Archive for March, 2006
Dan on March 8th, 2006
This recipe is easy to make, tastes great, and is good for you just like everything else I make 
It is a bit costly due to the shrimp and the number of other ingredients. If you don’t like shrimp you can substitute chicken. However, the shrimp complements the bean flavor very well. If you want to cut down on the cost you can do 50/50 chicken/shrimp.
Note: I only list brand names because that’s what I used. Other brands are fine, but the nutrition information may be off slightly.
Ingredients
- 28oz can Hunt’s Whole Tomatoes
- 1/2 bag Goya 16 Bean Soup Mix
- 2 Medium Carrots, chopped
- 2 cups College Inn or other non-fat low sodium chicken broth
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 11 oz raw deveined and shelled shrimp with tails removed
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 1 Jalapeno pepper, deseeded and finely diced
- 1 large green Bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
- 2 large green Italian hot peppers, deseeded and chopped
- 2 tsp Paprika
- 1/2 tbsp dried Parsley
- 1/2 tbsp dried Basal
- 1 tsp powdered Oregano
- 1 tsp Garlic powder
- Black pepper
- Low-fat butter flavored cooking spray
This soup is best slow cooked in a crock pot. If you don’t have a crock pot it can be cooked on a burner set to low. However, you’ll have to stir it frequently so that the bottom doesn’t burn. Stirring isn’t required with a crock pot.
1. Combine broth and beans in a pot. Boil for 2 minutes and then remove from heat. Let sit for 1 hour.
2. While the beans are soaking place the tomatos in a food processer and pulse once. You want to chop them up but don’t turn them to mush. Smaller chunks is what you’re going for. Combine them with the seasonings (minus garlic powder and black pepper), carrots, and the Jalapeno pepper in the crock pot. Don’t turn it on yet.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan to the point that water crackles on it. Toss in the remaining peppers with a light dusting of black pepper. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the onion. Add more black pepper and garlic powder. Cook until the onions and peppers begin to brown, then remove from heat and add to crock pot. DO NOT CLEAN PAN!
4. Spray frying pan with cooking spray. Add shrimp (or chicken) and cook each side until pink (about 1 min each side). I recommend cutting the shrimp in half before adding to soup if they are medium or large. Note: If using 50/50 shrimp/chicken cook the shrimp first and then cook the chicken in the same pan to get some of the flavor from the scrapings.
5. Add beans to crock pot. Cook for 6 hours on low, stirring occationally. Taste after 3-4 hours and adjust seasonings to your liking.
Nutrition Information
Serving Size: ~1 3/4 cups
Servings: 5
Calories: 381
Protein: 34 g (36%)
Carbs: 46 g (48.5%)
Fat: 6.5 g (15.5%)
Percentages based on total calories, not total weight.
Dan on March 6th, 2006
I haven’t posted any trading updates in a while so here it goes. I’ve been trading a simple volatility strategy on a forex demo account with great success. The account is up close to 10% in about a week! The way the system works is that it takes small gains from low level randomized movement. Most losses are quite a bit larger (stoploss is 5-10x the take profit), but since wins are so frequent they offset losses and then some.
I have my account funded at OptionsXpress. I wanted to trade GOOG options on Thursday due to an investor news conference. However, I had class and wasn’t able to do so. Had I been at a computer and done the trade I estimate I would have made 30-35%! Also, on Friday I forecasted that the market (as represented by QQQQ) would gap in one direction or the other and then go in the opposite direction. I didn’t have enough confidence in my prediction to trade it but I turned out to be correct. The return would have been quite high. It could have been a lucky guess so we’ll see how my future forecasts go.
Dan on March 4th, 2006
I’ve now been working out for 3 weeks straight and I feel great. I’ve been pretty surprised at how well I can run, considering I haven’t done any aerobic exercise in years. I think I can probably make my goal of a 8.5 min mile now, but I haven’t tried yet. I tend to do 8.7-9 min miles and run for 10-15 minutes.
Lifting is also going well. After this week I’m upping the level on almost all machines and free weights. I took out my tape measure and found small but measureable results on a few different muscles.
I’ve gained 2-3 lbs since I started working out and not all of that is muscle. My waist has grown a bit since I started. I’m not particularly concerned since my current goal is muscle gain and not weight loss. A lot of that was from a lot of cheating over the past 2 weeks. Over both of the past two weekends I’ve eaten pretty poorly, including full bags of jelly beans (~1000 calories) and other junk food. Jelly beans are generally only available during the Easter season so I’ve allowed myself to eat them since they are one of my favorite candies. I did go a bit overboard though eating a full bag in a day. Lent is starting this Sunday and although I’m not particularly religious I’ve decided to give up pizza. I only eat it on occation now but even so I think giving it up will help put me back where I need to be.
So far the only supplements I’ve been using are a multivitamin and whey powder. I’ve been taking the multivitamin since I changed my diet in November. I decided to stop using it for a week to see if it makes any noticable difference, positive or negative. If I don’t notice any negatives I’ll continue using it next week. After next week I plan on starting use of creatine. I’ve researched it and found only positive results from scientific research with no negative health consequences. I’m also researching other supplements, but haven’t choosen to use any others at this time.
Here’s a detailed break down of my workouts. I workout Monday and Wednesday 1PM-2PM and Friday around 1PM, give or take an hour. I eat a meal at 11AM. During a workout I make sure to drink plenty of water. Afterwards I drink 1.5 cups of milk with 2 tbsp of whey protein (may be increasing this). I eat my next meal at 3PM.
I start all of my workouts with a run on the treadmill. Monday I run for 17 min at speeds ranging from 6-7mph. Wednesday I run for 11 minutes, speeds from 6-6.7mph. Friday I run for 12 minutes, speeds from 6-7mph. Once it gets warmer out I plan on running outside Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.
After I run I stretch and then do situps, crunches, and pushups. Not a lot, just to the point that I start to slow down. The main point is to warm up my muscles. After I’m done all of that I start lifting. Monday I work on my core (abs, back), Wednesday is legs/calfs, and Friday is upper body (chest, arms, shoulders). I do 2 sets @ 4-6 reps at each workout, with 3-5 different machines or lifts on a given day. I pause 2-3 min between sets. I haven’t been doing warmup sets but now that I’m increasing the weight I’m going to start doing 10 rep, 40-50% weight sets for each muscle group.
That’s it! I record everything I do so that I can track my progress. I always feel great after a workout and have more energy for the rest of the day. At no point do I feel like blowing off a workout day. I always look forward to it because I know that I’m improving my body and I enjoy it.
How have you been exercising? If you haven’t I strongly recommend you start. At the very least start speed walking for 15 minutes a day, 3 days a week. After a few weeks it will be like second nature and you’ll want to increase what you do. Our society is becoming overly seditive. You need to get out and exercise!
Dan on March 3rd, 2006
Here’s a recipe for chicken chili that I’ve developed. The resulting chili is very healthy (protein, carbs, and fat well balanced) and tastes great.
Ingredients
1.5 lb fresh chicken breast
28 oz can of crushed tomatos
15.25 oz can of Golden Sweet corn
16 oz can of Bush’s Chili Beans in hot sauce
1 bag Carroll Shelby’s Chili Kit (or season to your own liking, this just makes it faster and easier)
5 Jalapeno Peppers
3 Habanero Pepper (if you like your chili mild reduce to 1 or remove all)
1 Publano Pepper
1 Med to large white onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup malt vinegar
Cheapest 40oz malt beverage you can find, typically Old English or Magnum 40.
- Heat olive oil in skillet to the point that water will crackle on contact.
- While the oil is heating remove stem and seeds from the publano pepper. Chop along with the onion.
- Dice chicken into 1/2 to 3/4 inch pieces. If you prefer you can use ground chicken.
- Cook Publano pepper and onion on skillet for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. You don’t want to fully cook them, just start the cooking process. Season with some ground pepper and a small amount of the chili powder.
- While the pepper and onion are cooking mince the garlic cloves.
- Push pepper and onion to once side. Add chicken and garlic to the skillet and do your best to move the pepper and onion on top of the chicken to prevent overcooking. Add enough chili powder to lightly cover the chicken. Cook until chicken no longers shows pink, 3-5 minutes.
- While chicken is cooking destem and seed the Jalapeno and Habanero peppers. WEAR GLOVES! I cannot stress this enough. Jalapenos are fine to do without gloves but Habaneros are not. The oils from them will stay on your hands even after washing multiple times. If you rub your face, eyes, or other sensative parts of your body you’ll be a world of pain. Trust me, I’ve done it a few times. Contrary to popular belief the heat (capsaicin) is not concentrated in the seeds. Seeds contain very little capsaicin. The largest concentration is in the white membrane the seeds are attached to. If you like your chili hot scrape the seeds off the membrane and use it, otherwise cut it out and toss it. Finely dice both pepper varieties.
- Combine crushed tomatos, corn, beans, diced peppers, malt vinegar, the remaining chili powder mix bag, the cayenne pepper powder, and about 1/4 of the salt bag in a large stewing pot. Put on medium heat. Alternatively you can use a crock pot and slow cook everything. I highly recommend this option!
- When the chicken has turned white add everything to the stew pot. Do not drain, include liquid.
- After mixing together you have to decide the consistancy you want. I recommend a medium to thick consistancy. Add mesa flower from chili kit until mix is thicker than you want. Thin out with some of the 40.
- Cook for at least an hour, stiring frequently. You want to cook until the chicken is tender and almost to the point of falling apart. If you don’t stir the bottom can burn so don’t walk away! If chili starts boiling turn the heat down. You want it just under the boiling point. If it gets too thick thin with the 40. If it’s too thin add more mesa flower.
- In the last 15 minutes of cooking add salt to taste.
Chili nutrition information (may vary depending upon the brand of canned goods):
Serving size: about 1 3/4 cups
Servings: about 6
Calories: 375
Protein: 34 g (~36% of calories)
Carbs: 45 g (~48% of calories)
Fat: 6.5 g (~16% calories)
Cornbread
1 box Jiffy Cornbread mix
1 egg
1/3 cup skim milk
1 tsp finely chopped dried rosemary
1/2 tbsp med chili powder
3 pinches of shredded extra sharp chedder cheese (optional)
1 Jalapeno pepper (optional)
- Put cornbread mix in a bowl. Mix in rosemary and chili powder.
- Add egg and skim milk as directed on box.
- If using cheese or pepper fold in at this point. Pepper should be destemmed, seeded, and chopped into thin pieces up to 3/4 inch long.
- The best way too cook this cornbread is to use a corn stick mold. If you don’t have one use a small pan or skillet lined with wax paper or generously coated with cooking spray. Makes 10 corn sticks or one small pan 3/4 to 1 inch thick.
I recommend doubling recipe if using a normal pan or a skillet, otherwise the bread will be very thin.
Crumble some cornbread over the chili before eating and you’ll have an excellent meal.
Cornbread nutrition information can be found on the box.
Dan on March 1st, 2006
It seems that I may have finally found a sleep pattern that works for me. It goes as follows:
Naps:
1AM - 2:30AM
5AM - 6:30AM
1PM - 1:25PM
5PM - 5:25PM
9PM - 9:25PM
Total sleep time of 4 hours 15 minutes. I have been doing this for a few days now and have found that it works very well. I’m not tired and my naps can be very flexible without worrying about them. The 9PM nap often becomes 10PM or 11PM without a problem.
I still need to use multiple alarms. I found that using two timers and my cell phone works very well. I set one timer just out of reach of my bed and the other on my dresser across the room. Both go off at the same time with my phone on a 2 min delay in case there is a problem. To shut both alarms off and then cancel my cell alarm I have to get up, shut the first alarm off and then walk across the room. It works very well.
I’ve spaced my eating out a little differently as well. I now eat at the 3, 7, and 11 hours, with the 3PM meal moved to a little before 2PM on school days. This works very well since the timing fits into my schedule and I have 30 min in the morning to prepare each meal.
