Cardio and Cooking: Put in ALL THE THINGS!!

I am proud to say that as of Wednesday last week, I have been pretty consistent in getting back to my regular exercise routine. Feeling lazy and useless is awful. Feeling productive and healthy is awesome.

I know that fried rice isn't the healthiest food choice to keep you going, but it's quick and easy to put together even when you don't have a lot of things around the house or time, for that matter.

Things I have learned today about fried rice:
- It is best to use rice that was steamed at least a few days ago. I know it's weird, but fried rice is much better when the rice is a bit stiff rather than soft.
- You can put practically anything into it to make a decent meal.
- Flavourful things like pork floss, when added, basically substitute for sauce.
- It doesn't need to be thaaat oily to be good.
- Like most things, it's a lot cheaper to make at home rather than purchase from a restaurant or store.
- Somehow, it tastes so much better when prepared in a wok. Even so, I make my fried rice like an unauthentic Chinese cook - in a standard frying pan.

Look at me being all white-washed with my lack of wok and chopsticks.

 Average Fried Rice

*Serves 1*
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 large egg
3 Tbsp pre-cooked and refrigerated jasmine rice
3 Tbsp mixed frozen veggies
Half of a green onion
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
2 Tbsp pork floss

1. Add oil to nonstick pan on medium heat.
2. Finely chop garlic and green onion, and add only the garlic into the pan to brown.
3. Crack in one egg, and scramble in the pan until slightly cooked.
4. Add rice, veggies, and pork floss, and stir until combined and cooked.
5. Turn off the heat, and add the sesame seeds and green onions (I like it when the green onions are only slightly cooked.)
6. Remove from heat and serve.

Remember, you can add practically anything to fried rice. If I have any, I like to add diced Chinese sausage and broccoli.

---

For the first time in my undergrad experience, I'm taking a night course, and I plan to be properly prepared this time. For whatever reason, last week, I brought chicken wings with veggies and rice. Durrr... We only get a 10 minute break, which is just enough to run to the microwaves, heat up my meal, burn my tongue because it's too hot, eat a few bites, close up the container and run back to the class. = = I was sooo hungry and tired...

Lesson learned! Tonight, I'm packing survival sammiches! (I just finished wasting my life and watching an episode of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo".)

Things I have learned today about sammiches:
- Although I had them all throughout elementary, junior high, and high school, they are easy to carry around and consume.
- Just like with fried rice, you can basically put anything into a sandwich, and it will still be a sandwich.
- Sandwiches seem to have a pretty standard structure - some form of bread, a base of some sort of vegetable, some form of protein, and some sort of dressing. If it isn't like that, it's usually just a bunch of stuff mixed together and spread onto the bread/bun.
- There are a lot of different kinds of sandwiches...submarines, burgers, rolls, paninis, banh mi, wraps, open-faced, finger, falafels, pitas, dips, buns, dogs, melts, naans, po' boys, toasties, pans...I love them all :)
- Apparently the first recorded sandwich is attributed to "a famous Rabbi, Hillel the Elder" who made a sandwich out of "chopped nuts, apples, and wine between two matzohs". Cool!

I kind of just tore the lettuce leaves into pieces, so it doesn't look very even, but I'm going to be like a hungry savage when the time comes to devour them. I won't be a classy savage, so I won't care about presentation so much.

Survival Sandwich V1.0

*Serves 1 hungry student*

2 scotch baps (or whatever buns/bread you have lying around at home)

Kraft Chick 'N Rib BBQ Sauce (or whatever sauce/dressing you like)

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 leafs of iceberg lettuce (or whatever vegetable you fancy)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

1. Turn on your broiler.

2. Lightly oil a baking dish. 

3. Dry the chicken breast with a paper towel. If there is water, the chicken won't brown when it's cooking.

4. Brush both sides of the chicken breast with a little bit of oil, about a teaspoon of BBQ sauce, and sprinkle salt and pepper to your liking.

5. Place in the baking dish, and under the broiler it goes for about 8 minutes.

6. After 8 minutes, pull out the oven rack, and flip the chicken breasts. Place back under the broiler for another 8 minutes.

7. To check whether or not the chicken is cooked through, use a chopstick/fork/utensil to stab it through. If the juices run clear, you are safe.

8. Remove the chicken from the oven and slice evenly.

9. Slice open a bap, squirt about a half teaspoon of sauce on each side, and place some pieces of lettuce over top to spread out the sauce. Lay about half of the pieces of chicken over the bed of lettuce. Seal shut with a toothpick. Repeat for the second bap.

10. Leave to cool, and pack for the treacherous journey.

-M