Phonton Soup

I've started like a dozen blogs with which to return. This one will actually get finished and posted because it's good and people want to read it (positive affirmations work).

I prepped a bunch of soups and lasagnas and stuff for our baby hibernation. One of those soups was a pho (fuh) type broth. The plan was just to put whatever in it and eat it. Then inspiration struck: Shiitake pork dumplings!!!o

PHONTON SOUP
I essentially married a pho broth with wonton soup. First, the PHO BROTH:

4" piece of ginger, sliced (peel on)
5 large garlic cloves, smashed (paper on or off, whatever)
1/2 bunch of green onions, rough chop (roots to whites - reserve greens for garnish)
1 shallot, rough chop (peel it or don't)
1 stalk lemongrass, halved and bruised (if you can find it)
----
1 bunch cilantro stems (reserve leaves for garnish)
1 bunch basil stems (reserve leaves for garnish)
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4ea star anise
1 3" cinnamon stick
1T cloves
1T peppercorns (Szechuan preferred)
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Fish sauce
Sriracha
Soy sauce
Veggie/canola oil
Sesame oil
1qt chicken stock
1qt beef stock

Put a soup pot on high heat. When the pot gets hot, add 2T veggie/canola oil and a T of sesame oil. Toss in top group of ingredients. Get some nice color on it. Add sriracha to your liking. Deglaze with a little fish sauce and soy. Add herb stems and spices. Deglaze again with fish sauce and soy. Add stocks. Bring up to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Let simmer for like an hour - to really let all the favors bloom. Adjust seasoning with soy or salt. Strain the broth. Alone, this broth is an intoxicating "meat tea" that will probably instantly clear the influenza virus*.

And now the SHIITAKE PORK DUMPLINGS:

1/2 pound ground pork
1" ginger, peeled and minced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 bunch scallions, fine chop root to green
1/4 pound shiitake shrooms, fine slice
Chili flake
Soy sauce
Veggie/canola oil
Sesame oil
1 egg
Small wonton wrappers
Small bowl of water

Get a sauté pan super hot. Add 1T veggie/canola oil and 1t sesame oil. Toss in veggies. When shiitakes have a nice color (but don't let the other veggies burn) deglaze with soy sauce and add pork. Add chili flake to taste and more soy or salt to taste. When pork is done, remove to a plate/tray and cool. Combine meat mixture with a beaten egg. Spoon about a teaspoon of mix onto the center of a wonton skin. Dip your finger in the water and run it along two connecting sides. Bring the wet corner to the dry corner and pinch along the edges, removing as much air as possible and making sure edges are sealed. Drop finished dumplings into simmering broth. Serve with sliced green scallions and thank me later.

*this statement has not been evaluated or approved by any administration

Day 25

Really dropped the ball today.

Breakfast:
Nothing (finished eggs yesterday)

Lunch 1:
Nothing (aside from tasting stuff at work)

Lunch 2:
Subway ham & turkey on wheat (gross)

Dinner:
Grilled chicken and veggies

One, all the work that comes with moving makes it really tough to eat well. Two, I think knowing that the end is near is really killing my enthusiasm.

That being said, I'm down 15 pounds at this point. Tomorrow is the last day on the diet, but my mom is coming to town and I still have a pretty long honey-do list, so we'll see if I can make it.

Day 24

A decent day until about 5 minutes ago, but I won't ruin the end.

Breakfast:
3 whites + 2 yolks
Sausage

Lunch 1:
Chicken tortilla soup

Lunch 2*:
Whole Foods salad with jerk chicken
Green tea

Snack:
Random Whole Foods trail mix

Dinner:
McSpicy McChicken McSandwich; I succumb to laziness and convenience. Gimme a break, I just finished a 14 hour day!

*A bird crashed into the window above where I was eating at Whole Foods. Yeah. Had I taken three more minutes to finish my lunch, it would have fallen into my salad.

Crazy day. A couple more coming up.

Day 23

This will be quick because I'm tired.

Breakfast 1:
3 whites + 2 yolks
Sausage

Breakfast 2:
Eggs + scallions
1/2 a buttermilk biscuit

Lunch:
Wahoo's Banzai bowl - teriyaki chicken, grilled veggies, beans, pico

Dinner:
I'm gonna rummage through the kitchen right now. Who knows what gems I'll find?

Day 22

I realize this day (22) seems like a huge jump, but I just realized that I haven't been jumping numbers on Jour de Farce days. So there's that.

"What about yesterday's blog, Luke?" you may be asking. Well, I'll be honest, I was totally off the wagon yesterday.

I didn't go crazy or anything. Well, I did a little. I figured my first breakfast in the new place should be substantial. I made scratch biscuits and gravy with eggs and bacon. Then a sandwich and left over pizza. No excuses. I just got lazy.

Back on it today. Sort of. This is my last week and I can tell you from experience that (TMI WARNING) jumping right back into a regular diet will wreck your insides.

Today:

Breakfast:
Eggs
Black beans
Salsa

Lunch 1:
Chicken tortilla soup

Lunch 2:
Green salad with bacon, turkey, tomato

Dinner (here's where I start to get back to reality):
Goulash- ground beef, pasta shells, and tomato sauce

I'm down 12 pounds.

Jour de Farce #3

Oh man. I needed this one after this week.

Lemon-filled donut
Strawberry frosted donut w sprinkles
Coffee w milk and sugar
Leftover Pei Wei
-Mongolian beef
-Sweet and sour chicken
-Fried rice
Cherry coke
Half of a Little Caesars pizza (thanks, The Sanchez Group)
Crazy bread
Lipton Brisk iced tea
Sour Patch Kids
Ribeye - off my NEW GRILL!
Loaded baked potato
Caesar salad
Chocolate chip cookie marshmallow puff sandwich (thanks Kyle)
Milk
Another chocolate chip cookie

All that food came in at around 3800 calories. Which is not the worst thing in the world since I blew it last night and what's going to happen 10 hours from now. Stay tuned!

Day 18

Well, the wheels came off today. It had to happen. Here's what went down.

Breakfast:
Veggie egg scramble at work

Snack:
Tasting various items at work, as I always do.

And that was it before we started to move. Three stories up and down I don't know how many times.

We got moved in. Went to the store for some stuff. We picked up some dinner.... and that's where the wheels came off.

Starving. Tired. I broke down and we got Pei Wei. Mongolian Beef! Egg Rolls! Crab Rangoon! It was GLORIOUS!

It was a moment of desperation and weakness. I will pay a small pentence tomorrow by not going 100% bananas. I'll just go like 98% bananas.

Jour de Farce is hours away! Don't forget to catch the Twitter feed @LonghornLukeTX

Day 17

Even with moving some small stuff, I managed to stay pretty solid today.

Breakfast:
Taco Shack Bfast Bowl - refried beans, eggs, bacon

Snack:
Bacon-wrapped quail tenders
Chimichurri quail tenders
One bite of a scratch made buttermilk biscuit

Lunch:
Chipotle Barbacoa Bowl
Barbacoa, pinto beans, pico, peppers, guacamole
(PS do not eat prior to multiple trips up 3 flights of stairs)

Dinner:
REPEAT Texas Land & Cattle Trio - steak, chicken, shrimp, broccoli, and salad

Tomorrow may be a little more difficult when we actually move.

Day 16

Today was a better day.

Breakfast:
(from Taco Shack)
Bacon & Egg Taco
Bacon & Bean Taco
-I scraped all the stuff out of the tortillas. It was sad.

Lunch 1:
Arugula salad with tomato

Lunch 2:
Chik-Fil-A Chargrilled Chicken Salad

Snack:
I slow grazed low sodium almonds all throughout work and fell asleep as soon as I got home.

Day 15

The struggle is now getting difficult. With moving, we haven't really gone to the store, or had time to get creative cooking, and as previously mentioned, eating out (quickly) is really tough.

Breakfast:
3 whites + 2 yolks (lame, I know)

Lunch1:
Tuna with a little mayo and dijon

Lunch 2:
Leftover pork with a salad

Snack at work:
Peanuts

Late Dinner:
Peanut butter and celery

I felt pretty cruddy yesterday. Not sure what the cause was. I don't want to blame the diet, because it seems like I would have felt cruddy the whole time I've been on it. It was a pretty calorie deficient day, but I felt like crud before I was really low on calories. Hopefully it was just allergies. We'll see!