Okay, I got on the scale this morning and I’ve actually gained weight. I’ve been trying so hard!! What’s going on? I think I know-I’m a food lover! I just can’t help myself. And one of my all-time favorite places to go for a good casual meal is the Yard House. My husband and I discovered the place when we visited Oahu last November. It was right down the sidewalk from our hotel. The food was so good! In fact of the 10 nights we were there, we ended up eating there most of those nights. In addition to the great food, they play fun music and have 100s of choices of draft ales and lagers (another diet downfall of mine).
One of my favorites at the Yard House are the Firecracker Wings. I even asked for the recipe but was told, “It’s a secret.” Well, after a bit of searching, I found a recipe that comes very close:
Talie’s Firecracker Wings
2 large garlic cloves
1 ½ tsp salt
4 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp hoisin sauce
4 Tbsp mild honey
2 tsp Asian sesame oil
2 dashes of cayenne
3 lb chicken wings *
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
2 scallions (green part only), finely sliced
(* I like to use drummies/wingettes. If you use wings, cut off and discard the tips from chicken wings with a large knife and half the wings at joint before cooking.)
Put oven rack in upper third of oven. Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a large shallow baking pan with foil and lightly oil the foil. Use additional pans if needed. Mince garlic and mash to a paste with salt using a large heavy knife. Transfer garlic paste to a large bowl and stir in soy sauce, hoisin, honey, oil, and cayenne. Add wings/wingettes to sauce, stirring to coat. Arrange wings/wingettes in 1 layer in baking pan and roast, turning over once, until cooked through, about 35 minutes. Transfer wings to a large serving bowl and toss with sesame seeds and scallion. Serve immediately.
Give it a try and let me know if this is one of the reasons I’m struggling to drop those nagging 25lbs!
I recently spoke to my physician about my weight-loss goals. She expressed that in addition to monitoring caloric intake, that it’s important to find a workout regime that include weight training. I admitted to her that I had been slacking off a lot.
I told her how good I had felt a few years ago when I was working out 5x a week. We also talked about a workout buddy system and personal trainers, both of which I’ve had in the past. My personal trainer was a young guy named Joe. Joe was the quarterback on Coe College’s football team and was assigned to me through a personal training course. But that was several years ago when I worked and lived in Iowa.
Quite frankly, my doctor told me to start eating healthier foods, find a workout buddy and regime, and to stop making excuses. She also referred me to the American Heart Association’s website for weights to improve my fitness level with weight training.
Well, I logged onto to http://www.americanheart.org/ and found an article weight lifiting and middle-aged wonene. Apparently, “women who lift weights twice a week can prevent or at least slow middle-aged spread. Their study of overweight and obese women found that strength training dramatically reduces icreases in abdominal fat compared to similar women who merely received advice about exercise. The women in the two-year weight-training program decreased body fat percentage by 3.7 percent, while body fat percentage remained stable in the controls. The strength training reduced intra-abdominal fat, which is more closely associated with heart disease and metabolic disturbances. More specifically, the women who did strength training experienced a 7 percent increase in intra-abdominal fat compared to a 21 percent increase in intra-abdominal fat among controls, a difference of 15 percentage points.
One of the most frigthening thoughts noted from the article was that you’re considered obese when you have a BMI over 25. My doctor mentioned that my BMI was too high for my height and age but I didn’t hear a number. And, now I’m afraid to call back.