Calling us out

So one of our readers made a comment that this was the least diety diet blog in the history of diet blogs and well, we guess he would be right. Yes, this blog IS about being on a diet but mainly, it's all about the "CHEAT" for us and of course the wine.  Cheat day is a very big deal. It's when we get to let loose and make our wildest taste bud dreams come true. It's a time when we get to share our zany adventures and show our fun, crazy side as we cheat.

Let's see if we can explain it in a way so that our readers can understand what we're talking about.  The diet (or life changing eating habits) is kind of like us being kids cooped up in the house because it's raining and we are bored and trying to find ways to entertain ourselves, all the while driving our parents crazy. We're kids so all we really want is to be outside playing with our friends and not having a care in the world.

Cheat day is when the rain stops and then low and behold the clouds part and the sun comes out beaming it's warm rays down upon the earth. We bolt for the door, sling it wide open and run outside as fast as we can to release all the energy that is racing through our veins and needs to be freed.  We run around the yard in circles with our arms flailing above our heads, mouths open and tongues hanging out while making loud kid squealing noises - then run to our friends' houses and furiously knock on their door to ask if they can come out and play?  And when they do, we all jump on our bikes and pedal as fast as we can down the street until we are just about out of sight, as our mom yells, "be home in time for dinner". Can't you imagine the smiles on our faces and feel how happy we are?

Well, that's how we actually feel when cheat day arrives because being on the diet is us cooped up in the house when it's raining. It's very hard. And cheat day is the sun coming out and us feeling care-free and being happy.  So now that we have established the vast difference between the two, let's make this blog all about the diet.  Our reader is right, in the sense that he hasn't really gotten a glimpse inside our world as we struggle on the diet.  To know what we do and eat and say and think on a weekly basis may or may not be very interesting, but hopefully it will be informative.  So, let's get this non-party started, shall we?  It's Monday evening and cheat day is over, no doubt we've had a great twenty-four hours of eating whatever we wanted, but now it's time to get down to business. This is the most work preparation wise because we have to plan the menu, shop, cook, and then prepare our meals for the week, so this is when it really pays to have a sista wife to help ease the work load -  two brains and four hands is definitely a bonus.  So here's what we will have for the week:

Breakfast:   It's always eggs (scrambled, hard boiled, omelet, or egg muffins) and some kind of beans (whole black, re fried black or re fried pinto). We do our best to spice things up by using our 2 favorite spices: turmeric and cayenne pepper. We put it in everything; oh and jalapeños - either pickled or fresh.  We throw all kinds of veggies in our eggs: onions, fresh garlic, mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus and spinach.  Not all at the same time (but you can), we switch it up day to day, but have our staples of onions and garlic. Since we can't have butter sometimes we use olive oil or ghee (a clarified butter you can buy at Whole Foods) to saute the veggies.  For the beans we just plop them in a pot right out of the can and add: jalapeños, turmeric and cayenne pepper.

Snacks:  Tomatoes (grape or cherub), carrots or celery and Sabra roasted red pepper hummus, walnuts or almonds.

Lunch and Dinner:  Protein, salads, soups and vegetables.  This week it's 1) Turkey Chili, 2) Italian Sausage, Kale and White Bean Soup, 3) Chicken Sausage (Roasted Red Pepper & Spinach) with a jalapeño mustard sauce.

Now here's the thing, we have a quirky way of cooking because we really don't measure anything when we cook and make up recipes. We just kind of add things here and there.  We try to start out with less so we can add more if need be. We probably should measure so when we share our recipes with you they are more accurate - we'll try harder next time, but when we are chopping and cooking together, listening to music, drinking red wine and exhausted, we just kind of go with the flow. Here are this weeks 3 recipes.

Turkey Chili:

2lbs Turkey
1 large sweet onion
1 can of black beans
1 can charro beans (or whatever kind of beans you like)
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch seasoning
Cayenne pepper
Chili powder
Cracked black pepper
Turmeric
Mushrooms
Fresh Garlic
Tomatoes

Cook onions, mushrooms and garlic in a large pot and then add the turkey.  Cook well and then add canned beans, taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper and turmeric and a splash or two of red wine... Cut tomatoes in half and throw in. Let sit and cook for 20mins plus... Especially good the next day.

Italian Sausage, Kale & White Bean Soup:

1LB Italian Sausage

2 Cans White or Great Northern Beans

1 Large Onion

1 Bag Sweet Kale Vegetable Salad (from Costco - if you can't find this, you can use a bag of Kale)

1 Box Chicken Broth (33% less sodium)

8 Cups of Water

Salt

Cracked Black Pepper

Red Pepper

Cook the onions until well done. Then add the sausage and red pepper. Once cooked all the way through,  add the chicken broth & water. Then add the canned beans, and Kale salad, salt, pepper.  Let sit for 20 minutes and then serve immediately or  pack for next days lunch.

Chicken Sausage, Peppers and Jalapeño Mustard:

2 Packages Chicken Sausage (Roasted Red Pepper & Spinach [Costco])
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Orange or Green Bell Pepper
1 Large Onion
Mushrooms
Garlic
Woeber's Jalapeño Mustard (Our favorite brand that we can only seem to find now @ Walmart)

Saute Onions in a Pot. Then add chicken sausage and cook for 10 minutes. Add garlic, mushrooms, red pepper, yellow pepper, orange or green pepper.  Cook all together. Do not drain. Once done, add Woeber's Jalapeño Mustard and stir. Make sure flavors blend well and if not, add more of whatever sounds good. Enjoy!!

So these are just a few of the recipes we came up with while trying the Slow Carb diet based on Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Body. We hope you like them.  So you be the judge as to what you want to read more of: diet or cheat day?  Or maybe a nice balance of the two would be cool. Hee hee, get it? A nice balance - balanced diet... Oh man we crack ourselves up.