Black beans and rice. Nom, nom, nom...

I have been working on being a healthier Andrew again and also have been working on being a more frugal Andrew and spending less on expensive food (so I can afford expensive toys).  To that end, I have been playing around with black beans & rice recipes which allow for a lot of variety and different tastes.  Tonight, I wanted to go spicy with my concoction, and boy, did I get it right...

Ingredients:

3 cups dry long grain white rice
2 cans black beans, drained
2 large, fresh jalapenos (from my garden)
1 red chili pepper (from my garden)
2 cloves garlic
2 medium yellow onions
4 green onions
2 packages sazon
sea salt
olive oil
Tamari to taste
Hot sauce to taste
fresh cilantro

Okay, cook up the white rice in a large saucepan or a rice cooker.  While that gets going, mince the garlic and set aside.  Now, finely chop up the yellow onion and about 1/2 cup of the green onion.  Seed and mince up the jalapenos and the red pepper (be sure to know how spicy the pepper is, I ended up using 1/2 of one).

Heat up some olive oil in a large skillet or a wok over medium-high heat.  When shimmering, toss in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds or so.  Now, add in all the onions and peppers and saute until soft, about 10 minutes or so.  Throw in a couple dashes of sea salt and the sazon and mix it all up, adding some water if necessary to juice it up a bit.  Cook that for about 3 - 5 minutes then throw in the black beans and cook until heated through.

About now, the rice should be done, throw that in and stir everything up.

Taste it, you know you want to...

If it is a little bland on the back of the tongue, throw in some tamari and stir it up for a re-taste.  Don't put in too much at once, but keep adding small amounts until you get it where you want it.  I found mine to be spicy, but still needing something, so I added a few dashes of jalapeno-based hot sauce to brighten it up a bit.  When you get it right, chop up about a cup of cilantro and mix it in...

Dang it's good.

This recipe makes about 8 servings.  I like to have some right away and then have leftovers the next couple of days as the flavors get really nicely complex after sitting for awhile in the fridge.  The recipe also comes in at around 300 calories per serving.  Which is pretty good considering how filling it is.  If you want to get crazy with it, you can cut up some sausage (like a nice chicken sausage) and add it in as well....

Enjoy.

Simple Stir Fry

I had a hankerin' for something a little sweet and a little spicy for lunch today, so I decided to look around my kitchen to see what I had.  At the end of the day, I came up with this very tasty stir fry...

If you have to do some shopping, you will want to pick up a package of firm tofu (or extra firm), some bean sprouts, a medium onion, some snap peas, garlic, fresh ginger and a couple chili peppers, which are selected based on taste/heat desires.  For this stir fry, I like to use a hotter pepper such as a thai green chilies or some Serrano peppers.  If you don't have it on hand, you'll also want some dry sherry, soy sauce, red wine vinegar, tobasco, brown sugar and some of your preferred stock (beef, chicken or vegetable).

So, drain and dry that tofu, cube it up and put it into a wok in some sesame and/or olive oil to fry it up a bit.  While that is going, mince up a few cloves of garlic and some of that ginger and put it into a little pile off to the side.  Now, chop up the peppers (remove seeds to reduce heat) and then coarsely chop the onion up.

Once the tofu starts to brown a bit, or when you lose your patience, throw in that garlic and ginger and stir everything up until it is fragrant, usually 30 seconds or so.  Toss in the onions and the chilies and cook that shit up until the onions are tender.

Now, lets sauce this baby up.  splash in some of that sherry and soy sauce, plus a healthy pinch of the brown sugar, a couple shakes of tobasco and a couple good sprinkles of the vinegar.  Then throw in about 1/4 cup of your stock and stir everything up really good.  Give it a taste, adjust sauce ingredients as required.  Throw in the snap peas and sprouts, heat everything up until hot.

So, now you have this awesome stir fry.  Serve it up over some rice or noodles (try it with soba noodles, it's good).  Enjoy.

Day of Indulgence

So, I gave in today and just ate whatever we decided wanted to have.  I think this is a good thing to do occasionally as everything is okay in moderation (well, not EVERYTHING, but food-wise, you are pretty safe).  So, as it was Mother's Day (insert Hallmark holiday rant here) I decided to make Eggs Benedict for breakfast, which have no redeeming health qualities that I can think of, and we have big juicy steaks on the grill for dinner.  All-in-all, a delicious, if not extremely healthy day.

However, I didn't go over my daily caloric intake budget, but even if I did, I would be okay with it as I think you have to let yourself indulge occasionally.  Putting yourself on bread and water alone will only make you desire something different all that much more.

So, that is what we did today.  We ate great food, had some drinks, and enjoyed the day.  No guilt in that, and I recommend it for all of you on a somewhat regular basis.

Tomorrow should be interesting too...  I will be staying in the city with some coworkers for a trade show, we have a ball game to go to tomorrow, and I seriously doubt healthy choices will be on the menu.  I will try though.

Good night, and good chow to all...

The Smoothie

Making smoothies was always kind of a pain in the ass, I thought.  Having the fresh fruit on-hand, putting it all together, blending, etc.  Granted, I was probably making it more of a production than I needed to, but still.

Then, last night, I had a hankering for a milkshake.  Not a smoothie, but an evil Culver's concrete mixer with Heath Bar (tm) mixed in.  To quell this craving, I decided to build a smoothie with some of the yogurt I had in the fridge and fruit we had...  Problem, we didn't have smoothie-appropriate fruit.

Then I remembered I had purchased some freeze-dried cans of fruit to try out from Honeyville Grain.  So, I  put some freeze-dried strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and pineapple with a bit of water, a single-serve container of organic yogurt (low fat), a few ounces of OJ and a handful of ice in the hand blender cup...  then blend.

To use modern terminology...  OMG!

So, I added up the calories and it was in the neighborhood of 350 for around 16 oz of smoothie.   Quite a few less than the milkshake (which comes in at over 1,100 calories in the same volume).  Plus the use of the freeze-dried fruit totally took the pain in the ass factor out of it.

On a side note, the freeze-dried fruit is pretty nice as a snack...

Vegetarian Shawarma (a.k.a. - The Curse of the Mujahideen)

Back in the day, when I was deployed in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, we would get these fantastic creations form street vendors, which were called Shawarma.  Let me tell you, after eating MREs for several weeks straight, you would eat almost anything that didn't come out of a brown plastic envelope.

Anyway, we called these things "Haji-Dogs" (yeah, I know, not very PC), since they were sold out of carts like hot dog vendors here use, and we loved them.

Fast forward to today.  I have done something which many would consider diabolical, or perhaps sacrilegious...  Nay, they might actually call it evil and declare a jihad on me for even having the thought of...  A vegetarian Shawarma.

That's right, you heard me right.  What's even worse?  It tastes really good.  Although, I will recommend that you don't go for the day after leftovers, as the tofu's texture gets a bit mushy.  Other than that, these are really good.

In the recipe below, I have reduced the amount of Tahini used to 1/2 a cup, as I found the original sauce to be too...  Tahini-y.  If you want more and amp it back up to a full cup, you will be adding 95 calories per serving (if you do less than the full cup, well, do the math).

Anyway, comments appreciated, enjoy the food, don't get involved in a land war in Asia...

Back in the Saddle

Today I Was able to get in 6 miles of walking (4 for Reggie), I planned out my meals for the week and I will do the majority of the cooking tomorrow and my daily calorie intake should be pretty low.  I am hoping to keep it up and to really get my program re-booted a bit.  I want to introduce some weight training into my program as I am not happy with the progress of weight loss and I would like to build up more muscle to boost my metabolism a bit.

Also, I am experimenting with a new system for the management and presentation of recipe data so that it is a cleaner, and more logical, process to cook multiple foods at once.  Sort of a fun side project :-)

Now, after doing 6 miles today, and not getting in much walking over the last week, I have to point out that my feet and calves hurt again.  So, it just goes to show that you shouldn't let life get in the way of the program :-)

So easy to slip...

Business travel has a serious impact on my attempts to change my lifestyle as it pertains to eating well and exercising.  Long days of meetings, documents to get done, airport food, lots of time sitting, no time to get in some exercise, lack of sleep, sitting in an airplane breathing recycled air...

Then, you get home and you have to re-establish habits, or try to.  It is all such a pain in the foot.  Due to business travel and needing to stay home over the weekend with the little one, it has been 6 days since I have gotten onto the trail, and my diet hasn't been the greatest.  I am hoping to restart everything tomorrow.  Planning would probably be a better word...

Nigh-Vegetarianism

That's right, I am a Nigh-Vegetarian, I admit it, go ahead and ostracize me!  What do you mean you don't know what the hell I am talking about?

Well, Nigh-Vegetarianism is my own little creation (I am sure it isn't original).  I basically decided that I was tired of eating like shit and eating so much meat, so I moved to more of a vegetable-based diet, with some meat in moderation.  This allows me to continue to eat tasty cuts of beef (although I am going to try for grass-fed or wild game mostly) while still staying healthy.

Therefore, I am on a journey of discovery around things like tofu and quinoa for providing protein in my diet, while also experimenting with new recipes and cooking techniques to allow me to prepare the veggie-based meals in a manner consistent with my tastes and preferences.

It's kinda fun, and the food is pretty damn good.

So, give it a try.  Be a wishy-washy nigh-vegetarian like me :-)

It's not easy being healthy on the road...

Business travel sucks, there are no two ways about it.  Jammed into planes with a couple hundred infection vectors in a closed environment, not enough exercise, limited control over what food you get and the added stress of meetings and deadlines.  It doesn't make for an easy life.

However, you can be somewhat healthy, if not completely.  Walk the 13 blocks to your meeting instead of grabbing a cab.  Go to the salad bar in the grocery store instead of grabbing a sandwich at the pizza place next door, stuff like that.  So, while I didn't eat as well as I do at home, I was able to stay within my calorie limits over the last 2 days in New York, and have some really good Brazilian food while I was at it :-).

What I didn't get to do, however, was hit the treadmill at the hotel.  My exercise all came from walking around the city.

Also, I need a new "2 Day" business travel packing list.  I am wholly displeased with my travel minimalist performance on this trip.

The Bane of My Existence...

I have a horrible sweet tooth.  The best way I have heard it described was by some guest on Bill Maher's show who said sugar was like their crack cocaine.  I know exactly how they feel.  So, I am trying to quit it like I quit smoking.  I simply have decided that I am tired of being defined by what I eat, much as I was tired of being defined by cigarettes.

Therefore, I am pretty much have eliminated things like candy, cookies, soda and the like.  However, I still get cravings and it is not easy late at night when your kid leaves a basket full of Hershey's Kisses on the counter.  So, I have discovered a new savior (for tonight, at least)...

Fresh Pineapple.  Super-sweet, juicy and only ~80 calories per cup.  Gotta love that fruit and its fructose :-)

Of course, I don't want to mainline fruit either.  While the simple sugars in fruit are pretty easily metabolized, too much of anything isn't good.  So while it is certainly better than a big bowl of ice cream, everything in moderation...

For tonight, however, the pineapple will be a huge help.

On Bathroom Scales and Trust

I woke up this morning and proceeded through the traditional morning rituals.  Reggie was a little slower coming out of this crate this morning as I think we wore him out yesterday.  Anyway, I decided to step on the scale to see the differential between just before I went to sleep and just after I woke up.

Oh my...

According to my high-tech digital weight measurement system (calling it a scale is so pedestrian), I lost 12 lbs overnight and 16 lbs in the past week.

I don't think I trust the scale.  However, if we consider water weight (I am staying hydrated now, so less hoarding by the body) I guess it might be accurate.  However, I think this illustrates why weighing yourself daily isn't a good idea.  Your weight fluctuates, so it could either give you a false sense of accomplishment (like today), or crush your spirit by telling you that you gained a couple pounds.

Weigh yourself once a week, or every 3 or 4 days.  Do it at the same time (in my case, first thing in the morning) and wearing the same amount of clothing.  Also, don't be a slave to the actual pounds lost (or gained, muscle weighs more than fat), instead, use the scale as just another data point in your suite of body composition self-analysis tools.  Consider that if you are working out and eating better, you will be building muscle and losing fat in concert with each other.  So the scale can tell you overall trending on weight loss, but you should also look at your body fat percentage, see how your clothes fit and assess how you actually feel.  Pay attention to your body and note where you are firming up or developing muscle tone.

Undoing years of neglect takes time, but you will notice the nuanced changes.  I know I am.

Oh yeah, and don't trust the scale (it hasn't earned the title of "digital weight measurement system" yet).