I know, it has been a whole month but I've been busy, man. Life has a way of intruding into my blogging. What with my daughter's Taekwondo and my tri-weekly workouts, I am a busy gal.
My exercise is going great! I still feel like I am going to die after every workout but it is a kinder, gentler death. I tried a boot camp class and a cardio boxing class, too. The boot camp class is more my style but it was fun trying something different. As I get into better shape perhaps the boxing class will appeal to me more.
Anyway, this past weekend was Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, it is my top favorite holiday. The extreme commercialism has not yet affected it so it is just filled with the best stuff... family, friends, football and food.
The most difficult thing I struggle with is portion control. Everything looks and smells so good I just want to pile heaping mounds onto my plate. Well, that is my downfall at almost every meal. This year was different. I allowed myself to have a little of everything... the operative term being a LITTLE, like, a heaping tablespoon and that's it. I was amazed at how full and satisfied I was but not so that I wished I wasn't wearing pants.
Another way to combat the bursting pants is to modify recipes slightly in order to make them more healthy and less fat/calorie/carb laden. I made the cranberry sauce with maple syrup instead of refined sugar. Maple syrup is lower in calories than refined, white sugar and maple syrup is filled with antioxidents. I also made apple sauce using Stevia instead of sugar. Stevia is a natural product (unlike Splenda), has no carbs or calories and tastes every bit as good as more conventional sweetners.
And this year, I made the sweet potatoes. Back in the cloudy depths of my childhood lingers the memory of butter laden sweet potatoes covered by a thick layer of slightly scorched marshmallows. Those sweet potatoes need to stay in the past. The new, NEW sweet potato is wearing a much better outfit. With the sweet potato's natural sweetness, no added sugar or anything is needed, if anything, the sweetness needs to be toned down a tad with something salty. Without further ado, these are the sweet potatoes I contributed to our family dinner.
Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes
Serves 8-10
4 large yellow/white fleshed sweet potatoes
4 large garnet/red fleshed sweet potatoes
1 TB dried Italian herb mix (rosemary, oregano, thyme, marjoram)
-or-
2 TB finely chopped fresh herbs
2 TB olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
6 oz pancetta (cured but unsmoked Italian bacon)
Preheat the oven to 350F, placing the racks in the top and bottom thirds of the overn. Line 2 half-sheet trays with parchment paper. Peel the potatoes and chop into 3/4" chunks and put into a big bowl. Pour the olive oil over the potatoes and mix until the oil is evenly distributed. Sprinkle on the herbs and salt and pepper. Mix again until the herbs and spices are well distributed. Divide the potatoes evenly between the 2 sheet pans.
Chop the pancetta into 1/2" chunks then sprinkle the chunks over the two sheet pans with the potatoes.
Roast the sweet potatoes for 20 minutes. Take the pans out of the oven and toss the potatoes. Place the pans back into the oven having switched their places (top to bottom and vice-versa). Roast another 10 minutes, toss potatoes. Roast a final 10 minutes then remove the pans from the oven.
The potatoes can be served immediately or they can be cooled, transfered to a 9x13" pan, covered and chilled. If you chill them, to serve, let them come to room temperature then put them back into a 350F oven, uncovered for 20 minutes until the potatoes are heated through.
The saltiness of the pancetta helps to even out the sweetness of the roasted potatoes. Everyone at our house pronounced them delicious. Who needs marshmallows?
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label exercise. Show all posts
Monday, November 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Of sweating and slow cookers...
Since my last post I have been too sore to type. I have visited my personal trainer twice now. I hate him exponentially more every time so that by the time this 3 month session is up, I should be looking in the Yellow Pages for contract killers. I jest! Sort of.
Anyway, my new exercise regimen poses an unforseen problem. I work out twice a week and it has to be in the late afternoon. Twice a week, I take my daughter to Taekwondo class. So, there are a few days in there when I get home too late to fix a proper dinner. Enter the slow cooker.
I have always been a slow cooker fan. I make pork with salsa verde, chili and short ribs in mine. I do corned beef and cabbage. Delicious! However, since I will be using my slow cooker a lot more often I need to branch out. Me and my friend, the internet, have been searching for interesting and innovative recipes that I can tweak for my low carb life. One of my favorite sites is this:
A Year of Slow Cooking
Stephanie O'Dea essentially made something in her slow cooker every day for a year (and then some). Her recipes are almost tailor made for the low carb lifestyle as she is gluten intolerant. She has to be very careful about wheat or other gluten containing ingredients. The only problem is that she is not sugar intolerant so some of her recipes have to be tweaked a little.
Today's recipe is Chinese Lemon Chicken. Her original recipe is here:
Chinese Lemon Chicken
Her recipe is slightly problematic for me as one of the main ingredients is a half can of thawed lemonade frozen concentrate. Unfortunately, just that half can is 103 carbs. The recipe also calls for sugar. The recipe I came up with after fiddling around with it is pretty tasty. It is more sour than sweet but I like it that way... my husband likes it better that way, too. By making my substitutions I took it from approximately 48 carbs per serving to 12.75 carbs per serving. Of course, to beef it up (enhance it), add vitamins and more flavor I chopped up some vegetables which will add a few carbs but all in all, I am very pleased with the results. You can serve it over cauliflower rice.
Slow Cooker Citrus Chicken
Serves 4-6
6 chicken thighs; boneless/skinless/trimmed of excess fat
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup orange juice, no extra sugar added
Juice of 2 lemons
1 TB balsamic vinegar
3 TB ketchup (or low-sugar ketchup)
1 onion, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into strips
3 celery stalks, sliced into half moons
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" coins
Olive oil for browning chicken
Cut the chicken thighs into large-ish bite sized chunks. Put the flour and the salt into a large zip-top bag. Dump the chicken into the bag and shake until the chicken bits are coated. (This step is optional. I use it because maybe only an 1/8 of a cup ends up on the actual chicken and it thickens the sauce). Heat a large, non-stick saute pan over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add 2 tsp of olive oil and swirl, coating the bottom. Using a large, slotted spoon, lift the chicken from the bag, shaking off the excess and drop the chicken chunks into the hot oil. Don't necessarily cook the chicken all the way, just give it a little color and get the flour to stick to it. Dump the browned chicken into the bowl of your slow cooker. Add the cut vegetables and stir to incorporate.
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine thoroughly. Pour it over the chicken in the slow cooker. Don't worry if it doesn't seem like a lot of liquid. There will be plenty of liquid by the time you are done.
Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours.
It tasted very much like the lemon chicken you'd get in a Chinese-American restaurant... without hardly any of the fat or MSG or CARBS!
Anyway, my new exercise regimen poses an unforseen problem. I work out twice a week and it has to be in the late afternoon. Twice a week, I take my daughter to Taekwondo class. So, there are a few days in there when I get home too late to fix a proper dinner. Enter the slow cooker.
I have always been a slow cooker fan. I make pork with salsa verde, chili and short ribs in mine. I do corned beef and cabbage. Delicious! However, since I will be using my slow cooker a lot more often I need to branch out. Me and my friend, the internet, have been searching for interesting and innovative recipes that I can tweak for my low carb life. One of my favorite sites is this:
A Year of Slow Cooking
Stephanie O'Dea essentially made something in her slow cooker every day for a year (and then some). Her recipes are almost tailor made for the low carb lifestyle as she is gluten intolerant. She has to be very careful about wheat or other gluten containing ingredients. The only problem is that she is not sugar intolerant so some of her recipes have to be tweaked a little.
Today's recipe is Chinese Lemon Chicken. Her original recipe is here:
Chinese Lemon Chicken
Her recipe is slightly problematic for me as one of the main ingredients is a half can of thawed lemonade frozen concentrate. Unfortunately, just that half can is 103 carbs. The recipe also calls for sugar. The recipe I came up with after fiddling around with it is pretty tasty. It is more sour than sweet but I like it that way... my husband likes it better that way, too. By making my substitutions I took it from approximately 48 carbs per serving to 12.75 carbs per serving. Of course, to beef it up (enhance it), add vitamins and more flavor I chopped up some vegetables which will add a few carbs but all in all, I am very pleased with the results. You can serve it over cauliflower rice.
Slow Cooker Citrus Chicken
Serves 4-6
6 chicken thighs; boneless/skinless/trimmed of excess fat
1/4 cup flour
2 tsp kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup orange juice, no extra sugar added
Juice of 2 lemons
1 TB balsamic vinegar
3 TB ketchup (or low-sugar ketchup)
1 onion, cut in half lengthwise and sliced into strips
3 celery stalks, sliced into half moons
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2" coins
Olive oil for browning chicken
Cut the chicken thighs into large-ish bite sized chunks. Put the flour and the salt into a large zip-top bag. Dump the chicken into the bag and shake until the chicken bits are coated. (This step is optional. I use it because maybe only an 1/8 of a cup ends up on the actual chicken and it thickens the sauce). Heat a large, non-stick saute pan over medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add 2 tsp of olive oil and swirl, coating the bottom. Using a large, slotted spoon, lift the chicken from the bag, shaking off the excess and drop the chicken chunks into the hot oil. Don't necessarily cook the chicken all the way, just give it a little color and get the flour to stick to it. Dump the browned chicken into the bowl of your slow cooker. Add the cut vegetables and stir to incorporate.
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl. Whisk to combine thoroughly. Pour it over the chicken in the slow cooker. Don't worry if it doesn't seem like a lot of liquid. There will be plenty of liquid by the time you are done.
Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or on low for 6-7 hours.
It tasted very much like the lemon chicken you'd get in a Chinese-American restaurant... without hardly any of the fat or MSG or CARBS!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Going over to the dark side...
I have always loathed exercise in almost any form. There, I said it. It is now out there in the cosmos just floating around waiting for anyone to absorb it. Today, I go over to the dark side... to exercise.
I have finally come to the realization that just losing weight is not enough. And anyway, weight is not the primary consideration here. Health is my prime focus. There are so many things I want to do, besides just fitting into smaller pants. I want to go hiking... I want to be able to walk around New York City all day noticing everything but not obsessing over my aching back and feet. It is not just about building muscles but strengthening my core. I am tired of muscle spasms.
So today, I go in for my first personal training session. Its pricey but it is important that I learn to do this right. I signed up for 3 months, mano a womano, 2 times a week. I am looking forward to lots of ibuprofen and sore muscles... but also a sense of satisfaction. I am going to stick this out. I am going to show my daughter that fitness is something better accomplished early but I won't let a little thing like age stop me.
And better late than never... wish me luck!
I have finally come to the realization that just losing weight is not enough. And anyway, weight is not the primary consideration here. Health is my prime focus. There are so many things I want to do, besides just fitting into smaller pants. I want to go hiking... I want to be able to walk around New York City all day noticing everything but not obsessing over my aching back and feet. It is not just about building muscles but strengthening my core. I am tired of muscle spasms.
So today, I go in for my first personal training session. Its pricey but it is important that I learn to do this right. I signed up for 3 months, mano a womano, 2 times a week. I am looking forward to lots of ibuprofen and sore muscles... but also a sense of satisfaction. I am going to stick this out. I am going to show my daughter that fitness is something better accomplished early but I won't let a little thing like age stop me.
And better late than never... wish me luck!
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