Archive for December, 2009

30
Dec
09

Juicy Lucys!

Hey guys!  I tried out a new recipe last week and needed to inform of you its deliciousness.  Maybe some of you saw the Man Vs. Food episode where he chows down on some delicious looking Juicy Lucy burgers–Hamburgers filled with ooey gooey cheese!  Here’s a “real” one

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20081117-gooddog-burger-innards.jpg

Well I decided to make my own.

The first twist, however, was that I used pork tenderloin.  Yes, that delicious, lean, low fat meat–the trick was I had it ground for me.  I went to the butcher at Farm Fresh, picked out a tenderloin and asked them to grind it for me.  Simple.  This preserved the leaness of the meat but it also made 10 times more versatile!

Ground pork tenderloin

Then, as I had the Foreman grill heating, I grabbed enough meat for 2 burgers, split them into 4 patties, and layered mozzarella cheese in the middle (all I had was string cheese, but it worked.)

Filling

I then put the other patty on top, sealed it, and popped them on the grill to cook.  Here’s how they came out:

On the Foreman!

The final product

They were great!  I ate them as just burgers instead of with a bun in order to better taste the cheese and because I made oven fries with them.  Here are some take aways though:

1) Eat them when they are hot.  I make the mistake every night of sitting down at the computer with my meal and playing online, thus letting the food get cold, and in this case, the cheese no melty!

2) Don’t over grill them

3) Don’t use a Foreman grill unless the patties are thick enough.  The pressure from the top may cause some of the cheese to leak out, and God forbid we lose any of that goodness.  I would suggest a open grill (like a Weber) and using the basic grilling rules- flip once, never mash the burger.

Here were the fries if you wanted to see– just sliced sweet and regular potatoes, lightly seasoned and baked for about 20 minutes, flipping them at 10.

"Frie"s

30
Dec
09

Pre workout and Off day

Many people have a mistaken belief that by waking up and exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach will make them burn “up to 50% more fat” than if they had eaten a light meal.  This is not true.  I used to believe this myself and toiled through horrible morning cardio sessions with nothing in my stomach and feeling useless.  In my research, speaking with dietitians, other personal trainers, and researching the subject, I have found that you may only really burn an extra 1-2 calories as hour.  Unfortunately, many misinformed or, honestly, bad, personal trainers and web sites will tell you this is the key for weight loss.  Here are a few reasons why exercising in this fasted state is not beneficial and in fact harmful:

  • Exercise requires energy.  Energy comes from food. Your workout will be weak and if performance is your goal, you will not be functioning at your optimum and therefore have essentially just wasted the workout
  • Your blood glucose is likely to drop faster than it would otherwise, resulting in a reduction in muscle function and so you won’t get good results.
  • Your body will convert protein into energy for your muscles. And, since protein required for muscles production and maintenence, as you reduce the amount of protein by exercising, after the workout your muscles won’t be able to repair themselves well, and so you can get injured more easily.
  • You run the risk of dehydration and from this, muscle cramps etc.
  • As for lifting weights, weight training is one of the best ways to burn calories and consequently lose weight, because the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. So, despite what most people think, starving yourself is the least effective way to lose weight, especially if you want the results to last.
  • You may be so starved after the workout that instead of having a regular healthy breakfast, you will eat way more than you had planned.  However, after a workout you do indeed need to get food as quickly as possible, but you want to get good food in the right ratios.  Plus, you don’t want to miss meals later in the day because you ate too much earlier.

This all being said, I discovered a great new meal for me to eat before morning workouts that won’t weigh me down too much or make me feel uncomfortable.  I whipped up a heaping 1/2 cup of oatmeal (not instant), a scoop of chocolate protein powder, and a banana.  Popped it in the microwave and it came out great!

Quick preworkout breakfast- Oatmeal, protein powder, banana

I also wanted to mention quickly the importance of rest days.  It’s important to take at least 1-2 a week and listen to your body when it tells you it needs one.  I used to either forgo this day, or have it strictly planned for a specific day like a Sunday.  Now I just listen to my body and when my body says it needs to rest, I let it. 

I usually have a hard time letting myself eat on these days, however, so I wanted to show a post of a healthy meal I made and ate.  And it didn’t kill me, nor had I gained 100 lbs. when I woke the next morning!

Leftover chicken and a sweet potato with an egg on it

I wanted to make sure I got some healthy fats in so I put an egg on my sweet potato!  It wasn’t bad, it tasted like….an egg on a sweet potato….

And here are some delicious ingredients I had fore a Candy Cane protein shake!

Candy Cane Protein shake ingredients

16
Dec
09

Peanut butter on a sweet potato

I’ve been dreaming of this for a long while now.  But could never convince myself to try it.  I was too scared it wouldn’t taste good, especially because, for as many time as I had searched it on the internet, I couldn’t find anyone who reccommended it.  Last night, however, I found a great site/blog that not only had tried it, but suggested it and it’s greatness!  Thanks to April at www.foodsofapril.com I finally tried it for dinner tonight.

It was awesome!  But to make things even better (April, have you tried this one?) I added marshmallow fluff as well to make it sweet potato fluffernutter!  Not only was it delicious, but incredibly healthy, combining 2 super foods.  Here’s how it looked:

Natural Peanut butter on Baked sweet potato

Sweet potato Fluffernutter...

Thanks again to April for this idea and you all should check out her site.  She has an awesome story and some sweet recipes.

I have to comment on the workouts of the past couple days–Did a brutal spin class Tuesday night (well I pushed really hard) then followed it with a 4.5 mile run.  The run was tough on the legs since I didn’t expect to go so hard in spinning, but I forced myself to maintain the pace and intervals that I had planned on.  Felt great….when I finished haha.

So today I hit the pool for 3000m.  This was rough too, as I was pretty sore from yesterday. At the end of the workout my calf muscles began to completely cramp up making it really difficult to get in the final 250m.  After this I had a 3X5 minute run planned plus some 400m sprints.  My legs just didn’t have it.  I did a solid 25 on the eliptical though instead.

I have my next appointment with the nutritionist tomrrow.  Do you guys think I would look alright with 10 more pounds on me, if it were muscle?  That’s what I’ve been told for years now, I’m just scared to do it…

14
Dec
09

Dinosaur BBQ- Rochester, NY

Few of you are probably familiar with the Rochester Americans (the Amerks) AHL hockey team, but it’s a tradition for the Feerick family and co.  Every year, the day after either Thanksgiving or Christasmas, depending on when we have to visit…I mean get to visit…we get the whole squad and go watch the Amerks play. 

The best part about this is the meal before hand…at the famous Dinosaur BBQ in downtown Rochester.  There is also a location in Brooklyn and Syracuse, and their BBQ sauce is sold across the country.  It’s a awesome, honky-tonk joint serving up delicious bbq, good portions, and a decor and atmosphere you won’t find anywhere else.  I giant smokers are visible from the street and the inside is covered with memorbilia, most of which is graffiti written all over the walls by loyal Dino fans.

In years past, I’ve always ordered a large meal, but it was usually grilled chicken breast with sides of applesauce.  This year I decided to branch out.  Trying to set an example for Tracy, my little sister, I ordered the half chicken with rice and beans for sides…and I actually ate some of the cornbread.  Tracy has began to show very similar behaviors to thoes that I did (and some still do) when my eating disorder was taking shape .  As a family, we have been able to catch her early on it, but as I am well aware, that person can deny there is anything wrong and its hard to force someone to eat.  Anyways..

I asked the waitress if I could have 2 breast quarters instead of a breast and leg half.  I expected to have to pay more, but she acted like it normal and hooked it up!  Here are some images of my meal, cousin Jason’s meal (the Big Ass Pork Plate) and my cousin Colin’s meal (Tres Hombres–”A spirited serving of Bar-B-Que pork,  Texas Beef Brisket (sliced) & Bar-B-Que ribs”).  Try not to salivate

Menu Board

The Grill and Pit

Brews

Tres Hombres

Honey Brined half chicken with Black beans and rice, with cornbread

If you ever get a chance, go!

On another note- what would y’all like to see me make or ingredients to experiment with?  Let me know and I’ll try to make it happen!

Also, send any fitness questions you have to me and I’ll answer them, or if I can’t, I’ll research the answer for you!

Eat up!

04
Dec
09

Thanksgiving in “Raaachester”, New York

I know, its been a week since Thanksgiving has passed, but let’s be honest, who isn’t still wishing they had a tray full of  turkey, slow cooked on a smoker for hours on end in their backyard? Oh, wait, haha, I do still have that!  Thanks to my dad who smoked a turkey for me and brought it to New York in bags so that I could fly back to Virginia with it in order to enjoy it all week.   So let’s start again…

…be honest, who isn’t still wishing they had a plate full of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, greenbean casserole, and sweet potatoes, all washed down with a cool slice of pumpkin pie?  You are, I know it.  This year, I flew to Rochester to spend a few days with the entire family and enjoy an awesome Thanksgiving of over 30 people at my aunt’s house.

I also avoided starvation staying at my grandma’s house.  Old people don’t eat as much…or keep food in the house!  It’s tough for me visiting there, however.  Every time I eat, it’s my grandma saying “Gee, you young boys sure have an appetite…” “…sure eat a lot of food” etc, etc.  I can’t really explain to her, how in battling an eating disorder, that’s the absolute last thing I need to be hearing.  I can’t explain to her that with the amount I workout, I need whatever I am eating, and for the most part, it’s just a larger volume of lower calorie food.  Example: you may eat only 2 slices of Meat Supreme pizza, and I’ll eat a whole pizza with grilled chicken and light cheese, but you still ate more calories…feel me?  Sorry, just a little vent there.

God bless my grandpa Charles, though, and the big ol’ bowl of ice cream that follows both lunch and dinner!

So here’s a recap of some the dishes we had on our glorious Thanksgiving.  Gobble Gobble playa

Ree-Ree's Stuffing

Turkey

Sweet potato casserole with coconut

Oh, yes.  And our favorite restaurant to drive by and shout in Chinese accents… Kam Wah!  “Kam wah me cook yo’ food!”

"Kam Wah" me cook yo' food!




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