Feelin' a Burito

After passing out on the couch last night at 7pm (thankfully grandma was around to assist with the kids so B didn't have cause for a conniption!) I transferred myself and a sleeping Milli Mil to bed around 8 and didn't wake until my alarm at 6:15. I guess 2 nights of poor sleep and a good day of weights and productivity (and heavy Chinese food) will set you up for a good sleep.

B stayed home, I strapped on Mil and strapped Edie to the light stroller, and set out to Westchester via subway and Metronorth to visit a friend and her family for the day. Eating involved a greasy spoon, but hey, it's the weekend and I'm kickin' it Tom Cruisian. I was tempted to order in in the evening, but it occurred to me that tomorrows loooong trip to see my brother would bring a lot of bad food, so I just raided the fridge and ate a knish that needed eating. Not the greatest meal, but calorie wise, probably half of what I would have consumed if I ordered in the burrito I was feelin'.

Woke up with pleasantly sore muscles, though I think maybe they should hurt a little more. I'm pushing as much weight as I can, but perhaps I should up my reps from 5 to 6 or 7.

AM SNACK: 6:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 7am, 4 banana pancakes, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: 9am, 3/4 of a whole wheat bagel & butter, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5
A little picnic on the Metronorth train with Edie, waiting for it to move. Food can be so much fun with the right context and the right sharer.


LUNCH: noon,  blueberry muffin, bacon, home fries,water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
It could have been a lot worse if I ordered a proper plate of food instead of sides. The plate of the "side" of homefries was at least 12 oz, and Edie's "children's" OJ was a good pint (I poured half out and replaced it with water -- Edie still wasn't able to finish it.)



PM SNACK: 4:45pm, granola bar, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 5:30pm, hot dog, coney-style knish, a little veg fried rice, 1  bowl, hunger 4/5


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, ritz crackers, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

Warm fuzzies

Got the laundry in early, felt better -- my neck isn't sore anymore, got a solid 7 hours sleep. Pushed it a little lifting weights, felt good. I doubt anyone but me can see it, but my muscles are feeling harder and a little swollen in a good, mass-building way. I'm hardly the Situation, but makes me look forward to the Spring to see how a bike handles under me with this additional core strength.

As I knew the in laws were coming over for a dinner that I was not to be cooking (i.e. ordering in), I was extra careful to eat healthy during the day to have some sort of balance...

Dinner was delicious in that comforting way, Chinese take out was a popular family meal with my parents, and it set a warm fuzzy blanket of tired on my right after I finished, passing out on the couch at 7pm.

AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, hardcore oatmeal, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Finished the can of McCann's, which I bought after getting sick - I guess that is a marker of time, I haven't gotten sick of this push for healthier eating yet! I also doubled up on the vanilla, salt, butter and brown sugar, as the last batch was tepid. MUCH better, and still relative low in this additions.

LUNCH: 12:15pm, breaded tilapia, baby spinach salad, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Breakthrough! I didn't have any baby carrots left to counter the mild chalky bitterness, and have been finding the bottled Italian dressing way too vinegary and strong. So I looked in the cupboard for an alternate and there it was: blanched slivered almonds!! A sprinkle of it gave the needed textural and flavor counterpoint to make the spinach pop to life AND it's a super healthy food. Huzzah! I dressed it with a little olive oil and a little balsamic, and it was mostly perfect -- perhaps a light sprinkle of salt would make it restaurant worthy.


PM SNACK: 2pm, apple

PM SNACK: 4pm, handful of whole grain pretzel sticks
Edie was running around with the bag in the playroom, it was impossible to resist sharing them with her.



DINNER: 6pm, roast pork & tofu in brown sauce over veg fried rice, shrimp toast, a couple of steamed vegetable dumplings, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
Delivery with the family. My attitude is starting to emerge about bad-for-you food similar to alcohol and other similar activities -- it's only acceptable when done socially with friends or family.

Pasta pasta!

One of my chefs in c-school scolded me for plating way too much pasta on a plate -- he complained that American's relationship with pasta is WAY out of wack. At dinner this evening, I measured out 4oz of dry pasta out of the 1 lb box, it looked too meager. So I cooked up 8oz and....ate about half. Too bad the box says 2oz dry is a portion, and the USDA recommends a serving size of 1oz.

Funny, I never weighed out pasta before, always kinda made the whole box and whatever left overs there were, there were. I know in college when I was hungry, I could eat a full 1 lb box of pasta (cooked, of course) -- that's 8 portions, or 16 according to the govmint! Still, 1oz? It doesn't really indicate if that is a side dish size or a meal size. My stomach & mind are set for 4oz as a side dish, 8oz as a main. When I think of what I expect in a restaurant setting, this is actually on the smaller size (or if we're talkin' Olive Garden, REALLY tiny.) Regardless, I think the move is a) be more mindful of pasta portion size and b) start buying up every brand of whole wheat pasta and see if any are good. Worst comes to worst, I got pasta attachments, I can make it if none work out...

I think ending the day with a bit more than a small amount of sweet desert last night didn't help a good night's sleep, and I woke up a second time pretty exhausted. I almost set up for weight liftings, but realized I felt so low-energy, it would take twice as long for 1/2 the result. Just focus on sleeping tonight and doing it right tomorrow.

No appetite came to me for a while for  breakfast, and I left the house at noon before I was hungry for lunch. Had two nibbles out and about, one packed and one healthy enough. Held me over to a proper dinner time.


AM SNACK: 7:45am, iced green tea

BREAKFAST: 10:15am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
Made a double batch, so Edie could have a new batch of "noisy ice cream" in the freezer.

PM SNACK: 1:15pm, granola bar, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK 2:45pm, whole wheat spinach tofu empanada, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:15pm, baby spinach with baby carrots, shrimp and roasted brussel sprouts with angel hair pasta, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
I wanted a heavy meal because of my lack of a proper lunch, but limited myself to 4oz of pasta with extra brussels and extra shrimp. Hopefully cravings won't come and bite me on the butt...


EVENING SNACK: 8pm, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
....chomp!


EVENING SNACK: 9pm, small bit of dark chocolate
.....CHOMP! A bit of Mast Brothers chocolate left over from a gift. Really weirdly bitter and fruity, not my cuppa tea.


EVENING SNACK: 10pm, left over pasta, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
.....CHOMPITY CHOMP CHOMP! I think that was another 3 or 4 oz down the hatch...

Kooking Knishes

Woke up just as sore as I did the day before, must have something to do with actually being at work for a full day. I was in the kitchen most of the day today, and noticed my lower neck is sore, making it a bit ouchy to fully turn my head. Hopefully that works itself out before tomorrow's weights.

I got into cooking today, so muh I kinda forgot to stop for lunch. That was a nice feeling - the being busy, not the skipping a meal, which is unhealthy in the scheme of things.

TODAY'S COOKING:
Knishes: Made a full spread, and a new one. Potato, deep fried potato, spinach-garlic, broccoli-cheddar, sweet potato, kasha, brisket and a chocolate hazelnut. I'll go into the making at length on my knish blog, but one thing that was notable was how hard it was to produce. I did not have baby help until 1pm, and keeping Mil chill made it hard to move forward. On top of that, I discovered in the morning I had 10 pounds of rotten potatoes so I ran out with Mil to get more. After I got back and tried to move forward, I realized I was short on eggs and went out once the help arrived.


AM SNACK: 8:45am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:45am, yogurt with peanuts, honey & vanilla, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACK: 1pm, bite of chocolate hazelnut knish, water

PM SNACK: 4:30pm, potato knish, water, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:30pm, halves of 9 different knishes, a whole mess of macaroons, lime rickey, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

A Day at Work

Woke up pleasantly sore -- let's me know I'm not wasting my time and efforts in the weights. Babysitter came early and I made it to school at noon for some brownie-infused recruitment for the 2nd class I'm teaching starting in March. Spent the afternoon at the school cleaning and inventorying the supply closet, as we recently got a new funding source that allows us to buy all the supplies and equipment we need, then after a quick lunch out, taught from 4 to 7:30. Nice bike ride home in the dark, snuggles with Edie, a hodge podge dinner & TV.

AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:15am, organic cheerios with organic dead milk, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

LUNCH: 3pm, lobster roll, a few chips, whoopee pie, sarsaparilla soda, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
This is the first time in a long time I had a proper 8 hour work day, so I treated myself to a nice lunch. Walked over to the Lobster Pound on Van Brunt. They gave me a complimentary whoopee pie (I guess I'm just charming or something) which was not what I needed, but it tasted good. It came with a bag of chips, which I ate one of then thought, "y'know, the grease and the calories are not worth the satisfaction I'll get from eating this." Between the soda and pie, it's already a lotta sugar, don't need the extra kick of the chips. And I was right, this was a very satisfying, decadent meal without the chips.

PM SNACK: 5pm, grape soda, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5

SCHOOL SNACK: 7pm, farro & sausage, a bite of brownie, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
A big pot of food, but this kind of dish needs to sit in a fridge for a few days and thicken up before it's completely delicious.


DINNER: 9pm, whole wheat chicken nuggets, baby carrots, granola bar, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
It's late, I'm hungry, I don't wanna cook. Ate some of Edie's nuggets (well, I paid for 'em) and ate the granola bar I brought to school today but forgot to eat.

EVENING SNACK: 11pm, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I write how many "bowls" in each entry, to keep mindful of quantity, but this is the first time in a while I actually consciously used a smaller bowl to limit quantity. I filled the small bowl up to the top with chips, and it felt like a lot, but it was not.

Tom Cruisian

A bumpy night with waking babies and a cranky momma, but hey, it's Monday. Time to stick to my Tom Cruisian ideals of refocusing on healthy eating during the week, and eating whatever within reason on the weekends!

Granola bars are fab, though I forgot to add spirulina and flax to this batch. Cook's Illustrated has an article breaking down granola, which may make me reformulate the recipe I've been using for quite a while now. 

Lifted weights this morning, funny how a baby crying can motivate you to move harder/faster so you can go and stop them from crying!

TODAY'S COOKING
Brownies: Not for consumption, but for recruiting students tomorrow.  The standard recipe, replacing extract with bean scraping and doubling the salt.

Caramelized Onions: Baking a series of knishes on Wednesday, already have 4 cups worth of cooked onions from a month back (stored in the back of the fridge, still smell great), but don't want to be short handed. While Mil slept, chopped 6 lbs, salted and two big glops of shortening, 200 degree oven for about 6 hours, stirring every once in a while. If I'm caught short handed, it'll defintely effect the thing I like most about knishes -- a proper level of yummy cooked onion flavor.

Vanilla Extract: As I make this kitchen staple myself, I don't know if I've ever gone on at length about it. As I split and scrape beans, I put the used husks in a dark glass jar that's full of 180 proof vodka (that's 90% alcohol). When a good number of beans fill the jar, by that time about half the vodka has evaporated from opening and closing the wide-mouth jar. I place the contents in the blender and make a slurry. I strain the slurry through a cheese clothe covered chinois back into the jar. I fill it up with water, as the strength of the extract uncut is crazy-strong. It's still much, much stronger than any commercially available extract, so watering makes it go a lot farther with not really blunting it's pure vanilla punch. Even if this was standard strength stuff, a pint of it would cost 40 to 50 bucks -- my half pound of beans only cost $30, and after using the scrapings in all sorts of things, I end up making 3 or 4 pints of extract from it. Just about all my pastry, all my ice cream, all my smoothies and various other things get hit by vanilla in my kitchen, and buy buying in bulk and making extract, it's probably not only something that elevates my cooking over the scrum, it also is one of the biggest bangs for the buck. I should get some nice little jars and give it way as presents to my cooking-friendly friends...

AM SNACK: 7:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, smoothie, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5
I don't mind that the spirulina makes the smoothie a really ugly shade of mud-blue, but the fruit mix with the nitty raspberries are a drag. A smoothie is suppose to be smooth, not slightly gritty! But down it went. I imagine if I tried to push the smoothie through a sieve, I might loose more than the nits, but it might be a worthy experiment regardless...

LUNCH: 12:30pm, sardine & avocado on whole grain sprouted toast, health salad, pickle, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 5:45pm, granola bar, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 7:45pm, hotdog with onions, mashed potato, baby spinach with bean dip, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, grenadine soda, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5
I made myself a whole pint, but half of it was enough.

Mac n' Cheese, I quit you!

Mac n' cheese was one of those first dishes I made at home when I decided to focus on cooking in my life. I grew up with kraft dinner, and continued with it, making greasy casseroles with it in college. I started making real mac n' cheese with this recipe, and at first I deliberately adjusted it, and after c-school and learning the inside outs of roux and mother sauces, I kinda just wing it. Nowadays, I make it regularly every semester with my students, and make it once or twice at home every cold season.

However, I think mac n' cheese in my life is coming to a close. I ate a relatively small portion of it this evening, maybe 3" x 3" by 2" tall, had more chicken and brussels than mac by volume. (In the past I would eat maybe 4 to 5 times that much of mac in a sitting). Still, it was too rich for my system and ended in some discomfort (and I'll leave it at that!) In the end, mac n' cheese as a make it is just a block of creamy cheese. with some macaroni stuck in to give it some structure. Betsy loves it, Edles loves it, it's not going to waste for sure, but that's it for me. I'm too elderly for my mac n' cheese!

I'll still make it with my students and for my family, but I'll be limiting myself to small tasting portions when it's fresh and leave the left overs to others.

TODAY'S COOKING
Mac n' Cheese: Gotta make it once a winter. 3 lbs of cheese, 2 lbs of macaroni, a half gallon of whole milk -- after giving our guests a sizable brick to take home, we still have enough left overs to last a few weeks.


Chicken Nuggets: B asked me if I knew how to make nuggets, since I never made them before, and I had to laugh. Cut chicken breast into coins, standard breading procedure with panko bread crumbs (mixed with some mustard powder and smoked paprika), and deep fry until golden. Hit with some salt while hot. Not too sophisticated, but the kids dug it.


AM SNACK: 8:30am, iced green tea


BREAKFAST: 9:30am, hardcore oatmeal, banana, .75 bowl, hunger 4/5


BRUNCH: 11:45am, onion bagel with cream cheese, 3/4 of a donut, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 4:45pm, chicken nuggets, mac n' cheese, brussel sprouts, a donut, two glasses of beer, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8pm, potato chips, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5