Treating Myself

I have recognized that one of my biggest eating problems is the constant need to treat myself when I have done something "good." Problem is now I treat myself for things that should be done anyways, like cleaning my house. If I spend the whole day working on cleaning my house I treat myself that night by getting a pizza/chinese/fast food or going to a restaurant so I do not have to cook, since I worked so hard that day. Why am I rewarding myself for something that should just be done? I asked myself that and came to the conclusion that it is because I am part of the instant gratification generation. We(I) like to see my the fruits of my labor as soon as "my labor" is done. I also realized that I will not be able to see the results right way as I go through this lifestyle change. I will not be able to see each pound I loose. I might notice my jeans fitting looser after I loose 10 pounds but I won't actually see any results until I have lost a substantial amount of weight.

This time when I reach my weight loss goal I will not "reward" myself by binging on a bowl of ice cream or going to celebrate at a restaurant and ordering a massive bowl of pasta. That, I have realized, is not a reward because it undoes everything I worked so hard for. This time I will reward my self by keeping up with my life-style change and staying healthy, since that is the real reward.

Now to share my first healthy-happy recipe with my readers, I got this one out of the Cook This, Not That book of 350 calorie meals.

Oven Fried Chicken; 310 calories per serving

Takes between 1 1/2 hours and 12 1/2 prep (depending on how long you marinate the chicken)

Makes 4 servings

2 Cups Buttermilk

1/4 Cup Franks Red Hot Sauce(This sounds like a lot but its balanced out by the buttermilk)

1lb chicken drumsticks and thighs

2 Cups Panko breading

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2teaspoon black pepper

1/8 teaspoon red pepper

*Combine buttermilk and hot sauce in a zip lock bag. Add chicken to bag and shake to coat. Put in the fridge to marinate at least 1 hour up to 12 hours.

*Preheat oven to 450F. In a bowl combine breading and spices.Working with one piece at a time take chicken from buttermilk mixture and dip in to breading and coat completely. Its a good idea to use one hand for the wet chicken and one hand for the dry breading processes, its a little less messy.

*Place breaded chicken on a non-stick baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the outside and cooked through.

I put this together with (baked) sweet potato fries and some fresh snap peas and it was an awesome dinner.It was much more tender and moist compared to KFC and it tasted just as good, if not better!