Stretchy

After I finished the last post, I decided not being a total bum and took a walk outside my house.

According to my Garmin Forerunner 305, I walked about 1.26 miles in 27:37. Slow huh? Actually I walked in normal pace, at least faster than strolling. Oh well, it’s still better than being cooped up in the house for the entire day while it was sunny and breezy outside.

Back home, I was guilty enough snacking on these banana chips -totally addicting!

Followed by a bowl of strawberries

Later I joined Hubby K doing P90X X Stretch. Wow, I haven’t done any P90X workout for such a loooooooooong time and actually after stretching for about an hour, I felt a bit better. Like Tony Horton said stretching is very important for you.

Dinner was super simple: steamed veggies with last beef patty and some lamb that I cooked earlier today (no recipe for now – it tasted ok, but I think it could be better).

 

When It’s Time to Back Off A Bit

I took a whole day off from working out yesterday because my lower back was still feeling sore from that 300 squats challenge and I think I’d do the same for today as well…and maybe the next day and the day after. It seems like my lower back pain will linger a bit longer than I expected. Usually after a hard workout, I’d feel sore a little bit here and there but it didn’t last as long. Today, my lower back pain is still a bit too much and I even feel painful when I try to bend over – though not that bad if I just do it slowly.

So I’ll listen to my body and give it the rest that it needs. I rather be completely recovered than injured myself further. It’s pretty challenging for me to just take one complete day off from workout, let alone not exercising for 2-3 days or more! But I’ll try my best – fingers crossed.

Ok enough with boring and painful stuff, how about we moved to the food? Don’t you wonder what I ate?

YESTERDAY
Breakfast
2 beef patties with left over baked mixed veggies from last night dinner, served with a cup of loose leaf tea (and I drank more than just one cup every morning) – I’d say I’m a total tea addict.

During breakfast, Hubby K and I decided to go to a movie theater to watch Bridesmaids. When checking the local show time, we knew we won’t have much time to prepare lunch so we kept it simple. Good thing I started steaming the Citrus and Spice Marinated Chicken when I was having my breakfast so it finished by lunch time. I kept the veggie dish super simple steamed green beans with cauliflower, sprinkled with pepper and slathered with some butter.

We drove off to the movie theater, which was located inside a mall. Boy, the mall and the theater were totally deserted! Hubby K and I are not a big fan of going to a movie theater, because of the high ticket price. But since we got bargained priced tickets, it was ok. Besides, another good excuse for us to have a little date. The movie was pretty funny and enjoyable. Go watch it if you haven’t

After we got back home, I literally didn’t have to cook anything since we still had left over from lunch. I was craving for some fruits so I washed some strawberries and cherries.

You’d think dinner was pretty much taken care of? Not for Hubby K as he was craving for something else.


He drove off to the nearest Jack-in-the Box for his dinner. I tagged along just so I could that the pics and watching him eating to accompany him. And yes, he finished everything that you see in that pic.

Afterward he told me he was feeling guilty of eating those and felt sick of the grease. Oh well….And what’s my dinner? Well my dinner = my lunch, literally speaking.

After I finished dinner, we were watching Red Riding Hood as our movie night. The story was ok, totally different from the original story though. I won’t spoil you much more, go watch it when you get a chance.

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TODAY
Breakfast
Just a simple baked Japanese sweet potato with lots of loose leaf tea.

Since I couldn’t do any exercise, I had to distract my mind doing something else other than sitting around. So I experimented a different technique making Egg Loaf Frittata.
This time, I beat the yolks and the whites separately. When I was separating them, one of the yolk fell into the whites. Good thing I could saved it without contaminating the whites. Just a tiny trace of egg yolk will prevent the egg white to reach its peak when beaten.
So here’s what I did to make “Chiffon” Egg Frittata
6 eggs – separate the yolk and the white (best when eggs are cold)
Shredded chicken meat from Citrus and Spice Baked Chicken
3 stalks of green onions – chopped
1 shallot – minced
1 tomato- diced
1 tsp celery salt
1/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp black pepper

Directions:
1. Wait until the eggs are in room temperature. First beat the yolks in high speed using hand mixer until they turned pale yellow and smooth. Lower the mixer speed, add in the coconut milk in steady stream. Continue beating, and add in the coconut flour until everything incorporates

2. Turn off the hand mixer – mixed in the rest of the ingredients – set aside

3. Use a whisk attachment, beat the egg white in lower speed and gradually increase it until the egg white turned white and stiff.

4. Fold in the stiffed egg white into the egg yolk mixture. Do not over mix.

5. Grease 9″x5″ loaf pan with coconut oil – pour in the batter and bake for about 40-45 minutes with 350°F or until the center is cooked (insert toothpick to check)

Here’s my lunch!

Ok now I gotta do something to distract my mind.

Have a great day!

 

Citrus and Spice Chicken

A couple days ago, I was experimenting with different spice mixtures to jazz up my marinate for the whole chicken that I had in the fridge. Pairing them with citrus juices resulting this yummy baked chicken. As usual, when I’m going to bake bone-in chicken, I prefer to steam them first for about 15 minutes to make sure the inside will be at least half cooked before baking it in the oven. Besides it cut down the baking time, plus the meat will stay moist.

Ingredients:
About 2 lbs chicken/beef – I used a whole chicken, cut up in to 4 pieces -skins & visible fat removed
2 lemons (zest & juice)
Fresh squeezed orange juice (1 orange)
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp whole cloves
1 garlic bulb
2-3 shallots
1″ ginger knob
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp coriander powder

Directions:
1. Mash the garlic, shallots, ginger and whole cloves with mortar pestle or your mini food processor (I used my Magic Bullet)
2. Mix the puree garlic/shallot/cloves mixture with the lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest, and the rest of the spices and salt

3. Place the meat in a gallon size zip lock bag, coat evenly with the marinate. Let it sit for about 2 hour or overnight for best taste.

3. Line up your steamer with a piece of paper towel and steam the meat for about 15 minutes (If you use boneless meat, you can skip this part and head on to the next one). If you want to skip steaming, make sure to bake it longer.

4. Broil the meat in 400°F for about 20 minutes. If you didn’t steam the meat, bake it for 350°F then change the setting to broil. Time depends on the size of the meat that you use.

Remove from heat and enjoy with your favorite veggie dish.

I’d suggest to cut down the broiling time if you don’t want the chicken meat become too dry. I particularly enjoyed it since it tasted like chicken jerky