Dinner out

Los Angeles

Posted by Lisa Eirene

Thanks for reading my Hawaii recaps! I enjoyed writing them and sharing pictures of our adventures and it’s nice to look back and relive it a little bit. Especially in rainy Oregon….:)

We got back from Hawaii and then two weeks later, we were back at the airport! (We booked Hawaii a year ago and then a few months ago, one of Michael’s favorite bands reunited after like 20 years for just a few shows, so my parents babysat Logan for a long weekend and Michael and I flew to LA!)

It was a quick trip. And busy. PDX is usually a great airport to fly out of. We got there early, got through security quickly and had a leisurely breakfast and then boarded our flight…only for it to be cancelled. I’ve never had something like this really happen before and it was stressful. (When I was 18 and about to fly home from London, our flight got cancelled –before we got to the airport–that it was cancelled due to weather in the states so we actually got 2 extra days in London!)

Anyways…PDX…so like we sat on the plane for over an hour while they tried to fix the technical issues (YIKES!) and then let people off the plane temporarily, which turned into a full-on cancellation.

Michael was super stressed because he had tickets to the concert for Thursday and Friday night and if we didn’t get to LA, he’d miss it. We got another flight to San Francisco and then to LA. It was SUCH a long day. ๐Ÿ™

We arrived at LAX (three or so hours later than planned), got our rental car and I drove Michael to Hollywood and dropped him off (it took an HOUR to drive 11 miles, and that was taking all the backstreets!).

Then I drove back to the airport where our hotel was. We stayed at the H Hotel near the airport because our flight home was going to be SO early. I stopped at a Ralph’s and got a salad, a bottle of rose and some yogurt and ate dinner in the room (and I MIGHT have gotten a Krispy Kreme donut too) and crashed.

Friday I got up and worked out in the hotel gym, which was really nice! I did the elliptical and some weights while Michael slept in (he got in late from the show).

Then showered and we got breakfast at Hash . It was really delicious!

Then we went to Marina del Ray. We were in Los Angeles a bunch of years ago and never made it there. So I wanted to check it out. We went to Burton Chace Park and walked around and saw a TON of sea lions!

I posted some videos on my instagram if you want to see. There were so many!

We walked around and then went to Venice Beach and walked around there, did some shopping and sight seeing before heading back to the hotel (with a quick stop at In-n-Out for lunch!).

Everywhere in LA there were Kobe Bryant tributes, too. I saw a bunch being painted as I drove by them, too.

There was a ton of art all around Venice, which is cool. Venice Beach is fun. I could have spent more time there.

Friday night I dropped Michael off at the second show in Hollywood again and I stopped by The Grove to check it out. It’s basically an outdoor mall that kind of reminded me of Caesar’s Palace shopping in Vegas.

For dinner Friday night I drove to Santa Monica and ended up walking around the Promenade a bit and then had dinner at The Misfit. The Misfit turned out to be the restaurant Michael and I went to last time we were there! I just kinda stumbled upon it. It was good.

I got two appetizers: the crispy brussels sprouts and the mussels with sourdough and chorizo sausage in a tomato and fennel broth. It was all very delicious!

After walking around some more I went back to the hotel and fell dead asleep again!

Belated

Posted by Lisa Eirene

We had a nice weekend! The sun was actually out, it was a little chilly but not raining so that was nice. On Saturday we went to OMSI to see the Pixar exhibit, which totally BLEW Logan’s mind. ๐Ÿ˜€ He was ecstatic to see all his favorites in real life! We met up with friends at OMSI, too, so that was cool. Their daughter is a bit older but it was fun for Logan to have a buddy. ๐Ÿ˜‰

And then we all went out to dinner after that at Produce Row. Thankfully I was able to find something on the diet to order. A salad with steak, hard boiled eggs, cheese, bacon and blue cheese:

Then onย Sunday friends came over for dinner for a very belated birthday dinner. We were supposed to celebrate our birthdays (they are a few weeks apart) back in late January but I got the flu and we had to reschedule.

Since I’m now doing the keto diet, I had to modify the menu I was going to make (which also meant I wasn’t making sourdough bread). Kind of a bummer on the bread, but I appreciated that my friends were understanding. ๐Ÿ™‚ I’ll get back to making the bread soon!

This is the recipe I made for dinner:

I did not add honey to the recipe, because that would not be keto. And honestly, it didn’t need it! Also, I used coconut aminos instead of soy sauce to make it keto. So the recipe was pretty simple. I did the stovetop instructions. I didn’t have yellow curry paste but I had green curry paste and actually preferred it. It was so tasty! Loved the green curry paste.

The one issue I had with the recipe was that it claimed to make 6 servings and there is no way the ingredients as it stands made 6 servings. After I shredded the chicken, I realized quickly that there was not enough fluid to make soup for 4 adults. I ended up adding about 1 cup of chicken broth to the pot and a mini can of coconut milk (and then added 1 more teaspoon of the curry paste). This was the perfect amount of fluid to make the soup.

But it only made 4 servings. So FYI.

But despite the misleading servings size, the soup was absolutely delicious. It was creamy and decadent and so flavorful. It was filling and really really good. I would definitely make this recipe again. It was super easy and pretty quick to make.ย We had a kale salad along with the curry soup.

My friend Star wanted to make dessert so she did this keto recipe:

Keto Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 6ย ouncesย sliced almondsย about 1 1/3 cup
  • 3ย tablespoonsย low carb sweetener
  • 1/2ย teaspoonย ground cinnamonย optional
  • 5ย tablespoonsย salted butterย melted

Filling:

  • 32ย ouncesย cream cheeseย softened (4 blocks)
  • 3/4ย cupย low carb sweetenerย more or less to taste
  • 3ย largeย eggsย at room temperature
  • 2ย teaspoonsย vanilla extract
  • 1ย teaspoonย lemon extractย optional
  • 16ย ouncesย sour creamย at room temperature

Instructions

Crust:

  • Place sliced almonds in food processor and process with cutting blade until a finely ground.
  • Pulse in 6-9 stevia extract packets and cinnamon (if using).
  • Stir in melted butter.
  • Press into bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Set aside
  • Filling:
  • Beat cream cheese on low speed until light and fluffy.
  • Add 24-36 stevia extract packets to desired sweetness. Beat on low to mix in.
  • Add each egg, one at a time, beating on low after each addition.
  • Mix in extracts, then beat in sour cream on low speed until incorporated.
  • Spread cream cheese mixture over crust.

Cooking:

  • Bake at 300ยฐF for an hour. If top has browned, turn oven off. If not yet browned, cook until browned then turn off oven.
  • Leave cheesecake in oven with door ajar for an hour. Then, remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
  • Chill at least 24 hours before serving.

Notes

Sweetener amounts used are minimum. Those just getting started on keto may want to up the amount to the max noted.

A one-for-one sugar replacement granularย low carb sweetenerย can be used in place of the packets. Here’s the conversions:

  • 6 packets is 1/4 cup sugar equivalent
  • 24 packets is 1 cup sugar equivalent

Tips to prevent the cheesecake from cracking from comments:

  • Make sure all the ingredients are room temperature.
  • Donโ€™t over mix! Over-mixing will cause the top to crack.
  • Bake for an hour. Then turn oven off and let it cool in the oven for 4-5 hours then remove and allow to finish cooling at room temperature.
  • Use a pan of water in the oven to make it steamy while preheating and keep it in the oven during baking.
Nutrition Facts:
Amount Per Serving (1 slice)
Caloriesย 356
Total Fatย 34g
Total Carbohydratesย 5gย 
Dietary Fiber 1g
Sugars 3g
Proteinย 7g

I really appreciated that Star offered to make dessert and made a keto cheesecake from scratch! The crust was really good! It was made out of almonds. It was a unique way to make a keto-friendly crust. It was a nice treat being able to have cheesecake on the diet.

So there ya have it, two good keto recipes!