This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #MyDataMyWay #CollectiveBias

Back in Alaska, my mom used to make this delicious macaroni dish every spring. It had elbow noodles, green onions, English peas, mayonnaise, and salmon in it. I always called it Spring Salad because it’s really the only time we got to eat it, and it was absolutely my favorite thing in the world to eat. Just thinking about the dish brings memories flooding back, and makes my taste buds tingle.

I was never able to recreate my mom’s Spring Salad no matter how precisely I followed the directions. I guess there really is something to be said about food that’s made with love.

When we decided to eliminate grains from our diet a few years ago, I stopped thinking about comfort foods as I knew them and started eating foods that comforted me in different ways. If you’ve been here a long time, you know I’ve been on and off the grain free wagon. I have gone through periods of feeling stifled, and exhausted of all the food prep that goes into it, and staled by weight loss plateaus. I’ve felt tired and weak and suffered brain fog and high cholesterol. My blood pressure has continued to rise and I never felt as healthy as I wanted to feel.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I’ve transitioned to a high fat, low carbohydrate diet. The transition is doctor mandated, the same doctor who had me on a high protein, low carbohydrate diet years ago for fertility and PCOS. Due to case studies of his own and research across the globe, he has transitioned his practice to a higher fat diet rather than high protein. If you ever tried Atkins or something similar and it didn’t work for you, you were doing it wrong – we all were. The body’s favored fuel is fat. The brain’s favorite fuel is fat. If you eliminate carbohydrates (glucose), you have to replace them with more energy (fat). This time around has been amazing and I feel great. When I’m not feeling well, I drink water or pickle juice (it’s delish, y’all!) and I eat a stick of cheese, or a deviled egg.

The bonus? I’m dropping weight like my life depends on it, because, well, it kind of does.

The other bonus is that I get to eat really delicious, fatty foods like cream sauces, butter, mayo, cheese, meat, and bacon. I eat leafy greens with a homemade creamy dressing for lunch, and another non-starchy vegetable for dinner. The only thing I’m left wanting is ice cream, but I don’t miss the sugar crashes.

Eating a low carb diet has its challenges, one of which is navigating the grocery store. When I purchase packaged foods, I have to be extremely aware of what is in them. There can be no “-ose” ingredients, and of course due to Grady’s Celiac Disease, everything we eat has to be gluten free as well. It might sound easy, but things you wouldn’t think have gluten in them do. Let’s take peanut butter for instance. Some peanut butters are produced on shared equipment and cannot be consumed by people who have Celiac Disease. Even more things you wouldn’t think have sugar in them do, like BACON!

Being aware of what is in the food I’m purchasing is key to my family’s health. I’m that annoying person in the grocery store straight ALL UP in her phone’s bidnezz. Sorry, not sorry. Packaging isn’t very thorough, and there is no standard in how things are packaged where gluten is concerned. When your kid’s severe reaction to gluten includes rectal prolapse, you don’t play. Please don’t google that. And if you do, I beg of you, do NOT look at the pictures. Just don’t. Don’t say I didn’t warn you when your curiosity gets the better of you.

I have a confession: I haven’t grown up yet and I still share a mobile plan with my mother, my step-dad, and my 13 year old son. We’re like one big, happy, data-using family. We love our data so much that we go over every month. It’s not difficult to do when two of us are long-haul truck drivers, one of us works from her phone quite often, and the other is just not alive unless he’s on his phone. I finally had to turn the cellular data off on my phone, which leaves me feeling completely helpless when I’m at the grocery store. How do I know which tomato sauce is low-carb approved? Is this shredded cheese gluten free? It’s nerve wracking! And I was paying $85 a month for this inconvenience. No bueno.

I noticed that Walmart Family Mobile service is $29.88/month(for the first line) Unlimited Talk, Text & Data service plan, which includes up to 500MB of 4G LTE data. That’s less than $30. I’m not very good with math, but I think that’s a savings upwards of $50? (Don’t correct me if I’m wrong, but please do tell me if you see a typo on my blog.) Back to your regularly scheduled programming: *ahem* I could get a mani-pedi with an extra $50 every month! I could get a bikini wax every month with $50!

Moving on.

 I am a bit of a brand hound and I absolutely love Samsung. I decided to purchase their Galaxy Avant. It was $149 and I only had to purchase the additional $25 starter kit in order to activate the phone on Walmart Family Mobile’s service plan. The starter kit came with a SIM card that could also be a micro SIM card. This is true innovation, people. It was incredibly easy to set up, so easy even a natural blonde could do it! Don’t ask me how I know that.

Disclaimer: All prices for phones and plans included in this post are accurate as of the date of posting; however, these prices are subject to change. Please refer to http://cbi.as/6ibr or your local Walmart for current pricing.

So now that I’ve shared my embarrassing little secret with you, and the way I’m using my data to work for the benefit of my health, I’m ready to share my delicious copycat recipe with you. Big shout-out to my mom for her original recipe, thank you for stuffing me with carbohydrates as a child, my thighs appreciate it. The new recipe is low carb, gluten free, and a whole lot of delicious.

Enjoy!

 Be sure to check out more great phones and the find out how Walmart Family Mobile service can work for you by visiting their website: http://cbi.as/6ibr.

Spring Shrimp “Pasta” Salad

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Serves	8
Prep time	30 minutes
Dietary	Gluten Free
Meal type	Main Dish, Salad
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion	Barbecue, Casual Party

This delicious, creamy Shrimp Pasta salad is low carb, gluten free, and gourmet. It is best served cold, and makes a great pre-preppable meal for the whole family.

Ingredients

• 6 Large Zucchini (Julienned in a mandoline or with a spiral slicer)
• 2 Garlic Cloves

Sauce

• 3/4 cups Mayonnaise (Make sure it is a sugar free brand, like Duke's)
• 1/2 cup Sour Cream (Full Fat)
• Juice of half a lemon (Freshly Squeezed)
• 2 tablespoons Dill (Fresh)
• 3 Green Onions (diced, divided)
• 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
• 1lb Shrimp (Steamed)

Directions

"Pasta"

Step 1

Turn your zucchini into noodles, however you do that. I use a mandoline slicer, although I wish I had a spiral slicer. If you have a spiral slicer, you're awesome. Set the "noodles" aside.

Step 2

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once water is at a rolling boil, submerge "noodles" into water for 90 seconds - NO MORE! It is really important that you don't overcook your "noodles". The water will not be boiling after you add your "noodles", that's OK, and that's all the heat they need.

Step 3

When "noodles" are done cooking, drain them immediately and rinse them thoroughly with cold water to halt the cooking process. Line a bowl with paper towels and allow the "noodles" to drain off some of their water.

Sauce

Step 4

Mince garlic, sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon sea salt, then mash with the back of a fork until a garlicky paste forms. It takes a little while to come together, but once it starts to form, it happens quickly. This step is a necessary labor of love.

Step 5

Mix together garlic paste, dill, mayonnaise, sour cream, and the juice from half a lemon. Add salt to taste. Mix in shrimp and 1/4 cup green onions, reserving the rest of the green onions for garnish.

Step 6

Serve by scooping servings of "Pasta" into individual bowls and topping with shrimp and sauce. Best served chilled.