Archive for August 7, 2013

Rounding 3rd Base

Posted: August 7, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
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Just in case there are questions, the title is a baseball reference, meaning almost back to home plate for Ramadan. That’s the closest I will get to talking about baseball for the next couple of weeks until the Nationals start winning again. Anyways..the new moon that started Ramadan has officially been sighted (although scientific calculations told us well ahead of time), so that means Ramadan draws to an end. The best part is that Saudia Arabia has announced Eid for the 8th as well so most of the Muslims in the world will be having one big celebration!

This post is for the final 2 days of Ramadan! Not a lot of exciting stuff going food wise except that the universe did win as I slumped back into eating eggs for Sahoor. Aside from that, the last couple of days of Ramadan have been a time crunch as usual, hence the delayed postings.

For Sahoor

Like I said, universe won, got sucked into eating eggs again, except on the 6th where I was able to sneak in some sweet potatoes. I made a hashed sweet potato dish.

It was 1 sweet potato that I skinned and shredded using a grate. Just FYI, grating takes some effort and energy! I for some reason was up all night and had not slept at all. So since I didn’t wake up from REM sleep, I had the energy to do it. I then added the shreddings to a pan with coconut oil and heated it up. I added a pinch of salt and pepper to it and then when the sweet potato was nearly done, I made two holes and cracked two eggs into them. I let it cook for another minute and then placed the plate in the oven for about 5 minutes until the eggs were done. I added some cholula hot sauce on top and ate it.

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For the last Sahoor, I had only napped an hour or two in the past 24 hours so I was barely awake for it. I made a simple omelette, ate it, prayed, and went to sleep. I barely remember it haha. I was a little sad that I couldn’t make anything spectacular for the final day but oh well. I did sleep till noon so I didn’t have to worry about passing a long day with little food.

For Iftar

My sister, who I call my assistant chef, whipped this up while I got my first 2 hours of sleep after about 36 hours of being awake (stupid insomnia.) This was a recipe that I worked on last year for chicken fajitas and guacamole.

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For the final day of Ramadan, I was spending it with the family and as my sister and I went back and forth on what to make, we joked about pizza. That joke pulled some traction and we decided you know what, after we break our fast, Ramadan is technically over. So we did it; we ate pizza. Yeah I said it and now you know what my final cheat meal was. You should feel special. I also later had a slurpee and barely felt any guilt. Hey it’s been a long month, don’t judge me!

Workouts

I did a little bit of squat work on the final day of Ramadan but nothing crazy. I also did days 6 and 7 on the ad challenge calendar.

So this is it for the food/workout posts. InshAllah (God Willing), I will post a final piece tomorrow with some thoughts, reflections, and thanks. Enjoy the day, eat the traditional food with your family, but remember the day after life goes back to normal and that minute on the lips means a lifetime on the hips bahaha.

Eid Mubarak to you all!

Stir and Fry

Posted: August 7, 2013 in Challenge, Food, Ramadan
Tags: , , , , , ,
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Yeah I know I said this post was coming right away but I forgot some of the recipe and took some time to remember exactly how I made the Iftar meal. Oh and then in the middle of it all I got distracted by the delivery of my new office furniture and started putting that together. ADD at its best.

If there is a recipe of mine you decide to try, I would say this is the one to do! It’s a little complicated and time consuming but it’s worth it. Enjoy!

For Sahoor

I hate myself for it but I went back to eggs. I’m out of egg whites so I fried up 2 eggs sunny side up in olive oil. I ate them with a fork. I had a protein shake and some pure orange juice. I had a few glasses of water after that.

For Iftar

For Iftar I made an Asian Stir Fry dish centered around zucchini. It takes some time to prepare and requires some room but it’s worth it. The recipe below is for 2-3 servings. Here is how it’s done:

  • 1 lb of bonless skinned chicken, diced
  • 1 large zucchini, sliced
  • 1 cup of broccoli
  • 1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 tsp of curry paste, Mae Ploy brand
  • 1/2 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp of chaat masala
  • 1/2 of a lemon juiced
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 3 scallions, diced
  • coconut oil
  1. Heat up 2 large skillets with 2 tsp of coconut oil in each. Add the chicken to one and zucchini to the other.
  2. Add in the salt, chaat masala, lemon juice and curry paste to the chicken. Mix it all up until the curry paste spreads to all of the chicken pieces.
  3. Continue to stir the zucchini as well and flip so it doesn’t burn.
  4. Once the zucchini is done, remove it from the skillet and set aside.
  5. Add the broccoli and mushrooms to the skillet and stir around.
  6. Once they are tender, add the zucchini, broccoli, and mushrooms to the chicken mix.
  7. Add in the scallions and red pepper.
  8. Stir it all up and then lower the heat. Let it simmer with a top over it until the chicken is done.

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If you want, you can make some “fried rice” like I did a couple of weeks ago with cauliflower to eat with this. Otherwise, grab a fork and dig in!

Workout of the Day

Day 5 of the ab challenge. Yeah lazy day.

2 days left in the month of Ramadan, have you accomplished all of your goals that you set out to do??