personalchefjoe.com Blog

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 12

Update for June 25th, 2006
I got up late today, and decided to cook Chinese style noodles.  And also make some stir-fried broccoli and bok choy.  We ate around 3:30 in the afternoon so it was basically all I ate besides a few tostada chips with home made salsa.  We also walked to the store today, and I did my sit-up and squats as well.

Brunch:   
Tostadas (fried corn tortillas) with home made salsa.

Dinner:
Spicy chow main with shrimp and vegies
Broccoli & bok choy with shrimp
 
Snack:
Tostadas (fried corn tortillas) with home made salsa.

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 11

Update for June 24th, 2006

I did my walk, well sort of, my wife and I visited Fry’s, Target, K-mart, Walmart and several other stores.  Then after that we went to the local Asian supermarket and got about $80 worth of good stuff to make.  We also shared a take out between both of us.  I did all of my exercises except for the jumping jacks.  This is the first day I missed my salad.

Breakfast:
A bowl of “caldo de  res”

Lunch:   
Fruit and nut trail mix.

Dinner:
Chow main
Broccoli beef
Mushrooms and Vegies

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 10

Update for June 23th, 2006

I did my walk, and all of my exercises except for the jumping jacks.

Breakfast:
Coffee
Banana nut muffin. 

Snack:
Celery with “lite” cream cheese

Lunch:   
Coffee
Two tamales
Pear and nectarine
 
Afternoon snack:
Tomato, cucumber & lettuce salad with ranch dressing.
Cherries

Dinner:
A bowl of “caldo de  res” a Mexican style beef soup with big chunks of vegies like potatoes, carrots, squash etc.

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 9

Update for June 22th, 2006

Today was a bad day, I didn’t walk, or finish all of my exercises.  My Achilles tendon is bothering me, and it hurts to do the jumping jacks so I took the day off.  My wife made chicken tamales which are not exactly the best things to eat as they have quite a bit of vegetable shortening.  I did have my salad though.

Breakfast:
Coffee
Two home made chicken tamales

Lunch:   
Coffee
Two more tamales
 
Afternoon snack:
Tomato & lettuce salad with ranch dressing.
Cherries

Dinner:
Salad lettuce, tomatoes, onion, cottage cheese with chives, pepper jack, salt and pepper.

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 8

Update for June 21, 2006

So it went fairly good today, I had a fruit salad, and a spinach salad today.  However I probably had more cashews than I should have.  I have also been drinking lots of water.  I did my walk today and exercises in the evening.  I am up to 18 of each, and I am in such bad shape, that the pushups are starting to kick my butt.  I had hopped they would get easier with time.  The 4 count jumping jacks are good and get my heart beating and make my lungs really work.  So far I have enjoyed working a little bit each day on the challenge.  I even enjoyed coming up with different salads, and dressings each day.  I wanted to thank Chris for his kind words in his pod cast, and meant to mention it yesterdays update.  He brought up an interesting topic on not grazing at the table.  I find that I have that tendency at work to sit and eat anything that is available.  So I have started bringing carrots, and celery to snack on. 

I have never been much of a writer, as a kid, every paper I wrote came back covered in red marks.  Yes I am probably the worlds worst speller.  Luckily we all have our talents and mine just don’t include spelling.  So if for some reason something slips through the spell checker, I apologize.  I am so happy that most kids of today don’t have to worry about spelling quite the same way we did 30 years ago.  However one of the biggest effects of this for me was that I never developed a good writing vocabulary, I only used words that were easy to spell.  So the fact that I am actually writing a blog at all is incredible in its own way.  But the reason behind it makes it (getting fit) worth while.  It takes me quite a while just to write these few sentences each night.  If anyone actually reads this, I would love to hear some feedback.  Hopefully with a little feedback I can improve my writing style and end up with something interesting. 

Tip of the Day:

Are you one of those people who don’t like plain celery, try it with peanut butter, or light cream cheese spread.  What I do is I put the cream cheese mostly on one end.  Then I eat my way towards the end with the cream cheese.  That way I don’t need a lot of cream cheese, but get the lingering taste and texture of the cream cheese in the last bite.

Breakfast: 
Coffee
Cottage cheese with a chunky grilled tomato sauce.

Lunch:    
Coffee
Whole grain bread with light cream cheese.
Carrots and celery
Pear
 
Afternoon snack:
Fruit salad
Cashews and celery
Apple cinnamon tea.

Dinner:
My ever popular citrus spinach salad with sliced almonds, and a citrus honey mustard  vinaigrette.

Easy Stir Fry

A stir fry is just another name for sauteed meats and/or vegetables. The stir fry I made was very simple, it didn’t even use soy sauce.

6 to 8 ounces of beef small cubes
1 tbs olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
3 stalks of celery sliced on bias
1 squash cubed (zucchini or yellow squash will work)
Salt and Pepper

Heat up half the oil in a non-stick frying pan at a high heat.  The oil should be shimmering, almost to the point of smoking.
Then toss the cubed beef into the pan.  Sear the meat, being careful not to put too much into the pan at one time.  If you need to, cook it in a couple of batches.  Once the first side is seared nicely, then stir it so that you can sear the other sides of the cubes, but don’t over cook, take it off the heat and put in a bowl or plate to the side.  Heat up the rest of the oil, and add the garlic and onion.  Saute for about a minute, and add in the celery.  After one more minute, add squash and saute until vegies are crisp/tender, or to your preference add beef back in and heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste and you have a simple but healthy stir fry.

If you want to step it up a bit, replace the salt with a little bit of soy sauce or sesame oil but don’t over do it.  If you want to have a thicker sauce for your stir fry, add 1 tsp corn starch to 1/3 to 1/2 cup of stock or low sodium broth, and add to stir fry when the vegetables are almost ready and keep stirring while it thickens.           

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 7

Update for June 20th, 2006

I had a late breakfast today I brought in some beef stir fried with onion, celery, garlic, and squash a little bit of salt, pepper, and that is it.  I usually eat late so it is almost lunch time for most people when I eat breakfast.  Since I am not really a big breakfast fan this kind of breakfast works for me.  I did get my walk in today, and did my exercises but in the evening.  I can’t believe it has been a week already.

Breakfast:  
Coffee
Stir fried beef with vegetables and white rice.

Lunch:  
Whole grain bread with an avocado, and cottage cheese.
Carrots
Coffee
 
Afternoon snack:
Tea
Cashews and celery

Dinner:
Green salad with “light” ranch dressing, some green olives, radish and more cottage cheese
          

Tip of the day.

A stir fry is a great way to fix up just about what ever vegetables you have in the fridge.  You don’t need fancy sauces and flavorings to make a simple stir fry that taste great.  A little bit of fresh garlic and/or ginger with a few vegetables (carrot, broccoli, squash, bean sprouts etc.), salt and pepper to taste and a little technique and that is all you need.  You can prepare it ahead of time for the next day, or make a little extra when you make dinner.  I made enough for two servings.

Pasta with fresh tomato sauce, green beans and Cauliflower.

Here is my pasta with fresh made sauce and vegetables.

If you cook the tomatoes to long they gets mushy and it doesn’t look real prety, but it tastes very good.
1 lb dried pasta
1.5 lbs tomatoes concassé (peeled and diced)
1 large onion diced
4 cloves garlic chopped
1 carrot small dice
3/4 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
3/4 lb green beans cleaned trimmed, and cut in 2 to 3 inch pieces
½ head of cauliflower cut in bite sized pieces
1 Tbs olive oil
1 1/2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
Fresh basil chopped (10 to 12 leaves or to taste).
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Cut up all of the vegetables. Put a large pot of water on the stove and bring to boil. Add salt if desired. Cook green beans until crisp but tender. Remove beans and set aside. Add cauliflower to the water and cook till just starting to get tender, remove, and set aside with green beans. Use green bean/cauliflower water to cook pasta. Saute onion carrot, and garlic until tender in a bit of olive oil. Add thyme and bay leaves and Tomatoes. Cook about 4 to 5 minutes until the tomatoes are soft. When pasta is ready, drain and set aside, save ½ cup of pasta water. Add balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, cook for another 2 minutes and add basil. Add green beans, pasta and cauliflower and mix well. Adjust seasonings as necessary. Serve with a sprinkle of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Use good Parmesan cheese not the stuff in a can. Yes it may cost just a bit more, but you are worth it 

  
This is great with lots of fresh vegetables and just a touch of fat. Diced celery also goes nicely with this sauce. Experiment, try using cherry tomatoes, or add a bit of fresh oregano or rosemary (don’t put too much rosemary as it can be overwhelming). Perhaps a nice spicy Italian (turkey if you want to keep it healthier) sausage. Shrimp sauteed in garlic makes a great addition as well. This makes a lot of pasta and is easily enough for 8 people. It goes great with mixed greens, tomatoes, cucumber and a simple vinaigrette.
 

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 6

Update for June 19th 2006

Well I was having issues with my internet access yesterday, but it is back up now.  I posted yesterday’s blog today.  I did fairly well, my shoulder is still a bit tender, I am not sure what I did, but it seems to be getting better.  I did my exercises in the evening, but I didn’t get a chance to walk today.  I did have salad twice today, and here is my blog.  Not much to else to write about today.
Breakfast:
One whole wheat roll.

Lunch:   
Pasta with vegetables, and shrimp.  That pasta recipe really does make quite a bit of pasta.
Romaine lettuce with Lemon honey mustard dressing. 

Afternoon snack:
Mixed greens with ranch dressing.

Dinner:
White rice with onions and mushrooms.

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 5

Update for June 18th 2006

I hope everyone had a nice fathers day.  I had a nice one, I got a new wallet, from one of my sons, and a big hug from the youngest.  And lots of hugs from my grandson.  My wife gave me a chocolate heart for fathers day.  It was a nice thought, and since I know she didn’t have much money to spend I do appreciate that she got me something at all.  I got to sleep in late today which was nice.  I surfed the internet for a while in the morning while my wife was at church.  But since it was a warm morning I decided to go watch some TV in the living room.  I went to see if there was anything in the fridge, and I found a bit of jicama salad left over from Saturday.   I watched TV for about an hour, but decided I was still hungry, so decided to make another salad.  Since I dropped the avocado and it was all mushy, I decided to make an avocado dressing.  I chopped up some chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, garlic, and added some leftover grilled tomatoes, from the night before.  (My wife grilled the tomatoes for making salsa on Saturday.)  To the avocado/chipotle mix, I added a bit of milk to thin it out.  In the afternoon my wife dragged me shopping at several stores, since we live in Tijuana, we crossed into San Diego to go shopping.  After shopping, we went to eat Pho at a restaurant in Chula Vista.  I did splurge a bit and had an iced espresso with sweetened condensed milk.  We got home a bit late, but sat around with the kids and watched a movie.  I did my exercises in the evening while it was cooler.  So as to not eat the whole chocolate heart myself, I broke up into pieces to share with everyone.  And my wife put me to work burning off a few more calories.   

Breakfast:
Jicama and lettuce salad with a lemon honey mustard vinaigrette  dressing.

Lunch:   
Lettuce, cucumber, carrot salad with an avocado, grilled tomato, and chipotle dressing.

Dinner:
Pho with lean beef, bean sprouts, onion, basil, and jalapeno chiles.
Iced coffee with sweetened condensed milk.

Evening snack:
Pretzels
Piece of chocolate heart (about an ounce)
Green Tea