A Contrast In Exercising

The sacrificial altar of my many lost pounds

For the past month my workout on the exercising bike has been between 80 and 90 minutes. I do a 10 minute warm up on a lower resistance setting, then I go up a setting and do that for 65-70 minutes before taking a one minute 'break' at the lower setting. I then do several minutes at the higher setting, another minute at the lower setting, then the higher setting until I am a minute away from finishing and I go to the lower setting as a bit of a cool down.

It's always somewhat of an effort to get through the workout. Some days it just a physical challenge, others days it's stress from a bad day in the office. Other times it's just boredom. Let's face it; riding a stationary bike for an hour and a half is far from exciting.

I've tried playing video games, the motion of the game on the screen coupled with the pedaling on the bike just makes me too dizzy! So, I watch TV, and as I have mentioned before I typically watch shows from the Food Network. Why, would someone working to lose weight watch shows full of foods they can't eat? For several reasons. First, I like them! They are amusing and educational and often give me ideas to use in my own cuisine. My Pasta with Chicken, Mushrooms, and Shallots in a Saffron Sauce Reduction came from a show I saw. Second, it's a reminder to me of how I got where I was by eating too much of too high calorie recipes. Finally, it's the carrot on a stick, to remind me to keep going, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and one day, down the road, perhaps once a month, I can have a lavish meal with too many calories!

So, as I started saying some days the workout goal seems almost impossible to achieve. Yesterday in fact, I was so worn out when I got about 30 minutes into the higher setting, I did not think I would be able to keep going, so, I took a minute at the lower setting. I ended up interjecting several unscheduled 'breaks' like this which increased the time of my workout by a few minutes since the goal of the workout is a set number of calories burned. The lower resistance setting burns less calories. When I was finished though I had burned the 900 calories, it just took five minutes longer. The workout is rarely this bad, but other days, it just seems to go on forever.

Today was one of those rare workouts though that could almost cause me to enjoy exercising! Don't get me wrong, every day when I climb off that exercise bike, I am elated that I finished the workout. This morning, I was into it mentally and physically. The ride was almost effortless, the time passed reasonably quickly, I did 70 minutes at the higher setting before taking that first minute break. If the workout went like that every day, it would be fantastic!

And it is a workout! The t-shirt I am wearing is completely saturated in sweat as is the golf towel I keep on the exercise bike for wiping my face and head. It is a hearty workout!

However it goes, I don't know how any days I'll go on my streak of continuous days. Without checking I think this Sunday marks 17 weeks. For me, couch potato that I am, exercising every day for 17 weeks is quite an accomplishment.

Oh, and I hate exercise!

Recipe:Pasta with Chicken, mushrooms,and shallots with a saffronsauce reduction

I've been on my Lifestyle Modification plan for 99 days now, and Sunday I was just really, really craving some pasta! I've not had any in over three months and being Italian I figured I must be breaking some law somewhere in Italy!

Since on Sundays I get to have 500 calories for my main meal instead of the 300 I do for other days of the week, I decided I must have some pasta. Thanks to a show I saw last week on the Food Network with Bobby Flay, I decided it had to be flavored with saffron. This is also the first time I've used shallots in a recipe. And David, they were Christopher Ranch shallots.

I made the following dish which turned out so good I had to share the recipe. A lot of times when I post a recipe here, it is the second, third, or even fourth attempt because I won't post a recipe unless I think it tastes great enough to share. In this case, I hit "killer!" on the first try.

Note cooking the pasta in water & chicken broth along with saffron adds excellent coloring and flavor to the pasta. Reducing the liquid by cooking off the water, combined with adding the pasta before it is fully cooked, provides enough starch to make a light sauce that clings to the pasta. Figuring most of you have significant others, unlike myself, I adjusted the recipe below to allow two servings instead of the single portion I made yesterday which is pictured below:

Recipe: Pasta with Chicken, mushrooms, and shallots with a saffron sauce reduction
Serves: 2
Calories per serving: about 350
Nutrition info: very low in fat and sodium

Ingredients:
2 large shallots thinly sliced
8 ounces sliced mushrooms
.2 grams Saffron Threads
16 ounces low sodium chicken broth
8 ounces boneless skinless Chicken Breast
4 ounces Dreamfields Rotini pasta
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter No Calorie Pump Spray
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chopped chives to taste

Preparation:
Combine 1 cup of chicken broth, half of saffron threads, and 3 cups of water in a pot and bring to boil. Once water is boiling add pasta to water and cook for 8 minutes. When completed, drain pasta and return to covered to pot to keep warm. Note pasta should be yellow in color from the saffron.

While water is heating spray bottom of frying pan with PAM and add shallots and chicken, cooking for several minutes while stirring shallots once a minute until chicken is browned on one side. Turn chicken, stir shallots, and add 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms to pan along with remaining 8 ounces of chicken broth and saffron threads. Bring to simmer and cover over low flame until pasta is finished, about 5 minutes.

Remove lid and break apart chicken with spatula. Sprinkle lightly with freshly ground black pepper. Add pasta and stir to combine. Cook covered so mixture simmers for 5 minutes. Remove lid and slightly increase heat until mixture returns to simmering. Stir every minute until liquid has thickened (another 5-10 minutes.)

Lightly spray surface of frying pan contents with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray and stir. Remove from heat and place food on serving platter, sprinkle with chopped chives, serve and enjoy!