House Hunting & A Recipe

We are officially on The Hunt. So be prepared for periodic updates on our adventures (with some minor rants here and there 😉 ). I am a hardcore HGTV fan. Love all those shows. House Hunters is my favorite. I love that show. I’ve watched it for years. It’s absurd, but I love it.

So I feel like we are prepared. 🙂 We know what we are looking for and our list isn’t very long. (3 bedrooms, 4 would be nice but that 4th bedroom doesn’t need to be a legal bedroom—it can be an office), fenced yard for Bella and Logan, a great kitchen, a basement or similar space for a play area/gym and a real laundry room. Doesn’t seem hard right?

Problem #1 is that Portland is a super hot market. It has been for years. People from Seattle and California are moving to Portland because they are being priced out of those places (which is why I moved to Portland from Seattle 20 years ago) and the IT business is booming here.

Problem #2 is that Portland didn’t plan well for growth. So the sprawl is moving out to the suburbs: Beaverton/Hillsboro/Gresham/Fairview/Milwaukie. All the new houses are being built in Oregon City/Estacada/Molalla–which if you work downtown means an hour commute. 🙁

Problem #3 is that because the market is so hot, owners are delusional. I see SO MANY HOUSES that are priced at FULL PRICE when they haven’t done a single remodel/upgrade in 30+ years. I’m talking original 1980’s carpet/paint/brass everything/oak everything….hideous. So not only do you have to pay full price for a house with potential, you then have to sink $100K into it to update it.

SIGH.

I know none of this is news to anyone who has been house hunting. It’s probably the norm. I’m just shocked because Michael and I have worked hard for 10 years remodeling and updating our house to sell it at top price. We made conscious, smart choices. We chose neutral colors to paint. We chose beautiful hardwood floors and redid the kitchen because THAT’S the selling point. What are these people thinking that they do nothing at all?!? Anyways….

Now the recipe…

I made this great recipe and I wanted to share it. Even if you aren’t doing a keto diet, it would still be a great recipe to add to your dinner rotation. It was a delicious low carb meal and it was actually really quick and easy to make.

Low Carb Big Mac Bowl

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground beef
• ½ cup diced onions
• 1 cup Shredded cheese
• 6 cups Cabbage shredded
• 4 Mini Dill Pickles sliced
• Special Sauce
• 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
• 4 tablespoon Dill pickle relish
• 2 tablespoon Yellow mustard
• 1 teaspoon White wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Paprika
• 1 teaspoon Onion powder

Instructions

• In a skillet over medium-high heat brown the ground beef. When almost cooked through add the onions and continue cooking until the ground beef is cooked and the onions are translucent. Drain the grease, salt and pepper the ground beef to taste, and set aside.
• In the same skillet add a small amount of olive oil and the shredded cabbage. Saute until cabbage is slightly softened. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Divide the cabbage between 4 bowls, top each with a portion of the ground beef.
• Sprinkle each with 1/4 cup of shredded cheese and top with pickle slices.
• Pour the special sauce over the Low Carb Big Mac Bowl and enjoy!

Special Sauce

• In a small bowl whisk together all of the ingredients and set aside.

Nutrition

Serving: 1bowl | Calories: 581kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 44g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 13g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 115mg | Sodium: 1114mg | Potassium: 270mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 4g |

It was super delicious! I used a bag of coleslaw mix and topped it with fresh diced tomatoes.

Will definitely make this again!