Natasha's name and the journey we have been on

my blog will mostly be dedicated to helping other orphans

find families, helping families bring orphans home, helping orphans stay in their

first families and helping organizations that help children with 

disabilities. 

The way I plan on doing this is by sharing my weight loss and healthy eating journey with 

all of you. Anytime you purchase something from my affiliate links the money will be donated to

one of the above causes. 

Right now the money will go to help Prudence find a forever family and

help with the cost of her adoption. 

In the blog header you see the photo of me at a weight that is more 

than I even weighed at 9 months pregnant.  I was 

usually so sick the first 6 months of pregnancy I lost weight instead of gaining it. 

So when I came home from having my almost 9 pound babies I would 

actually weigh less than I did before getting pregnant. 

Nursing always seemed to put my weight back on but I never

got up to more than my original 140 pounds since getting married. 

I am 5 feet 2 inches tall so even weighing 140 pounds I felt fat

but I had no idea that I would ever weigh 180 pounds. 

Unfortunately after losing a baby at 6 months pregnant, going through 

an extremely difficult foster care adoption and then having a failed Russian 

adoption that is where I found myself and I felt devastated that I let myself get that unhealthy. 

As a P.S. I weighed 165 when we were in Russia meeting Natasha. 

(The photo above)

I ended up gaining 15 pounds over the next year after the adoption ban happened. 

 On July 19, 2014, two years after meeting Natasha and at a current weight of 180 pounds

I decided I needed to make a HUGE change and fight to get my health back. 

I was so depressed and had no energy. 

My addiction to sugar was OUT OF CONTROL. 

I happened upon a FB post about Trim Healthy Mamas (link to my affiliate account)

and I decided to give it a try. 

The first four months were FANTASTIC.

I lost 20 pounds, no longer craved sweets or carbs and was feeling wonderful. 

Then December 2014 came. 

I don't do well in December because that is the ban anniversary and Natasha's birthday. 

So like I normally do, I sat and eat my feelings. 

And between December 2014 and now I gained 13 pounds back. 

Last week I decided enough is enough. 

I know how to take the weight off. 

I know how I feel when I am not fueling my body with junk. 

So here we are and since Tuesday (today is Friday) I have lost 3 pounds. 

This blog will help me stay accountable coming into my most difficult month

and to top it off I will most likely be having my uterus removed next month. 

I am going to prove to myself that I can eat right and be healthy 

and fight for orphans all at the same time. 

If I can do it SO CAN YOU!!!!

Come along and join me by Helping Orphans and Eating Healthy. 

If you don't know about our failed adoption story and all we 

are doing to try to get Natasha home this article I wrote for 

The Moscow Times is probably the best one to read even though

there are many others. 

Now for the part most of you have been waiting for......

Today's lunch was a S meal. 

I made myself fried chicken and a large salad. 

I will work on my photo and food blogging skills but for

now this will have to do. 

For the fried chicken I used

THM Baking Blend. 

I am in LOVE with THM Baking Blend. 

If you purchase nothing else from them I would highly recommend

you at least get this product. 

I do have a link Here you can use to make your own low-carb flour

but I have found Almond Flour to be very expensive and it is just 

easier to get this premixed stuff. 

Ok, back to my fried chicken recipe.

If you want to call it that. 

I will work on getting you a better recipe because I know 

a lot of people don't like to hear use the word sprinkle in a recipe. 

I used 1/4 cup Baking Blend

2 TBSP Dried Grated Parmesan Cheese

a couple shakes of Dill Weed

a couple shakes of Rosemary

a couple shakes of Oregano

and a pinch of Red Pepper Flakes

Mix together really well and set aside. 

Pour just enough olive olive in the bottom of the pan 

to cover it. 

Turn heat on high. 

I purchased thin chicken breast. 

I have a thing about thick chicken breast and I don't feel like pounding on it

so I purchased it thin. 

Take one egg and beat it well. 

Place the chicken in the egg and turn over. 

Then place the chicken in the flour mixture and coat well. 

Put the chicken in hot oil fry pan for about 3-4 minutes on each side. 

I had a lot of left over egg mixture and batter so I probably 

could have made 2 more chicken breast with this mixture. 

For the salad I just throw together whatever veggies I had in my fridge. 

I like snap peas, cocktail cucumbers, grape tomatoes, 

red bell pepper, avocado and a lettuce mix. 

You can make your salad however you want but you need

to stay away from high carb veggies. Snap peas and tomatoes are

a higher carb veggie and I usually only put in small amounts. 

For my dressing I used ranch dip. 

If I make my own ranch dip it doesn't have sugar added like ranch dressing. 

I then dip my salad in my dressing instead of pouring it all over. 

I hate when my avocado turns brown so pictured below is the 

best way I have found for keeping it green. 

I cut it in half and then in fourths. 

I use one forth each time but leave the skin part

to put the avocado back together. 

Then I wrap it all tightly in plastic wrap. 

To finish off my lunch I had what I call a cheat. 

I have been really good about not eating sugar but there are some things I just have to have. 

So I compromise. 

I took 1 TBSP Nestle's Dark Chocolate Chips and melted them for about 15 seconds

in the microwave. 

I then added about 1/4 cup mixed Omega Nuts I purchased from Costco. 

You can use any nuts but I suggest you not use ones that have added salt. 

I mixed this all together and stuck it in the fridge while I ate my lunch. 

When I was done I had a wonderful yummy dessert that 

I liked and didn't feel the need for a Snickers bar. 

I have tried to make THM skinny chocolate and gag each time

I make it. 

I have tried about 10 different recipes and hated each 

and everyone one. 

So I figure that 8 grams of carbs and 6 grams of sugar was not 

going to kill my eating plan. 

But sneaking off to the store to get a Snickers bar just might. 

Anyway, I look forward to eating healthy with all of you and 

helping out the orphans in the process.