I realized if I was going to make it home I was going to need a good distraction because in my mind all I wanted to do was just sit down on the sidewalk and give up. So I broke out my phone and texted my mom for some moral support. She was exactly what I needed as she sent texts simulating cheering me on and asked questions that mentally distracted me so I could push through physically. I mean, what choice did I have? I had to get home. And then I realized I needed to go to the bathroom and that became one more motivating factor that kept me moving. I did finally make it home, climbed the 15 stairs to my apartment and collapsed in a hot bath with an aromatherapy ball. That was the longest distance I've walked in a single day since starting this blog (and a long, long time before that) and it was taxing but, if I'm wanting to do a half-marathon later this year 5.25 miles in one day is only the tip of the ice burg.
I broke out Cook This, Not That! Easy & Awesome 350-Calorie Meals
and whipped up the recipe for home-made pico de gallo that's in the condiments section at the back of the book. Then I turned to the recipe for chicken soft taco's in the dinners section and fixed those for supper. Here's how the finished product looked. Now these taco's look a lot more "loaded" than the picture of the tacos in the book but I made the recipe precisely and then, since it serves four, I divided it in half and put half away for another day. Then divided the remainder in half (half for me, half for "Temptation"), and then divided my "serving" by two taco's (as intended) and it just comes out to a whole lot of filling. Plus we added pico which isn't part of the recipe but only adds about 20 calories to the count for both taco's. I thought they were delicious and so did "Temptation" so our first go with the new recipes was a huge success. I was also very proud of the fact that I cooked 3 of my three meals yesterday! These recipes are pretty easy (granted, dicing everything up for the pico sucked ... my knife skills leave something to be desired) but all in all I was really impressed/surprised by myself. I want to get a slap-chop so that dicing veggies won't be so bad and eventually I think I'd even like to have a food processor.Out of the entire book of recipes there are probably only one or two that I'm not really anxious to try. It has breakfast, lunch dinner, dessert, condiments, side dishes, and snacks. And a lot of the recipes use a lot of the same ingredient so since they all serve 4 I can pretty much get two different meals out of one recipe which is awesome. Like the chicken from last night that I saved; the book suggests rolling that up in tortillas, putting a little salsa verde and jack cheese over them and baking them to make enchiladas. How easy is that? Plus, and this was my favorite thing about last night's dinner ... I didn't have to cook the chicken! The recipe intends that you buy a rotissery style chicken from the grocery store and just shred it up (without the skin). It was EASY!
Today I am going with "Temptation" on his paint-ball excursion. He's meeting our friends there and the other girlfriend and I are going to cheer them on and then maybe go to the gym or find some other way to entertain ourselves all afternoon while the boys shoot at each other. I'm very sore from yesterday's walk but not to a debilitating degree so I'm looking forward to getting out and being active again today.
Food:
7 glasses of water
1 cup of coffee w/creamer
1 donut (breakfast @ paintball)
1 foot long chicken sub
>>onion
>>tomato
>>olive
>>cucumber
>>light mayo
>>no cheese
>vinegar
2 home made chicken enchiladas (small, cookbook recipe)
------------------------------------------------
Daily Caloric Intake: 1424
Activity:
Ab Crunches: 30 @ 50 lbs
Ab Crunches: 30 @ 60 lbs
Ab Crunches: 30 @ 70 lbs
Ab Twists: 60 @ 30 lbs (each side)
Butterfly Press: (arms/chest) 3 reps of 30 @ 30 lbs
Front Press: (arms/chest) 2 reps of 30 @ 20 lbs
Hey hows it going!
ReplyDeleteJust a quick question about the cook this not that book. With the ingredients are there a lot of brand names? Its just that I'm in Australia and when I buy American cookbooks I usually can't cook half the stuff because we don't actually have a lot of the stuff. Its even impossible to find substitutes half the time.
It looks like a super duper book though.
Also keep up the goodwork with the exercise and eating. You look to be making great progress!
xx
Sounds good!
ReplyDeleteI lurv cooking. :)
<3
Hi Anna,
ReplyDeleteIt has a small section at the front of the book called "The 50 best items at the grocery store" and those are name brand items (many of which I've never heard of) but so far all of the recipe's I've made are very general like tuna, spinach, tomatoes, onion, etc. You might run into one or two ingredients you can't get just depending on what the ethnic sections of you supermarket are like. Here most markets have three ethnic sections, one for Mexican ingredients, one for Asian ingredients, and one for Mediteranian ingredients and there are just a few recipes that might require some things from those areas but, again, I've not seen it specifically require a certain name brand of them.
You made pico!! That's pretty damn ambitious for someone who doesn't/can't cook. That is a lot of prep! I think you are probably a better cook than you think you are, or at the very least you will become one for sure. :o) and good job on keeping up the exercize!!! Keep at it :o)
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to spend money, don't by the slap-chop; it doesn't work. You're better off getting a mini food processor at Walmart for $10 or, better yet, a Magic Bullet that you can use for so many other things.
ReplyDeleteSweet thanks for the advice: I always hesitate to buy anything that is "as seen on TV" because it seems like they never work the way they're supposed to. Will the food processer or magic bullet be good for pico or will it totally pulvarize my tomatoes?
ReplyDeleteThe Magic Bullet is the best thing ever invented! You can pulverize stuff or simply chop a little or chop a lot. The food processor will do the same, except you can't use it to make smoothies/protein shakes like with the Magic Bullet.
ReplyDeleteIf you've ever seen the infomercial for Magic Bullet ... it does exactly what they say it does. Hubby and I love it so much that after using it for several months, we ended up getting rid of our tiny processor and then went out and also got the Bullet Express (which is a large mixer, processor and juicer and doesn't take up too much space). Check out their website - http://www.bulletexpress.com/?gclid=CK-Nhezo5aYCFUlN4AodhmxI2w.
That's pretty cool but probably a bit more than what I can afford/have room for. The magic bullet looks awesome though. In the video it shows making salsa with tomatoes, onions, and peppers but the finished product was more salsa-ish than pico-ish so I was wondering if you could tell me if there's a lower setting or something that will chop tomatoes without pulverizing them?
ReplyDeleteThat recipe looks so good. Glad your first try was a success...that always helps motivate you to try more. There are a ton of good recipes out there (low cal and healthy and TASTY).
ReplyDeleteI second the magic bullet, I have a bullet express (the big one) and it does everything, I can make my own flour from nuts without the nuts becoming butter its so fast, and that helps with baking, it also came with a juicer, I haven't used that yet but some people like it, it shreds and slices and chops great though so if you can spare the money its worth it, mine was a birthday gift from the husband last year so maybe you can drop some hints for someone who loves you to buy it!
ReplyDeleteThe Magic Bullet will leave pieces big or small, just like a food processor will. There isn't a pulse or blend button; I guess you'd say the container is the button. If you hold it down, it will blend but if you pulse it (push, stop, push, stop, etc.) it will chop. How much it chops depends on how much you pulse it.
ReplyDeleteMy advice is that you save up for the Magic Bullet because it is better than a processor, doesn't take up as much space as a blender/mixer, and is great for making creamy soups, salsa, pico, smoothies, shakes, puddings, whipped cream, and frozen drinks. Just my opinion.
Ok I'm sold; adding the bullet to my Amazon Wish List. :)
ReplyDelete