Confession: I am a stress eater and have been battling weight all my life. I was bullied (the old-fashioned face-to-face school playground way) back in the day. First diet? Third grade, when I lost 25 pounds. Did it last? Ha! God bless cashews, chocolate, bagels with cream cheese, pizza…
I have been up and down all my life. My father was a doctor, exercise guy, and marathon runner. I know most of the rights and wrongs of diet and exercise to get and stay healthy. Atkins. Weight Watchers. Running. Lifting. I did many useful rounds of P90X and others. But eventually, it creeps. Nothing unique in that.
But as the mortality clock seems to run faster and the number of grandkids grows, I decided to go (hopefully) one last time down the health trail. Time to eat right and exercise.
Last year, I focused on the one eating thing I knew had worked for me—lower carbs. Not calories. I eat, but limit, high-density caloric foods like nuts and cheese–both are staples for my tastebuds. Not full-on Keto—although the recipes are really pretty good. I'd rather change my “Way of life” than participate in “fad” diets.
I am down significantly year-over-year and maintaining by avoiding/substituting sugar and flour as much as possible—although “just a few more pounds” keeps me motivated.
For exercise, I am mindful of my age and sore P90X joints. I have moved to boxing. Lots of shadow boxing and some heavy bag. Boxing weight routines for strength. I use YouTube videos from Nate Bower Fitness. Free and tons of them. I find boxing clears my mind for writing.
So, in the spirit of the new year and in keeping with low carbs, I present the typical low-carb recipe for bagels I stole from the web—minus some of my little changes.
Bagels
Ingredients
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
2 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 tablespoon coconut flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 large egg
1 large egg white, beaten until it triples in volume
1/2 or 1 tbsp flaxseed ground? Chia?
For the Topping
1 large egg white
1 1/2 tablespoon topping of your choice (Everything seasoning, sesame seeds, poppy seeds)
Instructions
Before you begin measure and prepare everything ahead of time, you must work the dough while the cheese is hot, so it is time sensitive.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Melt the shredded mozzarella and cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl in 30 second increments until completely melted. Stir until smooth.
In a second bowl combine the almond flour, coconut flour and baking powder, (flax) stirring well.
Combine the melted cheese with the flour mixture. Stir the dough and work the flour into the cheese as well as you can.
Next, add the whole egg and the beaten egg, stir the mixture until a soft dough forms. Then, using your hands knead the dough until you are satisfied that the egg, flour, and cheese is all worked in the dough together. Make sure there are no streaks of eggs, you want it to be completely combined.
Form the dough into a disk and cut into 8 equal sections. I like big bagels, so I double recipe or make a only four. Form or roll a long log with each part, then press the parts together to make a bagel shape. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Place the bagels in a greased donut pan or on a silicone lined baking pan (or greased baking sheet)
Brush the bagel with the egg white and sprinkle the seasoning of choice on top.
Bake 18-22 minutes until golden brown.