Favorite Recipes - by Chris McCarvill

I constantly diet and do the opposite of diet. Food is one of those crazy things in my life that I can’t seem to do in moderation. I know I eat for the wrong reasons sometimes, and that makes me have to diet and exercise to keep the clothes from getting too tight. So, since I have a big interest and an open mind about food, I figured I’d share some of what I’ve learned in my travels. That’s one of the most amazing things about touring, you get to sample so much of the people and the culture through their food.

For example, Spain loves wine and cheese. It’s good red table wine like you can’t get in the states, or at least I can’t get it. Spain’s cheese looks hard and dry, but oh man, it’s off the hook awesome. Plus their bread is to die for. It sometimes seems like that’s all they eat though!

In Brazil they have Churrascaria (Brazilian Steakhouse). The exchange rate when I went there was such that it cost about $6.50 USD to have the most amazing, over the top gastronomic experience I’d ever seen. It’s essentially a huge salad bar, but they have everything you can think of, and in such huge quantities. There’s a pasta chef with about 16 different types of sauces simmering. When you sit at the table and turn a little wheel to green, the waiters almost attack the table with skewers of meat that you can slice off to your liking. You might get marinated steak or chicken hearts. It’s almost non stop. They only stop after you turn the dial to red and you need a hand truck to wheel you out of there.

In contrast to all this craziness, I’ve done some pretty hardcore diets in my day. Everything from 4 days of only having organic lemonade mixed w/ cayenne pepper (lost about 4 pounds from that) - to figuring out an actual healthy diet and exercise plan that works really good, doesn’t starve me and I feel great doing, if I can keep it up!

I’m 6’2 and anywhere from 180 to 200 pounds. Most people think I'm lighter than I am but I think I have a lot of heavy leg muscles from mountain climbing and bike racing. I can get down to fighting weight (like 180-185) in a few months if I’m up to 200 or so. I’ve found that a diet with a lot of vegetables is my answer. I love salads, so let’s start there.

SALAD BASE:

Green leaf lettuce
Avocado (there’s an art to choosing, slicing, de-pitting and peeling. See footnote.)
Roma tomatos
small cucumbers
green onion

This salad base is mainly what I start on for dinners almost every night. You can eat as much of this stuff as you want without much weight gain. I doubt most people will eat more than one avocado in a setting, so figure on one.

Dressing: I’ve found Boathouse Farms makes a yogurt based dressing, cause I like ranch and other fattening ones. Again, this helps. See below for what direction to try.

These are my three favorites I’ve come up with.

1. Mexican Chicken Salad
2. Black Mountain Salad
3. Samurai Salad

1. Mexican Chicken Salad:

Prepare salad base from above, cube all vegetables and toss well.

Cube one lean chicken breast.

Use frying pan on high heat and sear chicken in a little olive oil until outside is golden brown.

Stir in a half of a taco seasoning flavor packet and about 1/3 cup of water. Leave on high heat for a minute, then switch to low heat and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Make sure all seasoning is covered and wet.

Add some of the taco flavor packet to some of the yogurt ranch dressing. Apply to the salad base.

Add some light cheddar shredded cheese to top the salad.

Add chicken hot to the top of the salad so the cheese melts.

Add a tablespoon of light sour cream.

Add a bunch of fresh torn cilantro to the top.

This rocks. Trust me.

2. Black Mountain Salad

This got it’s name after I went on an all day mountain bike excursion in the national forest around my house. The forest is crazy where I live for mountain biking. There’s lots of steep drops, black mud, hardscrabble, rivers and sharp rocks, all of which seemed to be black from it being overcast all day. I wasn’t hungry when I got back. I was famished. After an adventure like that, this is the salad to recover with.

Prepare salad base as above. Cube all vegetables and toss well.

I use a George Foreman grill to cook my steak. First I seasoned both sides liberally with thyme, oregano, and rosemary. I like steak on the raw side, but cook to your liking. Let it sit for a few minutes.

Add a light (Ken’s is great) Balsamic Vinegar dressing to the salad base and toss.

Add Gorgonzola cheese crumbles to the top.

Cube the steak with a sharp knife and add it to the top.

Add some Craisins and some Snapea Crisps (basically potato chips made out of peapods) to the top of this and chow!

3. Samurai Salad

I’m a huge fan of sushi and hibachi. The food stores near me are starting to carry more of the international foods, so it’s not that hard to find this stuff, if you know what to look for.

You’ll need:
Japanese Soy Sauce (This is different than normal Chinese)
Mirin (a rice wine for cooking)
Wasabi (I use the squeezable - you can find it w/ the horseradish)

Once again, prepare the salad base and toss all vegetables. Tomato is optional on this one.

I love seafood also, so this one calls for frozen cooked shrimp. To thaw, grab about 10-15 shrimps, and run them under cool water in a bowl until they’re soft. Takes a little while. Carefully pull off the tails and discard.

Heat a frying pan on high and throw a little butter in there. Throw the shrimp in a sear them for a few minutes.

Add about 3 tablespoons of Mirin, same amount of Soy sauce. Cook it on medium for a few more minutes. Since the shrimp is cooked already, you don’t need to cook it all over again.

Pour the hot shrimp and sauce over the salad.

Mix an amount of 50/50 wasabi and mayonnaise. You don’t need a ton of this, one you mix it into the salad it kind of bounces off the other flavors. Don’t overdo it as it’s strong.

Add this and a little more soy sauce to the salad and you’re ready to go.

You can substitute chicken or beef in the place of the shrimp, or combine it, like hibachi.

Turkey Hill makes a low-fat ice cream that rocks. Chocolate cookies & cream is my favorite. Enjoy!