Blog Swap with Dave Cunix

As a part of today’s Ohio Blogging Association’s Cleveland November Blog Swap, I’m happy to introduce you to Dave Cunix from Again? Really?

Bloggers from around the Northeast Ohio area are guest posting on one another’s blogs today as a way to introduce our readers to other members of the blogging community.

For a full listing of blog swap participants, you can visit Poise in Parma .

Enjoy!

- Kristian



The Joy of Eating

Thanks Kristian. I’ll be gentle.

This blog, Adventures of a Trapped 300 Pound Man began in August 2008. As I was reading the introduction, I was struck by Kristian’s decision to dedicate this blog to his “love-hate relationship with food and the adventures it helps create”. He then promised to share recipe experiments, food/location quests and other food related thoughts.

I have never had a love-hate relationship with food. Love? YES! Hate? Unless we are discussing the canned asparagus that my mother cooked till the little spears begged for mercy, no, I have never hated food. But I have had to restructure my diet and better utilize food as a source of fuel. This only led to a greater appreciation.

As I disclosed in my Pumpkin Pie post last year, I really did weigh 255 pounds in June of 2003. This is not obese for a man of my height (6’3”), but I certainly wasn’t svelte. I was enduring my annual physical when my doctor diagnosed that I had borderline high blood pressure. I could no longer carry the weight that I had put on since ending my weekly basketball game six years earlier. He gave me three months to lose 15 pounds or I was going to have to take medication.

I was motivated. I created a low-carb diet and followed it religiously. By my next visit I had lost twenty pounds and had reduced my blood pressure to an acceptable level. The doctor was pleased and we both wondered if I could lose a little more.

In one year I lost 80 pounds. I was too thin. A doctor friend asked if I had had bariatric surgery. I modified the diet and regained 15 pounds by September 2004. I have hovered between 190 and 195 since then. There was no exercise involved. The combination of a low carbohydrate diet and a lot of discipline has allowed me to stay at this healthy weight. I don’t find it difficult, in part, because of all of the tasty foods I have to eat.

I have adapted a lot of recipes to be both lower carb and Kosher, since I keep a Kosher home. This just adds to the challenge. I have posted recipes for main courses and desserts on my blog interspersed with posts dealing with politics, religion, and anything else that could be fun to discuss. For Kristian I decided to post a quick recipe that I just created last weekend. The goal is always the same: good food that doesn’t weigh you down with sugar and flour. This is not gourmet. It is dinner. But it is dinner that is worth eating and sharing.

Miracle Chicken

You have probably made some variation of this. It is incredibly easy.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Two Chicken breasts, each a little less than ½ pound
Miracle Whip
Roasted Red Pepper (Make your own or buy from the store)
Almond Meal
Garlic Powder
Black Pepper
Paprika

1. Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts. Place in a Pyrex baking dish.
2. Smear Miracle Whip on to the breasts. Be careful not to contaminate the jar of Miracle Whip.
3. Put small pieces of the roasted red pepper on top of the chicken.
4. Sprinkle some almond meal over the chicken.
5. Sprinkle the spices over the chicken.
6. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 50 minutes. Remove the foil and give the chicken 10 more minutes in the oven to crisp the coating.

Serve with a tossed salad, a good place to use the rest of that roasted red pepper, and some steamed broccoli. You have never had chicken this moist.

It has been fun sharing with you. I hope that you will come and visit Again? Really? some time.

DAVE