Chicken, Again?

So, sometimes I think I’m kinda brilliant.

It just sometimes takes me a while to get there.

I’ve mentioned before that Bodybuilder Hubby eats a lot of chicken breast meat.  A LOT of chicken breast meat.

Our normal pattern is to cook 10 pounds at a time which we then keep in the fridge and live off of for a few days.

Before we had kids, this worked just fine.  There were times when I’d force myself to eat yet another piece of chicken simply because it was there.  Other days I’d have a frozen meal or bowl of cereal and call it good.  Bodybuilder Hubby takes care of his own meals, so what I ate was up to me.

This worked fairly well until a couple years ago.   We now have two kids.  Drama Girl is 4, and Bulldozer Boy is 2.

So now, at this point in our lives, these things are true:

·         Bodybuilder Hubby still prepares his own meals and rarely eats the same thing as the rest of us, so meal planning is pretty much entirely up to me.

·         Drama Girl refuses to eat foods that are mixed together, ie. soups, casseroles, anything with a sauce, etc.  I try to accommodate her preferences most meals while also occasionally throwing in something I like because I’m sure that eventually she will agree that my homemade chicken soup is pretty fantastic.

·         I HATE handling raw meat.  I was a vegetarian for a few years, until I realized I wasn’t actually eating healthier any more than I just had an excuse to have Cocoa Puffs for dinner.  But truly, I don’t want raw meat in my kitchen any more than it has to be.  It makes me a little crazy until I get everything sanitized once the food is in the oven.  A while ago I read in an article about food poisoning that raw meat should be treated as if it were toxic waste.  That’s pretty much how I think of it.  Bleh.

·         Leftovers don’t taste good.  A meal fresh from the oven is yummy, but nothing – with the possible exception of popcorn – tastes any good once it’s been microwaved. 

So here’s the brilliant idea that I had (also something of a “Duh!” moment):  I shouldn’t cook any more than we can eat in one meal. 

I still cook 5 pounds of chicken plain for Bodybuilder Hubby, but the rest of it I divide up into these small, glass containers that I bought.  Each container holds 6 cups of food – actually enough for two meals for the three of us, so I don’t fill them completely up.  They have rubber/plastic lids that seal really well.  So I put enough chicken in each container for one meal, put on the lids and put them in the freezer.  Then all I have to do is put one in the fridge at night so it can defrost in time to be tomorrow’s dinner.

The best part is that I can make each batch taste a little different by sprinkling different seasonings on top: lemon pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic and thyme (my favorite).  I also figured out that I can sprinkle bread crumbs and seasonings over the chicken, bake it, and it tastes exactly like my usual breaded baked chicken – but without the disgusting and time-consuming roll-every-piece-of-chicken-in-bread-crumbs part.  Brilliant!

I bought more of the glass containers to do the same thing with pretty much everything else I make.  One batch of my favorite chicken enchilada recipe becomes dinner tonight and two meals in the freezer for the future.  More healthy dinners, less work.  Brilliant.

Another benefit is that if I try a new recipe with the smaller portions and it turns out gross, less food gets wasted.  Also brilliant.

I’m doing the same thing now with batches of muffins and cookies and my favorite homemade bread.  Everything tastes better right from the oven, so why not serve it that way every time?

Once summer comes around, and it’s too hot to bake, I’ll have to make some adjustments, but for now, I’m quite excited about the sweet-n-sour chicken and veggies we’re having tonight – and even more excited that I won’t forcing down the leftovers tomorrow.

Let the Dieting Begin!

Earlier this month a friend came over to visit.  She told me that normally she would have brought a baked good, but that, “after all, it is January.”

The Season of the Diet.

Losing weight is surely one of the most common New Year’s Resolutions.  Every year in the weeks after Christmas, TV commercials and newspaper advertising shift from the gifts you were supposed to want to buy to the weight you’re supposed to want to lose: pills to take, programs to follow, gyms to join.

For Bodybuilder Hubby and many other bodybuilding and figure competitors in our area, January is the beginning of contest training season.

I’ve always thought the local contest timing was the best possible.  The biggest contest in our area is usually in April or May.   Competitors can enjoy the holidays like fairly normal people and then start their diets in earnest in January (again, like normal people – only more serious and probably with more success.)

So the competitors get to be in their best physical shape by mid-spring and then spend the entire summer looking hot in a swimsuit.   Then in the fall, they can eat more (as most of us do when the weather gets cooler) and enjoy the holiday meals and treats again.  Perfect.

Except that I know that their diet is pretty extreme.  I’ve seen what my hubby eats.  Lots of real, natural foods – huge salads, chicken, ground turkey, oatmeal.  Very little sugar, salt, fat or other things with flavor.

I don’t think I’ve ever heard Bodybuilder Hubby complain about being hungry when he’s dieting down.  Usually, in fact, he complains because he’s “behind on a meal” and hasn’t had time to eat as much as he’s intended to on any given day. 

What I do notice are the low-carb days.  Bodybuilder Hubby has this pattern of a certain number of low, medium and high-carb days.  On high-carb days it seems as though he could polish off the contents of the fridge.  Low-carb days often mean lower energy, and, on occasion, a Grumpy Hubby.

Last year I overheard a conversation between two female competitors.  One of them was complaining about how no one at her work understood how hard it was to be on her diet, how they just complained about how grouchy she was all the time.

Of course they don’t understand. How could they?

Really, no one knows how you feel except you, and it’s unfair to everyone around you (family, friends, coworkers, etc.) if you expect them be sympathetic because of a diet you’ve chosen to put yourself on.  Give them a break.  You might feel like you’re suffering, but that doesn’t mean everyone around you should too.  Really.

That’s what I wanted to say.  If I had said anything.

It’s hard to be on a diet, hard to get to the gym all the time.  That’s why it’s worth celebrating and cheering for the people who are successful.  When you get up on the stage – or take pictures from the contest to show your coworkers – you can be extremely proud of what you’ve been able to do.

So, to all of you who are competing, here are my two pieces of advice, from the outside looking in:

1) Connect with other people who are competing and who do understand what you’re doing.   You need to be able to gripe and complain on occasion with people who know why it’s all worth it.

2) Keep in mind that every person – every competitor – is different and unique.  Following the exact same diet as someone else does not necessarily mean that you’ll get the exact same results.  Talk with people who know – former competitors, trainers with an understanding of nutrition.  The more information you have, the better you’ll be able to pick out what you think will work best for you.

Good luck!