Well, after Tuesday's triumph, I followed up Wednesday with a complete, Chinese buffet style meltdown. Actually, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, but still it wasn't as good as it could have been, and I'm not talking about the taste of the food, for those of you confused. The day's menu went like this:

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - My one a day vitamin, and yes, I do try to take it everyday. Ok, ok, sometimes I forget on the weekends.
• Central Market Organic Fat Free Milk - Always fat free organic milk with my protein powder.
• ON 100% Instantized Whey Protein, Double Rich Chocolate - The best tasting protein powder I've tried, and I've tried a few in my time.
• Healthy Choice Flavor Adventures Chicken Margherita - Not bad for a frozen meal, although I do have a few complaints, like the softness of the pasta. Al dente, folks, al dente.
• Chinese Buffet - Here is where things went wrong for me. Broccoli Chicken, Spicy Chicken, fried potatoes, white rice, pot stickers, spring rolls, and Dr. Pepper. All that food can't be good for one's diet.

There are inherit difficulties in counting calories on a Chinese buffet, but it is necessary to give it my best shot, and even try to err on the side of too many, so for the day, I will stick with the number 3,859. It may be too many, it may be too few, but I think it is pretty close to the truth of the matter. Oh, I forgot to mention that fortune cookie. Which the wife touched before me and ruined. Again. :p

captainzoli

Tags: diet, dinner, lunch, chinese, food, meal, healthy choice, frozen, chicken, oatmeal, organic, milk, no, fat, powder, protein, vitamin, calorie

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Posted by the Captain at 3:36 PM CDT

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My interest in meatless products and recipes has been increased in recent weeks by my wife's expressed desire to begin transitioning to a vegetarian style of eating, or at least a more vegetarian style of eating, and as the main chef in the household, I thought it prudent to learn a little more about such things. I've never really considered such a change in my own eating patterns, and so turned to the Internet for some information. After much research, it seems to me that including more vegetables in one's diet can't be too bad of thing, although I don't think pure vegetarianism will ever be the choice for me. Anyway, the point of all this rambling is that I have started looking for recipes and products that will bring about this more healthy style of eating, and while wondering through the local grocery store, I came across the Meatless Ground Burger by Boca. When I saw it, I immediately thought it might make a suitable replacement for actual meat in spaghetti, which we tend to eat quite often, and turns out it does a good job at that, although I think the folks at Boca are a bit optimistic when they say two pouches of their product equal one pound of meat (each box comes with three pouches). I think if I had added the third pouch of meatless ground, the sauce would have come much closer to the consistency of my sauce when I add a pound of turkey or beef. As for taste, I found it to be as good as turkey in the sauce, and the texture was also satisfying.

captainzoli

Tags: meatless, meat, less, analog, boca, burger, ground, food, frozen, spaghetti, fun, dinner, meal

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Posted by the Captain at 2:22 PM CDT

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As some of you may remember, I posted a recipe for Quick Turkey Spaghetti some time ago. The purpose of this post, as opposed to the countless "purposeless" posts I make is to follow up on this recipe with a new twist I tried on the poor wife just a couple of days ago. Making the recipe as usual, I decided to try out the Boca Meatless Ground Burger I had picked up on a whim during Monday's grocery outing. The wife gave it her seal of approval, from a taste stand point, and from a cooking standpoint, it really lowers the amount of time it takes to prepare the recipe since the meatless ground can be tossed and heated directly in the sauce, rather than being browned first. Everything was done and ready to go by the time my pasta was cooked. I would recommend it to everyone, but especially those looking to cut fat and a few calories, or those wishing to go vegetarian like the wife would like to one day.

captainzoli

Tags: recipe, spaghetti, turkey, quick, boca, meatless, meat, less, meat-less, diet, low calorie, vegetarian, vegan, fat, low, food, fun, dinner

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Posted by the Captain at 2:09 PM CDT

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For lunch yesterday I had the Chicken Tuscany from Healthy Choice's Flavor Adventures line of frozen meals. It consisted of chunks of chicken with some vegetables and pasta. Overall, I found the meal to my liking. On the positive side, the chicken was tender and tasty and the flavoring of the pasta, and the meal in general, was done very well. As for the negative, there wasn't much chicken or vegetable, and the pasta was definitely not al dente. That is pretty much par for the course, as far as frozen dinners that include pasta are concerned, however, so it is not a big drawback. This one is a keeper for me, and will surely find its way into my grocery cart again.

captainzoli

Tags: frozen meal, tv dinner, food, dinner, lunch, frozen, healthy choice, flavor adventures, chicken, tuscany, review, fiesta

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Posted by the Captain at 11:54 AM CDT

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Well, Tuesday was a good day for the diet. I'm happy with the amount, frequency, and total calories that comprised the menu. It was also a nice change from the previous weekend in which I sold my diet down the river, so to speak. No reason to get down though. Just time to get back on track. Lifestyle changes are marathons, not sprints. Anyway, Tuesday's menu looked like this:

• HEB Multiple Vitamins Men's Health Formula - One a day vitamin.
• ON 100% Instantized Whey Protein, Double Rich Chocolate - My favorite of the protein powders. Tastes good with milk and makes a nice way to start off the day, instead of just chocolate milk.
• Central Market Organic Fat Free Milk - I try to buy organic products whenever possible. I have this in the morning, either with my protein powder or a bowl of organic frosted flakes.
• Hill Country Fare Quick Oatmeal - One minute oatmeal that I use for between meal snacks. Add boiling hot water and let it sit for a couple of minutes and it cooks up nicely. I generally have about 10 oz. in the morning, and another 10 oz. in the afternoon.
• Healthy Choice Chicken Tuscany, Flavor Adventures - This is a meal that I like. The pasta is a bit soft, but it always is in frozen meals. The taste is very good, for a frozen meal, though.
• Hodgson Mill Organic Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Milled Flax Seed - This is currently our favorite organic whole wheat pasta and it has the added benefit of flax seed.
• Walnut Acres Organic Garlic-Garlic Pasta Sauce - I like this sauce, but the wife loves it. This is one of the several organic pasta sauces we use.
• Boca Meatless Ground Burger - This was an impulse buy on my part when the daughter and I were at the store on Monday. I added it in the pasta sauce last night and it turned out really well, so it will likely find its way back into our grocery basket in the future.

After all was said and done, my calorie total for the day came out to 2,160, with only 14% of my calories coming from fat. For right now, that's where I want to be to achieve my weight loss goals.

captainzoli

Tags: weight, loss, calorie, menu, diet, lifestyle, change, fat, protein, carb, taste, choice, snack, lunch, dinner, frozen, meal

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Posted by the Captain at 7:58 AM CDT

Updated: Wednesday, 23 August 2006 9:23 AM CDT

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Time to go to the grocery store, boys and girls, or at least daddies and babies. More specifically, myself and the young daughter. Mom has to study, so the domestic chores sometimes fall to me and our beautiful six month old daughter, as in this case. We were off to the local supermarket, our local HEB Plus. It is, perhaps, one of the best times I have during the week. A little time to have some fun, do some shopping, really take some time to see what's available and what it is that we will be dining on for the upcoming week. Sure, we will probably cheat at some point and grab some take out, but while the daughter and I are at the store, those imperfections aren't in view. My diet is perfect. Until we get to the ice cream aisle, that is. This trip's list was pretty short on food items:

• 8 Healthy Choice frozen meals - We eat these for lunch during the week. Not as good as home cooked, but pretty good for the time we have to grab something in the middle of the work day.
• 1 box Central Market Organic Frosted Flakes - This is my breakfast indulgence for the weekends. I love frosted flakes, and used to eat the non-organic kind, but since they started carrying these, I have switched. Organic foods may or may not be better. I'm not a scientist, so I don't know for sure, but I'm willing to err on the side of caution, when possible.
• 1 Half-Gallon Central Market Organic No-Fat Milk - I keep milk around for my cereal and the occasional glass of chocolate milk. Also, I enjoy a glass of milk mixed with some protein powder, especially on days that I go to the gym.
• 1 box Boca Meatless Ground Burger - Never tried this before, but the beautiful wife has really wanted to go vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian for a while now, and since I do most of the cooking, I wanted to try out some new things to help her achieve her goals, and it wouldn't hurt me to improve my diet as well. We will see how this product works out. They make it look good on the box.
• 2 pints Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream - Strawberry Cheesecake for the wife, and Mayan Chocolate for me. Not helpful for the diet, but oh so good.

captainzoli

Tags: groceries, grocery, supermarket, shopping, shop, milk, ice cream, meatless, ground burger, hamburger, frosted flakes, frozen meal, organic, food

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Posted by the Captain at 11:03 AM CDT

Updated: Tuesday, 22 August 2006 3:22 PM CDT

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Yesterday was a busy day, and the wife and I needed dinner on the quick, or at least that's what we told ourselves to justify a quick stop at Taco Bell. Truth is, "need" is probably a strong word. Ok, ok, you got me. It was all my fault, my idea, the wife just went along with it. She is the innocent victim. There are no victim-less crimes. Anyway, back to the topic at hand: Taco Bell. Despite the horror stories and just the overall deficiencies of fast food as a food source, especially as shown in Morgan Spurlock's outstanding film, Supersize Me. Truth is, seeing that movie should be enough to keep one as far from any type of fast food as possible. Should be. Guess it hasn't worked on me completely.

I really enjoy Taco Bell food. Yesterday, I had the new Grilled Chicken Crunch Burrito, a couple of Chalupas, and a couple of Cheesy Bean and Rice Burritos. Definitely more than one person should eat, or at least more than I should eat. Need to get myself back in the kitchen and cooking, rather than taking the easy, grab and go way. It is very good, though. For what it is, that is.

captainzoli

Tags: fast food, taco, burrito, chalupa, food, dinner

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Posted by the Captain at 8:54 AM CDT

Updated: Tuesday, 22 August 2006 4:06 PM CDT

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It has been a busy, busy birthday weekend (her birthday, not mine) for the wife an I, and while I would spend several long paragraphs explaining it all in excruciating detail, it mostly has nothing to do with food, and even less to do with this topic by and large, so, I will stick to the task at hand. That task, of course, is talking to you about food, and in this specific instance, restaurant food. Even more specifically, The Outback Steakhouse.

Now, it wouldn't be fair to say that we make the Outback a regular place to eat, as a matter of fact, I can count the times I have eaten there on one hand. It isn't that the Outback is a bad place to eat, it's just that for us, it seems to be a bit pricey for a chain, and a bit pricey for what you get. I'm sure that some may disagree, but that's the way I feel. There are certainly some nice things I can say about the restaurant, though. Firstly, the cheese fries are great. Two types of cheese, bacon bits, and ranch dressing to dip with make it an appetizer I enjoy. The wife also ordered a Bloomin' Onion. These don't do much for me, but she really enjoys them. For me, I don't care for the way they always have some batter that doesn't get fried. I'd rather have onion rings, for my money. To each their own.

After the appetizers, we moved on to our main courses. The wife a large steak, which she seemed to enjoy greatly (except for the small piece of bone she found the hard way in her boneless cut), and I had the grilled chicken breast with vegetables. The chicken was moist, and came with a side of barbecue sauce which was suitably spicy, and the vegetables were steamed and tasty. We quickly polished off our main courses, respectively, and moved on the dessert menu.

Now, usually, we would have both gotten separate desserts, I being a big fan of Key Lime Pie, and the wife, not so much, but in this case, we decided to split a large piece of chocolate cake with a side of vanilla ice cream. The cake was very chocolate, and the ice cream was pretty standard vanilla. For me, the cake was a little bit dry, and the ice cream has tiny chunks of ice in it, which I didn't expect.

Overall, the experience wasn't bad, but it sure could have been better, especially considering the prices that the Outback is charging now days. Makes me wonder if they have forgotten they are a chain restaurant. The service was slow as well.

captainzoli

Tags: Outback, restaurant review, review, steak, chicken, vegetable

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Posted by the Captain at 2:13 PM CDT

Updated: Monday, 21 August 2006 3:22 PM CDT

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Mood:  lazy

So last night the wife wanted something quick and easy, it being her birthday and all, so we settled on Whataburger.  Whataburger is a regional burger chain, and as far as fast food goes, quite tasty.  I had the Barbecue-Cheddar Whataburger with onion rings and a Dr. Pepper, and the wife had her usual Double Meat with Cheese Whataburger, Mayo instead of mustard (mustard comes standard on Whataburgers) and onion rings with a Coke.  Everything was good, though not good for us.

captainzoli 

Posted by the Captain at 12:14 PM CDT

Updated: Saturday, 19 August 2006 12:15 PM CDT

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Mood:  lazy

Well, we had a great lunch at Thai Spice.  You can read my previous review for this great restaurant and it all pretty much stands as I said it before.  If you are ever in town, it's a great place to eat.

captainzoli 

Posted by the Captain at 3:25 PM CDT

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