Here's Pukie....

When your workout program has a mascot and his name is “Pukie the Clown” you realize two things about yourself really quick:

1. I’m an idiot for putting myself through this crap.
2. I LOVE being an idiot and putting myself through this crap.

In this context, “crap” refers to the workout program Crossfit and yes; I am in love with it.

I didn’t hit the weights until I was 19 years old graduating high school and at a whopping 160 pounds – look out! But once I started I really loved it. I would always try new programs just to “switch it up”.

Low reps. High reps. Olympic lifts. Super sets. Complex sets. X reps.

You name it, I tried it. In college I was in great shape and then “it” happened: I graduated college and got a job.

My workouts suffered and it didn’t take time for me to start losing the physique that I had grown accustomed to. Then another “it” happened. This “it” involved me being deployed to Iraq in 2005.

Crossfit Baghdad 2005. Like my haircut?

While conducting our training before being deployed, a buddy of mine, Ryan, had told me about this workout program that he had been doing named Crossfit. The only thing that I remember him telling me about the workout was that typically at the end of it he was always laying on the ground in a pile a sweat.

Who is That Weird Dude on the Floor?

Now when I first heard that, I thought he was ignorant. Could you imagine some dude laying down in the middle of your gym in a puddle of sweat. I mean, how bizarre is that?

I thought it was extremely bizarre until I did my first Crossfit workout (consisted of power cleans and pull-ups) and there I was – in the middle of the gym, lying on the floor in a puddle of sweat gasping for air.

I was hooked.

Crossfit has been apart of my life ever since and if not for some various injuries, work, and family – I would do Crossfit everyday. Yes, I love it that much!

Once aspect about the program that I love is that it is ever evolving and for the most part, every workout is different.

Some of the recurring workouts have a very special place.   They are both the Girl Workouts and the Hero Workouts.   I’m planning on doing a follow post on the Hero Workouts, so today we’ll just discuss the girls.

In the program, the “Girl Workouts” are the benchmark workouts.   Each workout has it’s own unique name – just like a hurricane – but that much worse.  At my Crossfit gym, we have a big whiteboard that has a list of all the Girl Workouts and the names of the top 3 scores.   I did mention that Crossfit is competitive, right?

The Benchmark Girls

“Angie”

For Time
Complete all reps of each exercise before moving to the next.

“Barbara”

5 rounds, time each round

“Chelsea”

Each minute on the minute for 30 min

“Cindy”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes

“Diane”

21-15-9 reps, for time

“Elizabeth”

21-15-9 reps, for time

“Fran”

21-15-9 reps, for time

Note:  This is my most hated Crossfit workout.  I can explain the amount of excruciating pain that I have after doing this workout.   It takes me literally 15 minutes to get mentally prepared to do the workout, about 4 minutes + to complete it (best time ever was 3:34 when I was in Iraq), and at least 20 minutes to recover.   Yes, it’s that bad.

“Grace”

30 reps for time

“Helen”

3 rounds for time

“Isabel”

30 reps for time

“Jackie”

For time

“Karen”

For time

“Linda” Aka “The 3 Bars of Death”

10/9/8/7/6/5/4/3/2/1 rep
rounds for time

“Mary”

As many rounds as possible in 20 min

“Nancy”

5 rounds for time

The New Girls

“Annie”

50-40-30-20 and 10 rep rounds; for time

“Eva”

5 rounds for time.

“Kelly”

Five rounds for time

“Lynne”

5 rounds for max reps. There is NO time component to this WOD.

“Nicole”

As many rounds as possible in 20 minutes.
Note number of pull-ups completed for each round.

“Amanda”

For Time

Do you do Crossfit? What’s your favorite “Girl workout”?

Mmmhmm. This is a tasty burger.

That memorable phrase was uttered by Samuel Jackson in the cult classic Pulp Fiction as he was chowing down on a Big Kahuna burger.

There’s a certain stigma for a restaurant having the title of “Best Burger” and rightfully so.  Nothing beats a good burger.  Nothing. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it. Seriously….. I’m actually drooling.  Okay, I’m out of my burger trance….for now.

When I think of the “best burger”, there’s only one that comes to mind.  Any guesses?

Let me give you one little hint:

Still not sure?   Okay, maybe one more clue:

In case you haven’t figure it out yet, it’s no other In-N-Out Burger.   If you’ve never been to the blog (shame on you), then you don’t know about my completely healthy attraction obsession with the West Coast burger ‘chain.

How obsessed?   Read this article where I share my undying love for In-N-Out.

When people tell me that they don’t like In-N-Out, I take it personally as if they’re insulting my Filipino mother’s cooking – don’t mess with momma!

I don’t know why exactly.  I just know I love it so much and can’t imagine why anybody else wouldn’t love it, too.

Have I mentioned how good it is yet?

Five Who?

A couple years ago I kept hearing about this new burger chain that was a serious contender for best burger.  Initially, I thought, “Yeah, right. In their dreams“.

But the talk didn’t go away.   This “so called best burger joint” is called Five Guys.   Originating out of Virginia in 1986 this burger joint has blown up.  They now have over 770 locations in the U.S. and are scheduled to open 200 more in Southern California alone.  Yes, they are invading In-N-Out’s backyard.

Let the battle begin.

Coming to Town

Five Guys opened a location in Fairview Heights (suburb of St. Louis) and I should have been eager to try it just to see what it’s all about.  But I couldn’t bring myself to do it as I felt like I was cheating on my wife.  It just felt wrong.   My wife wanted to try it so she took our 3 kids in and ordered while I went next door and got Qdoba (Mexican fast food joint) and brought it inside Five Guys to eat.  That was for you In-N-Out.  I’ll show them

I never really knew if I would go back to Five Guys.  I was content knowing that know one could dethrone In-N-Out in my mind.   Then I happened across the article on the Huffington Post that claimed to a survey by Zagat in 2010, that Five Guys had bested In-N-Out for “best fast food burger”.   Recount I say!

If you dig a little deeper into the survey, you’ll see that the survey was not weighted for number of locations and was more based on total reach.  This is significant in that Five Guys has almost 3 times more locations.  Nonetheless, this was a wake up call for me and I realized that I had avoided the inevitable for too long.  It was time to try Five Guys.

My Visit to Five Guys

After a family trip to the St. Louis Zoo, the stage was set.  I was finally to give this In-N-Out wannabe a chance to prove themselves.   Accompanied with my Canon Rebel and heft appetite, I entered and photographed my experience.

Five Guys Colors

When you first enter a Five Guys restaurant, the first thing that struck me the colors of red and white.  Hmmm……wonder where I’ve seen that before. <cough>Copy cat<cough>.  There was a brief moment that I felt like it was a dream and that I had mistakenly walked into an In-N-Out and I was getting ready to sink my teeth into a juicy Double-Double.  Unfortunately not.

Five Guys Menu

Other similarities are found in their menu.   As you can see their main focus is fresh burgers and fries; although they do offer bacon cheeseburgers and “Little” versions of all the burgers.  Other noticeable differences were they offered hot dogs.  While the cheese dog sounded tempting, I was here for one thing and one thing only:  a burger.

Another difference is that they offer a Veggie sandwich and a grilled cheese.  While In-N-Out doesn’t have this on their main menu, it can be found on their secret menu.   Bet you didn’t know that did you?

The biggest noticeable difference that caught my attention with the menu were the number of toppings that you could add to your burger – 15 in all.  According to the Five Guys website, there are over 250,000 ways to order a burger at their place.   Now that’s a lot of options.

Personally, I think it’s fluff.   A burger is a burger.   Meat, cheese, some ketchup will suffice.   Now you add some In-N-Out secret sauce and you just added a little bit of heaven.

Five Guys Prices

One noticeable difference with Five Guys was their prices.  I’m used to getting 3 cheeseburgers, fries and shake for less than ten bucks.   At Five Guys, a double cheeseburger, large fries and a drink was almost $12.  I don’t mind paying $5 for a good burger.  Don’t mind a bit.  I do think $4 and change for large fries is a bit much.

Get Your Peanuts

One coolness factor about Five Guys is that they give you free peanuts to munch on while you wait for your order.   Surprisingly the floor was pretty clean with no peanut shells in sight.

Five Guys Propaganda

If there’s one thing about walking into a Five Guys restaurant, they are very proud of themselves.  They have signs everywhere touting how great they are.   Now I’m not going to fault them for that…..too bad.   But the signs are everywhere.  Take a look….

And some more…..

And again…..

They even had signs leading up to the bathroom.  Seriously.

Many signs boast “Best Burger”.  But it is true?

Let’s find out.

Five Guys Taste Test

After I received my order, it was finally time to sink my teeth and give Five Guys a true taste test.   First up, the fries.

One neat thing about Five Guys fries is that you have the option to order regular fries or with Cajun seasoning.   I had a chance to try both and much more enjoyed the Cajun seasoning.  Overall, though; I was very unimpressed with the fries.   I even offered some to my three year old son who will eat McDonald’s fries like crack (seriously), but he took one bit and didn’t want them.  For my son to turn down french fries was just as surprising if you offered Charlie Sheen speed and he said no – it just doesn’t happen.

But it did.

Next up the burger.

Five Guys Burgers

When I first took the foil wrapped burger out of the brown paper bag, I wasn’t sure what to think.   The presentation was very poor and reminded me of something that I would get at a carnival or something.   But you can’t taste presentation, right?   It’s time to eat.

Like tasting a fine wine for the first time, I first wanted to enjoy the aroma of the freshly unwrapped burger.   See, I’m not going to lie.  There’s part of me that wanted to really like this burger over In-N-Out.   Why you ask?   Easy…..it’s freaking closer to me and I can eat it more often!   I only get the luxury of having In-N-Out maybe once a year and; frankly, that is not enough.

So with great anticipation I sunk my teeth into my Five Guys double cheeseburger and, and, and………..

……it’s a burger.   Nothing special.   Didn’t rock my world.  Actually, not even close.   All the hype. All the hoopla.   At the end of the day I had a $5 burger wrapped in foil that left me very unsatisfied.  Here’s my quick video reaction from the experience:

What was even funny about the experience is that the gal that took my order struck a conversation with me because I was taking pictures. She asked if I was a photographer – I guess for all the obsessive pictures I was taking I told her that I was actually doing a blog post comparing Five Guys to In-N-Out. What she said next floored me….

She told me that she had a cousin that lives in California and loves to visit them so she can have In-N-Out because she loves them. She went on to tell me that she loved them even better than Five Guys referring to their burgers as, “Ok”. Ha! Even one of their own knows the truth.

What do Others Say?

The whole experience left me bewildered so I decided to hit up some blogging friends on what they thought of the Five Guys vs. In-N-Out debate.  Here’s what some others had to say:

My boy Baker from Man Vs. Debt had this to say:

WOW – just today I had In and Out burger… (on my cheat day).

Just a Double Double – I was not impressed at all. Tomato was terrible and I had to take it off. Burger was o.k. but nothing special.

I have 5 guys in the south when we were going through – blew my mind. It was amazing.

The fries at In and Out were TERRIBLE. Neither Courtney, MILLIGAN, or I would eat them. A 3-year-old wouldn’t eat them. Think about that.

I didn’t have the shake either place – but I’d rate Five Guys a 9/10 – nearly perfect experience and taste.

In and Out was like a 5/10. Maybe slightly better than any other fast food joint.

Jeremy from Gen X Finance added:

Srsly. Some of the best burgers I’ve ever had were simply fresh ground beef with some salt and pepper. Kiss them with fire and there’s more flavor than any burger at any restaurant, chain or otherwise.

I’ve eaten a lot of burgers in my day, and my waistline can attest to that. But Five guys, Fudruckers, Fatburger, In N Out, or even the local hole in the wall that has admittedly decent burgers, nothing compares to a simple fresh homemade burger.

Doughroller offers:

The first Five Guys location is close to where we live here in Virginia. No place to sit. Just order your food and get out. One of the best burgers I’ve ever had. And the fries are incredible. We all have a favorites, but I’m surprised to hear such low opinions of Five Guys. Maybe I’m living in a cave, but nothing beats a Five Guys burger. And yes, I’ve had an In N Out burger. I thought it was fine, but nothing special.

Real Men Know Burgers

Wanting to get some more takes on the issue, I also hit up the Art of Manliness forums to see what other men thought about what the best burger was.   Here’s were some of the more memorable responses:

Just had In and Out for the first time a few weeks ago, felt it was highly overrated.  Sure it was a good tasty burger, just not near worth the hype. Down here in Texas it is Whataburger, that is where it is at.  Five Guys is a tasty burger, but I will still take Whataburger over it.

I agree, In-and-Out is overrated.  Had it for the first time (it’s new here in Utah) about three months ago.

Carl’s Jr. Guacamole burger gets my vote for best fast food burger.

Double Double with Cheese has my heart.

Literally.

Five Guys IS overrated. Since it’s the only chain mentioned here that happens to be in business in Colorado. . .we’re kind of deprived on the fast food burger front. Guess I’ll cast my vote for Freddy’s.

In n Out is fricking good. I always get 2 cheeseburgers with grilled onions and animal style fries on the side. Best on So Cal

Other great burgers are Guacamole Bacon from carls Jr, Hawaiian from Islands (has teriyaki sauce & pineapple), and Poli Bacon Chessburger from Pink’s (bacon cheeseburger with a butterflied polish sausage).

I worry Gov. Brown will revoke my Cal. residency, but I don’t like In-n-Out. I really like Five Guys, and am very happy they have come to Cal.

It seems to me Fuddruckers should be mentioned in this conversation, though I still prefer Five Guys.

Ooooh in-n-out hands down. The cold tomato and lettuce mixes with the warm patty and melted cheese is like food art. Then you have the option to add as many patties as you want.(I have single-handedly devoured a 10×10) If you want to enjoy a food poem go to in-n-out.

In-N-Out on Facebook

Lastly, I thought it would be neat to see what In-N-Out fans thought of the Five Guys vs. In-N-Out comparison.   I headed over the In-N-Out fan page on Facebook and take a poll to their 1.7 million fans.  In case you were curious, Five Guys only has 486,00.  The exact number is 1,281,936 more In-N-Out fans than Five Guys….but who’s counting

Anyway, here’s a screenshot of what some of the In-N-Out loyalists had to say:

There’s was actually a ton more comments, but I could only include so many.   If there’s one thing you can say about In-N-Out burger fans, they are extremely loyal.

In-N-Out.  You Had Me at Hello

In-N-Out is “The Burger” and will always be in my humble opinion which just happens to absolutely correct.   Now they just need to open some locations in the Midwest.   In-N-Out are you listening?    I need to have these people’s experience in the video below.  Check out the girl in the video.  I want to cry just like her.   Tears of In-N-Out joy……

I‘m not really sure when the day actually happens . I know that I started eating healthier when I was college right when working out became a part of my weekly routine. Protein, carbs and good fats became a regular staple of my vocabulary. One day though, I got a little bit obsessed. And that obsession became fiber. So much of a obsession that I started to count how many grams of fiber I took in a day.  Yes, I may need help.

You see, my father had two heart attacks and the second one took his life at the age of 67. From that point on, I’ve watched my diet a lot more than I did in the past (Although, I did hit a bit of a funk and motivated myself to lose 20 pounds).  Knowing that heart disease runs in my family, I needed to conscience of what I ate. According to the Cheerios box, fiber helps reduce cholesterol or heart disease. How can you argue with Cheerios?

So I started watching and counting my fiber intake to make sure I was getting a healthy dose. But what exactly is a healthy dose?  According to Harvard School of Health, men should shoot for 30 grams of fiber a day in their diet.

I promise you it’s not easy without some effort.  The American Dietetic Association confirms this saying that

“Americans don’t even come close to getting the necessary fiber in their diet”.

Nonetheless, I knew that with heart disease in my family I didn’t have a choice.

While 30 grams of daily fiber is a tall order, I’ve been able to get to do it.  In fact, over the years I’ve pretty well perfected to where now I can get 40 grams of fiber in one day with ease (sometimes 50 grams  if I’m on a super fiber kick).   So if you are interested in increasing your fiber in-take or if you need to perform Rotor Rooters on your large intestine, follow these tips one easy ways to get fiber in your diet.

Warning: if you don’t usually eat a lot of fiber, and you start to increase immediately, I would strongly suggest keeping a bathroom close.  You have been warned.

1. Berry, Berry Mo’ Merry

High on Fiber and High on Taste!

Fruit, fruit, and more fruit. In case you missed my previous post, part of my daily routine is drinking my nutritious health shake. In that health shake, one of the main ingredients is frozen fruit. But not just any frozen fruit.  My main fruity ingredient are frozen berries. The frozen berries that I blend in my shake are  blue berries, black berries and raspberries (I always add extra raspberries for the sweet taste and they have the most grams of fiber).

Tons of Fiber and Sweet Tasting

To give you an idea of how much fiber is in berries, one cup which will equate 21 grams of carbohydrates, will also get you 9 grams of fiber. How amazing is that? I figured that between the berry mix included in my shake  that I net somewhere in that 12 to 15 range of grams of fiber.  Even better is that they taste good!

2 & 3. Flaxseed and Wheat Germ- The Batman and Robin of Fiber

Killer Fiber Combo

Also included in my health shake is flaxseed and, at times, wheat germ. I know what you’re thinking: Flax seed? Wheat germ? That’s got to be disgusting! I have to admit, if you ate it by itself, it tastes a lot like cardboard with a dose of chopped up shoestrings. But it’s amazing, when you mix it in the shake and the frozen fruit, you can barely even taste it.  It reminds me of orange juice with pulp; just a little heavier on the pulp.

Two amazing sources of fiber

Adding a tablespoon of flaxseed and a few shakes of wheat germ usually gets me another 5 to 6 grams of fiber. As you can see, my health shake alone contributes to a large chunk of that 40 grams of fiber.

4. I’m on a Fiber Mission

Who needs hamburger buns when you got these?

The next really easy way to get fiber is a little discovery I came across a couple years ago. Mission, which is well-known for their tortilla chips and salsa, came out with one of the best products for fiber lovers. They released the Mission Carb Balance Fiber Wraps, which I can put almost anything on and enjoy it.  One of the most common ways that I’ll eat these wraps is by making an egg burrito or egg white burrito, and having one or possibly two wraps during the day, or sometimes I’ll go through a drive-through like Arby’s and get a roast beef sandwich, and then when I get back to the office, I’ll throw away the bun and then put the meat on the wrap.

11 grams in one tasty wrap.

One wrap will get you 18 grams of carbohydrates for 11 grams of fiber. 11 grams! It’s pretty easy to eat two of these wraps, so that will net you 22 grams of fiber. If your bowels aren’t moving yet, don’t worry, we’re not done.

5. Fiber + Chocolate Chips  = Heaven

Chocolate Chips and Fiber, Are you Kidding me?

Another awesome discovery that was turned on to me by a good friend of mine are Fiber One bars. I like chocolate, and it’s amazing how great one of the oats and chocolate Fiber One bars tastes. If you have a sweet tooth, I strongly recommend this.

9 grams of fiber! Amazing.

One Fiber One bar will get you 29 grams of carbs, but also 9 grams of fiber. I eat one of these at least 5 to 6 days per week.  If chocolate is not your thing, they also have a berry flavor which is also very tasty.

6. Go, Go Kashi Fiber Bars!

Go Kashi to Go Fiber

Another tasty snack when you’re on the go are Kashi Go Lean  Bars. They’re a little bit more chewier than the Fiber One Bars but they do have about the same amount of carbohydrates. I don’t eat these every day.  I’ll just snack on one of these when I’m on the go and need a quick snack.

It's Crunchy Too!

One Kashi Bar will get you about 29 grams of carbs with 6 grams of fiber. Why I also like these bars as an alternative to the Fiber One Bars is that they net you about seven grams more of protein, and we all know how much I like protein.

7. Sara Lee Soft and Smooth Like Butter

Sarah Lee is Smooth on Fiber

If you’re all wrapped out, and you actually need some bread, I encourage you to take a look at the Sarah Lee Plus 100% Whole Wheat Bread.  I have tried a few other wheat breads that have a little bit higher dose of fiber, but the Sarah Lee far excels their taste. One of my favorite snacks is peanut butter and toast and Sarah Lee definitely fits in with that craving.

Sarah Lee Knows Fiber

Two slices of wheat bread will get you 26 grams of fiber and 12 grams of fiber.

8. Update: New Double Fiber Wheat Bread Discovery

Just the other day I was in the grocery store picking up some of my usual high fiber items when low and behold I discovered this:

Nature’s Own Double Fiber Wheat Bread! Double Fiber?!  Is someone just teasing this fiber lover?

Double Your Fun, Double Your Fiber

Not at all.  Look at the label.  For one slice of bread you get 5 grams of fiber, more than double than the Sara Lee that I used to get.   How freaking awesome!  But how does it taste?  Double the fiber usually means, a double inverse on taste.

Crazy Fiber in This Bread!

I’m excited to share that the bread is actually pretty good.  Maybe not as good as the Sara Lee, but who cares!  It’s the double the fiber, remember?

9, 10, 11, & 12. The Rest of the Fruit of The Loom

Fruit of the Loom Has Fiber

Lastly, in case you need some other options to get you 40 grams of fiber, you can also try to incorporate other fruits in your diet. For example, apples, bananas, oranges, and grapes are a good source of fiber.  One large apple will get you around 4 grams, a banana will get you around 3 grams, and 1 cup of grapes have just over 1 gram.

13+. Other Notables

These are just a few of the many ways that you can get fiber in your diet.  Some other notable mentions are salads (not iceburg lettuce), nuts, green vegetables (broccoli, asparagus, spinach), and legumes (beans).  In fact, I’ve started to incorporate more black beans in my diet to replace the amount of white rice I was eating.  In one 1/2 cup serving of black beans, you’ll get around 6 grams of fiber. On a good day, I’m sure I can crack 50 grams of fiber!

Sources:

• http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fiber/
• http://www.insidershealth.com/article/most_americans_don_t_get_enough_fiber_according_to_research_do_you/4064

As I age, it seems that I’m constantly getting these nagging injuries from me doing my crazy Crossfit workouts. (You can ask the wife, she’s tired of hearing me complain). I’ve tweaked my shoulder, left knee, right trap (upper back), forearm, and; most recently, my right bicep. I had never hurt my bicep that much before and was surprised on how much it affected my day to day activities. It affected them so much that I had to rely on my left arm to pick up the slack.

The incident had reminded me about some show that I watched that discussed on how much of a benefit it was to use your non-dominant hand. You may be surprised to learn that there are benefits to you when using your opposite hand – I know I was. It feels awkward and you are likely to have much less control over what your non-dominant hand can do, but when you use your opposite hand you are “growing” your brain! I used my injury as a chance to permanently grow my brain for ever more. I made a vow to start using my left hand for as many tasks that were previously always done with my right. It was time to grown my brain. Trust me. I need all the help I can get.

This is Your Brain

The human brain is an organ that improves through mental stimulation. The brain continuously adapts, grows and rewires itself through the growth of new neurons. When people age, it’s common that they experience memory loss and sometimes their fine motor skills – but unless the mental decline is caused by disease, most age-related memory and motor skill ability loss is from lack of brain exercise. If you don’t use your brain, it loses it’s knowledge.

This is Your Brain Left Handed

Using your opposite hand will strengthen neural connections in your brain, and even grow new ones. It’s similar to how physical exercise improves your body’s functioning and grows muscles.

Try using your non-dominant hand to write. Use it to control the computer mouse or television remote. Brush your teeth with your other hand. You’ll probably notice it’s much harder to be precise with your movements. When I first started to brush my teeth with my left hand, it was hard to actually move my hand instead of my head.

Now let's see how I write with my left hand....

Using your left hand might remind you how you felt when you were first learning to write your name, or tie your shoelaces. You will probably feel awkward, but this just means you are teaching your brain a new skill.

Repetitively using your opposite hand will eventually build up the knowledge and ability to use it with better functioning, although it’s probably not going to become as easy to use as your dominant hand.

Your Opposite Hand – Unleashes Creativity

Using your non-dominant, or opposite hand, confuses your brain. The brain is in charge of keeping you functioning and it does that with predictability. It understands the way our bodies work and behaves in the world, but when we try writing with our opposite hand – it confuses the brain and it’s efficiency. The brain that operates effectively for our every day activities may not be the same parts of the brain which allows us to be creative.

If you’d like to unleash some hidden creativity, try writing with your opposite hand. As bad as my penmanship is, writing with my left hand isn’t really that worse It is sometimes the nudge our practical brain needs to “move out of the way” for the creative juices to get flowing again! The non-dominant hand is actually linked to the non-dominant hemisphere in your brain – the one that isn’t exercised as often. There are studies that show that when you use your dominant hand, one hemisphere of the brain is active. When you use the non-dominant hand, both hemispheres are activated, which may result in thinking differently and becoming more creative.

What I Now Do With My Left Hand

I was amazed on how challenging it was in the beginning to use my left hand. I felt like a doofus and realized how uncoordinated my left hand really is. Now, I consciously make an effort to use my left hand as much as I can. Here’s some the day to day activities that I’ve been able to successfully convert to southpaw:

Do my teeth cleaner using my left hand?

Can You Benefit From Using Your Non-dominant Hand?

Some therapists have used an exercise where they ask their patients to write with their opposite hands, and it allows people to access some suppressed emotions. If this interests you, contact a trained professional to help you through this activity. For use in every day life, however, you can simply try writing with your opposite hand a little each day, asking your “every day brain” to move aside, and see if it helps you become more creative or triggers improved memory functioning.

Have you ever tried using your non-dominant hand for daily tasks? If so, share your story. Did you feel as clumsy as I did?

Sources:

• http://hubpages.com/hub/Creativity-and-the-Non-dominant-Hand
• http://www.fi.edu/learn/brain/exercise.html

This year we embarked on an adventure of a lifetime. We built our first custom home- our dream home.  Having talked to many couples who have gone through the same process, we knew we were in for some stressful times.   Along the way, we managed to find several tips to save quite a bit of money and wanted to pass some of these dollar saving tricks on to you.  Are you building a house soon?  If so, take a breath, grab a notepad, and hang on–it’s going to be a bumpy ride. And remember: what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.   Husband, another piece of advice: The wife is always right.  Always.  Now, let’s go build your dream home and save some money while we do it.

1. Selling Your Own Home FSBO Style

If you have the time and you lived in a desired neighborhood, consider selling your house For Sale By Owner.  That way you pocket the proceeds and avoid paying the 6% realtor commission. We started this direction because we weren’t in a rush to sell the house.  We also felt that we lived in a “high demand” neighborhood, and felt that a For Sale sign in the front yard would do the trick.  It did, in a sense, because we got several phone calls in the first weekend and even an offer.  Unfortunately, the buyer couldn’t get financing and the deal fell through.

We were bummed out, but not shortly after, had a second offer. Unfortunately, the second deal fell through as well. This is when we decided that being our own real estate agent was a little more work than we had hoped for.

2. Consider “Quasi-FSBO”

When the first few deals fell through, we decided that we needed to generate more foot traffic to our house.  Not ready to hire a real estate agent yet, we turned to For Sale By Owner.com.  It allowed us to get a MLS listing so that every real estate agent in the market could see our house.  If a real estate agent showed our house, we would only have to pay a 3% commission fee; but if someone found our house directly, we could still sell it without having to pay a dime to the realtors.

3.  Hire an Awesome Real Estate Agent

As we got close to our house nearing completion, we decided that it was time to bring in the professionals.   We had several “lookers” and,  reflecting back, we probably had our house a little too high.  It was tough though, since we had two offers, but the competition was beating us out.  We found a local realtor who really knew our neighborhood and after the first meeting we realized how little we really knew.  After one planning meeting, we had an offer two weeks later, and our house was off to escrow.

4. Have a Contingency Plan

The thought of carrying two mortgages did not excite us a bit.  To prevent such a catastrophe, we wanted to make sure we had a back-up plan. We found some local real estate investors that were willing to pay us just over $1000/mo and then find a renter for our house.  The house would still would be in our name and then after a five year period they would pay us an already agreed upon price.  The plus side is that we wouldn’t have a mortgage payment (because the $1000 covered it).  The downside was that the mortgage would still be in our name, which the bank would not like.  It wasn’t the ideal situation, but it was definitely a good plan B.  Luckily, our house sold and we didn’t have to journey down this path. With the real estate market still not stable these days…I would highly suggest having a plan B.

5. Borrow home books

Home books are freaking expensive and there are tons of them! Those books alone can cost you $20 to $30 a piece. Find a friend that’s built a home and borrow all of their home books. We had several friends who had built or were building in the near future so we were able to get our hands on quite a few books.  So many that they all started looking the same.

6. Visit Many, Many Homes

You think you know what you want your dream home to be, but do you really?   After scouring the home books, we drove around and visited as many homes as we could.  We even drove to St. Louis (90 miles away) to get another perspective.   If you can find a newly developed area, they may have some model homes that can give you tons of ideas.

7. Find a good architect

Find a good architect for the job

When it comes to having a vision of what something is to look like, I’m horrible!  On top of that, we had purchased a lot where the back of the home would face a lake, but the front would be facing a culdesac.   Essentially, we needed a unique layout that no home book could provide. (Good thing we borrowed them!) Thankfully, the architect we hired really helped us establish a floor plan that was open (really open!) while maintaining the lake as a focal point when you walked in the home.   In the end, the floor plan couldn’t have been any more perfect and that’s all thanks to the architect.

8. Hire The Right Builder

I can’t stress this enough!   The subdivision where we purchased our lot required us to use their builder.  In many situations, this could be a really bad deal.  We had seen his work and visited some of the other homes he had built, so we were confident in his ability but worried about the total cost.  We negotiated with the developer’s  to allow us to get outside bids to make sure the builder’s cost was within reason (more on that next).

9. Bid out your Cost

Whatever you say honey.

This is an easy way to save tens of thousands of dollars before you even begin the building process.   As I mentioned above, we were required to use a certain builder but were still allowed to shop around to make sure his bid was fair.  To our amazement, the 2nd closest bid (out of 4 bids total) was $40,000 higher!  Yes, that reads FORTY THOUSANDS DOLLARS.  That was a HUGE savings right out of the gate.

Why the difference? Honestly, we don’t know.  We were told that some home builders just don’t need the work so they price themselves out.  Our builder has a 3 man team and then subs out most of the other work (drywall, paint, concrete, plumbing, etc). Of course, the most important thing is that the builder stays within that bid. If the bid looks too good to be true, have someone else look at it (we did).  We realized that the allowance for the kitchen and bathrooms was a bit low for what we had in mind, but so were the other builders bids.

10. Have a Heart to Heart With Your Builder

Communication with your builder needs to be stronger than the communication in your marriage.  Seriously.  If you don’t tell them what you want, how are they going to know? Be specific, and make sure you are all on the same page.  Trust me — it will save you many headaches and arguments in the end.

11. Find a Good Banker

You’re banker is the instrumental piece that can save you tons of money in the beginning as well as thousands of dollars of interest over the lifetime of your mortgage.   When we first started building, 30 year mortgage rates were around 4.5%.  I was drooling and stressed that rates would shoot up.  By the time that we were 30 days to completion we were able to lock in our rate at 5%.  The whole time I was in constant contact with him (and I mean constant) making sure we pulled the trigger at the right time.  Unfortunately, we were a bit premature and rates dropped a bit.   Luckily, we were able to re-lock in our rate at 4.875% by going through a different lender and we didn’t have to pay an additional cost.

12. Negotiate the Construction Loan

Most builders are going to want a sizable down payment (usually around 10%) and will constantly be feeding you invoices to hand to your bank.  To our luck and amazement, our builder only required a $5k down payment (which we paid cash).  In addition to that, he wasn’t constantly hounding us for more cash.   In fact, I can remember my banker making a comment of how impressed he was that our builder had only received 40% of the construction loan when our house was over 80% complete.  A rough calculation had us saving $4-$6k of interest because of this. Not bad.

13. Take advantage of online stores that offer free shipping

Free shipping!

The cabinet hardware quote from our kitchen specialist was $450. We were able to buy the exact cabinet pulls on eBay for $135 with free shipping. We also bought the bathroom vanities that come with the whole package: vanity, top, sink, and faucet. By buying on eBay, we were able to get a cheaper price, free shipping, and were able to ask the seller for a discount. In both cases, the eBay store owners gave us discounts: $75 off on one and $195 off on another. Proof that it never hurts to ask!

14. Search online wholesalers instead of buying retail.

We were able to buy a $6,000 front door for $2,300 unfinished, sent straight to our house. ($3,700 in savings!) We just needed to find somebody handy to help stain it. Luckily, my father-in-law is as handy as they come. If you’re not as blessed and don’t have a handy family member, ask friends and coworkers, and I’m sure you can find someone to help stain your door for a few hundred bucks.

15. Buy your lighting on sale.

My wife knew what lights she liked, and she bought them from a few different places. Compare prices and buy from the place that gives you the best deal. She searched the Sunday paper flyers and compared Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Menard prices. At least one of them had their lighting on sale when we needed it. Don’t forget that you can usually find a discount lighting store online that will beat any home store price.

Example: The chandelier that she wanted, out of the local distributor’s catalog, was $873. By searching online, she found the same chandelier on clearance for $174.99.  It gets even better.  See the next tip.

16. Never buy online without searching for a coupon code first.

Coupon codes can usually save you 10% to 20% off most online retailers. Rotate coupon codes and you can usually always find some type of discount out there.

Even Better Example: The clearance chandelier that she bought she found a coupon code that gave us an additional 15% off clearance items. The chandelier originally priced $873 that she found on sale for $174.99 only cost us $149 with no shipping.

17. Use it or Lose it

We were able to use my father in law’s employee discount to purchase all of our appliances; however, just don’t assume that the employee discount is the better deal. A mini beverage refrigerator we liked was $900 with the employee discount. By shopping around, we found a mini fridge very similar for one-third of the price, $379, plus a $50 mail-in rebate. Do your homework.

18. Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends

Have friends or family that can save you money building your home?  We were fortunate to have friends that did our house plan (architect), kitchen and bathroom counter tops and cabinets.  Just to make sure we were truly saving some money, we also bid out the cost and confirmed that we saved a significant amount.

19. Sweat it Up

This is me pretending to be busy

Are you afraid to get your hands dirty? If so, you may want to skip this section.  If not, dive right in and start sweating it up.  Use your own skills (or find someone that has skills) and do some of the labor on your own.  Again, with a handy father-in-law, we were able to tile the custom shower, hang the siding, install the kitchen cabinets, and install all the hardwood and tile floor on our own.  Tiring, yes.  Worth it, most definitely.  We saved thousands of dollars by doing some of our own work.

Be careful, though. If you don’t know what you’re doing, then this money saving tip may end up costing you more in the end. You don’t want to have to go back and re-do your poor quality job. Make sure you’ve got the skills and you know how to use them.

20. Know All Your Tax Credits

Congress has passed many laws recently that are favorable for many homebuyers and homebuilders.  The most recent update to the first time homebuyer’s tax credit would have given us a $6,500 credit, except that we were 6 months shy of meeting the 5 year requirement- Doh!   Luckily, we did qualify for nice credits for making our home energy efficient.  We netted some serious dough in tax credits for our energy efficient windows and insulation.  The big credit was for the geothermal unit that we had installed.   We lucked out and were able to get a 30% tax credit on the price of the unit and installation cost.  Previously, the credit had a cap of $2,000 if installed in 2008.

21. Collect Boxes

Is my dog in there?

DO NOT underestimate the number of boxes you will need. You can never have too many. We called our local grocery stores and they were willing to give us as many boxes as we could take. All in all, I loaded over 5 loads of boxes in the back of my Tahoe and a friend gave us about 20 additional boxes. This was not including the 40 or so storage bins that we already had.

22. Price Your Movers Wisely

Having never moved before, we turned to the Yellow Pages to look for some moving companies. We called three different companies to give us a bid on what it would cost to move our house. Keep in mind that our new house is only approximately 2 1/2 miles from our old house, so we did not have that far to go.

The first two moving companies didn’t even come out to the house and quoted us $80/hour and $107/hr respectively and both expected the move to take around 6-8 hours. If we wanted them to pack the boxes for us it was $24 per box and $34 if it was fragile (glassware and dishes). See why it makes sense to get plenty of free boxes?
The third company actually came out to look at our house to see how much we had to move. They quoted us $132/hour and claimed that the other companies underestimated how long it would take to move us and would then end up costing us more. Maybe so, but we weren’t sold yet.

Luckily, our fourth option was a referral from a friend. They had hired some guys from a local furniture store to move their house. After giving them a call, we learned that it would only cost us $475 total to move the entire house and all we had to do was rent the U-Haul-which ended up costing us $49.98 plus $20 gas. Needless to say we were sold.

23. Figure out furniture you need in advance

With an upgrade in size of our new house, we knew that we had to buy some new furniture, most notably a couch.  We set out months in advance and found an awesome couch that was on clearance for a fraction of what we would have had to pay if we missed the sale.  Other examples are wall hangings, rugs, and other accessories where we were constantly on the look out for good deals.

Remembering SSG Joshua Melton

Monday was not the easiest way to start a week.  Writing this post is not the easiest thing to do.  This morning I caught a news feed that read “Two Illinois National Guardsmen Killed in Afghanistan”.  Immediately my heart dropped.

Having safely returned home from Iraq in March 2006, I felt so blessed that I and every soldier from C 2/123rd Field Artillery returned home safely.  A few scares but nothing more than close call stories that you can share with friends every now and then.   After nine years of National Guard service I retired.  It’s hard to walk away from something that’s been part of your life for so long, but I knew it was time.  Others that deployed with me felt they had more to offer.  More to sacrifice.  One of those soldiers was SSG Joshua Melton.

SSG Melton and his daughter

SSG Melton was only an E-4 Specialist when we were in Baghdad.  He quickly jumped up in rank upon arriving home showing his loyalty and love for his country.

He didn’t have to go back.

He could be home with his wife and his one year old daughter. Many of my buddies that were previously deployed didn’t have to go.  They volunteered.  They sacrificed.

SSG Melton made the ultimate sacrifice.

26 years of age, SSG Melton’s vehicle was hit while on a convoy in Afghanistan.  He wasn’t the only killed that day.

I also learned that another was killed and  two other soldier were injured including one that deployed with me.  He was flown to Germany.  At this time I don’t know the extent of his injuries.  All I can do is pray.

Tribute To a Hero

Now I sit here not sure what to do.  I want to call SSG Melton’s family and tell them how sorry I am.  To see his wife and daughter and tell them that their husband/daddy is a hero.   For now I just reminisce of the memories I have of him.  Of his quirky sense of humor.   All the while trying to really believe that the news story is right.  That it’s his name that I read as the latest fatality.

It can’t be?

It is.

I tribute this post to you.  For the sacrifice that you made for me and my family and this country that you loved.  You weren’t asked, you just did.  You will always be remembered.  You will always be my hero.

“He which hath no stomach to this fight let him depart. But we in it shall be remembered. We few, we happy few, we band of brothers!! For he today, that sheds his blood with me, shall always be my brother”. Rest in peace my Brothers, you have not been forgotten. (W.Shakespeare)

You can see more pictures of Josh and his family at his tribute site here.

Tasty Protein Health Shake

Anybody interested in losing weight, feeling better, improving your health and doing so in less than 7 minutes? If so, you may want to read this article. You are probably asking yourself if this is an infomercial and I assure you it is not. This is a self discovery that I made several years ago that I attribute to my exceptional health and well being. First, a little background…..

I became a workout buff right about the age of 19. During college, it was typical for me to frequent the gym 4-5 days per week. I did the protein powders, creatine, vitamins and everything else an obsessive fit person would do. I even ate canned tuna fish mixed with cottage cheese during a low carb phase I was doing. (Ewww. Would never do that again!). But then a little thing happened after college…..LIFE. I became career focused and the gym and “eating right” took a backseat.

I slowly saw my weight start to creep up. I’m not sure what the defining moment was, but I knew I needed to do something. I also knew that it all starts with the diet. But being extremely busy I had to figure out something that I could prepare the night before and would be easy to fit in my unpredictable work day.  Introducing: The Busy Man’s Health Shake.

If you like this post, you may also like: The Cheapest and Simplest Chicken Pasta Recipe You’ve Ever Seen,  The Easiest and Cheapest Shrimp Pasta Recipe You’ll Ever Make.

Ingredients For Health Shake

Partly inspired by the Mean’s Health Power Foods, I wanted to create a shake that would get me plenty of protein, good complex carbs, the “good” fats, and plenty of fiber.  I’m kind of a fiber fanatic because heart problems run in my family.  Here’s a look at the ingredients with a rough calculation of their nutritional value (calories, protein, carbs, fiber) based on the serving portion I use for the shake.

The Magical Ingredients

All in all, we have tasty protein and fiber packed shake that yields the following nutritional value: 780 Calories, 65 grams of protein, 77 grams of carbs, and 18 grams of fiber.  Did I mention that it’s delicious?  As you’ll see below, this will actually make you almost 3 16 oz shakes that you can drink throughout the day.  A quick nutritious fix at work that will prevent you from visiting the nearest vending machine.

Adding The Ingredients

Putting the shake together is rather simple.  Here’s quick rundown on how I add everything to the blender:

You may notice that I add a little more raspberries than the other two.  I primarily do this for two reasons: 1. Raspberries tend to have more of a sweeter taste. 2. They offer a higher fiber content to their berry counterparts.  It’s all about the fiber!

Adding The Ingredients

Time To Blend

Blending it up

Considering you have a lot of frozen fruit in here, you’ll need a good blender with  some horsepower.  I actually went through 3 blenders before finding my old faithful.  I always start on the “Crush Ice” setting to break it down a bit, before I start on the speed cycle.

After The Blend

If you have the proper amount of raspberry, it will have more of a purplish color as seen here.

Ready To Pour

All said and done, you should have two full 16 0z shakes with one about 14 0z or so.  It will vary depending on the amount of milk and berries you add. Typically, I’ll have one shake for breakfast and another around 3 pm or so.  In between, I’ll usually eat a light lunch, a Fiber One bar (yes, more fiber), and an apple.  That will usually get me through the day with plenty of energy and  not let hunger pains interfere.  The third shake varies on when I drink it.  When I workout after work, I’ll usually drink it when I get home.  If not, I’ll drink it as a late night sack. (Just got done drinking it as I finish this post).

Time To Drink and Enjoy!

Okay, I can here the skepticism now.   But Jeff, that takes too long to make and I just don’t have the time.  The most common excuse everybody has, right?  Just for fun, I timed myself making the shake.  I wasn’t trying to break any world records here.  I went at the same leisurely pace I do every time I make it.  As you can you can see, didn’t take long at all.   In the 6 minutes and 21 seconds, I made almost three healthy and delicious quick meals.

Super Fast!

Don’t like the ingredients I use?  No worries.  Experiment.  My wife sometimes likes it when I use pineapple juice and frozen peaches.  You can use orange juice as a filler as well.  The point is to be creative and make a healthy alternative to get you through the day.

Overwhelmed by the storm's aftermath

Living in Southern Illinois there aren’t many emergencies that we have to be prepared for.  We will have the occasional ice storm in the winter. During the summer humidity is almost unbearable, but we’re not accustomed to much more than that.  That was until Friday, May 8th, when I experienced a storm like no other.

I was set to play in the annual Carterville Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Golf Scramble that had a tee time of 1 p.m.   It had rained all morning, but I was hopeful that it would still not prevent the days festivities.  I had no idea by the end of the day that my main concern would be whether my home was still standing and not that I had shanked my drive on Hole #9 (or every other hole for that matter).

At 1:28 p.m. an “inland hurricane” or “mesocyclone” hit our small rural area and left widespread damage.  Sustained winds averaged 86 mph with reported gusts reaching over 106 mph.  Many were injured, left without power, and their cars and homes ruined.   Having never been through such a storm, it made me ponder how prepared I was for such an emergency and what I could have done different.   For future reference, the following is how I would prepare for such an emergency.

Photo by Jason York Photography

1. Have Cash On Hand

Luckily, I scored an A+ in this department.  I typically will keep around $200 of cash in my wallet just as a precaution.  Several of the local businesses in the area stayed open to provide resources to the community.  Since they were without power as well, they would only accept cash as payment.  Having some cash on hand proved vital with ATM’s and banks being closed for several days.

2. Fill ‘er Up- Better Have Some Gas

This is where I get a big FAIL.   While running late making my way to the golf scramble (had a client meeting that morning), my low fuel light came on.   I will usually keep my car at around a half a tank, but for whatever reason I let it get close to empty.  Since I was running late, I sped right passed the gas station (which is now closed because the wind blew it over) heading to the golf course.  Turns out that was a big mistake.

After the storm hit, I luckily made it home, but was running on fumes the whole way.   Fortunately, I have a 5 gallon gas tank in my garage for my lawn mower, and was able to fill up my car with that.   If it wasn’t for that, I would have been in a serious predicament since every gas station within 30+ miles was closed due to no power.

Lesson learned: Don’t let my car get near empty and keep and extra gas can in the garage.

What I came home to

3. Have Some Extra Flashlight and Batteries

This is one part where my deployment to Iraq really paid off.  We would always have power outages on our FOB (Forward Observing Base).  Since then, I’ve always kept extra flashlights strategically placed throughout the house in the event we were to lose light.  With the extra flashlights, means I also keep extra batteries on hand.  For the first night without power, it was easy for us to get around and most importantly “see” what we were doing.  I can only imagine if we were without power for weeks.

4. Are You Thirsty?

It’s always smart to keep some extra water on hand.  As a precaution, I always keep an extra case of bottled water in the back of my truck.  I can’t tell you why I do it, I just do.   Turns out it was for a good cause.

We had water until our tanks ran out, but were then out of water for a few days.  With a family of three (that’s not including the dog) that creates a problem.  That’s why it’s a good idea to keep a few gallons of water on hand just for times like this.

Some new landscaping in the backyard

5. Snack Food Is a Must

No power + no refrigerator + no food = me very hungry.

By the next day, we were able to drive and get food and ice, but if we hadn’t- hunger would have start to set in.  Being a health nut, I tend to keep Kashi bars and Fiber One bars always in stock.  Those are absolutely perfect in times like this.  Peanuts, beef jerky,  and peanut butter are also good things to keep on hand.  Certainly not as delightful as a home cooked dinner, but it will do the trick until things are back to normal.

6. Communications

At the time of the storm, both my wife and I were separated (She was at home while I was at the golf course).  We talked up until the storm hit, but right after our phones were dead because the network was flooded with calls.  We both even tried text messaging to no avail.  My wife, being the clever woman that she is, tried sending me a BBM.  Wait, what’s  BBM?  We both have BlackBerry’s and a BBM is a BlackBerry Message.  It’s similar to a text message but can only be sent to other BlackBerry users.  Until I was able to arrive home, that was how we communicated.

photo credit: Cesar Pics

Even after the storm, all phone lines continued to be down and there was only two ways to get information 1: Radio 2. Twitter.   More and more, Twitter impresses me how you are able to gather and disseminate information.  Through Twitter, I was able to keep track of friends and bulletins put out by the local media outlets.   For almost all of Friday evening, I couldn’t call anybody, but I could send them a “Tweet”.  Isn’t technology amazing?

Speaking of communications, having cell phones is great, but all cell phones run off batteries.   When there is no power to be able to charge them, it would be smart to have a car charger on hand.   We were able to to keep our cell phones charged this way and made communicating with family a friends a “breeze” (Pun intended).

7. Emergency Kit

Fortunately, none of us were injured during or after the storm, so our emergency kit was not put to use.  We do have one on

photo credit: Pete Baer

hand, and everyone should to.  The emergency kit could be where you keep your extra cash, batteries, first aid kit, portable radio, flashlight, and extra batteries.  I wouldn’t have just one though.  Keep a few around the house and/or in your car, in the event one becomes inaccessible.

8. Generator Would Be Handy

One thing that would have been extremely handy would have been a generator throughout this whole ordeal.   For the present time, we weren’t ready to fork over the $600 to purchase one.  Being without power for a few days is definitely an inconvenience, but we survived.   We are hopefully building a new home soon and my understanding is that you can put a back up generator installed in the home.   That will be a strong consideration down the road.

That's funny. I don't remember that tree being there?

9. Have a Good Supporting Cast and Clean Up Crew

Being prepared for a storm makes the aftermath that much easier.  What makes even more easier, is having family and friends to help you clean up the mess afterward.  We have a lot of trees that surround our property (as the pictures show) and clean up has been a week long process.  We are very fortunate to have a loving and helpful supporting cast that volunteered their time to help us out.   A quick shout out to all them!   Having them has made the whole process that much less stressful.

My son helping out.

]]> http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/prepared-for-emergency-storm/feed/ 0 http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/chicken-pasta-recipe-easy-cheap/ http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/chicken-pasta-recipe-easy-cheap/#comments Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:43:02 +0000 Jeff Rose http://www.goodfinancialcents.com/?p=3083

Easy Chicken Pasta Recipe

This recent Valentine’s Day I wanted to surprise my wife by cooking a romantic dinner at home.   The last several years we’ve gone out to eat at various restaurants have been disappointed with the quality of the food and the price we had to pay for it.   Seeking ideas I hit the web and found a neat recipe for Chicken Piccata at my buddy JD’s blog Get Rich Slowly.   He had an article entitled Recession Romance and shared some other neat ideas to celebrate V Day without breaking the bank.

When it comes to new recipes, I’m a sucker for any Italian dish, so this recipe was right up my alley.   The one slight change that I implemented was I wanted to make it a pasta dish so I added some thin spaghetti to the mix.   If you’re looking for a new tasty recipe, I encourage you to give it a try. If you’re looking for a tasty shrimp pasta recipe, head over to Gen X Finance for a recipe I shared earlier.  Without further ado, here’s the the step by step instructions as well as an idea on how much it is going to cost.  Time to hit the kitchen to try out this chicken pasta recipe!

Ingredients for Chicken Pasta Recipe

List of Ingredients and Cost of Chicken Pasta

• 4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless, halved crosswise to make 8 small block-shaped pieces ($6.57)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• flour, for dredging
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup chicken stock ($.89) (Preferably homemade chicken stock if you know how to make it)
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2-3 lemons)  ($1.50)
• 1/4 cup jarred capers, drained & rinsed to remove some of the salt
• 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
• Thin Spaghetti ($1.39)

Most of the ingredients are already found in our cupboards, hence why I didn’t include those prices.   The only additional purchase was a bagged Caesar Salad that cost $4.49.    With the salad included, the entire dinner cost me $14.84. That’s it!    It’s the cheapest and probably the best V Day meal I’ve ever had.

Chicken Piccata Pasta Directions

Squeezing the lemons

If you’re not a professional lemon squeezer (as I’m not), I suggest you buy a few extra lemons.   Plus, if you’re using my pasta idea, you’ll need some more lemon juice for the sauce.

Preparing The Chicken

Preparing the Chicken

Seasoning the Chicken

Sprinkle both sides of chicken with salt and pepper.   Dip the chicken into the flour to get a decent layer around it.

In large sauté pan, melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter with the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook just until browned, 3 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate.  At this point in time, you can also start boiling the pasta.   I chose thin spaghetti, but any pasta will do.

Cooking The Chicken

Cooking the Chicken

Add broth, lemon juice and capers to the same pan. Here’s where you could add a bit more lemon juice and broth to make sure you have enough for the sauce for the pasta.  Bring broth to a boil over medium high heat, scraping pan to get all the good crusty bits.  Return chicken to the pan and simmer 5 minutes.

Adding the Juice

Transfer chicken to plates or platter.  Remove pan from heat.   Add remaining 2-4 Tablespoons butter to sauce, whisking to melt.  This is where you want to make sure you have plenty of liquid for the sauce.   Since the original recipe that I got didn’t account for the pasta, I literally used every drop of the sauce from the pan.   Next time I’ll be sure to add the extra butter, oil, stock and lemon juice to make sure I have enough.

Serving The Chicken Piccata Pasta

Serving the Pasta

Pour sauce over chicken and garnish with parsley.  That’s it!   It really is as simple as it looks.   It has to be rather simple, because even I pulled it.   Doesn’t it look yummilicious?

Spouse Approval of The Chicken Pasta

Wife's Approval

The other true test was impressing the wife.  Trying new recipes has the same level of excitement as apprehension, especially on Valentine’s Day.   What was the final verdict?   Take a look at the beautiful smile below.   She loved it! Matter of fact, so did I.   I wasn’t sure about the lemon flavor since it’s not in my usual cooking arsenal, but the overall taste was fantastic.  Just doing this post, makes me crave it all over again.

Give it a try and tell me your thoughts.   Nothing like getting some feedback from the readers.