Dan has mastered the art of reheating things; he can use the rice cooker and as long as I put the flour/seasoning in a bag, he can “shake-and-bake” oven fried chicken. It was time. He was ready. And he aced it!! Tonight, Dan used his patented “shake-(pause)-and-bake” method for the chicken; made some rice in the rice cooker; boiled peas & carrots and even … wait for it … simmered a sauce while constantly stirring so it didn’t burn. There were still a few steps left for me to finish when I got home, but GO DAN GO!!!!
Tonight for dinner, we had HG’s Sesame Chicken swap with a healthified fried rice. I’m not going to claim any credit for the sesame chicken (you can find that recipe here), but I am going to outline how to split a recipe up into steps that can be easily done by two different people.
Two nights before:
- Take two skinless/boneless chicken breasts from the freezer and place in the fridge overnight to defrost.
One night before:
- Take the chicken breasts out of the fridge and chop into bite-sized pieces; place in a re-sealable plastic bag with 2tbsp teriyaki sauce (this isn’t in the HG recipe, but the chicken looked so plain and boring by itself) and place in the fridge.
- Place ½ cup of whole wheat flour in a re-sealable plastic bag and set aside.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix ¼ cup fat-free chicken broth with 1tbsp cornstarch, stir until dissolved. Add 2tbsp sugar-free pancake syrup, 2tbsp seasoned rice vinegar, 1tbsp ketchup, ½ tbsp lite/low-sodium soy sauce, ½ tsp sesame oil, ½ tsp crushed garlic and stir well. Cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge with the chicken.
- Line a baking pan with foil and place on the countertop; set out the rice cooker (or microwaveable bowl with lid) and rice near the pan and also the wheat flour. Place two small sauce pans on the stove.
- Write down the instructions for the next day.
Dinner time:
- Heat oven to 350; take the chicken and sauce out of the fridge.
- Drop a few pieces of chicken at a time in the flour and shake to coat; place chicken on the baking pan and place in the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes.
- Place one cup rice plus one cup water in the rice cooker and set timer for 15minutes (or whatever your package directions state).
- Place ½ cup frozen peas & carrots in one of the sauce pans, cover with water and heat on the stove over medium-high heat until boiling, lower heat to keep it simmering.
- Place refrigerated sauce in the other sauce pan and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally to keep it from burning.
****THIS IS WHEN I CAME HOME AND HOW I FINISHED DINNER****
- Toss the chicken in the sauce and place back in the oven to keep warm.
- Drain peas & carrots.
- In a large pan or wok, melt 1tbsp faux-butter and scramble one egg. Add rice and peas & carrots, 1tbsp light/low-sodium soy sauce, ½ tsp of crushed garlic, ½ tsp of black pepper and sauté for about 5 minutes.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
i don't eat broccoli
The Thanksgiving holiday is barely over and everywhere I go, all I hear about is Christmas!! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday and wonderful long weekend. I’d love to hear about your signature dish, what you do with your leftovers or your favorite dessert … please share!!
Now, what was that I said about Christmas? Oh yea … like many people, I normally start celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I would probably start earlier, but I have a deal with Dan that I will not start until the day after Thanksgiving because he thinks I go a little overboard and that it is not healthy to listen to Christmas music year round. So every year, on the days after Thanksgiving, I lovingly turn my leftover turkey into Feel Better Soup, clean the house top to bottom and bring out the decorations and tree to make the whole house look like Christmas exploded all over the place. This year, however, I am way behind on my normal schedule thanks to Dan talking me into a complete and total lazy day followed by a day with the fam followed by a gluttonous girls’ day (wine + mani + pedi = yay!). It wasn’t a total loss; I enjoyed myself thoroughly but now I am BUSY getting caught up from my three days off! Between Christmas prep, working on my list of 101, regular every day “fun” and who knows what else that’ll pop up … I will be very happy when January 1st has come and gone. (I normally take down everything Christmas on January 1st, if I don’t then Dan threatens to do so for me and, well, neither of us wants that!)
As part of my ongoing attempts to cut-the-fat, here is another holiday fave gone thinner. I cannot personally vouch for the flavor as I detest broccoli; it does not matter what you cover it in, I still can’t eat it. However, Dan told me this Thanksgiving that this dish has moved to his list of holiday faves and has asked for it to be added to our Christmas menu. I can attest that the cheese sauce is delish though so I hope you give it a try!
Broccoli Au Gratin (sounds fancy for broccoli with cheese sauce)
3-4 cups fresh broccoli (frozen works too) washed and chopped
1 small brick Velveeta made with 2% milk (I know, I know, I’m not a big velveeta person either but I promise this is good)
1 cup reduced sodium 99% fat-free chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (2 if they’re large, 3 if they’re small or you’re measuring minced garlic out of a jar)
2 tsp black pepper
1tsp white pepper
Panko (or whatever bread crumbs you have in your pantry)
- Cut the brick of velveeta into about 1” cubes and place in small saucepan with remaining ingredients over medium-low heat
- As the velveeta melts, whisk the sauce together until smooth; immediately remove from the heat or it will BURN (yes, I know from experience)
- Steam your broccoli, or boil your frozen (you can do this while the veleeta is melting)
- Place broccoli in a casserole dish, pour the cheese sauce over and toss to coat, sprinkle a little panko over the top
- Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until all bubbly and browned; enjoy!
**VARIATION: increase the broth to 2 cups and add 1 cup uncooked Minute brown rice + 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken breast (or leftover turkey), increase cook-time to 30-45min and turn this into an easy weeknight casserole entrée instead of just a side dish. Again, I cannot personally vouch for the flavor but Dan loved it when I made it for him from the leftovers we had in the fridge. **
Now, what was that I said about Christmas? Oh yea … like many people, I normally start celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I would probably start earlier, but I have a deal with Dan that I will not start until the day after Thanksgiving because he thinks I go a little overboard and that it is not healthy to listen to Christmas music year round. So every year, on the days after Thanksgiving, I lovingly turn my leftover turkey into Feel Better Soup, clean the house top to bottom and bring out the decorations and tree to make the whole house look like Christmas exploded all over the place. This year, however, I am way behind on my normal schedule thanks to Dan talking me into a complete and total lazy day followed by a day with the fam followed by a gluttonous girls’ day (wine + mani + pedi = yay!). It wasn’t a total loss; I enjoyed myself thoroughly but now I am BUSY getting caught up from my three days off! Between Christmas prep, working on my list of 101, regular every day “fun” and who knows what else that’ll pop up … I will be very happy when January 1st has come and gone. (I normally take down everything Christmas on January 1st, if I don’t then Dan threatens to do so for me and, well, neither of us wants that!)
As part of my ongoing attempts to cut-the-fat, here is another holiday fave gone thinner. I cannot personally vouch for the flavor as I detest broccoli; it does not matter what you cover it in, I still can’t eat it. However, Dan told me this Thanksgiving that this dish has moved to his list of holiday faves and has asked for it to be added to our Christmas menu. I can attest that the cheese sauce is delish though so I hope you give it a try!
Broccoli Au Gratin (sounds fancy for broccoli with cheese sauce)
3-4 cups fresh broccoli (frozen works too) washed and chopped
1 small brick Velveeta made with 2% milk (I know, I know, I’m not a big velveeta person either but I promise this is good)
1 cup reduced sodium 99% fat-free chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (2 if they’re large, 3 if they’re small or you’re measuring minced garlic out of a jar)
2 tsp black pepper
1tsp white pepper
Panko (or whatever bread crumbs you have in your pantry)
- Cut the brick of velveeta into about 1” cubes and place in small saucepan with remaining ingredients over medium-low heat
- As the velveeta melts, whisk the sauce together until smooth; immediately remove from the heat or it will BURN (yes, I know from experience)
- Steam your broccoli, or boil your frozen (you can do this while the veleeta is melting)
- Place broccoli in a casserole dish, pour the cheese sauce over and toss to coat, sprinkle a little panko over the top
- Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until all bubbly and browned; enjoy!
**VARIATION: increase the broth to 2 cups and add 1 cup uncooked Minute brown rice + 2 cups cooked and cubed chicken breast (or leftover turkey), increase cook-time to 30-45min and turn this into an easy weeknight casserole entrée instead of just a side dish. Again, I cannot personally vouch for the flavor but Dan loved it when I made it for him from the leftovers we had in the fridge. **
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
is that a vegetable or a dessert???
Technically it’s a vegetable, but did you know it flowers? Regardless, the sweet potato is fabulous. Packed full of important vitamins, they’re low in calories and have virtually no fat. There’s a whole lot of good info about sweet potatoes here so I won’t bore you with just typing out all the facts. So what’s the problem with sweet potato pie? Namely that it is drowned in butter and sugars and sometimes marshmallows or whipped cream which negates all the positive influence of the pure sweet potato!
In order to get the full benefits of the sweet potato without loading it down in fat and calories, I’ve modified my traditional sweet potato casserole while still maintaining that Thanksgiving-esque sweetness. Hope you enjoy!
Sweet Potato Casserole
3-4 medium sweet potatoes
3 tbsp heart-healthy faux butter, divided
¼ cup fat free half & half
2-3tbsp of skim milk
2 tbsp brown sugar substitute, divided (splenda brand is best)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon blend or pumpkin pie spice
1tsp each salt and black pepper
¼ cup chopped walnuts or pecan
-- Wash the sweet potatoes and prick a few times with a fork; microwave for about 7-12min (depending on size) until really soft; allow to cool slightly for easy handling
-- Once cooled, split them open and scoop out the insides into a casserole dish
-- Add 2tbsp of the faux butter, half & half, milk, 1 ½ tbsp brown sugar substitute, vanilla and spices; mix well then smooth out the top. I add the milk a tablespoon at a time until I get the consistency that I want so that portion may vary.
-- Mix remaining 1tbsp faux butter and ½ tbsp brown sugar substitute with the chopped nuts and spread across the top of the sweet potato mixture (I sometimes sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top too)
-- Bake at 350 for about 20-30 min or until you have a nice crust and enjoy!
Monday, November 22, 2010
the holiday fifteen
I think we can all admit that we give up during the holidays and eat whatever we want, whenever we want … or is that just me? Cooler weather rolls in, bulky sweaters hide everything, and hell, we’re *this* close to the new year so why not say “eff it” and promise to make a resolution to eat better and exercise in 2011 (or 2012, or 2013). Holiday food is amazing; I’ll take the turkey, ham, roast beef, mashed potatoes, buttered corn, glazed carrots, various vegetable casseroles and whatever that is there with cheese on top, all covered with a heaping ladleful (or two) of gravy made with pan drippings please! Just like the first time you went into your college dining hall, the buffets seem endless. Thankfully, the holidays only come once per year, not 2-3 times per day, every day like freshman year.
Perhaps, like me, you justify why you eat so much during the holidays: they do only come once a year, it’d be rude not to heap our plates full of the yummy foods the hostesses so carefully prepared, I’ll just try a little bit of each, and there are only so many months where you can find pumpkin pies!! As part of my ongoing efforts to cut the fat, I’ve tested out variations of my personal faves and will be sharing those recipes here on my blog for any of you that are willing to give something new a try this holiday season. First up: creamed spinach!!
Baked Creamed Spinach
2 pkg frozen chopped spinach
½ cup fat-free half & half (you may need ¾ cup, depends on the brand of spinach you use)
1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella (divided into ¾ cup and ¼ cup)
½ cup reduced fat grated parmesan (or parmesan blend), plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 clove garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup panko
Salt to taste (optional)
-- Prepare the spinach according to package directions (pretty much you just boil it in water)
-- Drain the spinach really, REALLY well then place in casserole dish
-- Add the remaining ingredients (except for the panko and ¼ cup mozzarella) and mix well; if you’re not getting a creamy texture, add more half & half; the mozzarella will somewhat melt but don’t worry if it’s not melting, it will once it gets into the oven
-- Smooth out the top of the spinach and top with the ¼ cup mozzarella, a handful of panko and sprinkling of parmesan (in this order)
-- Bake at 350 for about 30-40 min until all bubbly and somewhat browned then broil for about 5 min longer to get a nice toasty crust on top
-- Let it set on the counter or table for at least 10 min before serving and enjoy!
Perhaps, like me, you justify why you eat so much during the holidays: they do only come once a year, it’d be rude not to heap our plates full of the yummy foods the hostesses so carefully prepared, I’ll just try a little bit of each, and there are only so many months where you can find pumpkin pies!! As part of my ongoing efforts to cut the fat, I’ve tested out variations of my personal faves and will be sharing those recipes here on my blog for any of you that are willing to give something new a try this holiday season. First up: creamed spinach!!
Baked Creamed Spinach
2 pkg frozen chopped spinach
½ cup fat-free half & half (you may need ¾ cup, depends on the brand of spinach you use)
1 cup part-skim shredded mozzarella (divided into ¾ cup and ¼ cup)
½ cup reduced fat grated parmesan (or parmesan blend), plus extra to sprinkle on top
1 clove garlic
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup panko
Salt to taste (optional)
-- Prepare the spinach according to package directions (pretty much you just boil it in water)
-- Drain the spinach really, REALLY well then place in casserole dish
-- Add the remaining ingredients (except for the panko and ¼ cup mozzarella) and mix well; if you’re not getting a creamy texture, add more half & half; the mozzarella will somewhat melt but don’t worry if it’s not melting, it will once it gets into the oven
-- Smooth out the top of the spinach and top with the ¼ cup mozzarella, a handful of panko and sprinkling of parmesan (in this order)
-- Bake at 350 for about 30-40 min until all bubbly and somewhat browned then broil for about 5 min longer to get a nice toasty crust on top
-- Let it set on the counter or table for at least 10 min before serving and enjoy!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
dan-the-man watson
Dan has been a HUGE help as I work to complete my 101 items in 1,001 days. I recently marked #88 off my list by joining a gym and am working towards completing #26 (exercise at least 3 times per week for 6 straight months). For those of you who know me, you know how ridiculously hard this is for me to do. I hate exercise, hate sweating and am slightly (read: completely) robotic when it comes to my daily schedule; any changes to such schedule throw off my entire day, often resulting in a mild (read: unreasonable) hissy fit sometime that evening. This usually takes place in the kitchen when dinner is, goshforbid, served later than 7pm. Thankfully, I am also obsessed with being organized and prepared so with the help of Dan, the schedule change has caused more laughter than tears.
Because I’ve been going to the gym right after work, I haven’t been getting home until 7/715pm each evening which has caused a little stress in my life (see above re: dinner after 7). Fortunately, I have Dan, unequivocally the best husband ever. Every evening when Dan gets home, he plays with the dogs for a bit then finds the slip of paper on which I’ve written his instructions for that night’s dinner. He then goes to the fridge, pulls out all of the food I’ve prepped and gets to work. The first night was great: chicken stir-fry. I’d marinated chicken in a healthified teriyaki sauce and already cut the chicken and veggies into bite sized pieces. All Dan had to do was spray the wok with olive oil, add the chicken and stir, then add the veggies when I got home and stir some more. When I got home breathless and exhausted, he was doing fabulously and had just added the 1 cup brown rice + 1 cup water to the rice cooker and hit “start.” By the time I got out of the shower, dinner was ready! Dan grinned ear-to-ear as I complimented his gourmet dinner (hehe).
The next night was equally a success. Dan took the prepared Salisbury steaks out of the fridge and had them slowly simmering in the healthified gravy when I got home. He threw in the fresh mushrooms then boiled the water for the whole wheat egg noodles while I showered and we had another fantastic weeknight dinner. On the third night, I learned my instructions needed to be slightly more specific. I’d prepared chicken parmesan for Dan to cook. The chicken was already breaded and on the pan, the sauce was made. Dan placed the pan of chicken in the oven, boiled water, heated the sauce and was doing great until he got to my line item that stated “when the timer goes off, spoon a little sauce over each chicken breast and sprinkle some mozzarella on top then put it back in the oven for 10min.” When I got out of the shower and headed towards the dinner table, the timer went off to indicate all was ready. Dan drained the whole grain linguine while I went to take the chicken out of the oven … it went like this:
Me (laughing): how much cheese did you use?
Dan (serious): just the one bag
Me (still laughing): baby, the instructions said “a sprinkle!”
Dan (still serious): no, the instructions said to sprinkle some on top, I sprinkled it on top like the instructions said!! (points to instructions; he was right, damn!)
Me (giggling): but honey, isn’t this a bit much?
Dan (snippy): well you never use enough when you make it!!!
Now I pre-measure out cheeses for him so as not to leave any room for interpretation. He used an entire 2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella for 2 chicken breasts!! True it was part-skim, but still, wow!
Night 4, Dan ruined my chicken satay. Hungry Girl emailed out a recipe swap earlier that week so I decided to try it. Everything was prepped and ready except for the final step: stir in ¼ cup plain yogurt. Dan came home, played with the dogs, put the chicken skewers in the oven, heated up the peanut sauce and steamed the veggies. While I showered, he set the table and completed the final steps for dinner. That was the night I learned that plain is synonymous with vanilla in Dan’s world. To me, plain is plain, vanilla is a flavor but nooooooooo, in Dan’s mind plain = vanilla and vanilla = plain … or “vanilla is totally plain, it sucks.” Can you tell he’s a chocoholic?? Let’s just say the peanut sauce was a tad too sweet for my taste (but he loved it).
Night 4 also happened to be the night I started having Dan come back in the kitchen after I finish prepping the next night’s dinner to have him walk through the instructions with me while pointing at what is what in the fridge, and we haven’t had a similar incident since! Dan was very happy to have the weekend off from “cooking” and did a fabulous job last night. I’m hoping he keeps this up so that I can complete #79 in the near future (don’t complain about anything for a week). Wish me luck!
Oh!! I owe you some recipes ... check out the facebook page to see my most recent note, a chicken corn chowder that is FAB! I'm still working on interpreting the chicken scratch that is Dan's handwriting so I can post the cookie recipes :)
Because I’ve been going to the gym right after work, I haven’t been getting home until 7/715pm each evening which has caused a little stress in my life (see above re: dinner after 7). Fortunately, I have Dan, unequivocally the best husband ever. Every evening when Dan gets home, he plays with the dogs for a bit then finds the slip of paper on which I’ve written his instructions for that night’s dinner. He then goes to the fridge, pulls out all of the food I’ve prepped and gets to work. The first night was great: chicken stir-fry. I’d marinated chicken in a healthified teriyaki sauce and already cut the chicken and veggies into bite sized pieces. All Dan had to do was spray the wok with olive oil, add the chicken and stir, then add the veggies when I got home and stir some more. When I got home breathless and exhausted, he was doing fabulously and had just added the 1 cup brown rice + 1 cup water to the rice cooker and hit “start.” By the time I got out of the shower, dinner was ready! Dan grinned ear-to-ear as I complimented his gourmet dinner (hehe).
The next night was equally a success. Dan took the prepared Salisbury steaks out of the fridge and had them slowly simmering in the healthified gravy when I got home. He threw in the fresh mushrooms then boiled the water for the whole wheat egg noodles while I showered and we had another fantastic weeknight dinner. On the third night, I learned my instructions needed to be slightly more specific. I’d prepared chicken parmesan for Dan to cook. The chicken was already breaded and on the pan, the sauce was made. Dan placed the pan of chicken in the oven, boiled water, heated the sauce and was doing great until he got to my line item that stated “when the timer goes off, spoon a little sauce over each chicken breast and sprinkle some mozzarella on top then put it back in the oven for 10min.” When I got out of the shower and headed towards the dinner table, the timer went off to indicate all was ready. Dan drained the whole grain linguine while I went to take the chicken out of the oven … it went like this:
Me (laughing): how much cheese did you use?
Dan (serious): just the one bag
Me (still laughing): baby, the instructions said “a sprinkle!”
Dan (still serious): no, the instructions said to sprinkle some on top, I sprinkled it on top like the instructions said!! (points to instructions; he was right, damn!)
Me (giggling): but honey, isn’t this a bit much?
Dan (snippy): well you never use enough when you make it!!!
Now I pre-measure out cheeses for him so as not to leave any room for interpretation. He used an entire 2 cup bag of shredded mozzarella for 2 chicken breasts!! True it was part-skim, but still, wow!
Night 4, Dan ruined my chicken satay. Hungry Girl emailed out a recipe swap earlier that week so I decided to try it. Everything was prepped and ready except for the final step: stir in ¼ cup plain yogurt. Dan came home, played with the dogs, put the chicken skewers in the oven, heated up the peanut sauce and steamed the veggies. While I showered, he set the table and completed the final steps for dinner. That was the night I learned that plain is synonymous with vanilla in Dan’s world. To me, plain is plain, vanilla is a flavor but nooooooooo, in Dan’s mind plain = vanilla and vanilla = plain … or “vanilla is totally plain, it sucks.” Can you tell he’s a chocoholic?? Let’s just say the peanut sauce was a tad too sweet for my taste (but he loved it).
Night 4 also happened to be the night I started having Dan come back in the kitchen after I finish prepping the next night’s dinner to have him walk through the instructions with me while pointing at what is what in the fridge, and we haven’t had a similar incident since! Dan was very happy to have the weekend off from “cooking” and did a fabulous job last night. I’m hoping he keeps this up so that I can complete #79 in the near future (don’t complain about anything for a week). Wish me luck!
Oh!! I owe you some recipes ... check out the facebook page to see my most recent note, a chicken corn chowder that is FAB! I'm still working on interpreting the chicken scratch that is Dan's handwriting so I can post the cookie recipes :)
Monday, November 1, 2010
epic. fail.
going to something like the superbowl or a world series game is a once in a lifetime kind of experience. unfortunately, i am now completely convinced that i am the jinx. the rangers really blew it last night and dan won't even let me watch tonight's game. he'll be watching in the bedroom while i see what regular tv programming has to offer in the living room. the only good that came out of yesterday's game was crossing #22 off my list of things to do. while there, i was able to complete #53 as well. i walked right up to a table full of young, adorable navy sailors and thanked them for their service and told them i admire their commitment. then i ran away before i could start crying because something about someone so young in uniform makes me happy sad.
after the game, we came home exhausted and frustrated. i let dan check #76 off the list, we left the dishes in the sink and went to bed.
today, i have satisfied #28, a total "me" day off from work. i slept in, went to the dentist then spent the day relaxing on the couch catching up on the dvr'd shows we missed last night. pretty sure i may do #28 again, it's been a nice day. i think i've fully recovered from the craziness of last night so on to my next item for completion: #15 cook for a whole week - no takeout.
i'm going to take this one completely seriously so i won't even be eating out for lunch. this might be a lot of work but i'm sure my body will thank me for it next monday. first up for tonight is a teryaki pork tenderloin with fried rice and veggies teppanyaki style (or as close to it as i can get without the huge flattop iron grill). wish me luck!
after the game, we came home exhausted and frustrated. i let dan check #76 off the list, we left the dishes in the sink and went to bed.
today, i have satisfied #28, a total "me" day off from work. i slept in, went to the dentist then spent the day relaxing on the couch catching up on the dvr'd shows we missed last night. pretty sure i may do #28 again, it's been a nice day. i think i've fully recovered from the craziness of last night so on to my next item for completion: #15 cook for a whole week - no takeout.
i'm going to take this one completely seriously so i won't even be eating out for lunch. this might be a lot of work but i'm sure my body will thank me for it next monday. first up for tonight is a teryaki pork tenderloin with fried rice and veggies teppanyaki style (or as close to it as i can get without the huge flattop iron grill). wish me luck!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
what to do first ...
my dear friend shannon talked me into doing the day zero project. i still don't think i'm very clear on the overall purpose of this, but you make a list of 101 things that you want to complete in 1,001 days. i tend to be a fairly impulsive person (but not in the dangerous way) and tend to just do whatever i want, whenever i want; therefore, it was a touch difficult for me to come up with a list of 101 things when i've done most of what i want to do already. i'm also very rational and know that 1,001 days isn't a super long time and i don't get an unlimited budget so i couldn't list some of the things i really do want to do like "open a restaurant." trying to come up with a list of 101 things that i thought i could actually complete in 1,001 days proved to be a challenge in itself. the task of completing the list was my #1 thing, and only thing i've completed thus far.
i tried to put things on my list that i thought would be fun, interesting and new. i also tried to add a few things i knew would be easy for me to accomplish. being the opportunist that i am, i also put a few on there that while they are not the same thing, i could totally kill two birds with one stone. since shannon wouldn't let me prorate my number of days to meet a shorter list, i had to find a way to make this doable. an example of this can be found by looking at #23 and #14. i can satisfy #23 as one of the three in #14 ... two birds, one stone!
you can find the full list here: http://dayzeroproject.com/user/valwatson
since cooking is one of my passions, yes, many of the items on my list have to do with cooking. i'm trying to branch out though and am forcing myself to do so with #34 and #51. then there are the things i did just to appease dan. in consideration for many of the items on the list that he will have to endure (see #17), i added #76 and #77. so does that satisfy #19? perhaps. i think i'll leave #19 left as incomplete though because that is one that i don't want to cheat, it'd be bad karma. ok, enough of the numbers, sorry.
bottom line, this is going to be tough but i'm going to do it. now i just need to determine what to do first. i think #22 is a great way to start ... go rangers!!! dan and i are going to the world series game at rangers stadium on halloween :)
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