Fun In The Kitchen

I used to love to cook.  I would do it all the time, experimenting with recipes and new foods.  I was also a huge fan of Paula Dean (back before she was exposed as a racist twat).  So my recipes consisted of lots of butter, sugar, fats, carbs...mmmmm

This nutrition plan, as I outlined in the last post, requires me to make some, er, modifications to my previous cooking style.  I first called it a diet, but I know that thinking of it as a "diet" implies temporary change, or something to get through.  I hope to assimilate the changes I'm making into long-term habits.

Thank god for cheat day is all I can say.

So The Engineer and I have been playing around in the kitchen.  I'm posting some pictures with brief descriptions.  So far everything has been pretty tasty!  Nothing has tasted too much like "diet food" which is the goal.

First Experiment:

A tuna salad without mayo.

White albacore tuna in water, drained.  Added salt and pepper, olive oil, red pepper flakes, thyme, rosemary, chickpeas, red pepper and onion.  On a bed of spinach and tomato.   This was really delicious and I'll probably make a bigger batch to eat for lunch over the course of a week. It was pretty filling, as well.

Second Experiment:

Vegetables with curry, chicken, kielbasa.

The Engineer actually makes this dish fairly frequently with regularly frozen mixed veg (carrots, peas, green beans).  We used frozen green beans and peas and left out the carrot.  Red beans, chopped up sweet peppers, cauliflower, chicken breast (boneless/skinless), and a small amount of (I believe Pork) kielbasa meat.  Add some chicken stock and "better than bullion," as well as spices like cumin, hot curry, etc.  The only mild cheat here is about 1/4C golden raisins, but in the batch this size, that's barley anything.  This is one of my favorite dishes made the "regular" way, and this one is delicious as well.  It almost tastes like a curried-chicken stew.  Love it.  This is lunch for the week.


Third Experiment: 

Breakfast.  4HB calls for you to eat a high protein breakfast within 30-60 minutes of waking, EVERY DAY.  The Engineer is not a breakfast guy, and French Toast at Bob Evans is my middle name (I know, long name).  When I'm on the road for work....Well, I won't say the McDonald's Drive-Through ladies know me by name, but I do have distinct tattoo-age.  They see me coming.  So finding a fast, easy breakfast we would both eat sounded daunting.  I love my carbs in the morning...that sugar shock to get me awake and moving.  But Protein is the answer to a question I maybe wish I hadn't asked. *grin*

I decided to do these egg-bake things a friend of mine showed me.  He just puts egg/eggwhite mixture into muffin tins and bakes.  I added stuff:

Red beans, chopped peppers, onion, mushroom, spinach, and some leftover turkey breast lunchmeat (not pictured), One carton Break-Free egg-whites (about 10 eggs worth), and 4 whole, brown eggs (cage free, organic).

                  

 

 Mix it all together, pour into muffin tins. I baked around 15-20 minutes at 375.
 

And they came out looking fuckin' weird.  What the hell is this?? I stuck 2 in the microwave for about 1.5 minutes, cut up and slather in Frank's Red Hot, and they are actually pretty delicious.  Would be even better with cheese, but did I mention no dairy?  *sigh*   This is breakfast for the week, and so far we've both been compliant with eating it.

Dinner at the end of Day 2 on the plan was seared Ahi Tuna steaks with spices, steamed broccoli with garlic, and sliced roma tomatoes with salt and pepper.  Only experiment here is could we do this dish without garlic bread and not die?  So far so good...but we were both seriously craving some toasty garlic bread at the end.  The dry red (a West Virginia wine) was a delicious pairing.

Dinner tonight was seared flank steak that I marinated in lime juice, fresh garlic, and fresh ground red pepper flakes, sliced on top of spinach and tomato.  I made black beans with onion, garlic, peppers, and lemon juice to go with.  No pictures tonight.  The Kid is here and we were all starving, so dinner was fast and then it was gone!  

Don't worry...I won't be posting every bloody thing we eat, but if it's an experiment or looks particularly beautiful....or ends up being nasty as hell, I'll post about it.  I'm taking pictures of just about everything I eat.  It's faster than writing it down, honestly.  

So far I am realizing that when I'm not filling my body with carbs, I really don't eat enough because I find myself hungry a LOT.  Ferris said this is indication of not taking in enough protein and slow-carbs (beans and lentils).  The breakfast "muffins" actually fill me up for about 4 hours before I start to notice I want lunch.  The curried veg, however, does not keep me full long at all, and I'm pretty hungry by the time I drive home from work.  Today it was a struggle not to stop for snack after work.  I just chugged water and started cooking ASAP.  Fish seems to be the most filling of the meats, for me, anyway.  I could eat broccoli every day.  

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the workouts.  Because fuck all they are tough.  Luckily, they are stupid short.  

P.S.

Ferris recommends when you have a craving, jot it down and save it for cheat day.  Here's my list so far:

Melted cheese and tortilla chips

A whole loaf of rosemary potato bread dipped in alfredo sauce

Milky Way bar

Ice cream

Cream filled doughnut with chocolate icing

The Engineer wants Shoney's breakfast bar like nobody's business.  So Saturday after weigh-in and measurements, we are off to Shoney's!