Pickled Horseradish Chicken Sandwich

Back from being sick. Sorry for the slow amount of postings.

2 tablespoons fresh horseradish

6 slices of pickles

2 slices tomato

1 baguette

1 oz. smoked gouda cheese

6 oz. chicken breast (shredded)

paprika to taste

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon butter

2 eggs

1. cut the baguette in half and lather on 1 tbsp. of horseradish (warm in the oven)

2. cook the chicken with the other tbsp of horseradish and pam spray

3. cook the 2 eggs like an omelet (with the butter, salt and cheese)

4. put the chicken, omelet, pickles, tomato and paprika on the baguette

5. cook in the oven for 5 minutes

Voila. Tangy, delicious sandwich. Not the healthiest, but I hadn't eaten all day on account of being sick. It also clears out the sinuses.

Spicy Veracruz Fish

1 piece of white fish (I use grouper)

4 roma tomatoes (chopped)

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon oregano

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1/2 onion

6 hot chili peppers

2 tablespoon black olives

cilantro to taste

1. cover the fish in oregano and garlic powder. put in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 8 minutes.

2. cook the rest of the ingredients in a frying pan on low heat.

3. Add the fish to the frying pan after 8 minutes and turn the heat up.

4. Cook until its done

5. Squeeze lime on the fish and serve

Calories 465.

Simple Provençal Tapenade

2 Cups of pitted and chopped olives (the best would be a mixture of niçoise & picholine, with about 10 Kalamata. However, I only have access to kalamata olives, so this one is made exclusively with those)

10-15 pitted dates

1/4 cup raisins

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons capers

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

3 cloves of garlic

1 pinch of black pepper (optional)

Mix it all up in a blender until it comes out like a thick paste. Enjoy over crackers or bread. I actually think it goes great on a cold chicken breast sandwich as well.

Food Journal 12/25/11

Merry Christmas.

Not counting calories today. But, I will do my best not to go overboard at dinner.

Food Journal 12/24/11

Lunch - Sancocho & moro con ensalada de papas. 550 calories.

Lunch is my only meal today. I'll be snacking on what I'm cooking for tomorrow. Recipes on the way.

Daily total 1800(ish)

Food Journal 12/23/11

Not a repentance day!

Lunch - Capered Fish over Polenta

Dinner - Christmas banquet. Done in moderation.

Calorie count - 2400(ish)

Food Journal 12/22/11

This was a cheat day.

Lunch was a fried food fiesta.

Dinner was Domino's Pizza.

Bread and water tomorrow in repentance.

Calories: 2800(ish)

food Journal 12/21/11

breakfast - skipped

lunch - moro con guandules & platano maduro (550)

dinner - capered fish and polenta (350), chips (500)

total - 1400 ish

Capered Fish and Polenta

1 Warholian Polenta cake

Fish

2 tbsp capers

1 small red onion (sliced)

1/2 tomato (sliced)

4 cloves garlic

3 tsp olive oil

6 peperoncinis

1 tbsp white wine

Red Pepper Flakes

Garlic Powder

Salt

Basil

1/4 c. shredded parmesan cheese

Cook the capers, onion, and garlic in a frying pan with olive oil and white wine.

Cover the fish in the red pepper flakes, garlic powder and salt.

Put Polenta cakes on cookie sheet. Place basil on top of polenta cakes. Place tomato slices on top of polenta cakes. Put the fish on top of the tomatoes. Top with the capers, cover with cheese. Cook in the oven at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Calories 350(ish) per (makes 2).

Country count

So, I'm tracking my stats and I have discovered that Healthy(ish) Chris has been viewed by people from all over the world.

Dominican Republic...

check.

United States...

bam!

Russia...

of course!

Canada...

representing.

Germany...

absolutely.

France...

In the famous words of Lumiere, "oui, but of course"

6 countries. 12 days.

At this rate I'll hit the 193 members of the United Nations in 386 days. But, if you help me out we can do it more quickly! Post me to you friends! Follow me. If even if you never check me again, help an obsessive compulsive man achieve his 10 minute-long dream.

Food Journal 12/20/11

Breakfast - Skipped

Lunch - a big bowl of An Hungarian. That's right, the soup has lasted five days and just keeps getting better. (280 Calories)

Dinner - Jibarito Italiano Melt (630). Chips (200).

Snacking on some mini chocolates Antonio gave me, 150(ish) calories.

Daily Total - 1260(ish)

The chocolates and chips might be a conservative estimate.

Revision - 1460(ish)

Jibarito Italiano Melt

Ok, the Jarabacoan Jibarito was so damn good yesterday, I thought I'd twist it around again today.

4 cloves garlic

1/3 onion

8 ounces of chicken

2 tbsp black olives

2 tbsp capers

2 tbsp shredded mozzarella

6 pepperoncinis

2 tsp olive oil

2 slices tomato

2 slices serrano ham

basil to taste

marjoram to taste

One ripe plantain

1. Cut the plantain in half. Repeat, but this time longways. Smash down to be flat. Bake on a Pam sprayed pan to warm (300 degrees).

2. mix all the other ingredients (except the tomato, cheese, and ham) and cook in a frying pan

3. put the cooked chicken mix on a plate, pull out the plantain and pop it up into the frying pan, browning both sides.

4. put 2 of the plantains on the tray to serve as the bread. Place a little of the cheese. Then, place some of the chicken mixture. Pop on the tomato, ham, a little bit of the cheese and then put the other two plantains on. Put the remainder of the cheese on Jibarito and put the tray back in the oven. Cook until the cheese is melted.

Eat this with a fork.

A key to these Jibaritos is to get good, ripe (almost black) plantains. That makes them sweeter and more malleable. Buen provecho.

Calories 630(ish).

Weekly Weigh In

12/8/11 - 251 lbs

12/15/11 - 249 lbs

12/20/11 - 246 lbs (switchin' to Tuesday weigh-ins because of how it works with my job)

Weekly weight loss: 3 lbs

Total weight loss: 5 lbs

Weight loss to go: 51 lbs

Days left: 132

8.9% complete

Food Journal 12/19/11

Brunch - Pasta with cheese and garlic (450 calories)

Late lunch - 2 Warholian Polenta cakes with olives and capers (404)

Dinner - Jarabacoan Jibarito (530)

Daily Total: 1384

Jarabacoan Jibarito

Sandwiches. Everyone loves sandwiches. I love them at least.

4 Cloves Garlic

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon paprika

1/3 onion

1 Plantain

8 ounces chicken

lettuce

tomato

pickles

1. Cut the plantain in half, then cut it in half long ways. Bake on a cookie sheet until blackened. Flip them. repeat.

2. Meanwhile, cook the chicken with the onion and garlic and spices and worcestershire sauce.

3. Pull the plantains out of the oven and put them in the frying pan that you cooked the chicken in.

4. Put the pickles, tomato and lettuce on two of the plantains halves. Then put the meat and onions. Then put the other two plantain halves on top.

Prepare to eat the Jibarito with a fork.

Calories - 530

Food Journal 12/18/11

Rough day...

It started out alright.

Breakfast - skipped

But then...

Lunch - Chinese (850)

Dinner - Soup while working (300)

Then came the late night snacking...

Daily total (2500 - 3500)

Food Journal 12/17/11

Breakfast - Shake (250 calories)

Lunch - An Hungarian (200 calories)

Dinner - Warholian Polenta with Ham & Cheese (650 calories)

Snacking on the Polenta and Chips while it was cooking (400 ish calories)

Daily total 1500(ish) calories

Warholian Polenta Cake

Ok, so this one came out a bit different than I had intended. It was originally supposed to be just a normal polenta cake, but I found that I didn't have any chicken stock on hand like I thought I did. What did I have then? Campbell's French Onion Soup, thus Warholian Polenta Cake was born.

Ingredients

2 tbsp. Olive oil

2 tbsp. unsalted butter (I like President)

1 Cup Red Onion (finely chopped)

5 Garlic cloves (finely chopped)

1 1/2 tsp. salt

2 Cans Campbell's French Onion Soup

1 Cup course ground corn meal

Steps

-Preheat the oven to 350

-Cook Onions with butter and olive oil for 4-5 minutes

-Add garlic for two minutes (don't burn it!)

-Add salt and soup and bring to a boil

-Slowly add the corn meal, stirring constantly

-Put in oven for 40 minutes (stirring every 10)

-Pull out and let cool, put in fridge and then form into patties

-Pan Fry the patties in 1-2 tbsp. olive oil

-Top the patties with a sauce or vegetables and serve

-I topped mine with 2 pieces of 1 tbsp. of ricotta cheese, serrano ham, and grated parmesan

Total Calories = 1,364

Yield - 9 patties, 152 calories per patty

food Journal 12/16/11

Breakfast - Crackers (190)

Lunch - An Hungarian...(200) Banana Muffin (200)

Dinner - Cheeseburger and Fries (1390)

Daily Total - 1980

Hongrois à Acadiana aux mercanaire espagnol

An Hungarian in Acadiana with Spanish Mercenaries (an unique take on Low-Country Boil)

Vegetables:

2 ears Corn (chopped into quarters)

1/2 can Lima Beans

1/2 can lima beans

1 Onion (chopped)

1 Bulb of Garlic (chopped)

1/2 head Broccoli (chopped)

1/2 head Cauliflower (chopped)

1 Potato (with skin, chopped)

Spices:

5 tablespoons salt

3 tablespoons Hungarian Hot Paprika

1 tablespoon Old Bay

Hungarian Paprika Hot Sauce

Meats:

1 Chicken Breast

2 small spanish chorizos

2 lbs. shrimp

24 Ounces of water

Boil and cook for 4 hours.

2348 Calories in the whole thing.

Number of servings: 17 Cups

Calories/Serving: 1 Cup = 140(ish)

Hungarian Paprika Hot Sauce

5 cloves Garlic (chopped)

1/2 teaspoon mustard seed

10 tablespoons white vinegar

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper

2 tablespoon Hungarian Hot Paprika

1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon ground all spice

1. Reduce to make very thick

Food Journal 12/15/11

Breakfast - Shake, 250 Calories

Lunch - Cantaloupe (90), left over Marrakech Mash (275), 1/2 slimfast shake (100), 465 Calories

Afternoon snack - Fried Mashed Potato (180), Chicken strip (100), Ear of Corn (60), 340 Calories

1055 so far

Dinner - An Hungarian in Acadiana with Spanish Mercenaries 1 Cup (140)

Snacking on the soup (100)

Total - 1295

Weekly Weigh In

12/8 - 251 lbs

12/15 - 249 lbs

Weekly weight loss: 2 lbs

Total weight loss: 2 lbs

Weight loss to go: 54 lbs

Days left: 137

Food Journal 12/14/11

breakfast - Pastilito (200 Calories)

Lunch - Pizza (600 Calories)

Dinner - Tunafish disaster (totally gross) 550 Calories

Snacking while caroling - 450 calories

Daily count 1800

Food Journal 12/13/11

Breakfast: Ensure Shake - 250 Calories

Lunch: Slimfast Shake - 200 Calories

Pork Chunk (Dominican Stewed Pork) Just wanted a taste - 50 Calories

1 C. Pineapple - 80 Calories

Dinner: Marrakech Mash - 530 Calories

Eating while we carol - 350 Calories

Daily Total: 1,460

Marrakech Mash

Spices:

2 teaspoons Turmeric Powder

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon hot paprika

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon red pepper

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed mint

1/4 ground cinnamon

chili threads

meat:

8 oz. shredded chicken

vegetables:

1 & 1/2 onion (chopped)

6 cloves garlic (chopped)

1 carrot (chopped)

fruit:

10 black olives

pickled plant:

2 tbsp. capers

liquids:

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 C. chicken broth

grain:

1/2 C. bulgur wheat

1. Boil 1/2 C. water, pour over 1/2 C. bulgur wheat (set aside until the liquid is soaked up)

2. Cook onions and garlic in olive oil for Five Good Minutes whilst listening to Tony and Michael opine.

3. Add spices

4. Add broth

5. Add vegetables

6. Cook on low heat for 20 minutes in a covered frying pan.

7. Add bulgur wheat

8. Serve it up

Calories: 805

Makes 2 Servings

Food Journal 12/12/11

Late Breakfast - Eggs Benedict (590 Calories)

Dinner - Irate Transdanubian Goulash Soup (485 Calories)

Dessert - Bomb Brownies (400 Calories)

Snacking throughout the day (120 Calories)

Total - 1,595

Irate Transdanubian Goulash Soup

Why is this Transdanubian Goulash so irate? Because Goulash is one of Hungary's cherished national dishes and this one is, well, basically the red headed step son who just broke the step mom's crystal vase... with a painting of the Holy Right Hand on it.

Oh yeah, and he's a vegetarian.

1 Red Bell Pepper (cut into thin strips)

1/2 Yellow onion (cut into thin slices)

2 Celery stalks

3 cloves of Garlic (pressed)

2 tsp. White pepper

1 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

4 Tbsp. Hot Hungarian Paprika

8 Chili threads

2 Small Boiled Potatoes (cut into chunks)

2 tsp. Olive Oil

Cook all of this on low heat in a frying pan. Add 1/4 cup of water, more if necessary. Low heat. Don't burn it... Seriously.

1 Carrot (shredded)

1 tsp. Ground Nutmeg

2 tsp. Ground All Spice

1 tsp. Ground Mace

4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

Cook all of these ingredients in another frying pan with some Pam spray (cuts out the calories). Cook until mostly soft. Did you burn your other frying pan concoction? Check, it cooks quick.

Pour the sweetened Carrots into the other pan (the one you don't want to burn). Mix up really nice. Add Yogurt. That's right add 8 fl. Oz of no-fat natural yogurt. Cook on low mixing.

Serve it in a bowl. If it's too spicy, make him less irate. (add Saltine Crackers, take out the chili threads, etc. but don't skimp on the Paprika or the Holy Right Hand will bring the smack and it'll be gross.)

Calorie Count: 485 Calories.

Food Journal 12/11/11

Breakfast - Skipped, late for Church...

Lunch - Sundays I eat out after Church, this is the eat-out time I probably won't give up

Pastrami Sandwich (I based this on Schlotzky's Deli calorie count so it might be inflated) 944

French Fries 490

Dinner - Snacking around, not much though (400)

Calories 1834

Food Journal 12/10/11

Breakfast - Shake (250)

Lunch - Shake and Snack (350)

Dinner - Genovese Peloponnese Polynesian Chicken (503)

Progressive Dinner, aka not my finest hour of self-restraint (650 estimate)

Daily Total - 1503

Genovese Peloponnese Polynesian Chicken

Initially I was going to call this something bland like "Citrus Basil Salad", but when the taste popped I knew it demanded something much more grandiose. Thus, Genovese Peloponnese Polynesian Chicken was born.

Genovese - Basil

Peloponnese - Kalamata Olive

Polynesian - Pomelo

4 Oz. Red Onion (cut into thin slices)

1 tsp Olive Oil

2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar

Green Onion to taste

4 Oz. Chicken

Sautee these bad boys in a frying pan at low heat until Chicken is done.

15 Basil Leaves (cut into thin strips by rolling the leaves together and slicing)

4 teaspoons toasted almonds

1/2 Pomelo (cut into chunks)

10 Kalamata Olives (pitted preferably)

Mix these ingredients with the chicken concoction when it has cooled down a bit.

2 tsp Olive oil

2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar

Toss this like a salad and chill it.

Calorie Count: 503

Food Journal 12/9/11

Ooops! Not a very good day...

Breakfast - skipped because I was in a rush (not a good start) 0 Calories

Lunch - Spaghetti and Bread at school (again because I was in a rush and didn't make lunch) 1010 Calories

Dinner - Chicken Cordon Bleu, Potatoes and Bread. 1094 Calories

Dessert - Cheesecake. 1036 Calories.

Total Calories - 3,140 Ouch!

In my defense good friends took Erin and I out to celebrate our engagement. I couldn't say no, but I wouldn't have honestly tried either...

Better tomorrow.

Food Journal 12/8/11

Breakfast & Lunch - Ensure Chocolate Nutrition shakes (250 calories a pop)

Dinner -1 & 1/2 Cups of Mohenjo-Daro Chicken Salad over Saltine Crackers (872 calories)

Daily total - 1,372 Calories

Fewer than I should and way more dinner-centric than I want to maintain, but a good start!

Adjusting for a little bit of a snack, (more mohenjo-daro)

Daily total - 1,945 Calories

Mohenjo-Daro Chicken Salad

Mohenjo-Daro Chicken Salad

I was going to call this Spicy Licorice Chicken Salad because of the taste, but now that it's more done it tastes less like licorice. The dish is called Mohenjo-Daro Chicken Salad because that's what it asked to be named (and I like to name dishes after places I've never been so I can let my imagination run the day).

Ingredients:

2 Cups Bulgur Wheat

2 Cups Water

1/2 teaspoon Ground Red Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Ground All Spice

1/2 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon Ground White Pepper

1 teaspoon Ground Cardamom

1/4 teaspoon Ground Mace

1/2 teaspoon Whole Caraway Seeds

2 pinches Kosher Salt

1 bushel* of fresh mint

1 bushel* of parsley

1/4 C. toasted almonds

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil

1 Green Bell Pepper

1 Medium Red Onion

8 ounces chopped chicken breast

5 Ounces of plain yogurt

Instructions:

1. Boil cups of water and pour over bulgur wheat in a bowl (it's going to expand so make it a big bowl). Let it sit for awhile and let the water get soaked up.

2. Mix in spices, mint, parsley, salt and almonds.

3. Heat up a pan with the oils and add the chicken breast, onions and peppers. Cook until done. Let cool and mix into the barley mixture.

4. Stir in yogurt and put in a bowl to chill.

Calorie Count in the Whole Dish: 1,951

It makes about 4 Cups.

1 Cup = 488 Calories

Menu 12/8 - 12/10

Ok, so my thoughts are I'll do a three day dinner menu to keep me accountable. What I'll do is post my three day menus and then post the recipes as I make them. This blog will also serve as a cooking experiment too. There is a high probability that many of the dishes will be duds. But, every now and again I'm sure we'll come upon a gem.

12/8 Dinner - Spicy Licorice Chicken Salad

This doesn't have licorice in it, but as I was cooking the bulgur wheat and added the spices that is what it reminded me of.

12/9 Dinner - Citrus Basil Salad

I'm going to adapt a Grapefruit, Onion and Basil Salad I saw online to make it more filling and see how it goes.

12/10 Dinner - Overcoming Temptation

So I'll be only at day three of my diet and healthyish lifestyle when I'll face the first big hurdle, and it is a double whammy. The school that I work with is having a progressive dinner - one of those dinners that you go from house to house and eat a different course at each stop. The goal here will be to eat smaller portions and stay under my calorie count for the day. (I'm trying to do between 1500 - 1800 calories a day). As if a progressive dinner wasn't a daunting enough challenge, it is my fiancee's birthday. (I just had to go back and change the word girlfriend to fiancee, very exciting!!!!) Luckily, she loves healthy eating. I'm going to try and come up with a healthy dessert for her as a surprise. Wish me luck!

Welcome

Hey folks.

My name is Chris and I just recently got engaged. I have an incredible fiancee named Erin who means the world to me. There is no wedding date set yet, but I'd like to be in better shape than I am now for the wedding. This blog is hopefully going to be my accountability partner in living a healthy (ish) lifestyle and an incentive for me to take some of the weight off.

Currently I live in the Dominican Republic but we just got back from vacation and I put on some weight, twelve pounds over the month. That puts me at 251 lbs currently and I would like to drop to 195. That's 56 lbs. My goal for this is April 30, 2012. That's probably a significant amount of time before a wedding date, but I really want to get into good shape and keep it off.

Here is me now (above). Not too flattering. I'm a 36/38 inch waist, 38 being much more comfortable, 36 being naive and generous. My shirts are XL. I have no goal for dropping to a large in shirt size because I'm broad and don't know if a large will fit well because of that and I have ape like length arms. We'll see as we go along if I can drop to a 35 or a 34 inch waist. At 225 I could squeeze into 34/34 jeans, but that created quite the muffin top.

I'm not super active, but I can be. My goal is to get into a good workout routine. That shouldn't be too difficult, I like to be moving around. I just need to decide, commit and succeed. Simple enough eh Tony? My big problem is I like to eat. Living in the Dominican gives me a chance to eat tons of fresh fruit. I like fruit, but I like to cook. I love ethnic foods. This can be difficult in the Dominican. I also like to eat out. That'll have to go on hold for awhile. But, I like cooking and know my way around a kitchen generally well enough.

It's my hope that I can put some workouts and recipes on here that have worked. I hope too that you can find me and give me some encouragement when I'm doing well and heap scorn and shame on me when I'm not. But for now, I'm out.

Thanks,

Chris