7/9/13

7/9/13, Day 1 of the challenge and the start of my trip.

As I mentioned before, I'm participating in the newest E2X 28-day challenge, where I'm logging my daily food  and exercise there and here.   

Today, my friends and I headed to a PGA golf tournament in the Quad Cities (Iowa, Illinois border along the Mississippi River).  I will ride my bicycle in the mornings, and then join my companions in the afternoon on the golf course.  I'm looking forward to both.  I admit to not being a huge golf fan, but it is fun to watch live and to appreciate how unbelievably good the players are.  

For the last week, I've been processing in the back of my mind my plans for food and I think I came up with a good plan.  It's going to be the same food every day, for every meal!  crazy huh?  well, my friends will also be eating much the same every day too, just different from me.  And I don't have to go grocery shopping at all.  There is no food on the golf course I can eat, and you aren't allowed to bring in your own.  So that's another reason to spend only 1/2 day there, so I can eat lunch before and dinner after. 

Here's what I came up with for food.  I bought 5 large potatoes, 5 large oriental yams, 5 large kohlrabi, 5 onions and 5 cans of beans (for 5 days); and there was local cabbage so I picked up a head of that at the last minute.  I also packed 5 cans of garden tomatoes.  Here is the produce packed in semi-thermal bags with with some ice (in those blue bags) to keep them cool.

I picked 38 collard leaves from the garden.  This picture was taken after the collards were harvested!  (the jacket was to protect me from mosquitos).

Here's one of the two bowls of collards:

I put them in my electric cooler. There was still room so I picked a bunch of kale too--two plastic bags worth.  Here they are all loaded into the electric cooler

I also brought 1/2 cup oats per day.   I'll cook a day's worth of this concoction every night, in a big pot.   I brought different seasonings for each day.  I'll  divide it into 3 bowls for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  If I find some bananas at the hotel breakfast or on the golf course, I'll eat 1 or 2.   

Here's the cooking set up in my hotel:

Here it is after cooking

I used italian seasoning today.  In case you forgot, that's onion, collards & kale, kohlrabi, cabbage, oriental yam, potato, beans, tomatoes, and oats.  

Now, I feel kind of goofy about this and expect everyone else should think I'm totally weird for going through all this effort.  But 1)  I spend less time cooking than I would going out to a restaurant;  2)  this is really good!   and 3) If I don't plan something, I am hosed because the only healthy choices available before dinner time are bananas, and I'd have to research finding healthy options at dinner.  

For today, I cooked whatever food I didn't pack for the trip:   onion, kohlrabi, cabbage, oats, and peas; and baked 2 large baked potatoes.  I also harvested the last of the lettuce from the garden.  For breakfast I nibbled on this while cooking it up.  Here's my lunch and dinner.  This picture was taken at a burger joint, where my friends had lunch.