Sugar-Free Cheesecake

Recipe Ingredients:

4 (8oz) packages of cream cheese (full fat)

1 cup of sour cream

2 eggs

2 cups of stevia (or comparable sweetner)

1/3 cup of half and half*

1 tsp of vanilla extract

Maple Syrup and Pecan Topping:

1/2 cup of sugar free maple syrup*

1/2 cup of chopped pecans*

* I used more syrup and pecans than stated in this recipe. It’s really to your liking. Heavy cream can be used instead of half & half to be keto friendly.

Recipe Instructions:

  1. Add room temperature, softened cream cheese and eggs in a mixing bowl.
  2. Next add sour cream, vanilla extract, and half & half and continue blending.
  3. Sift in stevia slowly to prevent clumping.
  4. Mix on high speed for three minutes or until smooth.
  5. Pour batter into a 9″ springform pan and bake at 350 degrees.
  6. Bake uncovered for 50 – 60 mins. The cheesecake is done when lightly browned and the center is soft.
  7. Let cool, then place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
  8. When ready to serve, drizzle a generous amount of sugar free syrup and pecans.

 

 

Jalapeno Poppers

This is one of our all time favorite snacks (turned meals) in our house!

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes (at 425 degree oven)

Ingredients:

2 (8oz) packages of full fat cream cheese

4 toes of fresh garlic

1/2 cup of shredded cheedar cheese (1/4 block)***

12 large jalapeno peppers

1 lb of defrosted bacon

Combine room temperature cream cheese and garlic in a bowl. Then add shredded cheese.

Cream Cheese Mix

Then deseed (if this is even a word) the peppers. Pre-cook the bacon and cut it into small strips. Next, stuff peppers with the cream cheese mixture.

Before

Cook in pre-heated oven for 20 minutes or until peppers are soft and bacon is cooked thoroughly.

Yum!!

**** Due to cellulose being added to pre-shredded cheese as an anti-caking agent, it is a healthier alternative to purchase block cheese and shred it yourself. Another anti-caking agent is potato starch. This is something that can easily be avoided for the keto lifestyle.

 

 

 

On Becoming GiGi

 

Never in a million years did I believe that I was going to become a Grandmother at the age of 42! I would have told people that they are crazy. My oldest child said, all of the time I might add, “I’m never getting married or having kids.” My reply was always the same, “You may fall in love one day and change your mind.”

Ashleigh is very intelligent and beautiful. When it comes to the opposite sex, she was mean to all those that looked like a boy and smelled like a boy. We used to correct her and inform her that she was “never going to get a boyfriend if she continued to be mean.” Then one day, I decided, I did not have to worry about her having a serious boyfriend if she continued to treat boys this way. If I just kept my mouth shut, she would solve the boyfriend issue on her own.

This is how I got through the dating timeframe with my oldest child. I guess you could say that I took a shortcut of sorts. It really was the easiest thing to do. With dances and Prom in the near future, I did not have to worry about Ashleigh having a date. Now don’t get me wrong, she was attractive and plenty of boys were interested, again it was the meaness.

During her senior year, she met someone that did not know of her “way”. He was smitten and she was too. It did not take long for the two to fall in love and decide to get married. She graduated a semester early and knowing my head-strong daughter, if I told her she could not get married, she would have ran off and done it anyway.

I wanted to be involved and be present. She had a small ceremony and reception. The reception was put together in three days because her original plans to marry in Cate Square Park were ruined with rain in the forecast.

A couple of weeks before the Wedding, I was told about her pregnancy. This was a little harder to take in. I am very thankful for this blessing, but knew this would change her world forever. If the marriage didn’t work out, then it didn’t. However all of our lives would change with Baby Escobar’s arrival into the world.

Even though I am a nurse, I cannot say that I have any experience with labor, and especially delivery. I was a cardiac nurse. There were no vaginal deliveries during my L&D rotation in nursing school. When Ashleigh was little, I was going to witness my niece being born vaginally. We got to the hospital in the middle of the night. In the morning, Ashleigh’s dad brought her to the hospital where we waited for hours. Ashleigh wanted ice cream so we went to the cafeteria to get some and in the few minutes we were gone, Elizabeth was born. I was so mad!

Fast forward 16ish years, Ashleigh wanted me at Alexander’s birth and I was determined to be there. When her mucus plug passed, I wasn’t sure that is what happened especially since there was no blood. We had to look it up on Dr. Google. Most people that commented on the posts I read said that they went into labor about a week after passing their plug. Like clock work, Ashleigh called me on my lunch break upset that she was beginning to spot. I calmly told her to go to the ER. She was almost hysterical, but again calmly, I stated, “Go to the ER.”

The panic set in once I hung up the phone. I realized that I needed to get her. I did not want to cancel my class so I gave directions to one of my students on what was to be completed the rest of the afternoon. When I got there, she said she felt like she kept peeing on herself. Oh, her water broke, but was just a trickle. I think we were in denial that this could be it because she was only 36 weeks pregnant. However, little man had his own plans.

We were halfway to the hospital when I realized that we were not counting contractions! They were five minutes apart, but not very painful at that time. Ashleigh just said, “They feel different from Braxton Hicks contractions.” When we were put in the observation room, the nurse checked to see if she was dilated. She was two centimeters and 70% effaced. “Oh” was my only thought at that point. I was still in denial that today was the day.

We were only in observation for 30 minutes when we were transferred to a delivery suite. I had to finally ask, “Are we in active labor?” The nurse said, “Oh, yes, today is the day.” I could not believe I heard those words. Yikes. I started texting everyone to head to the hospital.

Three hours later, I insisted that she get checked again. She was 6 centimeters. I have heard of people being in labor for days with their first child. I could not believe how fast this was happening. However, it broke my heart to see my baby in such pain and I could not doing anything about it. They finally inserted her Epidural, but it failed. Only one side was numb, they had to redo it and give her stronger medicine. The second med did the trick and luckily did not slow down the labor.

Still in denial that I was becoming a grandma, I got the word that she was 10 centimeters and ready to push. It was time for me to go back in there and experience this miracle God created. She was doing great, but Alexander’s heart rate was declining during contractions. I was surprised that I remembered what decelerations were (always afraid that I would not notice them) and worried that she might have to have a c-section.

I got in the room ready to assist in any way I could. I was on one side and Julio was on the other. We were encouraging her to push and push well to get him out. It took quite a few pushes, but he was emerging. Then I started to feel funny and let go of her leg and took a step back. I was trying not to pass out. Something that has been wrong with me was taking over my body at that most precious moment! I had no control. I could hear Ashleigh say, “Oh my God, mom! Help her!” She was panicking and I could not help! I could hear her, but something was keeping me from my daughter!!! I have always been there for her when she needed me and I couldn’t help! The only sensation I felt was a burning feeling to my left elbow.

One of the nurses helped me come to. I had no idea what had happened, nor did I fully realize where I was. Ashleigh was still pushing and I shouted, “It’s ok, mommy is alright. Keep pushing, do not worry about me!” I was still on the floor of the delivery room and was trying to get up. I was afraid to fall again. And of course, a vasovagal response kicked in. Yup, you guessed it, while I was in the bathroom, my grandson was born. I was so upset when I heard his cry because I knew he was born without me there!

Mommyandbaby

Nurseteachermomma

I’m a nurse and have been for 14 years, I’ve been a teacher for 6 years (wow, that was fast), and I’ve been a mom for 18 years. Many years before that, I was known as themusicalnurse because I played flute and piccolo from grade 5 until I was in my twenties.  So how does one become known as a nurseteachermomma?

I can definitely tell you that I had nothing to do with developing that name. I have to give credit to my middle daughter, Loni. When she was in pre-K they were having a Career Day parade. The children were supposed to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up. At that time, my sweet, innocent Loni, wanted to be just like her momma. She loved me so much back then, I was her world. (Fast forward a couple of years and she became a daddy’s girl.  She has a really great daddy, so who can blame her?)

When I asked what she wanted to be, she replied, “A Nurseteachermomma.” Of course I teared up and was in awe of this little human wanting to be like me. I wasn’t used to this. When I was trying to come up with my brand to share all of the health/wellness information that I am learning, I struggled with trying to figure out what I should be. A couple of weeks ago, I was telling a friend this pre-K story and a light bulb went off. I realized I already had my name, brand, etc.

So this cutie started the name:

Pre-K Career Day Parade

Here is the brand, I am proud to call my own:

This blog will include health, wellness, medical, nursing, mommy business, entrepreneurship, lifestyle, travel, etc. Enjoy!

About Me

I am a married mother of three girls and a NOLA girl at heart. NOLA stands for New Orleans, Louisiana. I always thought I would remain there and even move into the Big Easy one day. Life happens and it is never the way we thought it would be.

I married my husband in March 2005. We had everything going for us. He was an auditor for a large bank and I was a cardiac nurse at Touro Infirmary. My husband accepted my five year old daughter as his own and we had our first child on the way. We were getting settled into our new life, dealing with co-domiciliary status with my ex, and preparing to become a family of four.

August 27th was just like any other Friday. I took Ashleigh to daycare (school would start Monday) and went to work. Later that evening, we went to a book signing at Barnes and Nobles, grabbed pizza on the way home, and went to bed early. We were not as attached to our phones back then so we missed the call from my sister-in-law telling us that Hurricane Katrina was headed our way. I just heard on the news earlier that night that Hurricane Katrina was going to hit Florida again as a category 1 Hurricane. I dismissed it as baby storm; not one that was going to change our lives forever.

Saturday morning, I woke up early and saw the answering machine blinking. I left to put gas in both cars while Ashleigh and Skip slept, washed clothes, and then began packing. I had no idea what to pack. We never evacuated for a Hurricane or Tropical Storm before. Sure we bought all of life’s necessities (batteries, water, bread, snacks, etc.), but we did not pack suitcases full of clothes. I grabbed maybe five days worth of clothes for everyone, all of the baby gadgets, and baby clothes. I didn’t pack treasured items or pictures. We all thought we would be back home in a few days.

We were fortunate enough to have somewhere to evacuate that was FREE. My in-laws lived in the country about an hour away from the city. We had a generator, a lot of food, and plenty of room. What was supposed to be a few days at most, turned into 14 months of living in a new life. Culture shock anyone? I went from driving 20 mins to be in downtown New Orleans to the country. We sat down to eat dinner, looked out the window, and you would see cows. Beautiful scenery, but cows. I didn’t do cows and guess what? They do not moo, they grunt!

We had no electricity. Ashleigh and I became dehydrated after a couple of days. We kept drinking, but August in Southeast Louisiana and no air conditioner is not a good thing. I started to have contractions and Skip and I decided that we needed to get to a place with electricity or our baby was coming 3 months early. The Lee’s came to the rescue! Skip, Ashleigh, and I went to Baton Rouge for a few days. A hot shower and some air conditioner makes the world a better place.

Now we joke that we barely remember our first year of marriage, but I can tell you that I remember before that late August weekend. Then life picks up after Loni turned one and we moved into our house.

This post was supposed to be about me, not how I moved to a little town. I guess I needed to let this out. I have had several nursing jobs through the years. Now I teach Medical Assistants, CNA, and billing/coding students along with my side gig too.