Day 1!

So, for the first day of the "diet" as I'll call it, I have been somewhat successful so far. In the morning, I had a bowl of organic "cheerios" (not the actual GM company)with non-fat skim milk, some fruit, and orange juice. Not bad if I may say so myself. Don't worry, I'm not cutting fat completely out of my diet as fats are needed in our everyday consumption. For lunch I had my protein shake, black bean dou fu (tofu for those of you who don't speak/write in Chinese) and garlic baby bak choi. Dinner has yet to come, but lunch was surprisingly good!

Black bean doufu recipe:

• 1 organic block doufu
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 6 Green Onions (as much as you would like)
  
• 4 tbsp peanut oil
• 2 tbsp hot sauce (your choice, can be hot oil, chilli sauce, sriracha)
  
• 1/2 cup black bean sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

To begin, mince/slice the garlic and green onions and put aside. Take out dou fu from package and drain liquid. Place the dou fu on to paper towel to dry it off, you want as much of the liquid off as possible. Pour peanut oil into the pan/wok and heat. When the pan is warm, fry the garlic until golden brown. Remove the garlic before it burns, as this gives it a bitter taste. Set the garlic on a plate or paper towel and you can use it for the bak choi. Begin to fry dou fu until all sides are golden brown. Most recipes would have you fry the dou fu in a wok with a cup of oil, but to be healthy, I just stand there and rotate the dou fu, your choice.

When the dou fu is golden brown, remove it and set on paper towel to remove some of the oil. Pour the black bean sauce into the pan along with the hotsauce of your choice, the green onions and the sesame oil. You just want the sauce to get warm, you don't need more than a few minutes. When onions are soft, pour sauce on the dou fu, and voila! simple, easy and somewhat healthy.

Garlic Bak Choi

• 5 stalks of bak choi
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp water
• Fried garlic (from the dou fu dish)

Wash and remove base of stalk from the bak choi. Dice the garlic and begin to fry in the oil. Instead of waiting until the garlic is golden brown, throw in the bak choi and add the water (this should add a lil more moisture to it) and cover for a few minutes. Pay attention so that you don't cook the bak choi for too long, or it gets soggy and unpleasant. When the bak choi is cooked, put it on plate and sprinkle the fried garlic from the dou fu dish. Simple!

These are the two recipes of the day. They're very simple, and they taste good! Still have to figure out what I'm eating tonight! If anyone has variations that they think are better than what I made, let me know. I'd rather eat better food!

NB: starting weight, 165. Also, I need to work on the presentation of the picture...hopefully pictures will get better as I go!

Mission 1: New Years Resolution

I'm Chris, a grad student in Hawai'i, tomorrow begins my new year's resolution: no meat (fish is okay) for 6 months. To many, this doesn't seem like too hard of a challenge and maybe even nonsensical. There are a few reasons why I made this my resolution: I want to lose weight, and I know I don't eat the healthy meats, I feel bad for factory farmed animals, a detox (so many chemicals in animals), and it just gives me something to do. The point of this blog is two-fold. One, it might keep me on track and help people with their diets, and two, for the food lovers out there, I will keep posted all the dishes I cook, restaurants I go to, and dishes I order. I don't think veggie/fish dishes necessarily have to be bad. So why not share some personal creations with other people who wish to do the same! I will do my best to eat organic. Though, being a grad student, my funds may limit my ability to eat strictly organic foods.

Anyways, I will do my best to put my creations online and even keep track of how my weight fluctuates with the foods I'm eating. However, I am not purely going to go on this "diet", I am going to hopefully be working out and drinking protein shakes to ensure I am getting enough protein. Hopefully tomorrow I will have my first dish up and posted!

Mahalo, from Honolulu!