raw foods diet

not sure what i was thinking... as usual i'm from one extreme to the next. i got the bright idea to try a raw foods diet. i've been following in kristin's foot steps with the vegetarian thing for a while now. of course on the 4th i celebrated with a burger on the grill & kristin stuck true to her diet & went for the portabella mushroom. from time-to-time i do enjoy red meat & i couldn't imagine giving up seafood. i used to think i couldn't live without chicken, but since kristin became a vegetarian we just rarely buy it & i can't remember the last time i ate chicken (probably about 3 months ago).

anyhow, i'm back to working out (like a normal person, not an ironman) & with the working out my super healthy diet has returned too. while at the store this friday kristin grabbed some carrots & snap peas to enjoy as snacks. we also bought some red cabbage & after we got home & chopped things up i started nibbling on a bit of each raw vegetable. right then & there i told kristin i was going to try a raw foods diet for a week. only seven days, why not?

meal #1 (dinner) was easy & quite simple. in-fact it was just more of what i ate as a snack earlier that day. red cabbage, carrots, & snap peas. by 9PM last night my tummy was grumbling for more & something with a bit of substance. i had a glass of green tea & forced myself to bed early so i wouldn't give in to eating something cooked or processed.

meal #2 (breakfast) i actually felt good when i woke up this morning. probably even dropped a pound or two. kristin was well into her morning oatmeal when i headed to the kitchen to figure something out. oh BTW, no way i was giving up coffee (or tea) on this diet. i was well into my second cup of joe when i started making my breakfast. i pulled a pear, an apple, some blueberries from the fridge. i chopped up half of the pear & apple & tossed them on a plate. i grabbed a handful of blueberries & threw those on the plate too. it didn't seem like enough... i headed to the pantry & grabbed some dried prunes & some flax seed & added them to the morning treat. surprisingly i was full & feeling very good again.

meal #3 (snack) i enjoyed the other half of that pear & apple i chopped up for breakast. i also had an apple cinnamon lara bar on the drive to the gym. i had no idea that the lara bar was a raw food either. i knew it didn't contain anything that was processed, but i didn't realize it was a raw food. thankfully that little bar held me through my afternoon gym workout (25 minutes elliptical, 15 minutes treadmill, back & core workout).

meal #4 (lunch/post workout) by the time i got home from the gym, feeding trevor's cats (he's out of town), & picking up more raw veggies at the store so i could keep this silly diet up i was starving. i fixed a heaping bowl of salad to include spinach lettuce, 1/2 of a roma tomato, red cabbage, carrots, snap peas, & broccoli.

meal #5 (snack) the other 1/2 of that tomato :)

by dinner time i'd thrown in the towel. kristin & i fixed up vegetarian stir fry consisting of mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, & red cabbage all tossed over steamed brown rice. while i'd given into the "cooking foods god" it wasn't like i was eating another burger or something. the raw food thing was fun but not knowing how to eat beans or grains without some cooking or processing i would have been feeling some real hurt come tomorrow.

oh, for dinner i had a plum... a raw plum at that.

first sunday brunch at casa

this easter sunday kristin & i enjoyed brunch at casa de luz with our dear friend danielle. this was in fact the first time that any of us had made it to casa for a sunday brunch. we've enjoyed a many of dinners at casa & every so often we are fortunate enough to make it to casa for breakfast & lunch.

the BIG deal about casa’s sunday brunch, so we thought, is there pancakes with fresh fruit. while they were healthy pancakes, they didn’t have the yummy factor i was anticipating. i would have been completely OK with the lack of yummy tastes if it were to have been replaced with a super hearty/healthy taste. instead they were pretty dry & boring; even with the fresh berries draped on top.

if you do like the sunday pancakes you are in luck because just like everything else they are served “family style.” now this part about sunday brunch i thoroughly enjoyed! for dinner & lunch you serve your own soup & salad (as much or as little as you like & as many servings as you like too) & the staff make your plates. normally your first plate is prepared according to the menu & brought to your table prior to you finishing your soup/salad & then should you want more (like me) you can either ask for another plate “as-is” or you can ask for a little of this, a lot of that, & none of that for example – again, as many trips back as you like (i’m a 4 – 5 plate kind of guy). anyhow on sunday everything is yours for the picking from the beginning! today’s menu – see below – was pretty amazing. i was a big fan of the tempeh veggie stir-fry & the black beans with suncheese (my first time to have suncheese). i was also quite impressed with the jalapeño hot sauce – it was a nice compliment to everything on my plate minus the pancakes, soup, & salad. to note, today was a 5 plate meal for me :)

sunday brunch
march 23, 2008

specials: pancakes w/ fruit sauce (contains gluten)
specials: tempeh veggie stir-fry
specials: *jalapeño hot sauce*
soup: cauliflower & summer squash
salad: garden salad w/ ume flax veggie dressing
grain: short brown rice
greens: mixed blanched greens w/ mustard & basil tahini sauce
veggie: baked sweet potato, kabocha & butternut squash
bean: black beans w/ suncheese
pickle: radish & onion
made with infinite love by: timo, ada, ciara, ross, cory, & rosi

burgers are back!

since we parked the grill in the garage & moved into rosedale (9 months ago) we haven't made or had burgers. that all changed tonight - we made burgers & we made them with a whole new style & attitude. don't get me wrong, the "old" burger was amazing & super healthy. this "new" burger however was off the charts & reflected the new style & attitude that we have both adopted since moving back into this great city.

the "old" burger was made with super lean beef or bison meat seasoned with rancher's steak rub from wildtree herbs. we used whole wheat buns, smoked provolone cheese, sliced avocado, & sauteed baby bella mushrooms. sounds pretty tasty doesn't it?

the "new" burgers - let's call them the rosedale burgers are jazzed up to better suit our new lifestyles. remember, kristin became a vegetarian in october off last year & while i haven't completely kicked the meat habit i've grown to love & crave vegetables with everything that i eat.

kristin's rosedale burger was made with a portabella mushroom cap. she used a whole wheat bun from whole food's bakery, goat cheese, oil curred olives, & grilled garlic artichoke hearts. it was the best looking & best tasting vegetarian burger she's ever had.

brian's rosedale burger was made with a half a pound of bison meat seasoned with cracked pepper & sea salt. i used a seduction bun from whole food's bakery with avocado spread on one half of the bun & garlic hummus on the other half. i also topped this beautiful burger with baby spinach salad, oil curred olives, & sun dried tomatoes.

on the side, we both enjoyed roasted sweet potato sticks seasoned with olive oil, cracked pepper, & sea salt.

we washed these rosedale burgers down with a 2005 claret from becker vineyards. this claret was light, crip, & full of berry flavors.

it was simply an amazing burger night in our austin home & we'll enjoy future rosedale burgers very soon.

mediterranean dinner with friends & beeturia

this past weekend kristin & i entertained our good friends zia & heather. kristin was especially excited about the mediterranean dinner she prepared & it turned out fantastic!

appetizer: fresh pita from austin's very own phoenicia bakery & hummus from whole foods.
salad: arugula & mint salad with oil-cured black olives, oranges, & ricotta salata.
entree: orange roughy baked in parchment packets with fennel, asparagus, & thyme. roasted beets & carrots with cumin vinaigrette. whole wheat cous cous topped with lemon greek yogurt & chamoula.
dessert: baklava (again from phoenicia bakery) with rose water & black tea granita.

as i suggested above - this meal was amazing. so amazing that i had seconds & thirds of the whole wheat cous cous & the roasted beets. i would have had seconds & thirds of everything else but this is all that was left over from the original place settings. remember, this was my BIG (100 mile bike & 21 mile run) training weekend so the calories were well deserved.

*** this is where the story heads south - not sure i should be sharing this ***

later that night i noticed that my pee wasn't the usual clear color that it is from drinking the gallons of water that i do. it was a little pink in fact. i had heard stories of how biking can make you pee blood. i did just ride a 100 miles that morning & i thought that maybe i had injured something. when i woke up the next morning & made my usual bathroom stop before loading up on coffee & i noticed that my pee was even pinker. i began to get a bit nervous at this point. in an hour i needed to be at the trail & running 21 miles & here i was peeing pink. i took down my usual breakfast of oatmeal & coffee, showered, & headed to the trail.

when i arrived to the "rock" most of the t3 team were already there. i quickly grabbed ed & noah & told them about my "pee problem." they said it didn't sound right to them - that only freaked me out more.

regardless of the feedback i got from my training buddies i started the run off feeling physically fantastic. within a 1/2 a mile my legs were warm & i was leading the run. around mile 10 i had to take a pit stop to pee & no longer was i peeing pink - i was peeing blood red. it scared the ever living sh*t out of me. i had 11 miles ahead of me, i was nervous, yet feeling very strong. as i ran strong for those 11 remaining miles all kind of scary thoughts were going through my head. i couldn't understand how i could feel so strong & yet my body was obviously not doing well. i ended up finishing the 21 mile run right around 2-hours & 45-minutes & beyond the pee scare i was feeling awesome.

the t3 group was meeting up at austin java at 12th & lamar so i thought it a good time to grab mo (our coach) & get his opinion. after the group ate plenty of calories & consumed gallons of caffeine i grabbed mo in the parking lot as we were leaving to get his opinion. i was hoping he was going to tell me that peeing blood is just part of biking. to my surprise the news he gave me was a total downer. he said that the only other time he'd heard of something like this it turned out that the guy ended up having tumors that needed to be removed. talk about being freaked out by some news! i told mo i'd make a doctor's appointment for tomorrow & i would let him know what the outcome is.

when i got home kristin & i talked about my condition. she, like me, couldn't see how i could have something wrong with me. regardless, we setup a doctor's appointment for tuesday afternoon. as the day continued on i felt physically strong, yet mentally trashed. the good news is that my pee continued to get less pink. while gearing up for dinner that night a light bulb flashed in my head. i ran to kristin & told her what i was thinking. could it be that the beets i had consumed the night before were causing my pee to go pinkish? we immediately hit google for answers. normally i stay away from google when looking for medical advice because any symptom you enter suggests cancer & that's the last thing i wanted to read about right then. to my delight there were a many of sites discussing how beets & other foods such as blackberries can actually tint a person's pee. the odd thing was that i've eaten beets almost all my life & never before has my pee been pink. one website in particular won me over though.

the website introduces what is referred to as beeturia which simply suggests that your pink/red pee is nothing more than the result of consuming beets. the articles i could find on beeturia all suggested the same facts... about 14% of americans have or have had beeturia & it is thought to be linked to an iron deficiency of some sort. given that i have gone semi vegetarian i know that iron is something i've got to be sure i get enough of & it's possible that this training/new diet has affected my iron intake.

anyhow, i latched on to this notion of beeturia & made it a point to *not* polish off the remaining fresh roasted beets that were waiting for us in the refrigerator from the night before. by the time i went to bed the pinkish tint was almost completely absent from my pee. by mid-day on monday it was totally gone. i made it a point to pee clear a few more times prior to getting home later that night & putting the beeturia theory to a test.

when i got home monday night i went straight to the fridge & consumed at least two whole roasted beets. within an hour of having to go to the bathroom my pee was once again pink. so there you have it folks - i've got beeturia! i would have gone ahead & kept my doctor's appointment on tuesday just because it couldn't hurt to have myself checked over given all the training that i've been putting myself through. however, an unexpected trip landed in my lap for work & i had to leave for dallas right after lunch (swim workout) on tuesday. i think i'll go ahead & schedule an appointment first thing next week just to be *extra* safe.

sorry for all the details, but it was your choice to continue to read this very long explanation of how eating beets scared the sh*t out of me for a good 24+ hours. it's the honest truth people - nothing else seems to matter when your health is compromised.

casa has spoiled me

casa de luz has quickly become the most frequented restaurant for kristin & i. what started out as an every now & then sunday night meal has turned into an every sunday night tradition. even better is that we have a few friends that are becoming regular “sunday nighters” with us. over the past couple of weeks we’ve even found ourselves enjoying both a breakfast & a dinner at casa during the week.

while casa is absolutely amazing & super healthy i’ve got to tone down what has turned into a “how many plates can brian eat” episode. the food is obviously all healthy for you. like anything though, to much of something can be bad for you. the “bad” parts for me is that i'm finding that it is taking much more food to fill me up when i eat & secondly i’ve got an addiction to veggies & you’ll be hard pressed to find another restaurant that serves up the type & most importantly the quantity of healthy veggies as casa.

tonight i suppose i lucked out. i had dinner at the hotel restaurant rather than driving around looking for somewhere to dine. while i do order meals with meat (mostly fish), i try my best to get as many veggies as possible with the dish i order.

i began my meal with a spinach, beet, & garlic salad. i asked to have it served dry as the beets & garlic where enough to flavor the spinach to my liking. for a main course i ordered the sea bass which was to be served over polenta, mushrooms, & cherry tomatoes. i quickly scanned the menu for other veggie offerings. the bok choy, kale, brussel sprouts, & asparagus all grabbed my attention (a number of restaurants in white plains, NY have had kale & things like swiss chard on their menu to my surprise). in an effort to keep the cost down i asked the waiter to 86 (given that i’ve never worked in a restaurant, it was just over a year ago that i learned the 86 restaurant term while out for lunch with the crew in ft. lauderdale, FL) the polenta & hook me up with a side of bok choy, kale, brussel sprouts, & asparagus. of course i requested that they all be steamed or just lightly sautéed with olive oil. the waiter with a confused/shocked look on his face nodded that he understood & said thank you & walked off.

when he returned with the meal he almost got it right. the polenta was 86’ed as requested & the sea bass looked amazing. however, the chef simply mixed in a few pieces of kale & bok choy with the mushrooms & cherry tomatoes that were already part of this meal. there also wasn't any sign of the asparagus or brussel sprouts. i went ahead & started eating the dish as it was prepared thinking that the waiter would just bring the asparagus & brussel sprouts on the side on his next trip out & i could live with the few pieces of bok choy & kale that were mixed with the meal.

when the waiter finally did return to my table my plate was clean. the meal was fantastic! the veggies mixed up really well & the sea bass tasted even better than it looked. the waiter, gary, asked how everything was & i told him that it was great & then asked about the missing asparagus & brussel sprouts. he apologized for missing them & then asked if he got everything else correct. i explained to him that i was actually requesting a side of kale, a side of bok choy, a side of asparagus, & a side of brussel sprouts (wow - that is a lot of veggies... maybe i got carried away) & that i was expecting the sea bass to simply be served with the mushrooms & tomatoes just like on the menu. he explained that he would take care of it.

i expected him to simply return with the veggies i ordered on the side. to my surprise & delight he returned with an entire full meal & went so far as serving the mushrooms & tomatoes on the side too. he said, “here you are sir & as your requested for no additional charge. i apologize for the prior confusion & i hope this meal meets your expectations.” talk about great service!

in the end i got my fill of healthy & tasty veggies along with two magnificently prepared sea bass fillets – all for the price of the original meal. if only the service & food at every restaurant could be this awesome. remember, you get what you pay for.

pictures tell stories too

while at dinner this past weekend i asked kristin why she no longer blogged. she said it just wasn’t on the top of her list of things to do right now due all the other things she’s involved with currently. totally understandable & while i am very busy too i use blogging as a type of relief in a way – it allows me to say & share so many things i do & think without having to call, e-mail, meet up with everyone i want to share those activities & thoughts with. i suppose you could look at it as a time saver for communicating. blogging is also a nice chronological history of what is happening in my life & the world around me.

the definition of a “blog” according to wiki is: (a portmanteau of web log) is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

when responding to my question about her blogging habits kristin thought up a great idea in my opinion. she said, “what if i just post pictures from my day? maybe post one picture in the morning, one in the afternoon, & one in the evening. no words, just pictures… quite artistic i think.” we talked about this & we both agreed it was a cool & fun approach to blogging. i thought it such a good idea that i too wanted to follow this approach in a new blog separate from radarhill. kristin said that i couldn’t steal her idea. in fact, i’ve got a great pic of her sitting with arms crossed & a mean look on her face at kerbey lane (we went back on sunday to enjoy more vegan hummus & tabbouleh tacos prior to grocery shopping) the next day when i brought the subject back up :). i really do think the photo blog idea is a great one – i’d approach this type of blog with three, maybe more, random pics from each day. no words – just sequential pics from my day.

as i consider this type of blog more & more i did some quick googling & quickly realize that what we both thought was such an original idea already exists. in fact, wiki (& many others) call this type of blog a “photoblog.” the definition of “photoblog” according to wiki is: a “photoblog” (a.k.a. photolog or phlog) is a form of photo sharing & publishing in the format of a blog, but differentiated by the predominant use of & focus on photographs rather than text. photoblogging (the action of posting photos to a photoblog) gained momentum in the early 2000s with the advent of the moblog & camera phones.

there are other types of blogs too:

- artlog: blogging with the use of art
- MP3 blog: blogging with music or MP3s
- micro-blogging: quick text blog entries
- moblog: blogging from mobile devices
- podcasting: blogging with audio/voice
- vlog: blogging with the use of videos

so while a great idea & an original one for kristin; it isn’t a new idea. so if i photoblog or phlog from time-to-time kristin will be OK & uncross those arms & turn that frown upside down – right my love?

a great vegan find at kerbey lane cafe

a great new vegan find at kerbey lane. after blogging about kerbey lane cafe last week i couldn't stop thinking about eating there. while kristin was a bit hesitant & really pushing for going to manuel's (one of our favorite restaurants in austin) last night, i was able to convince her to give kerbey a try for dinner. about 6 years ago we found ourselves at kerbey a many of mornings for breakfast/brunch, however, even when we would go for dinner we always found ourselves order something from their breakfast menu (usually breakfast tacos) & never giving any of their dinner entrees a taste.

i was quite impressed with our meal & it helps that the folks working there are all really cool & laid bake & the atmosphere just has that austin feel. i really enjoyed my greek chicken entree & while kristin said the veggie enchiladas she ordered weren't as good as manuel's she was definitely cool with coming back for dinner more often.

the real find for both of us was their hummus & tabbouleh tacos - yum! they stuff two whole wheat tortillas with creamy garbanzo & red pepper hummus, tabbouleh, & sprouts. these two awesome tacos also come with a really nice side salad. all this healthy & tasty food for $5.95. with or without kristin, i'm sure to cruise into kerbey more often just for these vegan tacos!

vegan indian dinner

i really am enjoying all the new vegan/vegetarian meals i've been introduced too. i almost enjoy cooking them as much as i enjoy eating them. when it comes to a vegetarian meal it's all about the freshness of the ingredients & the flavors you can bring out with the spices that you mix in.

kristin has this vegetarian indian dinner down! it's so damn good & spicy! what the heck is it you are wondering? curried tofu with brown basmati rice, & red lentils.

not only does it taste wonderful; it also always fills us both up, there is always enough for lunch the next day, it is super healthy (minus the coconut milk for which we substitute in lite coconut milk to reduce some of the fat content), it is packed with protein, good carbohydrates, & vitamins - all things that we both love. it even presents well in my opinion.

love pizzas begin a new tradition of homemade pizza making

this year kristin & i celebrated our love on valentine's day at home. we opened a really great bottle of pinot noir & made homemade pizzas - to include the whole wheat crust!

kristin's vegetarian pizza: whole wheat crust, pasta sauce, baby spinach, baby bella mushrooms, artichoke hearts, black olives, & mozzarella cheese.

brian's protein packed pizza: whole wheat crust w/ a scoop of plain protein powder, pasta sauce, baby spinach, baby bella mushrooms, artichoke hearts, black olives, mozzarella cheese, & chicken breast.

we enjoyed the home pizza making experience from vday so much that we made pizzas at home again this weekend. during this episode of homemade pizza making we learned that the expiration date on yeast *DOES* matter. after i ran to the store to pick-up new packets of yeast we realized that we couldn't wait another 2-hours to let the dough rise so we opted for a 30-minute dough recipe from allrecipes.com which worked out pretty well.

the pizzas from this weekend looked much better than the attached pic from vday '08. however, i thought it better to share where our pizza making tradition started - we even have a second pizza pan now & a much BIGGER pizza slicer.

green gold

i've blogged a few times now about my new love affair with the food network & i've been raving for months now about all the new veggies i've been enjoying since kristin became a vegetarian. more recently i've been stepping up to the plate (oven) & cooking more for kristin & i. last week i introduced us both to a new tofu & black bean taco recipe that we both fell in love with. i cooked this up last monday & kristin liked it so much that these tofu tacos appeared on the menu two more times later that week :)

i proud to show off my new talents in the kitchen & i find that as long as meat isn't involved i do pretty well. cooking grains & veggies is so much easier than meat in my opinion. a few weeks i made backed some green gold (brussel sprouts) & they were amazing – don’t you think they look awesome? so simple too: break them fresh off the stalk, rinse them, toss them on a cooking pan, drizzle on the olive-oil, shake on some sea-salt, & crack some fresh pepper. toss them in the oven for 45-minutes at 450-degrees remember to shake the pan every 15-minutes so they bake/roast on all sides.

ironman training interferes with weekend tradition

when preparing for an ironman (especially your first ironman) it’s easy to let the ironman consume so many aspects of your life. when you aren’t training, you are preparing to train. you’ve got to plan your workouts, track your progress, prepare water bottles & nutrition for each workout, pack gym bags, eat right, get to bed early, etc. weekday (mon – fri) training depending on which phase of your training schedule you are in consists of 1 – 3 hours daily. it is those weekend training days when the hours really add up & we refer to these workouts as our “key” workouts.

during these key workouts we are supposed to be ready to perform at our best so it’s imperative that we don’t overdue it during the week. the weekends are our opportunity to log both the long miles & time. we begin to introduce some serious brick (swim + bike or bike + run) workouts into these workouts too. these workouts closely resemble the actual mileage that we’ll have to put in on race day. so for an ironman we are talking 100+ mile bike rides & 20+ mile runs. while we don’t move slow, we don’t hit these workouts at race pace either which means that many of these workouts will consume 6 – 8 hours of our day. since this season’s training has begun i’ve begun to wonder – where did my weekends go?

t3, the training group i’m with, schedules our long rides on saturday & our long runs on sunday. this weekend’s schedule included a 65 mile ride followed by a 30 minute run on saturday & a 15 mile run on sunday followed by a 1 – 2 hour “recovery” ride. we normally kick these workouts off first thing in the morning so we are done by mid afternoon. we of course spend the rest of our day recovering from that morning’s workout & preparing for the next day’s workout – sounds fun huh?

for the past two sundays i’ve been fighting back! while it’s great to meet up with the group prior to each workout i often find myself running by myself at my own pace on long run days so beyond the initial meet up i don’t get much from the group. as a result i’ve taken my sunday morning’s back!

for the past 4 – 5 years kristin & i have gotten into a groove on sunday morning’s. they are our special little time to spend relaxing with one another & enjoying the simplicity of things. we’d wake up around 7:30 AM (what used to seem early to both of us – not early anymore) & make a BIG pot of coffee. when it is cold outside we will bundle up with blankets & when the weather is nice we open the doors & windows & listen to the sweet morning sounds. we’ll go through waves of making the same breakfast dishes weeks on end until we get bored with it & then we’ll repeat this cycle until we begin to get bored with the next meal. some of the longest running dishes included ham, cheese, & mushroom omelets (no ham anymore since kristin is now a vegetarian), whole wheat pancakes, buckwheat buttermilk waffles with peanut butter, even plain ole’ cereal had its run, & now oatmeal is king. by 8:00 AM we’’ll sit down together with our cups of coffee & breakfast & watch the CBS sunday morning show with charles osgood. the sound of that morning trumpet from abblasen makes me smile from cheek to cheek. CBS sunday morning is such a simple show – mostly just good hearted news with some interesting & fun facts along the way. when the show concluded an hour & a half later (9:30 AM) with nothing but a scene of nature from somewhere beautiful in this world kristin & i were relaxed & looking forward for tackling those remaining weekend to-dos.

since ironman training & beginning to bike in general i’ve missed a many of sunday morning’s with kristin. i am happy that today i was able to steal back another sunday morning during this ironman training & now that i’m up between 5:30 / 6:00 AM i am beginning to enjoy the texas hill country reporter show that comes on just prior to CBS sunday morning. if you were to ask me what i’m going to enjoy most about not training for an ironman i’m positive i’ll tell you that it’s having my sunday morning’s back with kristin, our BIG cups of coffee, our ritual breakfast meals, & what our friends call our “old people” TV show.

frozen foods have gone too far

frozen foods are certainly a staple for a many people. i was lucky when growing up & i was never introduced to frozen food. frozen food at my house included things like leftover homemade pasta sauce, italian sausages that we couldn’t get in texas & that my papa would pick up a bunch of them from this little grocery store in louisiana, & leftover chili that again was homemade. while i did enjoy lots of cereal & little debbie treats as a kid that was about the extent of the prepackaged food in our house. my mom, even prior to marrying my stepfather tom, made it a point to cook & ensure we sat down for dinner together all after working a typical 8 – 9 hour workday.

even when i first left home & was on my own i rarely purchased frozen meals/foods. even the “best” of frozen meals don’t taste all that great to me & rarely are any frozen meals enough to satisfy my hunger. now i understand that many folks depend on frozen foods daily. most common are the ones that are really bad for you like pizza, burritos, hot pockets, etc. at the same time i know it is possible to find healthy frozen meals. in fact, kristin enjoys amy’s rice bowls (tofu, vegetables, & brown rice) for lunch often & a couple other of amy’s organic frozen dishes. i too have more recently have taken a liking to some frozen foods to include boca burgers & a handful of frozen vegetables/fruits (edamame, peas, & various berries that are good for blending in a protein shake).

i use frozen meals as a means of eating healthy foods that are super convenient while the majority of our population simply rely on frozen foods for the convenient factor & the healthy part is secondary if thought about at all. my problem with frozen meals though is when frozen meals are taken too far. like today when i saw frozen hot cereals (rolled oats, cream of rice, mult-grain, & steel-cut oats). the *worst* part about it is that this wasn’t at HEB & the brand wasn’t some off brand or lean cuisine type of meal. this was at whole foods & the brand was amy’s!

come on people – are quick oats/1-minute oats not easy & convenient enough for you? you don’t even have to use a microwave with a good number of hot cereals today – just add hot water! i was shocked to see amy’s producing these meals & whole foods selling them for a hefty $2.39 might i add. not only do i think the concept is bad, let’s not forget the amount of waste (cardboard packaging, plastic container, & plastic saran wrap lid) that is produced from one of these meals. was it not whole foods that just said NO to plastic bags & has been encouraging all of their shoppers to re-use their bags? if whole foods really took going green serious they would not allow such a product to be sold just because of the volume of waste that is produced from one of these meals compared to the simple & almost non-existent waste that comes from selling more traditional hot cereals.

doesn’t this seem like a bit much? tell me that i am not alone on this topic? any of you know about the individually wrapped peanut butter slices? – don’t get me started :)

my never ending battle with mayo

i have a constant battle avoiding mayonnaise when visiting sandwich joints. i just can't stand mayo & yes i know i'm a bit over the top about my resistance to mayo - that's just me... below is a comment that i sent to panera bread after i ate & made good use of their free Wi-Fi at their location in waco tonight. & no, i'm not really allergic to mayo.

i drive between austin & dallas quite often for business. it's been a nice relief from the usual road-side stops to now have a panera bread available for coffee, sandwiches, etc. on my way back to austin tonight i stopped for a cup of coffee & sandwich. i ordered a turkey on whole wheat with avocado, tomatoes, roasted peppers, spinach, onions, & spicy mustard with an apple on the side (again it's nice to have a healthy alternative even if i've got to build my own sandwich). anyhow, my sandwich came with a bit of mayo on it where the sandwich was sliced in half. i returned the sandwich to the window explaining that i'm severely allergic to mayo & while the sandwich looked great i can't touch it with the mayo on it. the girl, natalie, behind the counter was an absolute doll & was happy to remake the sandwich & take extra care to ensure it was sliced with a clean knife this time around.

the point of this comment is to highlight two things. first to note the excellent customer service by natalie - so nice for her to politely & understandably take the sandwich back & then personally bring it to me at my table & tell me they she made it a point to ensure that there wasn't a drop of mayo on this new sandwich. the new sandwich she brought me was amazing by the way! the second reason for this comment is to suggest using clean knives for cutting sandwiches. maybe you've got a vegan who doesn't want their sandwich cut with a knife that touched meat or you've got someone like me that is allergic to an ingredient & i don’t want that knife that just cut that ingredient then used to cut my sandwich.

great customer service, i enjoyed the food, & please consider cleaning your knives (or any other cooking utensils used to make your dishes) between sandwiches.

a real sweet treat

i've been watching a lot of the food network while at the gym recently. given that today is thursday a number of the chef’s have focused on decadent deserts & treats. you know, chocolate fudge this, caramel that, ice cream & whip cream on top sort of thing. the audience (especially the emeril lagasse audience) always oohs & ahhs as more chocolate or more whip cream is added to an already overwhelming sweet dish.

my mom didn’t fix many treats growing up. pies, excluding the cheery cream cheese pie with graham cracker crust she would make about twice a year, were never seen, cookies included oatmeal & peanut butter during the year & sugar cookies around christmas, & cakes here & there. even as a kid i didn’t like the sweet frostings on cakes & by the time i was in middle-school i’d always ask for just ice cream when it came to bday celebrations. so as a kid, i never did have the sweet tooth. although i had plenty of cavities growing up so go figure.

today, sweets are the further thing from an appetizing meal. not only do they do zero for my body, they in-fact have a negative effect on not only how i look but on how i feel. sleepy, sluggish, & just “fat.” so when it comes to a treat i like something that is good for me & tastes good to. for example, for today’s treat (i’m off today) i chopped up a red silk pear, threw in some pitted prunes, & topped it off with dry roasted no-salt almonds. for a kick, as emeril would say, i enjoyed it with a cup of black joe! beat that food network :)

never before have i been that stuffed

i've kicked back a many of plates of food before. my buddy jason (who i lived with for 4 years) & i used to always taunt one another to eat more whenever we were out for food. he was my weight lifting partner throughout my tenure in the marines & when we would go to eat the question, "is that all you got?" would come up often. i can remember a many nights eating 3 or 4 plates of pasta with this dude as well as overindulging (see unabridged dictionary - it is a word) on the weekend brunches at hickam air force base. as for my weight, while i may be more fit today - back then i weighed a solid 175 pounds with just over 5% body fat. i was also 19/20/21 years old :)

of course when we moved to austin to wrap our degrees at UT we both put on some weight. i remember the day that we moved to austin & our apartment wasn't ready so the complex put us up in a hotel for the night. jason was a real stickler with his cash (especially while in school) & that first night he was looking for the cheapest place to eat where he could get the most food for our buck. we ended up at a mr. gattis pizza (i've only been back to gatti's once since this horrific event & refuse to ever go back into one). if you don't know anything about mr. gatti's it's a *super* cheap (price & quality) all you can eat pizza place. between the two of us that night we kicked back some 70+ pieces of pizza. that's 35+ pieces for each of us. i think the final count was me 37 & him 34 or 35. granted, some of their slices aren't all the normal pizza slices (some squared). regardless those 35+ pieces easily equaled 3+ large pizzas for each of us. i had never felt worse. well, up until last night.

kristin & i visited casa de luz for dinner last night. they had sweet potatoes & walnuts on the menu & that's all that really mattered to me. if you have ever had their sweet potatoes, then you would understand why i was so excited to eat there. casa’s full menu last night was:

- soup: creamy kabocha squash
- salad:garden salad with citrus thyme vinaigrette
- grain: basmati brown rice & tempe sticks
- bean: “hoppin’ john” (black eyed peas)
- greens: southern style cabbage
- vegetable: baked sweet potatoes with walnuts
- pickle: garlic ume daikon and beets

obviously very healthy! but just as the saying goes, “too much of anything is a bad thing.” i started with a full bowl of soup as usual – it was awesome! then onto the salad – again, the vinaigrette was super tasty & the sliced apples on top were so good! then onto the main course – i always take the first plate "as is" & then i pick & choose what i really like when i go back for more. after that 1st plate i was feeling pretty full. the brown rice, the sweet potatoes, & the black eyed peas were doing the trick – a lot of sticky carbs. i went back for my 2nd plate & asked for a normal plate minus the rice & please double up on the sweet potatoes. after another glass of tea & i went back for my 3rd plate – same as the 2nd. kristin had eaten like ½ of her 1st plate but did get a 2nd helping of sweet potatoes that she couldn’t finish. so when i went back for my 4th plate (i know – very sick!) i went without the sweet potatoes because i could just finish off kristin’s :). after finishing my 4th plate, like an idiot i went back for one last helping of the blacked eyed peas. see, there was this hot sauce that they made that i’d never had before & you drizzle it over the blacked eyed peas – it was so amazing.

after that serving of black eyed peas i felt like i was going to explode. i of course was eating so quickly that the full effect of how much food i put into my body hadn’t hit me until the end. when things began to expand i was scared my stomach was going to burst – jason would be so proud…

i had a cup of hot tea before we left & when we got home i could barely stand up straight – i looked like i was pregnant & worse off felt like i was having contractions. have you ever seen the movie or read the book “cool hand luke?” if you haven’t, you should – best paul newman movie ever in my opinion. anyhow, in the movie he took a bet to eat 50 boiled eggs. well his belly & mine looked very similar last night & i was walking & feeling about as bad as he looked in the movie. lucky for him he was just acting; i was actually living through this horrible feeling that i brought onto myself

it’s now morning, almost 12 hours since dinner & i’m still full. i usually love this part of my morning - waking up to coffee & a big bowl of oatmeal with fruit. i can’t bear to think about eating right now though. of all days too, i scheduled lunch with my friend/real-estate broker today for lunch at manuels & all i really think i can bear to eat are veggies – no carbs or meats please!

seeing how much you can stuff in your belly really is a “guy thing” isn’t it? i suppose i really don’t want to know any women that taunt each other to eat more :)

i think last night makes up for any missed calories on the bike this weekend. let this blog post be a reminder to me to *never* eat that much again.

the world’s first!

it is now 4:00 pm & it has been a long day (both at work & training) & i’m sitting on another event call & i’m starving. while my desk drawers are full of protein bars, cliff bars, even healthy trail mix i wanted something else. i dived into my office fridge in the corner to find that i’ve eaten my stock pile of chicken breasts for the week & i wasn’t in the mood for the beets, the pear, or the protein shake.

instead i reached for the hemp bread, the homemade hummus, the raw “like tuna” spread, & the home grilled tofu. i spread the raw “like tuna” on ½ a slice of the hemp bread & the homemade hummus on the other ½ slice of hemp bread. i put a piece of the grilled tofu in the middle & just like that i had the world’s first “hemp bread with hummus, raw “like tuna”, & tofu sandwich.

i know what you are thinking… brian you are gross! not at all, the flavors in the raw “like tuna” spread are amazing & the spice from both the hummus & grilled tofu (the tofu was grilled in spices – we all know tofu by itself has zero taste) was amazing. not to mention how healthy this puppy was! it is full of protein, good carbs, high fiber, & other healthy nutrients.

i hope you all try this new sandwich creation & if you do let me know what you think. anyone else out there got any good homemade sandwich ideas? eryn, i bet you’ve got a sandwich idea that would include nutella :)

japanese translation help

kristin & i frequent firebowl at least once a week & i usually go there once a week with co-workers or friends if i’m eating out for lunch during the work week. my normal dish is salmon soba noodle with broccoli. i ask them to hold the teriyaki sauce but to include the sesame seeds.

we’ve come to know both the store manager & her daughter (who works behind the counter) well enough to engage in small talk. during the football & basketball season we get along really well with one of the shift managers who is from cleveland – first cleveland browns fan i’ve ever known.

the salmon soba noodle is actually a pretty special dish. after eating at firebowl for the first time many years ago i wasn’t very impressed. i order some type of stir fry it your way & it didn’t come out very well. my boss & good friend trevor told me i should try the place again, but order the salmon soba noodle with broccoli. he knows how clean i like to eat & this meal is perfect – good carbs from the soba noodle, protein & omega-3 fats from the salmon, & good nutrients, fiber, & protein (didn’t know that broccoli had protein did you?) in the broccoli. after getting this dish a few times i dropped the teriyaki sauce because of all the sugars & from that point forward outside of adding edamame every so often that’s become my dish. kristin orders the vermicelli singapore & really does a number on it: tofu, no onions, add mushrooms, & replace the vermicelli noodles with soba noodles.

about 6-months ago firebowl took the salmon soba noodle of the menu. i talked to the manager & read some information about this change on firebowl’s website & they said it just wasn’t cost effective & not enough folks ordered it. lucky for me firebowl continued to stock the ingredients you just had to know to order it & they started charging an extra $1 due to their costs on the soba noodles. after 3-months of taking salmon soba noodle of their menu, firebowl was supposed to stop serving the dish altogether. the manager would kid with me every time i came in by counting down the days. i told her if they pulled it i’d stop coming in.

when the 3-months came up i noticed they hadn’t pulled it & in fact they had added it back to their menu. i talked with store manager & she said that there were a lot austinites like me & that firebowl gave them & only them the go ahead to keep the salmon soba noodle dish. go to any other firebowl not in austin & you won’t find the salmon soba noodle. check their website menu - it isn't even listed. good ole austinites & their healthy diets!

so about this translation… the other night kristin & i stopped at firebowl for dinner. i had a good idea of how much protein i was getting from the salmon & the nutrients i was getting from the broccoli, however, i’ve seen that soba noodles range in value of amount of carbs & fiber from one brand to the next. i was talking to the manager’s daughter about this (i need to remember her name) & she said she’d go pull a package of the noodles from the back & we could see. to our surprise, the ingredients were all in japanese. so, if you know japanese or know someone that does, could you have them translate the ingredients depicted in the picture please?

the trainer

i figured i'm going to spend some serious hours on the trainer so i decided to see what i look like on one. quite easy to do when your phone is also your iPod & camera too.

i'm borrowing a buddies trainer at home which comes in handy. at the same time, it's nice to use the gyms equipment, sweaty up their floors & not my own, & take advantage of cable TV for days when you just want to be distracted by the TV for 2+ hours.

i've learned that i can really zone out watching the food network. minus the commercials i'm locked in. there is something i find just so relaxing yet appealing about watching someone cook up all types of food. for me, diet & nutrition are just as important to my training as is logging the actual time in the water, on the bike, & running. let's not forget the value of recovery time too. for the past few weeks my diet & nutrition have been superb. i've added so many good veggies & carbs to my array of foods that i sample given kristin's love for cooking & her recent switch to a mostly vegetarian based diet.

so if i've got to get on the bike & i don't feel like hitting the roads, then me & the food channel are going to have some long hours together this season. if i had my choice of chefs to watch it would inlclude giada de laurentiis, emeril lagasse, & mario batali.

comfort food

green bay lost BIG tonight (even NY times sent me a "news alert" about it) & now kristin is down in the dumps. i'm a bears fan remember & even i was pulling for green bay. i'm quite shocked that the giants upset green bay at home in the zero below temperatures. this could very well be favre's last game.

i recall some years ago when philadelphia knocked green bay out of the playoffs - kristin became a real football fan that day & she realized for the first time what a BIG loss feels like. unfortunately she revisited that feeling again today. we were going to have a super bowl party if green bay would have made it too.

oh well... maybe i can cheer kristin up with some comfort food. i think it's time for kale, edamame, tempeh, & mashed heart-shaped sweet potatoes! i recall that it brought a smile to kristin's face a couple months ago when i first put this treat together :)

i promise i’m not a vegan or vegetarian

due to kristin’s recent switch to vegetarianism some months ago (she will occasionally eat red meat & in the past two weeks she added fish to back to her diet – i think there is an official name for this, i just don’t know & haven’t bothered to look it up) & my ability to eat anything as long as i know it’s good for me (regardless of taste) has made eating nothing but veggies for many meals very easy for me. the best part about all this veggie eating is that i’ve discovered some really amazing new veggies that i knew nothing about to include: kale, brussel sprouts, & red swiss chard.

i used to think that brocolli was the best veggie for me – good carbs, vitamins, & even packed with a bit of protein. while i’m still a fan of brocolli, it doesn’t come close to touching well prepared brussel sprouts. we use a very simple recipe – pop them right off the stalk & on to a cookie pan, dust on some olive oil, fresh cracked black pepper, & some sea salt. stick ‘em in the oven for 400 degrees for 45 minutes (shake the pan ever 10 to 15 minutes to ensure the sprout is roasted on all sides (a little charred makes them oh so good!).

oh, & the things you can do with sweet potatoes! i may have mentioned this before but we eat sweet potatoes in a variety of ways. baked & eaten whole, baked & then mashed up (leave the skins on folks!, sliced & then baked, make them into sticks with olive oil, cracked black pepper & sea salt. i’ve even added them to waffle & pancake mixes!

some other great things to eat when meat isn’t around are nuts. almonds are my favorite – dry roasted with *no* salt added. we started buying this spread at the vegan counter at whole foods called “happy tuna” & another one called “like turkey” & they are awesome. basically they grind up almonds & then mix in some really awesome spices & tahini – spread that on some hemp bread & you’ve got a great healthy snacked packed with protein, fiber, & the right type of carbs.

the attached pic was my 2nd lunch (yes, i'm eating a lot during training) yesterday consisting of baked brussel sprouts, grilled tofu, & brown rice mushroom pilaf.

to reiterate, i’m not a vegan or vegetariain. during a normal week i eat on average 6 – 10 chicken breasts & fish as often as i can get it. i eat red meat very seldom – usually only when i’m at a fine steak house or if we decide to make buffalo burgers at home. however, i do love this new diet of eating way more veggies than i did before & i don’t mind one bit eating an entire plate of nothing but veggies as a meal.