Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Breakfast of Champions
After Bubba and I took our walk this morning, had a great day at the golf course. Don showed up with a partially eaten box of South Beach Diet cereal which he didn't like. (He is borderline diabetic and switched to SBD for weight and blood sugar control.) Don said either Eddie or I could have it. Since we both do SBD, we dedided to play golf for it, winner take all (that was left in the box). Eddie is a 17 handicapper and I am a 13, so I gave Eddie 4 strokes. By the end of the front nine, I had made up the four strokes and was up by four more. This was more than Eddie could take, so he went to the driving range to practice and I won by forfeit. Woohoo! Shot a score of 86 and won a box of cereal!
Had 2 homemade breakfast tacos (using whole wheat tortillas) with turkey bacon and milk for breakfast. Had an apple, two turkey roll-ups, a half bag of popcorn and a diet A&W rootbeer on the course for lunch. Had a grapefruit for snack. Supper will be grilled chicken, mock mashed potatoes, some kind of green vegtable, and a salad.
Must check the SBD website for future meals as we are running low on food.
Had 2 homemade breakfast tacos (using whole wheat tortillas) with turkey bacon and milk for breakfast. Had an apple, two turkey roll-ups, a half bag of popcorn and a diet A&W rootbeer on the course for lunch. Had a grapefruit for snack. Supper will be grilled chicken, mock mashed potatoes, some kind of green vegtable, and a salad.
Must check the SBD website for future meals as we are running low on food.
Monday, January 30, 2006
Your Wish Is My Command
P F Chang's Mongolian Beef
Ribeye or flank steak is cut across the grain into bite-sized pieces (about the size of a Splenda :-) packet, dusted with cornstarch, stir fried at very high temperature, then coated in the delicious sweet soy-garlic sauce. This can also be done with chicken or shrimp or pork.
For spicey, add some red pepper flakes to the sauce.
Sauce
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I'll use Splenda)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup vegetable oil (we used canola. peanut would be ok, too)
1 pound flank (or ribeye) steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions sliced into 4-inch pieces
Instructions
1. Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a mediun saucepan over med/low heat. Don't let the oil get too hot or you will get major spatter when you add other liquids. Add ginger and garlic (and pepper flakes, if desired) to the pan and quickly add the soy and water before the garlic burns. Add the sugar and dissolve in the sauce, then bring liquid to a boil for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.
2. Slice the meat into bite-size pieces, tilting your knife at an angle to the cutting board to create wider (but not thicker) slices.
3. Dust the meat very lightly with cornstarch and let it sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch has a chance to adhere.
4. Heat one cup of oil over medium heat until it shimmers. This is just about the smoking point. After the smoking point comes the FIRE. Don't go there. Watch for shimmering oil. Saute meat for 2 minutes, moving it around with a wooden utensil. Remove the meat from the oil with a slotted spoon or spider and drain on paper towels. Pour out the used oil. Put the pan back on the heat, replace the meat in the pan and reheat for a minute. Add the sauce, stirring for a minute. Add the green onions and continue cooking for a minute. Remove the meat and onions with tongs and leave the remaining sauce in the pan.
Serves 2.
Ribeye or flank steak is cut across the grain into bite-sized pieces (about the size of a Splenda :-) packet, dusted with cornstarch, stir fried at very high temperature, then coated in the delicious sweet soy-garlic sauce. This can also be done with chicken or shrimp or pork.
For spicey, add some red pepper flakes to the sauce.
Sauce
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I'll use Splenda)
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 cup vegetable oil (we used canola. peanut would be ok, too)
1 pound flank (or ribeye) steak
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions sliced into 4-inch pieces
Instructions
1. Make the sauce by heating 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil in a mediun saucepan over med/low heat. Don't let the oil get too hot or you will get major spatter when you add other liquids. Add ginger and garlic (and pepper flakes, if desired) to the pan and quickly add the soy and water before the garlic burns. Add the sugar and dissolve in the sauce, then bring liquid to a boil for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove it from the heat.
2. Slice the meat into bite-size pieces, tilting your knife at an angle to the cutting board to create wider (but not thicker) slices.
3. Dust the meat very lightly with cornstarch and let it sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch has a chance to adhere.
4. Heat one cup of oil over medium heat until it shimmers. This is just about the smoking point. After the smoking point comes the FIRE. Don't go there. Watch for shimmering oil. Saute meat for 2 minutes, moving it around with a wooden utensil. Remove the meat from the oil with a slotted spoon or spider and drain on paper towels. Pour out the used oil. Put the pan back on the heat, replace the meat in the pan and reheat for a minute. Add the sauce, stirring for a minute. Add the green onions and continue cooking for a minute. Remove the meat and onions with tongs and leave the remaining sauce in the pan.
Serves 2.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Undoing
Since I seem to have more time to comtemplate things these days, I'm going to follow my beautiful kid's example and write about what I eat. And how I move. This will help me undo too many years of pizza and beer.
I actually started in August, 2004. I weighed about 262 lbs. When I got married in 1967, I weighed about 197. That would be a good goal, I think. My brother lost a bunch of weight using the South Beach Diet, so I investigated and thought it sounded doable. Not just for the losing of weight, but as a remainder-of-the-lifetime diet.
I checked out the SBD website, bought the book, bought the cookbook, and by May 5th, 2005, I was down to 215. We then took a motorhome trip to Alaska, and while I ate well on the trip, for some reason I started to slip back into old habits- pizza, burgers, fries, even desserts (which I really don't like too much anyway). So all the bread and potatoes and sugar piled up and now I way 221 (after the strict two week getting-rid-of-cravings period) and one week of Phase 2 including fruits and whole grain breads.
I continue to take Bubba for a brisk twenty minute walk daily plus 18 holes of golf (riding in a cart) about 3 or 4 times a week. S's daughter, A (a pharmaceutical rep), gave me a pedometer to keep up with my number of steps during the day. A says 10,000 steps is a good day of walking. Just playing golf (even riding) gets over 8,000 steps. So that part seems OK.
My sweety tempts me to go towards sweets, and when I do eat them, I think it is more to be polite than craving sugar. I will have to be not so polite.
I went to a cooking class Saturday where we learned recipes from P F Chang. The instructor was a former chef in the Dallas restaurant. Not a great teacher, but a good time was had by all. I was stuffed by the time we ate all of the food we cooked in class. We had Lettuce Wraps, Orange Chicken, Mongolian Beef, and Chicken Fried Rice. It was delicious, and very spicey. I wish I had not eaten so much white rice, but I did. As H says, shut up.
Yesterday, we went to Oxford Street for S's birthday. I had steak, grilled veggies, and lots of salad from the salad bar. Very tasty. Also traded a piece of steak for a piece of sweety's stuffed flounder. Not as good as the Tilapia Vera Cruz I had last time. Had a small piece of birthday cake (still slightly frozen). Definitely not worth the carbs. But I didn't eat the whole thing and made an interesting sculpture from the cake and three skewers left over from the grilled veggies. Looked like an alien invader thingy from War of the Worlds.
Had South Beach Diet cereal for breakfast, celery stuffed with Laughing Cow Light cheese for snack, and made some Country Cabbage Soup for lunch. Supper will be grilled sirloin steak with baked sweet potato and salad. Yum.
I actually started in August, 2004. I weighed about 262 lbs. When I got married in 1967, I weighed about 197. That would be a good goal, I think. My brother lost a bunch of weight using the South Beach Diet, so I investigated and thought it sounded doable. Not just for the losing of weight, but as a remainder-of-the-lifetime diet.
I checked out the SBD website, bought the book, bought the cookbook, and by May 5th, 2005, I was down to 215. We then took a motorhome trip to Alaska, and while I ate well on the trip, for some reason I started to slip back into old habits- pizza, burgers, fries, even desserts (which I really don't like too much anyway). So all the bread and potatoes and sugar piled up and now I way 221 (after the strict two week getting-rid-of-cravings period) and one week of Phase 2 including fruits and whole grain breads.
I continue to take Bubba for a brisk twenty minute walk daily plus 18 holes of golf (riding in a cart) about 3 or 4 times a week. S's daughter, A (a pharmaceutical rep), gave me a pedometer to keep up with my number of steps during the day. A says 10,000 steps is a good day of walking. Just playing golf (even riding) gets over 8,000 steps. So that part seems OK.
My sweety tempts me to go towards sweets, and when I do eat them, I think it is more to be polite than craving sugar. I will have to be not so polite.
I went to a cooking class Saturday where we learned recipes from P F Chang. The instructor was a former chef in the Dallas restaurant. Not a great teacher, but a good time was had by all. I was stuffed by the time we ate all of the food we cooked in class. We had Lettuce Wraps, Orange Chicken, Mongolian Beef, and Chicken Fried Rice. It was delicious, and very spicey. I wish I had not eaten so much white rice, but I did. As H says, shut up.
Yesterday, we went to Oxford Street for S's birthday. I had steak, grilled veggies, and lots of salad from the salad bar. Very tasty. Also traded a piece of steak for a piece of sweety's stuffed flounder. Not as good as the Tilapia Vera Cruz I had last time. Had a small piece of birthday cake (still slightly frozen). Definitely not worth the carbs. But I didn't eat the whole thing and made an interesting sculpture from the cake and three skewers left over from the grilled veggies. Looked like an alien invader thingy from War of the Worlds.
Had South Beach Diet cereal for breakfast, celery stuffed with Laughing Cow Light cheese for snack, and made some Country Cabbage Soup for lunch. Supper will be grilled sirloin steak with baked sweet potato and salad. Yum.
