A new baby, a new year, and recipes for new habits
A new baby, a new year, and recipes for new habits
Also, send me your thoughts
Hello and a belated happy new year! I hope your holiday season was merry and relaxing.
It has been a while! I’m currently writing this with our three-week-old baby girl snuggled on my chest. We welcomed our sweet Matilda right on her due date, exactly a week before Christmas Eve, and she was the highlight of our holiday season (and really, 2023 as a whole), which I shared a bit about over on Instagram.
We call her Millie except for my seven-year-old daughter who often says “Lily” on accident and somehow keeps forgetting her new sister’s name… Other nicknames include Baby, Honey, Mills and Millie-Nilly so I get where there might be some confusion. ;)
She is simply perfect and we’re all obsessed and competing for newborn snuggles (as Mom and the supplier of food, I’m naturally in the lead).
A fresh fruit salad for winter
December was honestly a month of indulgences- so many treats, too much takeout/ freezer meals, and very little cooking for me. I’m slowly easing back into thinking about recipes and plan on having some new ones for you soon on Stem and Spoon.
Meanwhile, I shared this recipe for a low-carb fruit salad last month on the blog. Have you tried it? I’m thinking it’s a great recipe for January, especially if you’ve kicked off the start of the year craving dishes that are a little lighter.
I adapted this recipe from NYT Cooking’s Savory Fruit Salad and put a low-carb spin on it by using powdered monk fruit sweetener for the dressing. It’s great for breakfast, served over cottage cheese, Greek yogurt or alongside this warm chia pudding, but it also makes a lovely dessert or snack all on its own.
A few tips that are extra important for recipe success:
Ripe fruit: Make sure you’re using perfectly ripe fruit. Juicy cantaloupe (a low-carb fruit!) creates the base for the fruit salad so choosing a ripe melon is key.
About the sweetener: Sweeten to taste and feel free to use your favorite low-carb sweetener of choice. Liquid allulose, stevia drops or monk fruit drops are good options. If you are okay with honey or agave, feel free to sub those in. My keto simple syrup will also work for this!
About the salt: Don’t skip it! Salt + cantaloupe is truly a delicious combination and the salt also helps bring out all of the other flavors going on. Just don’t go overboard…
Braised Chuck Roast for Sunday dinner?
I recently updated my low-carb braised beef recipe with new photos, a new title and a few improvements, which you can now find here: Red Wine Braised Chuck Roast.
It’s a wonderful cold-weather dish that’s hearty, flavor-packed and simple to prep. And honestly, this recipe is a great one for a number of different beef cuts (I have a friend who has used it for game meat too).
Prefer to skip the wine? No problem. Use extra beef broth/stock or substitute the wine with a 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar.
Recipe Highlights
Whether you’ve been around here for a while or you’re brand new to my website and email list, I figured the start of the year would be a great time to share some of the most-loved recipes from 2023 as well as a few roundups that might come in handy.
I know January is often a time when people hit reset and work toward developing new healthy eating and healthy lifestyle habits. If that’s you, I hope these resources make that transition a little easier!
15 Low Carb and Low Sugar Drinks at Starbucks (This post shares 15 different low-carb drinks you can order, plus exact instructions on how to order them.)
And here are the top five most-loved recipes from the past year!
If you had a favorite, I’d love to hear. :) And as always, recipe reviews and comments that you leave on the blog are soooo appreciated! Not only are they helpful for myself and other readers, but they also work Google magic and help my recipes get in front of more people too.
Please share
Every year, I take time to plan out the recipes for the blog and I always love feedback from you! This year, I’m also working to make the newsletter a bit different and brainstorming how that might be possible. I have a few ideas I’m still considering but I’d love to hear your thoughts/questions/requests when it comes to low-carb and keto eating in general. A few questions I have:
What are some types of recipes you’d like to see more of?
What would help you out as you cook/bake/meal plan for yourself or your family?
Where are you struggling with the most when it comes to low-carb eating?
Anything else? Feel free to email me if you’d like to share! I’d very much love to use your feedback to help shape the content and my overall goals for the blog and newsletter in 2024 to make them both a resource that serves you in the best way possible.
I hope to hear from you! Cheers to the new year and all the deliciousness ahead.
Abby