When I moved from Boston to San Francisco a couple of years ago, I knew we’d be giving up some things. I anticipated many of the big things… missing my nephew being born is one. I didn’t think about the smaller things… like the loss of Bush’s Chili Magic.
I had no idea that it’s a regional product. I couldn’t find it in any of 7 local grocery stores. When I went back to Boston it wasn’t there either. Finally I found it in the most unlikely of places a Navy base Commissary.
How to Make a Good Easy Chili
I’m not the best chef. If you read about my healthy sauce you know that I improvise. Chili Magic helps me do that. One can of it, some ground beef or turkey, and a can of diced tomatoes and the base of chili is done. You don’t need to do anything else if you don’t want to. Often times that suits me as I am Lazy. Other times, I like to get crazy and add things that many people wouldn’t put in Chili. I add salsa, buffalo wing sauce, corn, mushrooms, peppers, onions, a little cheese (go easy on this), even wheat germ. It really is magic in that I haven’t been able to make a bad one yet.
Why Chili is Important to my Diet
It’s extremely healthy. The beans are a great source of fiber which keeps me full longer. The ground turkey/beef provides a lot of protein. The diced tomatoes and extras give me vegetables that I often lack when I’m making other dishes.
I tried to make chili the conventional way, but have failed to duplicate the success that I get Bush’s Chili Magic. It’s given my diet a kick start.
Have a chili recipe secret? Share it below.
[You’d think Bush paid me for writing so highly of them. I want to stress that is not the case. I really like their product and think that it should have wider distribution. Plus, I’m also extremely excited to find a place where I can finally buy it.]
Posted by Lazy Man on April 3, 2008
in Food Choice.
Are you the type of person who goes to the store and grabs a jar of Ragu and puts it in your cart? I used to do that. Week after week, I would grab whatever cheapest without regard to the nutritional label. What can I say, I’m Lazy? One day, I looked at a label and was shocked by what I saw. It was sugar… and lots of it. That isn’t the way to a healthy diet.
Today my wife and I make our own tomato sauce. It sounds like it is a lot of work, but it takes me around ten minutes. The key to the sauce is to have a can of regular cheap tomato sauce and a can of diced tomatoes. I generally buy the cheapest, but we recently found that Costco has a very good price on both - and they are organic too.
Much to my wife’s disappointment, I’ve never been one to follow a recipe. I will look at recipes to get an idea of what I’m making, but I’m too Lazy to measure out things to the last ounce - or to measure many things at all. The best part of this recipe is that you don’t need to measure anything.
Here’s how we make our Lazy Man’s healthy tomato sauce:
- Brown some ground beef or ground turkey on a stove top at high in a pot/skillet, whatever is available. Drain out the excess fat. Skip this step if you are vegetarian or simply want a meatless sauce
- While browning the meat, open up your cans of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Pour them into another pot and put that on the stove at medium heat
- Add your spices… we like oregano, and basil. Trader Joe’s has frozen concentrate garlic which we love, but you could substitute garlic powder if it suits you. Add a dash of olive oil (or not it’s all up to you!)
- Have some fun with it. I tried to do a red wine reduction with some $2 Charles Shaw wine from Trader Joe’s. I couldn’t tell the difference in the final sauce, but it was good to try once.
- Mix the meat into the sauce, give it a couple minutes at medium to low stirring occasionally. Serve
The biggest problem that I have with this sauce is that it’s so good that we want to have it often. What goes with tomato sauce? That’s right - pasta. It’s high carb and not as healthy as I’d like. If we ran marathons that would be different, but we don’t. If anyone has suggestions for what we could have this sauce with, let me know in the comments.
Posted by Lazy Man on March 26, 2008
in Food Choice.
It’s been a while since I posted. As you might have been able to tell from the title of this post, it’s because I’ve become addicted to the Nintendo Wii. I don’t imagine that I’m alone. I fully expect support groups to pop up everywhere once Nintendo gets their production woes in order.
For those unfamiliar with the Wii, where have you been? It’s a gaming system with a control that senses your movements. This means that you swing a bat or tennis racket, not just push buttons and stare at a screen. In short it’s a way to play your way into shape. I had been holding out for the Wii Fit to come out, but I felt it was time to give it a try. I am sure I can add the Wii Fit when it comes out in May.
I have two DVDs of games - Wii Sports and Wii Play. Wii Sports has 5 games ranging from Tennis to Boxing. I like the tennis quite a bit, but the boxing is growing on me - plus it seems like it has the potential for a full body exercise. You physically have to punch - with both hands, block, and dodge. I’ve just fought one match and I was sweating a storm. Happily, I won a decision in the third round.
One of the great things about Wii Sports is that you can take a set of tests. Your performance is rated and the Wii gives you a Wii age. The first time I took the test, I got an age of 34 - not bad for a soon-to-be 32 year old. I have a little more practice now and I bet I’ve cut a few years off of that age.
I’ll continue to play it and give occasional reports of any health related milestones I reach with it.
Posted by Lazy Man on March 24, 2008
in Exercise.
It seems like reports are coming out linking autism to vaccines. I had never put any thought into it, but it seems like there’s a link there. It could however be like Pirates and Global Warming where the two are unrelated coincidences.
The big news is that the United States government seems to be conceding a connection by compensating the family of a girl who has autism-like symptoms. The government officials deny that the money concedes that connection and says that it is “a very special situation.”
The article goes on to explain that the girl’s father is a neurologist. I imagine that make him more qualified to recognize the signs of autism in an 18-month girl. Her mother is also in the medical field - she’s a nurse. Lastly, the mother is trained as a lawyer. I wonder if the “very special situation” is the fact that these people are professionally able to link the autism to the vaccines AND be able to litigate it properly. The only thing that could be better is if the grandfather was the government official giving them the money.
Later in the article, they say that there is very little in the way of testing of vaccine-autism link. It doesn’t surprise me, I don’t know how you’d go about testing it. You certainly are not likely to have a control group of children who do not receive vaccines, right?
Posted by Lazy Man on March 9, 2008
in Featured, News.
Last week I mentioned that my wife’s cholesterol was off the charts in a very bad way. This is despite her healthy eating habits and exercising 4-5 times a week.
A reader, Kitty, sent us this Heart Attack calculator from the American Heart Association. When my wife took it her risk was actually 1% despite the high cholestrol. I don’t know if that invovled some rounding, but even 1% is a little high. This is very comforting at least until we can schedule a follow-up meeting with her doctor.
Here are some changes that we are looking into:
- Garlic - We don’t eat a lot of garlic, but one of it’s benefits is lowering cholesterol. I’ll try to sneak some more into her diet.
- More Salads - Last Thursday, I surprised her with salad night for dinner. It was simply a huge salad. I can’t remember the last time we had a vegetarian meal.
- Enteric Coated Baby Aspirin - With my wife being a pharmacist she’s already got an informed opinion on this. We plan to talk with the doctor about this as aspirin regimen can cause adverse side effects (like ulcers for instance). However, if the doctor agrees this may be a wise plan before she undergoes rigorous exercise. If you couldn’t tell, we are going to be cautious with this.
- Supplements - Again, I’ll check with the doctor, but I’m a believer of some herbal medicines. When I read Fantastic Voyage
supplements (within limits) made sense to me. Every recommendation was backed up with one or more scientific studies. I have looked into these studies a little more and some seem promising. They sell a Cholesterol Therapy product that combines niacinamide, policosanol, gugulipid, plant sterols, and garlic. The dosage is a little low compared to what the book recommends, but I think it could still be helpful. I’d also pick up Phosphatidylcholine (PtC), which was referenced in the book as helping cholesterol.
Would you do any of things? What would you add, if anything?
Posted by Lazy Man on February 26, 2008
in Featured, Sickness Prevention.
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