food

Breakfast: Sausage, egg and cheese English muffin. With homemade sausage, an organic egg and Cabot cheddar cheese on a Barowski's whole wheat English muffin.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix.


I was going to use the piece of leftover pork to make miso marinated pork. I came up with a few recipe improvements and started making the sauce and cutting up the pork when I discovered that my miso had gone bad! The base already had ginger, soy sauce, sugar and sake so I just added a little more soy sauce and sake to make a homemade teriyaki marinade. I had already cut the pieces of pork into bite-sized pieces so I'll probably have to cook them on the griddle pan instead of the grill like teriyaki barbecued pork. Here's the pork vacuum marinating:


And later, after cooking.




Lunch: Grilled Hebrew National hot dog on a whole wheat hot dog bun with Dijon mustard and pickle relish. And Kettle Chips hot jalapeño potato chips. And a Saranac pale ale.


With one 12 oz. breast of chicken from yesterday, I made two servings of fried chicken fingers. These are a lot less work than the whole pieces of chicken I made yesterday!


Snack: 4 Late July organic crackers with pepper jack cheese. And a half glass of Cupcake New Zealand sauvignon blanc.


Dinner: Japanese-style chicken curry.


And 2 glasses of Cholila Ranch malbec.


Normally I'd have a chorizo breakfast burrito Friday or Saturday, using the filling I made last Wednesday. But since I'm not going to be home for breakfast I decided to have my bagel, lox and cream cheese tomorrow and freeze the chorizo filling.


Weight at beginning of the day: 122.0 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 121.8 lbs.

Breakfast: Chorizo breakfast burrito with chorizo, onion, green pepper, jalapeño and egg.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix.


Lunch: Chana Masala with rice. And a Saranac pale ale, because this batch is spicy!


Made and froze 4 servings of tingua poblana, pork with smoky tomato sauce and potatoes. That involved cutting up a pork roast, and I still have the piece in the back left that I need to find something to do with. I'll probably sous vide it for pork stir-fry. The front left is fat, silverskin and other discarded bits.



Made and froze a package of breakfast sausage links, for breakfast or sausage and green pepper stir-fry.


I broke down a whole chicken. I vacuum sealed and froze the wings (for Buffalo chicken wings), one of the breasts (cut into two servings of a little more than 6.0 oz. each) and the carcass and other random bits to make chicken stock after the next time I break down a chicken. It only took a couple good whacks with the Asian bone cleaver made the carcass flat enough to easily fit in the vacuum sealed bag.


Dinner: Fried chicken (new recipe), with 3.0 oz. seasoned Cascadian organic shoestring French fries.


And 2 glasses of Santa Julia malbec.


And I tasted one of the pickled jalapeños. They're really good! Definitely hot, I still have a little burn going on.


Weight at beginning of the day: 122.0 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 122.0 lbs.

After reading an article in the New York Times, which referenced a book (The Way To Fry by Normal King), which referenced a Southern Living recipe, I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't exactly follow the recipe, and that lead to a few problems that might have been my fault, but it was very moist and quite delicious. And, in any case, I really just wanted to see if their crazy alternating covered not-covered method works, and I say it does work quite well.

I started by breaking down a whole chicken. My chicken was large (5.32 pounds), much bigger than then suggested 2 1/2 pound chicken! I just used the legs and thighs, my favorite fried chicken parts. I saved the breasts for other recipes and the wings for Buffalo chicken wings.


I skipped the brining step.


Instead of using plain salt and black pepper I used some of my homemade dry rub for extra flavor. This might have been a mistake because the dry rub contains sugar and it might be part of the cause of the minor burning of the coating where it was in contact with the bottom of the pan. It tasted fine, but it looked a little too browned.

Here's the chicken dredged in flour before going into the fryer.


I've never fried anything covered before, but the 6 minutes covered, 9 minutes uncovered, flip, 6 minutes covered, 5 minutes uncovered technique works pretty well for fried chicken! The recipe called for putting the chicken in at 360°F and then keeping it at 325°F. My induction hot plate is only set for 10°F increments, so I picked 330°F. But I did have a little too much browning and it was more than done a couple minutes into the last uncovered frying phase, reaching 170°F+ in the deepest parts of the chicken. I think I'll try 320°F next time, or maybe shorten the phases by a minute or two.


It's not the best looking fried chicken I've ever made, but it was moist and tender and fully cooked through, so there is that. Not bad for a first attempt!

Breakfast: Homemade Blueberry muffin and bacon, both previously frozen.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix.


Lunch: Ham and Swiss cheese sandwich with Kettle Chips hot jalapeño potato chips. On one slice of Barowski's wheat bread, cut in half.


Snack: 4 Late July organic crackers with Yancey's Fancy horseradish cheddar. With a half glass of Cupcake New Zealand sauvignon blanc.


Dinner: A goulash with 2.0 oz. penne pasta, 3.4 oz. ground beef and 6.0 oz. homemade tomato sauce.


And 2 glasses of Santa Julia malbec.


Weight at beginning of the day: 122.4 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 122.0 lbs.

Breakfast: Egg, toast and bacon. With one organic egg, half a slice of Barowski's wheat bread with butter and 3 slices of bacon.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix. And, later, 0.7 oz. peanuts.


Lunch: Sardines, spinach, and rice.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Kettle Chips sea salt potato chips with bacon and horseradish sour cream dip.


Dinner: Tingua poblana, pork with smoky tomato sauce and potatoes. With a warm tortilla.


And 2 glasses of Gouguenheim malbec.


Weight at beginning of the day: 123.0 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 122.4 lbs.

Breakfast: Bagel, lox and cream cheese on a homemade whole wheat bagel with tomato and red onion. And a mimosa.



Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix. And a spicy Blood Mary. And, later, 0.7 oz. peanuts.


Lunch: Tofu, broccoli and scallion stir-fry with rice.


I tried a new preparation method for the tofu, dredging it in flour like sesame tofu. It was good, but I'm unsure that this preparation is any better than the normal way. The main problem is that this sauce is more liquid than the spicy garlic sauce, so the coating can fall off.



Snack: 4 Kashi roasted garlic crackers with pepper jack cheese and a half glass of Cupcake New Zealand sauvignon blanc.


Dinner: Mom's fried rice. Previously vacuum sealed and frozen, reheated boil-in-bag.


And 2 glasses of Gouguenheim malbec.


Dessert: 6 rectangles (3 strips) of Green & Black's hazelnut currant dark chocolate bar.


Weight at beginning of the day: 122.4 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 123.0 lbs.

And 2 glasses of Trapiche malbec.


I think I'm getting pretty good at making cheesesteaks now. The flat griddle pan is a huge help.


And a giant spatula to get it off the griddle and onto the bottom roll.


Dessert: 6 rectangles (3 strips) of Green & Black's hazelnut currant dark chocolate bar.


Weight at beginning of the day: 121.8 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 122.4 lbs.

Boiled and baked a batch of homemade whole wheat bagels.


Cooked and froze 2 pounds of bacon.


Breakfast: Bagel, toasted, with butter. And 3 slices of bacon.



Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix. And, later, 0.7 oz. peanuts.


Lunch: Sausage and green pepper stir-fry with rice.



Snack: 1.0 oz. pretzels and a Saranac pale ale.



Dinner: Bacon cheeseburger. With a homemade 6.0 oz. (before cooking) grilled burger, Cabot cheddar cheese, bacon, homemade barbecue sauce and lettuce on a Barowski's wheat bun. And 3.0 oz. Cascadian organic French fries, seasoned.


And 2 glasses of Trapiche malbec.


Weight at beginning of the day: 121.6 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 121.8 lbs.

Breakfast: Sausage, egg and cheese English muffin. With homemade sausage, an organic egg and Cabot cheddar cheese on a Barowski's whole wheat English muffin.


Made the dough and formed it for homemade whole wheat bagels. They'll be boiled and baked tomorrow morning.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix.


Walked to the Village Variety, about 1.6 miles.


Lunch: Grilled Hebrew National hot dog on a whole wheat hot dog bun with Dijon mustard and pickle relish. And Kettle Chips hot jalapeño potato chips. And a Saranac pale ale.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Kettle Chips sea salt potato chips with bacon and horseradish sour cream dip.


Dinner: Rib-eye steak and a salt and olive oil rubbed baked potato (with butter and sour cream).


And 2 glasses of Chimango malbec.


Weight at beginning of the day: 122.6 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 121.6 lbs.

Breakfast: Homemade Blueberry muffin and bacon, both previously frozen.


Started the poolish and soaker for homemade whole wheat bagels. I'll mix and form them on Thursday and boil and bake them on Friday.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Sriracha chex mix. And, later, a bowl of instant wakame soup and a small omusbe (rice ball).


Lunch: Beef with bean sprouts and scallion stir-fry.


Snack: 1.0 oz. Kettle Chips sea salt potato chips with bacon and horseradish sour cream dip.


Prepared a batch of salsa fresca for dinner tonight.
 
Dinner: Chicken and cheese enchiladas (updated recipe).


With 1.0 oz. Garden of Eatin' blue corn tortilla chips (organic) and the rest of the salsa fresca. Between the enchilada and the chips I ate all of the salsa fresca, which had 1 tomato, 1/2 onion, 1 jalapeño, 1 clove of garlic, lime juice and salt. (I normally add some cilantro, but I forgot.)


And 2 glasses of Chimango malbec.


Dessert: 1 square of Ghiradelli intense dark sea salt soiree chocolate bar.


Weight at beginning of the day: 122.4 lbs.
Weight at the beginning of the next day: 122.6 lbs.