Friday, June 10, 2011
Second week almost at an end
The pleasant surprise was that my weight was up only two pounds--exactly--on the day after my binge day. Much to my chagrin, however, it continued to climb for two more days. This morning--day 5 of week 2--it was finally down from the reading just prior to binging. So, it’s not looking like a great week. Tomorrow morning will be my weekly reading, for comparison to last week. It should be interesting. I do know, however, that I had a huge dinner last night--about a pound and a half of food--which I’m sure adversely affected my weight this morning. I know my waist is way down, and I wish I had bought a tape measure. I know my fat’s way down, and I wish I had access to body fat percentage measurements. Anyway, the final word on the second week will come tomorrow. Oh yes, tomorrow...binge day. My diet was pretty much the same this week. No hunger, no cravings, but I am looking forward to binge day tomorrow more than I was last week. Some things just struck me as appealing the last couple of days, like some beautiful French blue cheeses and a loaf of sourdough walnut bread. Kettle corn. Maybe some Chinese food. Yum!!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
First week wrap-up
Well, the first week was pretty impressive. In six days, my average daily weight loss was 1.3 pounds per day, for a total of 7.8 pounds at the end of six days. That includes being up on days four and five. I’m guessing that a good part of that loss was “water weight.” Still, that’s pretty good! And I’m still shaking my head in disbelief at how much the stomach fat seems to have diminished.
It’s pretty hard to believe I ate the massive amounts of food I did, and drank tons of water, and lost weight. I ate so much last week that I almost want to cut down on intake this week. But, I’m viewing this as a bigger test week than last, due to my feeling that a lot of last week’s loss was water weight. If I were to keep losing at the same rate, the diet would be done in a month! Furthermore, it makes more sense, probably, to view it in terms of percentage of body weight, not absolute pounds. I have no way of measuring body fat percentage.
My cheat day wasn’t very exciting, in any respect. First of all, I was eating so much during the week, that I never did develop a craving for anything I wasn’t eating. Friday night and Saturday morning (night 6 and morning 7) I quickly skimmed the part of the book (by the way, that reminds me I’ve been misspelling the author’s name, which is Ferriss) about making your day off less “destructive.” I had a high-protein breakfast, and went from there. I didn’t use the PAGG cocktail because it was too last minute to figure that out. I did the grapefruit juice/coffee thing, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. I had a couple of pastries in the morning--a glazed doughnut and a cheese Danish. Normally I crave things like that. I consumed them with a sense of duty, to reset my body, but I could have done without. Perhaps a function of the high-protein breakfast designed to curb the appetite the rest of the day? Mid-afternoon I had a java-chip frappuccino, only because I had a freebie.
Dinner was my huge meal of the day. I decided to have a leisurely meal out...several courses paired with wines...and that’s exactly what I did. Which reminds me, one of the things I didn’t do days 1-6 was consume any wine, even though the diet allows it. Some of my dinner food was diet-allowed, some wasn’t I didn’t go overboard for the sake of going overboard. One of the courses I had featured organic tomatoes, house-made mozzarella, a ton of fresh spinach and mint pesto (a glass of Sancerre, for those who care) and I had smoked and braised short ribs (Cotes du Rhone), with the leftover short ribs going into breakfast this morning. Okay, that’s only two you say. That was the better stuff as far as the diet’s concerned. I had a light cream of smoked corn soup with tomato and basil (not all bad, except for the cream) with a glass of taboo off-dry Italian red wine (I forget the name).
From yesterday morning--just pre-binge--to this morning, I racked up a two-pound weight gain. And I’m back on the diet today. I won’t bore you this week with the details of what I’m eating, since it will be very similar to last week. I’ll be grocery shopping today, and cooking for the week ahead, and I’ll try to make more of an effort to detail costs of everything, just out of curiosity. A calorie count might be interesting, too, even though calorie counting doesn’t enter into the diet.
And just a word on the wine situation vis-à-vis the diet. From a health point of view, according to many studies, wine consumption in moderation can be good for you. I think it’s been found that red wine offers more benefits than white wine. But the author eschews the consumption of all white wine, and I think this is a broad generalization to avoid sugar in wine. Yes, red wines are nearly all fermented dry (i.e. have no sugar remaining), but there are exceptions, like the one I had last night with the corn soup. It was sweeter than the average white wine. Yes, many white wines are not fermented dry, but most are. If you know your wines, you can probably choose a white that will fit the diet. Virtually all sauvignon blancs are dry. Most chardonnays are. Stay away from pinot gris/pinot grigio, riesling and gewürztraminer. These tend to pose the highest risk for sugar in the wine.
Off to the market...
It’s pretty hard to believe I ate the massive amounts of food I did, and drank tons of water, and lost weight. I ate so much last week that I almost want to cut down on intake this week. But, I’m viewing this as a bigger test week than last, due to my feeling that a lot of last week’s loss was water weight. If I were to keep losing at the same rate, the diet would be done in a month! Furthermore, it makes more sense, probably, to view it in terms of percentage of body weight, not absolute pounds. I have no way of measuring body fat percentage.
My cheat day wasn’t very exciting, in any respect. First of all, I was eating so much during the week, that I never did develop a craving for anything I wasn’t eating. Friday night and Saturday morning (night 6 and morning 7) I quickly skimmed the part of the book (by the way, that reminds me I’ve been misspelling the author’s name, which is Ferriss) about making your day off less “destructive.” I had a high-protein breakfast, and went from there. I didn’t use the PAGG cocktail because it was too last minute to figure that out. I did the grapefruit juice/coffee thing, which isn’t as bad as it sounds. I had a couple of pastries in the morning--a glazed doughnut and a cheese Danish. Normally I crave things like that. I consumed them with a sense of duty, to reset my body, but I could have done without. Perhaps a function of the high-protein breakfast designed to curb the appetite the rest of the day? Mid-afternoon I had a java-chip frappuccino, only because I had a freebie.
Dinner was my huge meal of the day. I decided to have a leisurely meal out...several courses paired with wines...and that’s exactly what I did. Which reminds me, one of the things I didn’t do days 1-6 was consume any wine, even though the diet allows it. Some of my dinner food was diet-allowed, some wasn’t I didn’t go overboard for the sake of going overboard. One of the courses I had featured organic tomatoes, house-made mozzarella, a ton of fresh spinach and mint pesto (a glass of Sancerre, for those who care) and I had smoked and braised short ribs (Cotes du Rhone), with the leftover short ribs going into breakfast this morning. Okay, that’s only two you say. That was the better stuff as far as the diet’s concerned. I had a light cream of smoked corn soup with tomato and basil (not all bad, except for the cream) with a glass of taboo off-dry Italian red wine (I forget the name).
From yesterday morning--just pre-binge--to this morning, I racked up a two-pound weight gain. And I’m back on the diet today. I won’t bore you this week with the details of what I’m eating, since it will be very similar to last week. I’ll be grocery shopping today, and cooking for the week ahead, and I’ll try to make more of an effort to detail costs of everything, just out of curiosity. A calorie count might be interesting, too, even though calorie counting doesn’t enter into the diet.
And just a word on the wine situation vis-à-vis the diet. From a health point of view, according to many studies, wine consumption in moderation can be good for you. I think it’s been found that red wine offers more benefits than white wine. But the author eschews the consumption of all white wine, and I think this is a broad generalization to avoid sugar in wine. Yes, red wines are nearly all fermented dry (i.e. have no sugar remaining), but there are exceptions, like the one I had last night with the corn soup. It was sweeter than the average white wine. Yes, many white wines are not fermented dry, but most are. If you know your wines, you can probably choose a white that will fit the diet. Virtually all sauvignon blancs are dry. Most chardonnays are. Stay away from pinot gris/pinot grigio, riesling and gewürztraminer. These tend to pose the highest risk for sugar in the wine.
Off to the market...
Thursday, June 2, 2011
A normal day, once again!
That's not my dinner above; it's this morning's breakfast, the one I was looking forward to when I went to bed last night. It turned out to be nice looking, but that wasn't a conscious effort on my part. For me, there is little effort in the morning that is conscious. This was the chicken mix, to which I added fresh spinach, hard boiled egg, cashews and sun-dried tomatoes. Oh--and, of course, a sprinkling of fleur de sel.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Yada, yada, yada
Well folks, this is bizarre. With much embarrassment and very sheepishly, I found myself telling someone about this diet today. No, I wasn’t touting it, I was offering it as a reason for my not eating a sample of a pastry. I always thought people silly when they said “I’m on the Scarsdale/Pritikin/Atkins/South Beach/Whatever (take your pick!) diet.” Yada, yada, yada! The only time I lost significant weight, and kept it off, is when I began watching my calories and started exercising. The health club I was a member of had a team of exercise physiologists, and they were really helpful. They also had a really good nutritionist who helped me straighten my diet out when my weight hit a plateau. While the author of the “4-Hour Body” claims, and rightly so, that there’s no definition of a balanced diet, some diets are more balanced than others, and lead to more fat-burning than muscle-burning, which can happen. As he also claims, and I think he’s right on this too, you need a “trigger” to get you to start losing weight. Mine--at the time--was that I was obese and lethargic, and would lean back in my office chair and be dozing in five minutes. After being active with sports in high school, that was quite a change. I wouldn’t say my trigger this time--boredom with the food I was eating, a love of cooking, and just the spur-of-the-moment challenge--was as strong.
Like I told my friend Cherie today, this diet is crazy nuts! As I said in the last post, I’m not ready to give out numbers yet. I told her that Tuesday morning (remember, I started on Sunday) I was grabbing my belly fat, because it seemed to have diminished. Almost to the point of “pinch me, I must be dreaming.” Saturday’s my binge day. I’ll see what my weight is Saturday morning before breakfast. I think that will be my benchmark, weekly reading, since apparently one can temporarily gain a whole bunch of weight from the day of cheating.
When on the road as I was yesterday, the “pit stop” of choice is now Starbucks. Years ago it used to be Micky D’s. I think that may be true for a lot of people; I’ve heard others say the same thing. But if I stop at a random store or gas-station-food-place, I hate to ask to use the restroom without buying something. (Now, I know that there is one person out there chuckling. AND, you know who you are! I just want to see if you’re paying attention.) Last night, I bought a small bag of roasted cashews. These probably fall into the category of foods referred to as “domino” foods in the book. I didn’t break open the bag. Instead, I had a different idea.
The other day when I bagged up all the roasted chicken, I looked at it--well, actually I listened--it was screaming for various seasonings, different treatments. A culinary canvas, if you will. Did I mention this already? Mexican, Thai, Indian... When I’ve done quick curries (again, I’ve made my own curries before, but we’re keeping it simple), I like to add some nuts and some fruit. I like cashews in curries, and pineapple, mango or banana. Fruits, of course, are taboo on this diet, except on cheat day. But I had the cashews, and I went and bought some hot Madras curry powder. As a substitute for the usual fruit, I bought a bag of sun-dried tomatoes. Think about what’s in my Ziploc bag: cauliflower is delicious curried, ditto chicken, lentils, chick peas... The only thing I wouldn’t associate with curry would be the black beans. I had to eat dinner on the fly tonight, because I had to go to a meeting. So, ba-da-boom!, I nuked a bag, threw in probably a half teaspoon of curry, about an ounce of crushed cashews, and probably an ounce of chopped tomatoes (not at all reconstituted). I massaged it all together, ate half, and put the other half away for breakfast. When I got home from my meeting, I did it all over again, except I put two eggs, a handful of torn up spinach leaves and about a heaping quarter cup of sauerkraut in a sauté pan. Turned on the heat. When the eggs started to set, I threw in the nuts and tomatoes, then the meal-in-a-bag. Oh, my gosh!
So, here I am again, day four, not tired of it yet, and actually having a good time. I want that curried chicken for breakfast again tomorrow!! I still can’t fathom cheat day, yet, though I still have two days left of the good stuff. I haven’t had any cravings for anything else, which is strange for me. Maybe I just should have started cooking for myself a long time ago? I don’t know. And I’ll give you a hint...I’m going to bed tonight saying to myself there’s no way my weight can be down again tomorrow.
Even though I’ve kept good notes on stuff up till now, with all the bags I’ve packed, and all the meals I’ve eaten, it’s becoming more and more of a daunting task to figure out exactly how many meals I got out of what I cooked. I’m thinking maybe this weekend, if I have the time, I’ll start anew, and do just one chicken, one head of cauliflower, etc., and work out all the numbers. Plus, at some point, I should probably give a bit more instruction on what I’m preparing, and how I’m doing it. We’ll see how it goes!!
Like I told my friend Cherie today, this diet is crazy nuts! As I said in the last post, I’m not ready to give out numbers yet. I told her that Tuesday morning (remember, I started on Sunday) I was grabbing my belly fat, because it seemed to have diminished. Almost to the point of “pinch me, I must be dreaming.” Saturday’s my binge day. I’ll see what my weight is Saturday morning before breakfast. I think that will be my benchmark, weekly reading, since apparently one can temporarily gain a whole bunch of weight from the day of cheating.
When on the road as I was yesterday, the “pit stop” of choice is now Starbucks. Years ago it used to be Micky D’s. I think that may be true for a lot of people; I’ve heard others say the same thing. But if I stop at a random store or gas-station-food-place, I hate to ask to use the restroom without buying something. (Now, I know that there is one person out there chuckling. AND, you know who you are! I just want to see if you’re paying attention.) Last night, I bought a small bag of roasted cashews. These probably fall into the category of foods referred to as “domino” foods in the book. I didn’t break open the bag. Instead, I had a different idea.
The other day when I bagged up all the roasted chicken, I looked at it--well, actually I listened--it was screaming for various seasonings, different treatments. A culinary canvas, if you will. Did I mention this already? Mexican, Thai, Indian... When I’ve done quick curries (again, I’ve made my own curries before, but we’re keeping it simple), I like to add some nuts and some fruit. I like cashews in curries, and pineapple, mango or banana. Fruits, of course, are taboo on this diet, except on cheat day. But I had the cashews, and I went and bought some hot Madras curry powder. As a substitute for the usual fruit, I bought a bag of sun-dried tomatoes. Think about what’s in my Ziploc bag: cauliflower is delicious curried, ditto chicken, lentils, chick peas... The only thing I wouldn’t associate with curry would be the black beans. I had to eat dinner on the fly tonight, because I had to go to a meeting. So, ba-da-boom!, I nuked a bag, threw in probably a half teaspoon of curry, about an ounce of crushed cashews, and probably an ounce of chopped tomatoes (not at all reconstituted). I massaged it all together, ate half, and put the other half away for breakfast. When I got home from my meeting, I did it all over again, except I put two eggs, a handful of torn up spinach leaves and about a heaping quarter cup of sauerkraut in a sauté pan. Turned on the heat. When the eggs started to set, I threw in the nuts and tomatoes, then the meal-in-a-bag. Oh, my gosh!
So, here I am again, day four, not tired of it yet, and actually having a good time. I want that curried chicken for breakfast again tomorrow!! I still can’t fathom cheat day, yet, though I still have two days left of the good stuff. I haven’t had any cravings for anything else, which is strange for me. Maybe I just should have started cooking for myself a long time ago? I don’t know. And I’ll give you a hint...I’m going to bed tonight saying to myself there’s no way my weight can be down again tomorrow.
Even though I’ve kept good notes on stuff up till now, with all the bags I’ve packed, and all the meals I’ve eaten, it’s becoming more and more of a daunting task to figure out exactly how many meals I got out of what I cooked. I’m thinking maybe this weekend, if I have the time, I’ll start anew, and do just one chicken, one head of cauliflower, etc., and work out all the numbers. Plus, at some point, I should probably give a bit more instruction on what I’m preparing, and how I’m doing it. We’ll see how it goes!!
Cheating, Meals on the Road, and a Couple of Changes
After the long weekend, it was back on the road today. Home late, and not much time to post. Though my meals so far have been mostly variations on a theme, I’m a happy camper. Still not craving anything I can’t eat, but I’m sure that will come. Without cravings, I’m still not feeling the need for a “cheat day,” but it’s only day three.
I seem to recall that Timothy Ferris, the author, says something about perhaps taking a few days to adjust to the diet, and that you should feel good after that. So far, I’ve been feeling fine. Generally black beans do a number on me, but the mixture of black beans, lentils and chick peas has had no effect on me whatsoever (thankfully!).
It still seems like I’ve been eating way more than I should be. I’m curious enough that I’ll probably count the calories at some point. I’ve been taking good enough notes to be able to make a rough guess, but more about that some other time. I’ve experienced hunger--as in, my gosh, I’m starving--only once. That was this afternoon following a smaller-than-normal lunch, and heading into the late afternoon. The many pit stops I had to make today is evidence that I’m probably drinking enough water. How much? Tough to say, because I’m not measuring it. I would guess 2+ quarts per day.
The author mentions tracking data. I agree. When I lost a ton of weight one time, I kept calorie counts, weight, and an exercise log, eventually cutting out the calorie count when I got a feel for it. Then, I got to the point where calories no longer mattered anyway. I may detail some of that experience some other time. Right now, all I’m tracking is weight. I don’t own a tape measure, so I can’t do waist and other measurements. But I certainly know my clothes well enough to be able to tell what’s going on.
I have only three weight measurements so far--the morning of the day I started, and the two following mornings. I can’t get excited over short-term measurements. I know from experience that my weight while I was exercising and dieting would regularly vary by seven pounds during the week. This was based on weighing myself at the same time every day. You want to do that, too. In my opinion, there’s no sense in doing it any other way. Probably the best is in the morning before breakfast. The trend on a weekly basis, say your Friday morning weight, if your cheat day is Saturday, for example, carries far more meaning than the day-to-day fluctuations. And the trend is more important than week-to-week fluctuations, too. Trust me, in a former life I was trained as an economist with a strong background in statistics.
Have I seen a trend in just three days? Yes. Is it significant? Not in the overall scheme of things, so I’ll reserve judgment. I think it will be interesting to see how the first week stacks up. But I can’t gainsay my comments on the weekly trend. To me, that’s far more important.
So, I’m cheating a bit. I bought a jar of sauerkraut which, the book suggests, as a fermented food, is good for you. I’m trying to get away from canned and frozen food, so where do we draw the line? Is food in a jar superior to food in a can, or flash-frozen packed in paper? I’ve made my own sauerkraut before, and you can too, so I’ll let you be the judge. Again, I’m trying to improve on what the book offers for food suggestions, but at the same time keep it simple. Given that, I also bought a jar of Pace picante sauce and a jar of Mezzetta deli-sliced “tamed” jalapeno peppers. Neither contains any sort of sweetener. The former to try to spice up my ahi, which I indicated I’m not that fond of. The latter, because I’ve had them before, and I love them. I used to chop them and add them as a topping to pizzas, or to spice up a pasta sauce, among other things.
As far as the ahi is concerned, I’m actually liking it better now anyway. It seems, like cheesecake, that the flavors of everything meld in the plastic bag in the fridge/freezer, and become much more delicious.
I’ve had two meals on the road, both of which had protein and veggies, but lacked the bean element. That’s why Ferris suggests Mexican food. Yesterday, late afternoon, was a double-double, protein style, at In-N-Out Burger. For those of you who don’t know, that would be two burgers, two slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion, wrapped in more lettuce instead of on a bun. I forgot about the sauce they put on it, which I’m certain has some sort of sweetener. Most of that dripped out, though, along with the juice from the tomato.
Then today, by late afternoon, I was starving. I was on the remote California coast. I finally hit a supermarket which I knew had a salad bar and a deli department. I thought that would be great, since many salad bars have garbanzo beans, along with the normal spinach and salad greens. I thought I could get some sliced meat to go along with it. But the salad bar was broken down by the time I got there, so I moved on.
Down the road I stopped at a restaurant (Sea Ranch--I might as well give them a plug--they’re pretty good) and sat at the bar. I had a burger with a slice of Swiss, a side of delicious, tiny Brussels sprouts, and lettuce, tomato, and half a dill pickle. Bingo! Except for the lack of beans.
I’ve made two changes in cooking ingredients. I’m blanching the cauliflower ahead of time--more on that perhaps tomorrow. And, I’ve decided to wilt the fresh spinach, rather than chomping on it rabbit-style (unless, of course, I want a salad of the fresh stuff).
I’ve been jotting down notes from time to time, and I have a lot to share, but it will have to come some other time. However, I can tell you that last night I went to bed looking forward to breakfast this morning. That’s rare for me, unless I’m eating out, as I’m neither a morning person nor a breakfast eater. I whisked three eggs, poured them in a hot sauté pan which had been coated with veg oil. I turned down the heat and let the eggs set a bit, then added a handful of spinach. After that warmed, I added one of my bags that had the bean mix, blanched cauliflower, chicken, and a quarter cup of the salsa, and spread it out over the eggs, and left it to warm a bit. Then, I folded it over into a delicious omelet. For me, it was soooo good! Generally I’ve been eating half the breakfast I prepare and saving the rest for lunch. I ate more than half the omelet, and could have eaten the whole thing. Hence my smaller-than-normal lunch.
I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this yet, but the bags of chicken I prepared contain over a pound of food. On top of that, I add eggs and spinach, so we’re looking at quite a bit! Again, more on that later.
I seem to recall that Timothy Ferris, the author, says something about perhaps taking a few days to adjust to the diet, and that you should feel good after that. So far, I’ve been feeling fine. Generally black beans do a number on me, but the mixture of black beans, lentils and chick peas has had no effect on me whatsoever (thankfully!).
It still seems like I’ve been eating way more than I should be. I’m curious enough that I’ll probably count the calories at some point. I’ve been taking good enough notes to be able to make a rough guess, but more about that some other time. I’ve experienced hunger--as in, my gosh, I’m starving--only once. That was this afternoon following a smaller-than-normal lunch, and heading into the late afternoon. The many pit stops I had to make today is evidence that I’m probably drinking enough water. How much? Tough to say, because I’m not measuring it. I would guess 2+ quarts per day.
The author mentions tracking data. I agree. When I lost a ton of weight one time, I kept calorie counts, weight, and an exercise log, eventually cutting out the calorie count when I got a feel for it. Then, I got to the point where calories no longer mattered anyway. I may detail some of that experience some other time. Right now, all I’m tracking is weight. I don’t own a tape measure, so I can’t do waist and other measurements. But I certainly know my clothes well enough to be able to tell what’s going on.
I have only three weight measurements so far--the morning of the day I started, and the two following mornings. I can’t get excited over short-term measurements. I know from experience that my weight while I was exercising and dieting would regularly vary by seven pounds during the week. This was based on weighing myself at the same time every day. You want to do that, too. In my opinion, there’s no sense in doing it any other way. Probably the best is in the morning before breakfast. The trend on a weekly basis, say your Friday morning weight, if your cheat day is Saturday, for example, carries far more meaning than the day-to-day fluctuations. And the trend is more important than week-to-week fluctuations, too. Trust me, in a former life I was trained as an economist with a strong background in statistics.
Have I seen a trend in just three days? Yes. Is it significant? Not in the overall scheme of things, so I’ll reserve judgment. I think it will be interesting to see how the first week stacks up. But I can’t gainsay my comments on the weekly trend. To me, that’s far more important.
So, I’m cheating a bit. I bought a jar of sauerkraut which, the book suggests, as a fermented food, is good for you. I’m trying to get away from canned and frozen food, so where do we draw the line? Is food in a jar superior to food in a can, or flash-frozen packed in paper? I’ve made my own sauerkraut before, and you can too, so I’ll let you be the judge. Again, I’m trying to improve on what the book offers for food suggestions, but at the same time keep it simple. Given that, I also bought a jar of Pace picante sauce and a jar of Mezzetta deli-sliced “tamed” jalapeno peppers. Neither contains any sort of sweetener. The former to try to spice up my ahi, which I indicated I’m not that fond of. The latter, because I’ve had them before, and I love them. I used to chop them and add them as a topping to pizzas, or to spice up a pasta sauce, among other things.
As far as the ahi is concerned, I’m actually liking it better now anyway. It seems, like cheesecake, that the flavors of everything meld in the plastic bag in the fridge/freezer, and become much more delicious.
I’ve had two meals on the road, both of which had protein and veggies, but lacked the bean element. That’s why Ferris suggests Mexican food. Yesterday, late afternoon, was a double-double, protein style, at In-N-Out Burger. For those of you who don’t know, that would be two burgers, two slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato and onion, wrapped in more lettuce instead of on a bun. I forgot about the sauce they put on it, which I’m certain has some sort of sweetener. Most of that dripped out, though, along with the juice from the tomato.
Then today, by late afternoon, I was starving. I was on the remote California coast. I finally hit a supermarket which I knew had a salad bar and a deli department. I thought that would be great, since many salad bars have garbanzo beans, along with the normal spinach and salad greens. I thought I could get some sliced meat to go along with it. But the salad bar was broken down by the time I got there, so I moved on.
Down the road I stopped at a restaurant (Sea Ranch--I might as well give them a plug--they’re pretty good) and sat at the bar. I had a burger with a slice of Swiss, a side of delicious, tiny Brussels sprouts, and lettuce, tomato, and half a dill pickle. Bingo! Except for the lack of beans.
I’ve made two changes in cooking ingredients. I’m blanching the cauliflower ahead of time--more on that perhaps tomorrow. And, I’ve decided to wilt the fresh spinach, rather than chomping on it rabbit-style (unless, of course, I want a salad of the fresh stuff).
I’ve been jotting down notes from time to time, and I have a lot to share, but it will have to come some other time. However, I can tell you that last night I went to bed looking forward to breakfast this morning. That’s rare for me, unless I’m eating out, as I’m neither a morning person nor a breakfast eater. I whisked three eggs, poured them in a hot sauté pan which had been coated with veg oil. I turned down the heat and let the eggs set a bit, then added a handful of spinach. After that warmed, I added one of my bags that had the bean mix, blanched cauliflower, chicken, and a quarter cup of the salsa, and spread it out over the eggs, and left it to warm a bit. Then, I folded it over into a delicious omelet. For me, it was soooo good! Generally I’ve been eating half the breakfast I prepare and saving the rest for lunch. I ate more than half the omelet, and could have eaten the whole thing. Hence my smaller-than-normal lunch.
I’m not sure I’ve mentioned this yet, but the bags of chicken I prepared contain over a pound of food. On top of that, I add eggs and spinach, so we’re looking at quite a bit! Again, more on that later.
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