Tuesday 9 November 2010

Breakfast:  The usual goodness!

Lunch:  I spent my lunch time at the place where they fit one for custom orthotics.  The gal watched me walk and then made these little plaster casts of my feet.  That was a curious process:  I laid down on a table with my feet sticking off the end, and she patted the plaster stuff on them.  It was almost like getting a foot massage.  In a couple of weeks, I should have my inserts.

Since it was downtown, I wandered over to my favorite coffee place and had a cheerful double-cappuccino interlude.

When I got back, I ate my protein brownie while my lunch heated up.  They're kind of hard to eat when frozen.  Half-frozen would probably work well.

I pulled the meat off of two chicken legs and heated it up with some cauliflower, then sprinkled on some all-purpose seasoning.  Yum!

A sugar-free lemon mint cleansed the palate.

Afternoon snack:  An apple and some nuts.  I figured it would be better for me to bring a small portion to work and eat them, rather than even bothering to open the can at home and start munching.  This mind trick worked surprisingly well.

Dinner: Tri-tip steak with sauce; Brussels sprouts with olive oil, garlic powder, and lemon pepper; green salad with Italian dressing.

I also had these pita chips with butter/canola spread.

I didn't work out today, but I did get to sleep earlier than usual, which was nice.

Wednesday a.m. update:  Well, as you could see from the last couple of days, I certainly haven't been deprived, even without my beloved nuts yesterday.  (*I* hadn't even noticed that, Debby!  Although does the Almond Breeze in my coffee count?)  Yet the scale says -4.4 pounds, although I'm wondering if it's lying, because I really don't feel much different.  Eh, we'll see.

Weekend Highlights + Monday 8 November

Weekend Highlights

I enjoyed the weekend quite a lot.  It started with lunch with some coworkers on Friday, in which we discovered a wonderful Mediterranean deli and grocery.  Everything was so tasty, but I fell in love with their baba ganoush.  It's like hummus, but made with eggplant instead of chickpeas, and theirs was wonderful:  slightly lemony, smoky, creamy goodness.  I've never had anything quite like it.  One of my coworkers ordered a dish and shared it, so I ended up getting a container to go (and some oregano pita chips).  Mr. Handsome-and-Handy tried it, and he had sort of an uncertain look on his face.

"Well?" I prompted.  "Is it good, or is it just more 'weird shit the wife likes?'"

Not so sad to say it was the latter, because all the more for me!  

Saturday was gorgeous!  I played a little baseball in the front yard with the kids.  After awhile, they were on to other things, so I got to sneak off for an hour of exercise before taking Thing 2 to a birthday party.  I checked out a new-to-me trail: Pillar Point Bluff.  

One of the trail heads is right behind the local airport.  It begins with a very steep hike up the bluff, then the rest is gently rolling trail.  

Here's the view from the first leg, you can sort of see the harbor.  My cell phone camera does not do it justice.

And here's the view from the other side of the bluff.  The famed surf spot, Maverick's, is a half mile from shore, off of the point shown here (Pillar Point).

Sadly, not much time to sit and enjoy the view today.

I hike/jogged a little over 3.5 miles on my outing, across the bluffs, through a neighborhood, and to the southern entrance to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.  

Imagine my surprise when I found a new staircase had been built at the trail head!  This is the "Seal Cove Stairway," and it goes to a very pretty beach.  A divergence for another day!

Sunday, on the other hand, was rainy all day.  Thing 2 and I decided it would be fun to make messes in the kitchen, so I was on my feet much of the day.  I made my recipe for "BSI chiles," and we made Georgie's protein brownies.  I was surprised at how wet they were inside when we pulled them out of the oven, but I let them cool in the pan and the got a little more solid.  (They still have more of a fudgy texture than a cakey one.  I'm wondering if that's from using oat flour instead of oatmeal?)  If you're looking for the traditional brownie, you might be disappointed; but I found them appealing.  They definitely have a protein bar taste, but I liked the chocolate flavor and the tartness added by the yogurt.  There's a bitterness to them, and I'm trying to figure out of the bitterness is from Splenda or if it's something else...maybe the flax?  I might try again with another type of sweetener.  Also, I think they're better eaten cold.  Mr. Handsome-and-Handy liked them, but the kids did not.  Oh well.

Thing 2 wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, too, so we did.  (And after eating a few too many, they're "hidden" on top of the bread box, on top of the fridge.  Putting things out of sight and just slightly out of convenient reach sometimes works for me.)

I also tried Biz's trick of making scallops in a cast-iron pan on the BBQ.  That worked great!

Monday 8 November

So the scale this morning was .2 pounds from my "red line" weight.  It had drifted up a couple of pounds over the past couple of weeks, but this really made me freak out a bit.  I started thinking of all the drastic stuff I could do...then--coincidence?  I think not!--I read Debby's post, "Maintenance-A Confession."  What a breath of sanity.  You'd think that after 2 years in the same 5-pound weight range I'd have a little more trust in the habits.

Breakfast:  It's the usual (cheddar-tomato omelette, flax toast, sugar-free jam and butter/canola spread), with 2 mugs of coffee.  I broke back out the measuring scoop and measured out my half-and-half and almond milk, because I know I'd gotten out of the habit of going lighter on the half-and-half.  I also decided to scale back a bit on the coffee and drink more tea.

At work:  Here's what's left of my tea and scoop of chia seeds.

Pre-workout snack:  Here's a serving of Kettle Chips.  This is the rest of that little bag I opened last week.

Yeah, baby!  I did a walking warm-up, some 4 mph/5mph intervals, and a walking cool-down.

Lunch:  Here's one of the protein brownies!

And the rest of the grilled salsa soup!  It looks horrid, but it was really tasty.  The tomatillos add a really bright flavor to the soup.

And an apple!

May the Force be with you!  (Or at least the orange no-sugar-added popsicle...)  We are having a ping-pong tournament at work this week, and I decided to play.  I really suck at ping-pong, mainly because I just don't play very often.  I thought I'd be playing one round and get eliminated, but no, I ended up playing everyone!  I lost most of my games, but I did win a couple later in the match, which surprised everyone (self included) and delighted me.

Before the drive:  I got a request to run some errands, and it had been awhile since I'd eaten that popsicle, so I decided to have a ginger chew to tide me over until dinner.

Dinner:  Whoops!  You didn't miss much, only one of the chicken legs and the bowl of string beans with olive oil, lemon pepper, and garlic powder.

I also had these pita chips.  They tasted very good dipped in hot wing sauce!  (Oh, yes, the baba ganoush was long gone!)

I also made some hot tea with the green bean cooking water.  I know that's kind of weird, but if the nutrients cook out, they'd probably be in there, wouldn't they?

What I didn't eat at night but could have, because heaven knows there was enough stress stuff going on:  closing paper signing on the refi (at 8 p.m.!), preparation for the window replacement tomorrow (finally going double-paned!), kids and their homework, and thinking too much about how ill-prepared I am for the half marathon and for going to Vegas in general.  (That last one is a biggie.)

• Chocolate chip cookies
• Nuts (peanuts, cashews, mixed nuts on sale that I found during my errand)
• Little meaty sticks (you know, they do kind of look like dog snacks, don't they?)
• More pita chips
• No-sugar-added ice cream stuff
• Halloween candy

So I'm calling today a success.

BSI: Chiles Recipe - Grilled Salsa Soup

This recipe is a low carb variation of the "New Mexico-style Green Chile and Pork Stew with Potatoes" recipe by Chef Jim Heywood, printed in the "Cooking Secrets of the CIA" cookbook. I adapted this recipe when my husband was doing the Atkins diet - I ditched the potatoes, added tomatillos instead, and grilled
the veggies and pork instead of sauteing them in the pan.  I don't feel too bad using it for BSI Chiles because this recipe isn't even Chef Heywood's - as he admitted, it's one he "did manage to snatch...from a competitor in New Mexico."

Caution for the heat-sensitive:  As prepared, this is really spicy.  Mr. Handsome-and-Handy found it a bit too spicy for his liking, whereas I found it packing a punch but not overpowering the spice.  You could substitute mild canned green chiles for the chiles in the recipe.  I'd probably put in two of the little cans.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs pork (I used boneless loin chops, seasoned with garlic powder, seasoning salt, and pepper, then grilled.
2 onions
6 tomatillos
1 tomato
4 green chiles (preferrably poblano; I used Anaheim)
Canola oil or cooking spray

3 cups chicken stock
2.5 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 Tbsp mild red chili powder
Sprinkle of chipotle chili powder

1 Tbsp green Tabasco sauce (if you don't have this, you can add 1 extra jalapeno and 1 extra tsp vinegar)
1/2 tsp vinegar
Salt to taste
Optional: 1 minced jalapeno pepper

To prepare:
1. Prepare the vegetables for grilling: wash, dehusk, and cut stemmy parts off of the tomatillos.  Remove stemmy part off of the tomato.  Wash the peppers but leave whole.  Peel the onions and slice into planks.  Spray the veggies with the cooking spray (or toss in a little bit of canola oil).

2. Grill the veggies on medium grill, about 10 minutes, turning midway.  You want some browning, but you don't want them too burnt, and the veggies should be soft when you remove them from the grill.  Set aside, and cover the peppers.

Grillin' in the rain...just griiiilin' in the rain....

3. Season the pork with a sprinkle of garlic powder, seasoning salt, and pepper, then grill until done.  (You could use any leftover pork for this, or it would also work well with leftover chicken.)  Cover and set aside.

4. Return to the veggies.  Put the tomatillos and tomato into the food processor.  Peel and deseed the chiles, and add them to the food processor.  Puree until smooth.  Put into a heavy saucepan (about 4 quarts).

5. Rough-chop the grilled onions and add them to the saucepan.

Everybody in the pool!

6. Add the 3 cups of chicken stock to the saucepan.

7. Add the garlic and spices.  (Next time, I might try browning the garlic and spices before adding the veggies and the chicken stock, but I think there's pretty good browning from all the grilled items.)

8. Chop the pork and add it (plus any juices) to the saucepan.

9. Simmer for an hour.

Boil, bubble, toil and trouble!  Burner heat and stock pot bubble!

10. About 20 minutes before serving, add the vinegar, green Tabasco, salt, and optional jalapeño.

As shown, I've garnished with a sprig of oregano from my garden and shredded cotija cheese.

Ta da!

Thursday 4 November 2010

Breakfast:  I had a breakfast date with Mr. Handsome-and-Handy!  We went to Sam's Coffee Shop and I had a ginormous omelette (spinach, onion-sorry, Biz, I know that makes you throw up in your mouth a little to read that, linguica, avocado, and cheddar).  And a side of fruit, yum!  I had a bite of Mr. H&H's home fries.  (They make really good ones here, but I didn't want to get a whole side order of them.) And much coffee!

I think the guy in the background is one of the regulars...they seem to be here every time we go to breakfast!

Lunch:  Well, this was anticlimactic.  I usually love kale chips, and I love salt & vinegar potato chips, but this combo just didn't work too well together.  Most of the kale chips I get have a lot of flavor going on, and these were mostly salty with a hint of vinegar.   This brand's chili & lime ones are really tasty, so I was expecting something a little more interesting.  Ma bouche was NOT amused.

Snackage:  Well, New Leaf did have Green & Blacks chocolate on sale!  And boy, did I stock up.  My emergency kit is full of bars large and small.  I ate half of one of the small dark chocolate bars, which was perfect.  I think G&B is the absolute perfect chocolate - if ma bouche had thumbs, it would be raising two high in the air and waving them around like a lighter at a rock concert.  

I noticed that I've been buying a lot of food stuff.  Not really eating it in one sitting necessarily, but just to have.  I bought a huge jar of peanut butter at Target recently, too, for my work stash.  I suspect that I have this instinctual storing-up-for-winter thing going on.  I'm engaged in half-hearted struggling with my snack impulse, but even just getting stuff and storing it seems to soothe this primal urge.   

Here's something a bit more healthy:  2% Greek-style yogurt with strawberries and grapes.

Dinner:  Steak (with sauce) and cauliflower (with olive oil, lemon pepper, and garlic).  Tasty!

Dessert & Snackage:  Well, here we go...The kids were off playing, so I had some nuts...

2 pieces of Halloween candy...

A few chocolate chips...

*sigh*

*double sigh*

Yeah, I went here, too.  This was probably about 3/4 serving.

Could this day be saved?

Maybe not calorie-wise, but darn it, I wanted to end things on an up note.

[cue the Queen song "Bicycle Race"]: "Biiiicycle!  Biiiiicycle!  I want to ride my Biiiiiicycle!"

I hopped on the stationary bike for a 20-minute program, and I did some upper body weight stuff with my 5 lb dumb bells for about 7 minutes or so during my ride.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

Breakfast:  The usual, tomatoes in the omelette.  And Isis the cat (part of Thing 2's Catwoman costume) admiring the lovely omelette.

At work:  An almost-whoops: 2 Tbsp of chia in coffee + half-and-half.

Pre-workout snack:  Kashi peanut butter bar with 4 squares of raspberry dark chocolate.  Probably more than I needed.

The weather here was beautiful; upper 70s in San Mateo.  I didn't realize it until I spoke with Mr. Handsome-and-Handy, though.  I told him I was going to CardioSculpt class, and he suggested, "Why don't you go for a swim?  It's a beautiful day!"  I hadn't gotten outside at all the day before, so I decided to go for it.  While I really love CardioSculpt and know it's the only workout in my week where I really push harder than I would push myself on my own, I didn't realize how badly I needed pool time until I hit the water.

Post-workout lunch:  Green salad, 2% Greek-style yogurt with honey and cinnamon.  (I didn't have any fruit, but wanted it a little sweet.)

And a serving of Kettle chips.  I snagged one of those 2-serving bags in the break room after a meeting one day, and this seemed like the opportune moment to crack it open.

But maybe they weren't the best choice.  My bouche demanded amusement later on, but I tested and was at 124 at 2 hours post-lunch.  So I went with my hot & sour broth: "Better than Bouillon" veggie broth, about 1/8 cup of vinegar, and 1 tsp of hot sauce.

It was a gorgeous sunset last night!  I had to snap a couple of pictures before heading to the car.  The colors were much deeper than my cell phone would have you think.

Ooo, pretty!

Dinner:  Hot food bar items from New Leaf on a bed of spinach.  This doesn't look quite so pretty, but it was colorful and tasty.  All items were really tasty - hard to pick a favorite!  Top:  Hawaiian chicken.  Center: sausage and Brussels sprouts in a marinara sauce. Bottom (left to right): Louisiana sausage saute (this had a few pieces of potato), Madras tofu (had sweet potato), and Korma chicken.

I also had some peanuts.  In some ways, having the kids doing homework in the kitchen is great, because when I eat stuff they like, they want some, too...so if there is stuff that I don't want them to have right then, but want for myself but would be better off without, they're a good excuse to just not crack it open.

After they went to sleep, though, I cracked my two treat finds and enjoyed one bit of each.  Clemmy's, which I've talked about here before, was lovely as usual.  I found a new thing, "Arctic Zero."  It's not exactly "ice cream" - there's no cream or milk - it's a frozen  dessert made with whey protein powder.  It's only 45 per 1/2 cup serving, but it still has 7 grams of sugar per serving, so it's a "proceed with caution" food.  My pint was rock-hard; the tiny amount I chiseled out tasted like a fudgesicle, so I think it might work.  (Full nutrition data here)  Reviews on Amazon.com vary; some say it's great, others say it tastes too much like a "diet food", one review said it tastes funny on its own but works well in smoothies.

Then I hit the exercise bike again before bed.  I did a less intense hill program than last night and just for 20 minutes, since I'd already gotten in a good swim today.  Mr. H&H and I watched "Undercover Boss."  We wondered, now that the show has debuted, how they will go about doing more seasons of it.  Won't many people secretly suspect that it's the big boss when some "reality show" places this wildly incompetent guy (who asks lots of questions about their job and their perception of the company and what their coworkers think) on the job with them and follows them about with cameras?