Michaels Month of Meticulously Mandated Mastication – Fourth Bite

Today’s the last day of the first week of my eating plan, so Im going to cut the planned update short and just cover one day. Today’s food, as seems to be the norm, was not without its problems. But overall things turned out quite well. I’m also not suffering any noticeable cravings, though now that I thought about cravings I’d love a few slices of white bread. But I’d prefer to be slimmer more so I must persevere. Once you start cooking its weird how into it you get, I spent a good two hours last night looking up various recipes and thinking about what I would include in the next two week block. Which should conclude just before christams, I’m not going to bother with healthy eating for christmas or new years eve weekend. Hopefully I can stick to it for the week in-between, but if not Im not going to be too heartbroken. After all, this is a martathon, not a sprint.

Day 07 – Wednesday 01/12

Breakfast: Porridge

I tried giving the porridge an extra ten seconds this morning. That was a mistake, not a disatrous one, but it certainly did feel a bit more like eating pineapple flavoured paste than porridge.

Dinner: Spicy Sweet Potato Oven Chips & Grilled Chicken

Spicy Sweet Potato Chips

Ingredients

2 Sweet Potato’s
Taco Flavouring

Notes / Directions

1. Peel potatoes and cut into chip’s
2. Place the potatoes in a bowl along with 2-3 tblsps of olive oil (if you want a lower fat option add 1 tsp of olive oil and spray the chips with low fat baking spray)
3. Add Taco seasoning (or any other seasoning you like) and toss the chips (its best to use your hands to make sure all the chips get covered)
4. Bake for ~25 minutes at ~220

Sweet Potatos (not deformed willies)
Sweet Potatos (not deformed willies)

To be honest I only went into the kitchen becasue after getting my priest to 70 I wanted to take a bit of a break from Warcraft and think about whether I’d keep levelling him or not. But while in the kitchen I figured that I might as well prepare the chips for tonight and throw them in the fridge, I also figured I’d make my smoothie for later at the same time. Though mid-way through preperation I ended up getting hungry and deciding to make my dinner then and there.

Oh so many chips
Oh so many chips

Anyhow, after I peeled and quatered the sweet potatoes I realised that I probably had too much for just one person to eat. I would have been better off going with one sweet potato (and half a pack of seasoning). But its not as if I could put the skin back on the potatoes (and I didnt want to make them again tomorrow) so I forged ahead. After I had the potatoes chopped into chip shapes I checked on my chicken and was rather disconcerted to see that it hadnt defrosted yet. With little alternative I decided to defrost it in the microwave (even though I’m amazingly paranoid about bringing chicken anywhere near a microwave). While the chicken was defrosting I started to “bread” the chips.

Oiling them up
Oiling them up

Most of the recipes I’d found called for quite a large quantity of olive or vegtable oil. I wanted to go with a healthier option though so I used about a one teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and slowly tossed the chips while spraying them with low fat baking spray. Once I was satisifed that all the chips had a coating of oil I added the entire sachet of taco seasoning while turning the chips. Once all the seasoning was added I (literally) rolled up my sleeves and set to mixing the chips by hand to ensure every chip had a good covering. I expected this to be a pain in the arse but it turned out to be surprisingly simple.

Once the chips were coated I started to arrange them on the wire cooking rack that I got of Mam a few weeks ago. I ran into some trouble here as I simply had too many chips to fit comfortably onto the wire tray. In order to get as many on as possible I took the oven tray out and rested the wire rack directly on it so I could just slide the entire thing into the oven while done. Ideally I would have wanted less chips at this point in order to ensure better airflow around them. But thats something I’ll know for next time. Once I had all the chips squeezed onto the rack I placed the entire thing in the oven.

Oven ready
Oven ready

If I had time I would have pre-heated the oven (much as I generally dislike doing so). But I didnt, so I didnt. After the chips had been in ten minutes I threw the two chicken breasts on the george foreman for fifteen minutes. You dont need to leave them on for so long but I like to because it makes the outer layer quite crispy and distinct, as if you’d fried them.

A pair of breasts (ooh er matron)
A pair of breasts (ooh er matron)

I wandered off and returned a quarter of an hour later eager to see how things had turned out. As expected the chicken was done fine so I put it on the plate. I then opened the oven to retrieve the fries and was slightly disconcerted when a wave of heat didnt wash out. I was even more disconcerted when I touched one of the chips and the fucking thing was room temperature. Apparently our piece of shit oven had decided to simply appear as if it was on and working while circulating room temperature air around the chips.

Done - Part 1
Done - Part 1

At this point, through no fault of my own (for once),my dinner was largely fucked. I could eat the chicken now and the chips in twenty five minutes (when they had hopefully done) or let my chicken go cold and eat it later with my chips. I opted to Solomon it and ate one breast now and left the other one for when the chips are done. Which should be in about three minutes, but I fear they are doomed.

Done - Part 2 - The Last Supper
Done - Part 2 - The Last Supper

While they may look a little overdone thats just the coating on them. These turned out awesome, they were so delicious that I finished nearly the entire tray (and my swollen gut regrets it). I will definitely be doing these again. I may try a different spice the next time, something that goes more with the rather unique taste of sweet potato. Though the taco seasoning was delicious, what I really needed for this was a sour cream dipping or lime dipping sauce. Maybe next time.

Lunch: Smoothie

I made this while I thought my chips were cooking. I find it interesting how the taste of the smoothie can be fairly radically altered depending on the order in which one adds the fruit. I started with apples first today and if the smell is any indication its going to be awesome. But as I want to post this now so I can link to it Im just going to have to go on faith for that.

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