<p>I slightly modify his chili recipe. I leave out the corn meal. I use canned tomatoes. And, not being from Texas, I add a can of kidney beans and a can of black beans.</p>
<p>His “Meat Magic” is just one of his many pre-mixed spice blends that are widely available. I mix my own (with spices from Penzey’s), but his spice blends are good and there are a lot of recipes out there based around them: I forget where I got this, but here’s a pretty close approximation of his Meat Magic:</p>
<p>Hello to all! I’ve been among the missing on this thread – since July, I think. We went on our annual week to family camp then, and when I got back to a computer the number of new posts here would have required more time to read than I had at the moment. I kept telling myself I’d go back and catch up “when I had time.” You all can see how well that plan worked – not!</p>
<p>Anyway, at least I’ve kept up on the exercise! I’m still doing the run/walk thing (about 4 miles) every other day, with weights and other cardio on the “off” days. The last several weeks we were still at the beach I hit one of my “I can’t stand the sight of the gym anymore” phases, so was running and/or walking outside. Now we’re back in our urban setting for the winter and I’ve re-joined my gym here. I still try to do an outdoor run/walk 1 day a week though – it helps my mindset. </p>
<p>Will try to pop in here on a more regular basis …</p>
<p>I like that! I am getting REALLY soft now that I have the dreadmill in my own house. This morning I just had 3 miles to do, and it was 31 degrees, which is fine with the clothes I have. BUT- I decided it would save time (getting all dressed in the layers, getting the Garmin and HR arm band all synced up etc) to just go downstairs… Done.</p>
<p>Today is our big Thanksgiving feast here at work. Let the over-eating begin…</p>
<p>I have been really bad about eating this week – way too many carbs. H and I went to a new restaurant last night - two glasses of Pinot Noir and shrimp and grits. Very naughty. </p>
<p>Pilates this morning - good stretching and core work. It felt really good! My running guru advised against running for at least another week but if I really wanted to, I could run 3 miles at most tomorrow. What does everyone else that runs do for exercise when you shouldn’t run? I’m already getting in a lot of walking but I need to feel like I’m doing something. </p>
<p>No running yet this week and I don’t like that one bit! I am not a fan of it getting dark so early now. I am hoping to get a good run in first thing tomorrow morning, although the forecast says rain. We’ll be heading to a football game by 10:00am so I am sure hoping it will be dry.</p>
<p>Sabaray-I think you earned this week of eating! Biking or the elliptical are good alternatives to running. Personally, I love biking outside but can’t stand doing exercise bikes in the gym.</p>
<p>iDad - your chili sounds fabulous. Lots of work, but I’m sure it’s delicious. </p>
<p>The chili is now at the final stage: just simmering on the stove for an hour or so (just enough time to head to the basement for a little workout).</p>
<p>Used my newish 12 quart All Clad stainless steel lobster pot for the first time on this recipe, so I didn’t have to juggle the supersize batch between 7qt and 4 qt Le Creuset dutch ovens. I’ve always had thin metal pasta/lobster cookers which would not work for this as Paul Prudhomme insists that you brown until sticking in the bottom of the pot at a dozen different points in the recipe (to add flavor!).</p>
<p>I needed to stock the freezer with some kind of grab it and nuke it dinners. With the cold weather, chili seemed like a good bet!</p>
<p>I ground up a whole grocery store bag of dried ancho chiles and a whole bag of dried guajillo chiles to make the seasoning mix. Yum! Ground ancho chile pepper (from Penzy’s) is one of of my favorite ingredients, but it don’t grind it fresh very often.</p>
<p>Raced out to a trail today to ride and beat the rain. So far, all we’ve gotten are a few sprinkles even though there was a pretty strong forecast for rain. In fact, the sun just came out and is shining into my window. </p>
I just had those for the first time last month when I was in Charleston… I’m so glad I know of no restaurants here in Chicago that serve them (I didn’t say there weren’t any, just that I wasn’t aware of any, an if any of you don’t want to get put on my ignore list, don’t tell me of any!).</p>
<p>Workout frustrations - My fitness evaluation from Tuesday had to be cancelled because the trainer :: ahem:: dropped a kettle bell on her foot, cracking open some skin requiring stitches. Hmmm… is this someone I really want doing my fitness evaluation???</p>
<p>So we rescheduled it for Monday, but as of this afternoon I have to take a quick trip down to Texas for a funeral, and by the time I get back, it will be Thanksgiving, so will have to reschedule it for the week after Thanksgiving. I’m trying, really I am; it’s just that life keeps getting in the way.</p>
<p>On the good news home front… I’m kind of excited about this - H and I were at an annual work event last night, and were seated at a table with three other couples. Started talking to one of the other wives, and lo and behold, she’s a Pilates instructor! So I told her the saga of my seriously thinking about trying Pilates, my concerns about starting out VERY slowly, and not being quite sure where I wanted to start, that both places I was looking at were requiring a number of private lessons with their instructors before I could join a class; she most graciously offered to give me a first lesson for free! She teaches out of her home. So we exchanged contact information, and I am looking forward to this free lesson when things settle down after I get back from Texas.</p>
<p>Shrimp and grits? I’ve been purposely avoiding even looking at the photos of this one in the Bobby Flay cookbook on my coffee table. Maybe you could try it and let me know?</p>
<p>Or here’s one that is at least low carb (except that it has to be served with rice). Basically shrimp in the shell sauteed in a quarter pound of butter, some beer, and cajun spices:</p>
<p>idad - at one of the markets we went to in Charleston, they had whole cookbooks that were just shrimp and grits! Nothing good can come out of that!</p>
<p>One of the issues that I’m finding more and more difficult with, regarding to cooking and/or eating out, is that I’m becoming more and more sensitive to salt. When I’m grocery shopping, I try to look for low-sodium or no-sodium options (like canned tomatoes or salsa), but they are hard to find. Although we don’t eat out a whole lot, I’m slowly discovering that almost any meal that is tomato-based will have tons of salt in it, and I wear it on my fingers the next day! </p>
<p>But tonight H and I went out to our local Italian cafe and I ordered Chicken Roulade - this stuffing was crushed pecans, spinach, and roasted mushrooms, and it was served with a mushroom sauce. I almost didn’t order it because I was pretty sure the mushroom sauce would be full of salt. I asked the server about the dish and that I wasn’t interested if it was too salty, and was pleasantly glad to hear all dishes are made to order, even the mushroom sauce, so she would put my order in with a request to nix the salt in the mushroom sauce. And I really enjoyed it! I don’t have to worry about swollen fingers tomorrow. </p>
<p>Every now and then I make a couple of dishes in the crock pot that call for jarred salsa and/or a packet of fajita seasoning. I wish I had a recipe for fajita seasoning that would work with this dish because it’s so easy - place a couple of chicken breasts in a crockpot, mix in a packet of fajita seasoning mix with a jar of salsa, pour over chicken and cook. When done, shred chicken and either serve with tortillas (and appropriate accompaniments), or many times I’ll just place it over some salad greens. But the fajita mix I buy (can even find this reduced sodium) still has more sodium than I want. </p>
<p>I keep a shaker jar of this stuff and use it all the time. Learned a really good trick from Bobby Flay who dipped one side of sea scallops in ancho chile powder before sauteeing them. Works well on sauteed shrimp, too.</p>
<p>If you want it firey, you could add a 1/4 tsp of cayenne.</p>
<p>Would work great for low salt fajitas (or chili).</p>
<p>This has been the most difficult off season I can remember to do indoor cycling training. Every time I go down to the basement to climb on the bike, I feel like a state of catatonia sets in! I’ve rediscovered the digital music channels on Comcast and just hooked up a set of Bose speakers to the tv so I’m hoping the Classic Rock channel cranked up will provide some musical inspiration :). On the other hand, my renovated basement studio is offering so many options for resistance training and open space to move around in that every day is an exploration of new and fresh things to do. Last week was my week for finding a multitude of new ways to use stability balls to blast my core and new ways to work glutes and hip rotators combined with various stability challenges. Also had fun working out with a friend of mine who’s a trainer, cycling coach and racer. We set up the sequence of body parts to hit and then alternated challenging each other with our favorite exercises. Talk about DOMS two days later!</p>
<p>Tomorrow will my last push to complete the cosmetic renovations to my home studio. On that front, I’ve set up an LLC, registered a domain and am getting closer to rolling out my “opening” in January. Will also push to do an indoor cycling session but Sunday will be a morning of a 3 hour cyclocross ride with friends on new trails that have just opened 10 minutes from my house. Now that will be fun!</p>
<p>Note to Seattle visitors: do not set your foot into the Piroshky on Madison’s (or on 3rd). Your willpower will disintegrate faster than a paper napkin under the pouring rain, and you will be loaded with carbs!</p>
<p>Weights and pushups. And my walk that was totally negated by a yummy spinach and mushroom piroshky.</p>
<p>MNK, I admire your dedication to the strength exercises. That is absolutely something I must do this winter and am setting twice a week strength workouts as a goal. </p>
<p>MOWC, is today Monkey? Good luck to your D. We’ll need a report! </p>
<p>Oh, and THANKS iDad for the shrimp and grits recipe! I’ve actually made them from the Founding Farmers cookbook and they were okay, but Bobby’s look a lot simpler to prepare. Grrr…I’d put you on my ignore list but you have too much good advice! </p>
<p>Monkey is Sunday. Supposed to thunderstorm. Lovely. I’ll give y’all a report. BMBM was yesterday- Beer Mile Before Monkey. I didn’t go. Someone was trying to set the female state record.<br>
Shrimp and grits is a restaurant staple here. SO rich!
Michael- the studio sounds great. You have really made progress.
Teri- congrats on scoring the pilates lesson!
IDad- dinner sounds like it was great.</p>
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