Getting the job done

'Ray Knight said, "Concentration is the ability to think about absolutely nothing when it is absolutely necessary" and very succinctly summed up about half of the tenets of sport psychology. Much-loved Longhorn and coaching legend Darrell Royal summed up the other half when he stated, "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity."'

Mental toughness as important as physical strength

Back to basics: good nutrition, great taste

For lunch: the best shake ever. After the past 3 days of absolutely abominable food consumption (not necessarily unhealthy, just in very large quantities) it's time to remember the simple, delicious things in life, like this:

1 1/2 cup unsweetened soymilk
about 1/2 to 2/3 cup water
1 tblsp agave nectar
1 tblsp creamy peanut butter
2 tblsp wheat germ
1 medium banana
1 1/2 cup frozen sliced strawberries
1 cup frozen blueberries

Blend it all together and enjoy! I drank about 2/3 of it, my dad the rest.

I say this was my lunch but don't fret, after so much stomach stretching over the past few days I'm sure I'll be hungry again soon. It takes a little time for your stomach to contract back to its normal size, unfortunately.

Pictures!

CORN BREAD, ASPARAGUS, CHICKEN, POLENTA FOR DINNER (CORN BREAD LEFT OVER FOR TOMORROW!)

Chicken breast marinated with orange marmalade and usually fresh ginger but we had none so we used ground ginger (I say we but really it was my dad making my mom's recipe)


2 cups polenta cooked with 1 cup fat free milk, 2 cups chicken stock and 3 cups water, a good handful of salt. Layered with fresh mozzarella cheese and topped with grated parmesan cheese. In the oven until all melty.





CORN BREAD AND LEMON MERINGUE PIE!







CORN BREAD

Recipe from the package of the whole grain cornmeal

2 cups cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup AP flour
2 tsp salt
2 tblsp sugar
1 cup oil
2 cups fat free milk
4 eggs
4 tsp baking powder


SWEET POTATO SOUP


STREUSEL PECAN SPICE COFFEE CAKE





GIBLETS COOKING FOR GRAVY


BOOKS USED FOR RECIPES!





MOLTEN CHOCOLATE CAKES:

Some serious cooking

Pictures to come later.

In preparation for Thanksgiving today I have so far made:

-A Pecan Streusel Spice Coffee Cake from my new Coffee Cake book by Lou Seibert Pappas.
-Hot Chocolate fudge cakes from the new December edition of Cooking Light-
-My mom is making the Lemon Meringue Pie from my Williams Sonoma Pies and Tarts cookbook but with her own coconut crust

Apple pie will be made tomorrow, my mom rolled out the dough today.

I also have some cornbread in the oven for tomorrow! The turkey is seasoned and brining as we speak.

Also, for dinner tonight we're making my mom's AMAZING ginger orange marmalade chicken with asparagus and polenta. Yum yum yum yum.

Also my mom and I went to the grocery store today to buy the vegetables for my side of roasted vegetables. I got red onion, carrots, butternut squash, acorn squash, brussel sprouts, turnips and sage. That's all I can remember... I think that's it.

Oh and my mom bought some yukon gold potatoes to make her oven roasted potatoes. She peels them and cuts them in large chunks and then tosses it in olive oil, salt, pepper and some herbs. She roasts them in the oven and they get this golden, crunchy crust on the outside with a really creamy center.

The other families who are coming are bringing pork loin, rice, farofa (a traditional Brasilian side dish), french cut green beans... not sure what else.

The fourth dessert (the Lemon Meringue Pie) was last minute because we have a lemon tree in our garden which has tons of lemons on it and my mom wanted to use them. She thought four desserts was too much but I know how much she loves lemon stuff so I made her make it. So now there's something for everyone! Lemon-tart (she makes her lemon curd super tart), the spice cake I made super spicey, the chocolate cakes are really dark and rich and the apple pie will be just nice and classic.

The cornbread was also very last minute. I had thought of making it but then gave up on the idea because I thought it'd be too much. (And it will be) but my sister and I love cornbread to death so I thought, hey, good excuse for a ridiculous amount of left overs.

Pictures will be coming on all the prep and then lots of pictures of the final products tomorrow. I'll keep you updated! Time to make dinner.

The best hot chocolate ever (and lunch at New World Deli)

Recipe?

About 2 1/2 to 3 cups of 1% milk
About 6 heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1-2 teaspoons chili powder

As much chocolate chips and whipped cream as you want for the top.

Literally, seems like it should be illegal for how ridiculously delicious it was.

LUNCH at New World Deli. I had the Tomato Basil soup, not very good. Then I had the roast beef and swiss sandwich on the whole wheat sunflower bread. It was pretty damn good. However what took the cake was Amy's reuben with I think it was corned beef? It was... wow. Wow. Wow. Then we shared a brownie and I had some coffee. The brownie was your standard chocolaty, fudgy brownie.

Dinner at Z Tejas Grill

Red Chile & Mango Steak Salad* Mixed greens
with Roma tomatoes, tossed with a mango citrus dressing,
seared beef tenderloin and topped with bleu cheese and
spicy walnuts. 11.29


Green Chile Barbacoa Enchiladas Slow roasted beef
barbacoa
enchiladas, topped with green chile sauce, Jack
cheese, served with green chile rice and black beans. 10.99

-----

Dinner was amazing. I had the Mango Steak Salad -- the beef tenderloin melted in my mouth. It was so delicious. And the dressing was incredible. It was lettuce with tomatoes, the beef tenderloin, walnuts and blue cheese. The mango dressing had corn in it so it looked almost like a pico salsa (ordered on the side, as always!).

Amy had the Green Chile Enchiladas.

Their cornbread was okay -- not as good as it looks. It was served with honey butter. (Boston Market's cornbread is better! :P)

After dinner Amy and I got a slice of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory and took it home to share with Emily. We got a slice of the Tuxedo. Apparently it's a chocolate crumb crust and then a layer of chocolate mousse cheesecake and a layer of vanilla mousse cheesecake with chocolate ganache on top? It was good but the texture was too mousse-y and at times almost cake-y? And it wasn't chocolaty enough! I thought the slice Emily and I had a while ago, the Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Dough? Now THAT was intense and absolutely indulgently delicious!

Oh and this morning Amy made french toast for breakfast! I ate mine with peanut butter a little honey on top. Yum-0!

Pictures of dinner

the BEST dinner EVER

Amy and I made the best dinner EVER! All made from scratch :D

-Pork loin with sage, salt and pepper.
-Butternut squash (from a real whole butternut squash which Amy totally took care of :D) with butter and blue cheese crumbles.
-Brussel sprouts with garlic salt and pepper.
-Apple, onion, celery, cabbage, carrot slaw with sage, salt and pepper.

Amazing!!! Flavors of fall, amazing.

Pictures coming up.

Lots of cooking lately...

So what have I made lately?

Vegetable Soup -
I had a can of white beans and tomato sauce and some chicken broth.
So I bought some carrots and celery and onions!
So I sauteed the carrots, celery and onions, added the can tomato sauce and chicken broth and then added two sweet potatoes diced and the can of white beans!
It was so delicious.

Banana Oat Bread -
I had two bananas that were really ripe so I made a recipe from my Small Batch Baking book. But then I realized I had no baking soda so I changed the recipe somewhat. I added some cinnamon and allspice and oats. Added a whole egg instead of just a yolk. Used all whole wheat flour. Added a little low fat yogurt. It came out good (although a little heavy on the allspice!). I sprinkled some granola on top. It made 4 mini loaves. Gave 3 of them to Amy!

Baked Potato Soup (from Cooking Light)-
Amy was sick so it was a perfect excuse to make soup! I had never had baked potato soup before and I found this recipe on cooking light.com so I decided to try it!

3 cups 1% milk and 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 potatoes, baked
1/2 cup reduced fat sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup low fat sour cream
1/4 cup green onions
3 slices chopped bacon
Salt and pepper

It was SO delicious. VERY thick and creamy and ridiculously delicious!

Nick Malgieri class:
It was an interesting class. He made two appetizers and four desserts.

-Parmesan and paprika palmiers
-Caramelized onion and gorgonzola tart
-Pumpkin pecan pie with cinnamon whipped cream
-Chocolate tart
-Blackberry jam cake
-Whipped cream cake

They were all delicious, especially the blackberry jam cake. It was a dark, spicy cake. Really delicious. (I ate all the samples plus my mother's left overs. Yes they were delicious.)

Thanksgiving is coming up!!! My plans?

-Roasted vegetables
-Pecan spice coffee cake
-Hot chocolate molten cakes
-Apple pie
-Baked pears

I can't wait! I'll post pictures, recipes, etc.

Burgers, cupcakes, coffee

Cupcakes from Hey Cupcake! -- weren't very good. Too sweet and artificial tasting. Nothing really special at all.
Coffee from Jo's -- delish. I just had a non fat latte, as always. Amy had a mocha I think.
Dinner at P. Terry's on Lamar and Barton Springs - cheap, small but just a really plain good cheeseburger

Meatloaf dinner (and brownies)

The meatloaf was a turkey meatloaf made with ketchup, worstechire sauce, onions, garlic, carrots, celery, parsley, salt, pepper. It could have used more salt and more worstechire sauce we thought. I sauteed some garlic and wilted some spinach. Delicious.

Then we kind of went crazy and made brownies. I followed the recipe from foodnetwork.com from the Death by Chocolate collection. They are very rich and would have been amazing except that unfortunately I set the oven to 325 but somehow when I went back the oven was at 450 and they came out just over done. The flavor was amazing but they needed to be more moist (I like my brownies cakey so this looks like the perfect recipe for me, not really for you if you like your brownies fudgy).

I can't resist

So I found this at the store the other day and I couldn't resist. The idea behind it is just like nutella. The difference is that nutella has 21g of sugar per serving and the first ingredient in it is sugar! This product has 8g of sugar per same size serving and the first ingredient is peanuts!

It's VERY rich. I am the kind of person who has a serious sweet tooth. When people say they've had enough or are feeling sick because something is too sweet I'm the person who will just keep on eating. So if I think this is rich, that means it's definitely intense. It's got a rich dark chocolate flavor, very peanut buttery and very thick. It's delicious, it's heavenly. It's hard to stop eating which is problematic because it's calorie dense. But it was worth it to just try it. They apparently have several other flavors including peanut butter blended with honey, maple and other things. The company is also a shop in NYC which sells sandwiches and food.

It's absolutely delicious (and it's almost half gone!). Buy it knowing that you more than likely won't be able to resist. So far I've eaten it spread on toast but mainly just straight out of the jar.

Now time to go jogging. And then Amy and I are making meatloaf!

Easy, quick lunch

And nutritious, of course.

Couscous with salmon, makes about 3-4 servings:



2/3 cup dry whole wheat couscous prepared as on package (without the oil or butter)
6 ounces wild salmon braised and glazed with teriyaki sauce, fork shredded
8-10 sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1 jarred roasted red bell pepper, diced
4 artichoke hearts, diced
2-3 ounces cheese, fresh mexican or feta, diced
1/2 - 2/3 cup sugar snap peas, cooked

Mix it all together and enjoy! It's soooo good! And healthy! And keeps in the refrigerator for a few days. Yum yum yum!

My guess is that 1/4 of it has about 300 calories

I used fresh mexican cheese (panela) because that's what I had. The feta is more traditional and adds a really strong amazing flavor. My mom adds capers which I did not have but they also add a lot of saltiness. Be careful of using feta and capers together because they're both very strong and salty and a little goes a long way. Other things that you can add which are really delicious are dried apricots, raisins, pine nuts, cilantro, parsley. We usually add scallions also. And finely chopped red onion which I forgot to add but I have some in my fridge so I may just go chop that up and add it to my leftovers!

The point is: it's really easy, quick (took me max of 20 minutes) and nutritious. And it's super versatile!

The best lunch

Torchy's Tacos. Oh my god.

I had the Democrat and the Green Chile Pulled Pork tacos. They were incredible.

I got them on a flour tortilla. The Democrat is shredded beef barbacoa with avocado, fresh cheese, onions and tomatillo sauce. It's amazing. The beef basically melts in your mouth, it is so flavorful. And a very sizable portion. You can tell that it's REAL meat, not some unknown mystery meat like other places serve.

The Green Chile taco I think was my favorite of the two. It was pulled pork seasoned wtih green chile served with fresh cheese and onions and tomatillo sauce. Wow.

For sure the main ingredient in the tacos is the meat. The onions and cheese aren't in exorbitant amounts. The only thing I didn't like was that both the meats were very salty. But they were extremely flavorful and the flour tortilla was so fresh tasting. It was amazing. I have to go back there to try their other tacos and I hear their queso is delicious.

After, I tried the Yogurt Spot, right across from Dirty Martin's on the drag. It was amazing. I had been to Yogo Berry before on Congress and Riverside but this place is SO much better. It's 39 cents an ounce. They have sixteen flavors (vanilla, pumpkin bread, mint, cappucino, berry, pistachio... the list goes on) and they have thirty toppings (everything from fresh fruits to nuts to sprinkles to crushed up candy bars) and they have sauces (chocolate, butterscotch, condensed milk). I decided to indulge and got the plain yogurt with a little fresh mango and strawberry, coconut, some toasted almonds, chocolate sauce and a few crushed up pieces of Twix. It was amazing. All the flavors are either fat free or 1% fat and some have no sugar added.

Everything is self serve and then you weigh it and pay. The flavors change periodically, when I went they didn't have chocolate but usually they do. According to the girl working there they're thinking of bringing in some holiday flavors, potentially peppermint or eggnog.

Here's a trick: the yogurt dispensers each have three levers. The one in the middle mixes the two flavors together! If you have no idea what I'm talking about go and you'll see. Try the cappucino and irish mint together! Amazing!

I'll definitely be going back to both places, hopefully soon.

Lunch at Panera!

Caramel Nut Brownie -- very sweet, not that chocolatey. An indulgence but not worth 490 calories (I shared it).

I had the Asian Sesame Chicken salad without the wonton strips and with the dressing on the side. My side was the whole grain baguette with some butter. The salad was good, a little plain though. It was just romaine with chicken basically. The salad dressing was delicious though and the chicken was well seasoned. Their whole grain baguette is to die for. I absolutely love their bread.


Amy had the french onion soup and half the italian sandwich.

Breakfast 11/5

I just wanted to comment about the Gingersnap Latte from Starbucks. Yesterday for breakfast while Amy made a coffee run I made pancakes! Buckwheat flour pancakes, I added cinnamon, allspice and a chopped apple to the batter. Yum!

So the non fat Gingersnap Latter: 210 calories, 31 g carbs -- 27g sugar. For me, it was too sweet, not spicy enough, and not worth the calories, and wouldn't be worth the sugar even if it was spicy enough. All in all I'd rather eat a piece of gingerbread with a regular latte -- it'd be maybe more calories but if it were homemade it could be less sugar, more protein, spicier and all around better :)

Election night!

Hooray, Obama won -- time to celebrate.

Pizza, popcorn, chocolate covered strawberries and mixed drinks!