The Report: Friday, January 4, 2007

Woo! Good day. I effectively didn’t leave the house, and I wasn’t hungry for lunch until really late in the day, so the day was really odd. But good. Lots that was good.

BREAKFAST: Egg Beaters And Chicken Sausage

I tried the chicken sausage again. Eureka! Followed a cookbook method I tracked down…somewhere. I put the links, still frozen, into a small nonstick skillet and put in enough water to cover. Threw in maybe a teaspoon of canola oil. Brought the water to a boil, and boiled it until the water was gone. This creates a fairly messy pan with the chicken fat sort of lying around, but it disappears pretty quickly, and the skins brown so they’re not so pale. (Until you fry them in the dry pan, they’re cooked, but they’re pale and don’t look appetizing.) I scooted the sausages off to the side and cooked a half-cup of Southwestern Egg Beaters in the other side of the pan. They picked up a LOT of the brown bits in the bottom of the pan. They looked a little darker than I prefer, and there wasn’t a lot of taste, like there would be if it were real sausage.

Look, a lot of the charm of sausage is the grease. If you don’t believe this, you haven’t eaten sausage with less fat in it. I’ve had good luck incorporating sausage into other things when it’s not “real” sausage with full fat. The Boca breakfast patties make great little sandwiches for breakfast — very, very good. But here, you’re eating a bare sausage link made from chicken, and even though the apple (and other) flavors are pleasant, IT IS CHICKEN. It is chicken that’s flavored like sausage, BUT IT IS CHICKEN. Don’t think it’s going to be sausage in the same way a spicy link of greasy pork is sausage. I’m not saying eat greasy pork; I’m not saying don’t try the chicken-apple sausage. I’m saying…expect it to be about as satisfying as chicken. Cook it carefully and gently so it stays moist, because it will want to dry out. Eat it with something kind of moist and mushy, like eggs. Or use a little real maple syrup and dip it in that. Because…it is chicken.

SNACK: Bottled Mocha Frappuccino

This was mostly stupid. I was at the deli, and I was tempted by the little bottle of mocha that I often buy as a ritual. It wasn’t that good, I didn’t enjoy it that much, it’s something that takes me about two minutes to drink, and I should stop it with those.

EARLY DINNER/LATE LUNCH: Boca Burger On A Wheat Roll

I had frozen parbaked wheat rolls in the freezer, so I baked one of those in the oven. Very, very tasty roll (from Fresh Direct). At the same time, I sprayed the small nonstick skillet and fried an original Boca burger. I split the roll (which — in case I forgot to say so — was very, very good) and put the burger on it. I thin-sliced one-quarter ounce (which I weighed) of really good cheddar that I just got, and put that on the burger. Used the champagne-shallot mustard again, as well as some ketchup (I’m a creature of habit from childhood) and, in a late development, three bottled jalapeno slices.

DINNER PART TWO: Caesar Salad, Applesauce

Three romaine leaves, cut up and washed. One tablespoon of good, rich Caesar dressing. Seven rubs of parmesan. Six butter-garlic croutons. I realize this isn’t the best example of eating a vegetable, but I really felt like I should eat a vegetable. Really did. I added a small container of unsweetened applesauce topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon, and — just for the hell of it — a sprinkle of red sugar left over from when I wanted to make Christmas cookies and never did.

DESSERT: Ice Cream And Granola

Okay, this was SO GOOD. About a half-cup of Haagen-Dazs light vanilla, which I topped with a couple of tablespoons (small handful) of granola. Wow, it was good. It was really, really good. I’ve never really tried that before, and it was probably one of the most pleasant desserts I’ve made for myself in quite a long time. I am a vanilla ice cream fan anyway, and the crunch of the granola and the taste of the oats (mostly) was…really good. A great discovery.

NIGHT BONUS: Peanuts

I had a handful of peanuts after that, because I was a tiny bit hungry and under for the day on calories.

All in all, I did really well today, which was particularly good news after yesterday was a little bit…tricky. One headline was that having that breakfast that was really high in protein and low in carbohydrates seemed to make me full for hours. I probably ate that around 9:30 in the morning (late to begin with), and I wasn’t hungry again until late in the afternoon. It was impressive. I may have to remember that a breakfast with some real substantial protein is very important for me.