Diet and Cooking

Ironically, when you are dieting and prepping for a competition, you tend to spend a huge amount of time cooking! It is important to have the food you need and want, ready at all times.

The more I diet, the more I find myself standing in the kitchen cooking, chopping, slicing, measuring, weighing, and packaging.

Friday I hit the store for my usual foods I would get ready for the upcoming week. I usually buy boneless, skinless chicken breast, although it is much more expensive, when you cook 8 pounds at a time, it is easier to get it in that form.

But the breasts with skin and bones was on sale for such a good price, I had to buy it. I ended up with 20 pounds of chicken!

I baked it as usual, and then pulled it all off the bone.  I had forgotten how much better it was like this! The breasts that are already skinned and boned get so dried out when they bake.

Then I had a huge pile of bones. I hate to waste anything so I decided to make stock. First the trick is to roast the bones in a very hot oven, here they are after they have been roasted.

David then deglazed the pan with water and white wine, scraping up all the stuck on bits.

Here it is simmering away, it smelled wonderful! We let the liquid cool, then poured it over the roasted bones.  Into the refrigerator for the night. 

In the morning we went to buy chicken feet, they make the best stock, but the store had none. So necks and backs was the order of the day.  We added the chicken parts to the roasted bones and liquid, added an onion, celery, bay leaf, fresh thyme and some carrots.


It all simmered together all day long, filling the house with a wonderful chicken scent (even though I eat a lot of chicken, it still smelled great).


Now, it is strained and back in the refrigerator where it will stay the night. Tomorrow I will skim the fat off and then package it into freezer containers.

I hope there is some left after my competition! I want to make some french onion soup with cheese and bread!!!!


And a nice glass of red wine too.

Shirataki Pasta

This post was written several weeks back, and I would get all excited about something else so this just kept getting kicked to the back burner. This was before I was in competition prep mode, so no, I wouldn't eat this now, but when not prepping for a competition, it's perfect!

It was  hot, hot, hot! I had to cook my chicken for the next couple weeks so David decided to BBQ it all for me. It was time for meal #4 and I was thinking about a big plate of pasta.

I don't eat pasta very often, the calories are crazy and the carbs even worse, so I turned to my favorite: Tofu Shirataki!

No doubt you have heard of this wonder, but in case you haven't I will fill you in.

Ingredients:Water, tofu, yam flour, calcium hydroxide (slaked lime). I eat one entire bag myself although they say one bag serves two. The nutrition is as follows (one entire bag):

40 calories

6 grams carbs

2 grams protein

4 grams fiber

I decided to cook the pasta and mix it with 4 ounces of cubed chicken breast, 1 cup sliced and cooked mushrooms and pasta sauce.

I wouldn't typically use a jarred sauce but David and Cooper had found this one and there was a little left, they said they really liked it and even they don't use jarred ingredients often. I decided to use it all up.

This is quite tasty (not cheap) and it has the following ingredients:

Tomato puree, San Marzano tomatoes, imported olive oil, fresh onions, sugar, salt, garlic, dehydrated garlic, crushed red pepper seeds and spices.

1/2 cup is what I used and the nutrition is:

80 calories

11 grams carbs

2 grams protein

3 grams fiber

I added a half cup water to increase the sauce without adding any calories, it was fine actually as I find jarred ingredients rather strong.

Grand total:

Calories 292

Carbs 25 grams

Protein 35 grams

Fiber 7 grams

A healthier version would be plain crushed tomatoes, but I haven't started "THE DIET" yet....

This is what I was doing when the pasta craving came over me. I BBQ'd about 8 pounds of chicken breast with chile, Mrs. dash and red pepper flakes. I then cut it all up in chunks. I was staring at and fondling a lot of chicken!

I then weighed it all out into plastic bags (some into containers) weighing 4 ounces each and I will freeze it for meals coming up. When not prepping for a competition, I might grab a bag if we go out to eat. Cooper loves ramen so if I go with him I will quietly add my chicken to the ramen, so I get my lean protein and don't have to eat that fatty slice of pork.

I made my lunches for the next day. I am on vacation, but we are having some last minute changes at work so I offered to stop in for a few hours on my first day of vacation. I can't stay long as I need to devote the morning to my German Volume Training and cardio, then I have a dental appointment at 2:00.

Lunch #1 (meal #3) will be 3 ounces quinoa, 4 ounces chicken breast and 1 cup of grilled zucchini.

Lunch #2 (meal #4) will be 5 ounces left over grilled wild salmon, 3 ounces quinoa and 1 cup asparagus. Lemon will be squeezed all over.

That's regular food for me, pretty much year round, so when I start "THE DIET" it really isn't too bad. I will not eat anything from a jar, and higher calorie proteins such as beef and salmon will be eaten less often. And I won't get any shirataki, but that's OK, I can have some afterward.