That Doesn't Taste Like a Diet Drink

Here is a mouth-watering chocolate milkshake recipe supplied by our friends at South Beach Living. It's low-carb, low-calorie and low-fat. Since I have been making this I have managed to avoid countless calories from the carbs I would have consumed had I not been completely satisfied with this particluar substitution. I used Nature Sweet as my sugar substitute but otherwise followed their recipe. (the secret ingredient here is; a touch of vanilla extract). I have made the same shake using other flavors too: cherry, peppermint, almond and rasberry but I keep coming back to the one with vanilla.

Have this one for desert and savor it like you would a fine brandy or as a snack to ward off the sugar-monster. It's a guilt-free way of satisfying your cravings for sweets and it works for me. I have already lost over 120 pounds while enjoying recipes like this. The key to my weight loss success has been substitution - find a way to replace the bad with the good and if it don't taste good - forget about it!

Here is the actual recipe:

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons granular sugar substitute

Pinch salt

3 cups cold 1% milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ice cubes

Instructions:

In a medium bowl, stir together cocoa powder, sugar substitute, and salt. Slowly pour in 1 cup of the milk. Whisk until smooth, and then whisk in remaining 2 cups milk and vanilla.Fill 4 (8-ounce) glasses with ice. Pour Chilly Chocolate over ice and serve.

The bottom line: Per ¾-cup serving: 90 calories, 2.5 g fat (1.5 g sat), 12 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 95 mg sodium

For more mouth-watering recipes like this visit our friends at South Beach Living  

Technorati is "seeing" our little craft site now. Thank you very much! Onward and Upward as they say!

Now crafters everywhere will be doing things like this:

Brilliant work of mosaic by Laura Harris, entitled; Crocodile Rock. To see more of her fantastic work check out her Melonheadgallery photostream on Flickr where I "discovered" her. I particularly like the way she uses circular shapes in her backgrounds. And of course her use of color is absolutely stunning! 

Thanks Laura for letting us share your work with our LowCarb Crafter audience and the Netysis Network!

My method of mosaic instruction outlines each step of the process in designing a simple mosaic project, one you can complete easily on a weekend. Provides all the information you need, where to look for inspiration for your designs and how to use different media effectively. I will tell you where to find the materials for your project at little or no cost. You will be amazed at the transformation of a plain item into a colorful design of glass that will wow your family and friends. "YOU MADE THAT?!"

I am a prolific mosaicist, not a professional one and I make a lot of candle shelters, candle holders, planters, garden pots, tissue boxes, vases and chininaeas, furniture and unique knick-knacks. Practical Mosaics is a fast and easy way to get you started. I do this because I enjoy it and it really relaxes me. The stresses of my day job just seem to melt away after just a few minutes spent working on a project.

The media (tesserae) I apply to glass or ceramic objects can be just about anything with a flat surface; marbles,  rocks, pennies, beads, milefiori, smalti, beach glass, stained glass, ceramic - you name it and I have done it!

At the risk of my own ego I have presented a variety of projects within this site - ones that hopefully will interest anyone from an artist who has already done mosaics to those who have never even thought of doing something like this themselves. I love to dress things up in bright colors and textures for my garden, family room or patio with practical and useful mosaic pieces that will provide years of pleasure. Talk about conversation pieces!

My focus is on using bits and pieces of mixed media and colors to create interesting, attractive and useful designs. I love to take a clay pot and make a mosaic planter for my garden or take a plain glass candle shelter and turn it into a colorful accent for the fireplace mantle. I am of the want-it-now generation of crafters and I like to have several projects going at once so that when I finish one I can move on to the next.

I find potential projects at craft stores, thrift shops, garage sales, swap meets and my own attic, anywhere I can pick up something economically (ok, cheap) and make it over in colorful mosaic. Hopefully you will agree that the everyday items that I started with ended up looking like something you might spend your hard-earned money on. If you do it yourself, you won't need to buy anything. Abe Lincoln once said "Chop your own wood, it will warm you twice." He was so right! 

My finished projects are usually not made to sell. The time that you invest in even the simplest project will deter you, especially if it turns out really unique. So, when I complete an item it either goes in the garden, on the patio, or is given away to a family member or friend.

What I really hope to accomplish is to "inspire the desire" in do-it-yourselfers - people who are not afraid to think outside the box and get their hands dirty. I hope that you decide to find out for yourself how rewarding and fun this craft can be.  As I have said, the method I have adopted for my style of mosaic is what I call; Practical Mosaic. Most of what you will see on these pages are things that were made with readily available and very inexpensive materials but what really appeals to me is that they don't take a lot of time to do. 

It is my hope that by showing you the items I have made over the years that I can demonstrate that making mosaics doesn't have to be complicated. You certainly can make it that way if you attempt a really ambitious project but this way those new to the mosaic craft will find it easy to get started. There is an almost universal misconception that mosaic is difficult to do and only practiced by accomplished artists, and it's no wonder, check out what's on the web and most of what you find are mosaicists who seem to prefer trying to recreate great works of art. Ambitious undertakings that can be breathtaking, when finished, however, I for one, do not have the patience required to spend months or years on a single design.

Sometimes I really don't have a plan before launching myself into a project unless I find something unique that is begging to be covered in broken tile, glass marbles, etc. A lot of times I just go to Michaels, the arts and crafts store chain to see what new items are available. They have some reasonably priced glass vases in many shapes and lots of fun colored glass marbles. My approach with glass marbles is a bit different as you can see. Instead of dumping them in a glass container I actually stick them on the glass so the light does interesting things to them. While my designs and little glass marble projects may not be exhibited at fine art shows I created and built them, one piece at a time!