personalchefjoe.com Blog

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

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 4

Update or July 17th

I slept late this morning, but my wife dragged me out of bed because we had to go run a couple of errands and pay some bills in the morning.  It was also a bit warm, so I decided to wait until it was cooler in the evening to do my exercises.  When we got back, I cooked up a few shrimp that we had in the fridge with a table spoon of unsalted butter 3 cloves of garlic, and fresh cracked pepper.  I then mixed in the left over pasta and vegetables from the night before.  This made a great healthy brunch meal.  I had an early afternoon snack or dessert of a banana, and a glass of iced coffee with low fat milk.  My wife decided to make Chicken for dinner, so we are going to throw some chicken thighs on the grill.  I did my “morning” exercises this evening after it cooled down.        
 
Brunch:   
Pasta with my fresh made sauce and vegetables and shrimp.

Early Afternoon snack:
Banana and iced coffe with low fat milk.

Late Afternoon snack:
Quesadilla with pepper jack cheese, and a whole wheat tortilla.

Dinner:
Jicama, lettuce and basil salad with a lemon honey mustard vinaigrette  dressing.
Grilled squash
1 skinless chicken thigh.
 
Cooking tip of the day.

Big flare ups are often the cause of burnt chicken, and add a bunch of carcinogens.  Since we are trying to eat more healthy ere are some common tips for preventing or reducing flare ups when grilling chicken.

1) To start off, chicken breasts (with bones and rib), legs and thighs take quite a while to grill usually at least 45 minutes to an hour possibly longer depending on how hot you have your grill.  I recommend using a lower temperature if using gas, or move more of the coals too one side and less on the other to control the heat better.

2) Try using an aluminum drip pan with a bit of water in the middle, and the coals around the drip pan.  This will allow the juices and fat that to drip into the pan with out flaring up.  It also helps keep the temperature a bit lower allowing chicken to cook slowly or “Barbecue”.

3) I like to peel the skin off of my chicken, which not only healthier, for having less fat, but the fat is not dripping onto the coals causing flare ups.

4) Keep a spray bottle with clean water to spray/mist the coals when they flares up.  (Don’t reuse an old cleaning bottle, buy a new one just for this.)

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 3

Update for July 16, 2006. 

Well I started off my day to day with 12 of each exercise, took a quick shower, and headed off to work.  (I work as a software designer during the week, and a chef on the weekends.)  So Friday is bagels and doughnuts day, but some how I managed to just have one bagel with a little bit of cream cheese.  I didn’t bring anything for lunch, so I picked up a cob salad.  Later on they brought in some leftover Lasagna, garlic bread, pastries and salad.  I was quite good in that I only had some salad, and 1 small piece of garlic bread.  Later when I got home I made some pasta with fresh made sauce, with green beans, and cauliflower.  My wife cooks most of the time during the week and she is a great cook, the bad part is she doesn’t know how to cook very healthy meals.  She makes great Mexican food, especially tamales, pozole, tostadas and much more.  So since she was still at church when I got home, I took the chance to whip up something.  I put the recipe link below.

Breakfast:
Sun dried tomato bagel, with cream cheese.

Lunch:
Cob Salad with Triscuit crackers.

Afternoon snack:
Mixed Greens with a little ranch dressing, and 5 gold fish crackers. 
1 small piece of garlic bread.

Dinner:
Pasta with my fresh made sauce and vegetables.
      
Cooking tip of the day: 
When cooking vegies like Green beans and Cauliflower, that have different cooking times, boil them separately until almost done, and then remove them from the heat and set aside.  You can stop the cooking and “refresh” the vegetables by putting them in to an ice bath or under running cold water.  Use lots of fresh vegetables like in my pasta recipe.
This recipe is easy, quick and you can use broccoli, squash or other vegies instead of the cauliflower or green beans. 

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 2

Today is the second day of the challenge.  I started off the day with 11 of each of my exercises.  I walked for 25 minutes, and had my salad today.  The hardest part was to pass up the cake that we had at work today made with real whipped cream and strawberries.  I don’t know what I did to it, but my left shoulder is bothering me a bit.  I will see how it feels in the morning.  As a bonus for my “mental fitness” I went to my first toast masters meeting, and I also listened to several business related podcasts during my commute today.  

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with apple cinnamon tea bag and Equal
Coffee with “light” creamer, and equal.

Snack:
Plain Micro-waved pop corn.
1 Liter Water with lemon.

Lunch:
One head of Romaine lettuce with lemon and spices.
Home made vegetable beef soup with fresh green beans, cauliflower, garbanzo beans, and so on.
Green Tea

Afternoon snack:
Peanuts
Coffee again

Dinner:
Two chicken drumsticks, and pasta with tomato cream sauce.
Cantaloupe
 

Fat Chef gets Fit Day 1

Update for July 14, 2006  

Today was the first day of my 12 week challenge.  I started of the morning with 10 of each my exercises.  Push-ups, Sit-ups, 4 count Jumping Jacks, and Squats.  I also kept track of everything that I ate today.  I did not get a chance to walk today, so I guess I will be walking every day for the rest of this week.  I also had my Salad today.  I probably ate a bit more than I should have, but what I did eat was fairly good.

Breakfast:

10 oz glass of orange/carrot juice.

Oatmeal with apple cinnamon tea bag and Equal

Snack:

Peanuts

Lunch:

Shrimp fried rice with brown rice, shrimp, carrots, onion and garlic.

One head of Romaine lettuce with 2 Tbs dressing.

Afternoon snack:

One half of a wrap with chicken, lettuce, sun dried tomatoes and a bit of vinaigrette dressing.

Dinner:

Home made vegetable beef soup with fresh green beans, cauliflower, garbanzo beans, and so on.

One Kiss sized bite of chocolate.

Cooking Tip of the day.

At work instead of buying the pre-made packages of oatmeal, I add a bag of apple cinnamon tea (which I keep on my desk) to hot water or milk and seep the tea. Add quick oats to the “tea” and microwave about 30 seconds, and then stir. Then microwave 20 seconds at a time.

Fat Chef Gets Fit.

I have been listening to a number of podcasts lately and I was going through some health related pod casts where I came across “Fat guy gets fit”. Chris from Fat guy gets fit created a 12 week challenge to get fit (or at least more fit then you are currently).  Though I found it a couple of days after it started, I think it is worth participating.  Since I have been overweight most of my life, and in the last few years I have been very unactive.  So I have decided to take the 12 week fitness challenge. 

I work as a software designer during the week and a personal chef on the weekends. I often prepare gourmet meals for my family or others, and they are not always low fat. I will be working to change what we eat at my house.  Also my son has started “working out”, and has shown more of an interest in healthier foods as well. Part of my issue is that I sit in front of a computer for 8 to 10 hours a day and then have 2 to 3 hours of commuting each day. Since I work as a chef, I thought it would be appropriate for me to develop or improvise some healthier menu items that I can share with the rest of the Challenge participants.Part of the challenge is to choose 5 areas that I need to work on. Since I have a busy schedule, I decided to work the following into my schedule.

1) Daily morning exercise which will start at 10 and add one each day until I can’t do any more. The exercises will include the following:

Push-ups  
Sit-ups
4 Count Jumping Jacks
Squats

2) Reduce My current waist size of 44 to 42, and perhaps 40.

3) Walk for 20 minutes 5 days per week.

4) Eat at least one salad per day, lots of fruit and vegies and in general eat better.

5) Keep a log or blog of everything that I eat each day, and include interesting recipes.

I want to put my own personal twist on it. Since I do personal chef work, I thought it would be interesting if I would blog some of the healthy eating ideas I use over the next 12 weeks.

Welcome to PersonalChefJoe.com Blog!

This is my first entry to this new blog.  My name is Joe Holloway and I provide personal chef services in San Diego Ca. USA.  Please check out my main website http://personalchefjoe.com to learn more about my servics.   I started this blog so that I can share some of my knowledge with others and hopefully to bring up some interesting discussions about cooking.  In the future I plan to include some recipies, pictures, and perhaps even some video clips of some of my favorite dishes.