It’s Day 2 and we’re cooking today!
(Check out the video transcript below. You can also hit the “gear button” on the video and increase its playback speed if you’d like to take it a bit faster.)
Day 2 Video Transcript
It is Day 2, and this meal is so simple, it is almost embarrassing to show it to you. This is based on the Ridiculously Big Salad framework, but it’s cooked. And so with the Ridiculously Big Salad, we have a predictable amount of greens and fiber, protein, fats. And this is a recipe that has those same predictable amounts, but it’s cooked. I would eat a meal like this about one out of every five days during my rapid weight loss phase. Again, it follows the framework of the Ridiculously Big Salad, but I do want to emphasize that four out of the five days that I was eating in that time, in that time period in my life, I was eating the salad. And I think there is a big advantage to eating a raw salad over something that’s cooked, but it is very easy to get tired of the salads, and this is a way to change it up a little bit in a way that’s so super simple, it’s crazy. I certainly won’t be getting a reputation as a gourmet cook out of all of this.
This is what we’re going to do. So you have your list, you have the recipe for this. It calls for some protein. So in this case, you know from Day 1 that I just use some deli meat. So I’m going to end up putting deli meat in this, which really isn’t my top choice for this meal. But it just makes the point, it doesn’t matter that much. I often will use Old Bay seasoning in this. That’s just because that’s in the ridiculously big salad book. The only real reason I use Old Bay seasoning is it’s just so easily found, and some people in the group liked it so I just stuck it in the book. Otherwise, you can use any general seasoning, salt, or whatever that you want, because you’re just trying to get a little flavor in this.
This is all you’re going to do. You’re going to get some broth. You can just get a carton like this at the store. You can look in any soup section and find a carton of broth. If you want, you can make your own. It’s really up to you. Let’s not make it too complicated. You’re on Day 2. Let’s use the stuff out of the carton, and we’re putting in a half cup into this saucepan. A lot of times I’ll use a skillet for this, but today I’m just going to use a saucepan. I’m putting in my half a cup of broth and I’m going to put in the cauliflower. The recipe calls for an entire pound of cauliflower. Frozen, it can be fresh. It will cook a little bit faster if it’s fresh. That’s fabulous. Frozen is fine, too. It’s really easy to just keep the stuff in your freezer. That said, I don’t actually have cauliflower florets. What I have in my freezer right now that also works is the cauliflower rice.
The problem in this case is it’s only 10 ounces, and I’m going to miss six ounces of my vegetables and this wouldn’t fill me up as much, but I’m still going to use it, frozen. Oh, super fancy. The cauliflower rice is in there. And I looked around in my freezer at what other frozen items I have. I actually have quite a bit of frozen vegetables. So I had some options, but it makes most sense. Maybe I’m going to add a little more vegetable to this, is what I’m going to do. And so, but kind of go off recipe. I have this giant pile of frozen broccoli, and I’m going to dig right into it. This product a lot of times has variation in sizes, and I’m going to reach in and find the smaller ones. I’m not going to measure how many ounces, but I do know that this 10 ounces of cauliflower rice won’t fill me up for my one meal. For one meal a day. I want to eat a lot, but I’m going to keep it low calorie. Broccoli is low calorie. It’s pretty low in carb. Okay, so I’ve added some broccoli to this, the smaller pieces of the broccoli. And so now I have frozen cauliflower and broccoli, and there’s being all super fancy.
I’m going to toss in a tablespoon of Old Bay seasoning. This will call for salt and pepper to taste, and it’s going to call for a lot of cheese, but first we’re going to just cook it. So I’m going to put a lid on this, and I’m going to cook it and I’ll be back.
And we are back. It’s been about 10 minutes with this basically steaming, but now I’m going to add the cooked protein to it. So Day 1, I used a turkey deli meat. That is what I’m going to use for Day 2 and Day 3, because I told you guys, just choose a protein and go with it for three days. Keep it very simple. I’m kind of regretting my choice, because I don’t think deli meat is the very best in this dish, but we’re going to see. So remember, Day 1’s protein in my case was the Costco deli meat. And we had a half a package left. Remember, I just chopped it in half, the whole thing, and then I chopped it again. I’m going to do that again here. I’m just going to chop it all in half, all fancy like, get rid of some of that stuff. And so I have these ribbons of deli meat. I’m going to give it another chop and get some smaller pieces into this dish. So I’m going to just have these sliced pieces of turkey meat in here.
I’m going to take the lid off and I’m going to put my turkey meat in there. Are you getting that this is not super fancy? It could be, but it’s not. I’m going to just stir that in there. What I do want is for this turkey to heat up. I’m going to be putting this back on the stove at a low heat, but I kind of want that turkey mixed in nicely into the cauliflower and broccoli. So remember, I put a little bit of broccoli in this, because I didn’t have enough cauliflower. It’s okay. It’s really just a framework. It’s not so much the recipe. And so I have it all mixed up in here. Just made some mess on my island. Get it mixed up nice. So that deli meat, it was an 11 ounce package. So this has about five and a half ounces in it right here, which is not a bad amount. It’s about right, about on target.
This dish calls for cheddar cheese. I’m going to add some cheese now. And the recipe says to sprinkle it on top. That’s kind of a fun way to have it, because it makes you feel like there’s a whole lot of extra cheese rather than it getting all mixed in there, but you can certainly mix it in. That’s another option. And I will put this right back on the stove with the lid on it for just a couple minutes of very low, just to melt the cheese, really. I sprinkled on the cheese. I’m going to put the lid on. I’m going to put it back on the stove.
It’s been just a couple minutes. This has been on the stove on low heat. In the process, I hope to warm that turkey up just a little bit and melt the cheese. So let’s take a look, nice and melted. Let me see what this tastes like. First off, that’s a little too hot to be tasting. This surprises me, because I thought with that turkey meat, oh, I don’t know. I don’t know how this is going to be. It’s really pretty good, especially in the world of diet food. Could this be better tasting, more gourmet? Absolutely. That’s not the question for today.
The question for today. So you’re going to taste it. You’re going to taste whatever you just created with your own protein and using this basic idea, and taste it. See how it is, eat it. This is your meal for the day. I expect you won’t find it quite as filling as the salad, but it’s not bad. We’re working on a lot of recipes actually centered around the cooked versions, because we’ve had a lot of requests for them. In the course, there’s a dozen recipes that follow this framework. But right now, don’t worry about all that stuff.
I want you to taste it and think about your goal. Again, what’s your weight loss goal? If you had to eat something like this every single day for some months, would it be worth it to meet your goal? That’s your real question. That really is your key question. As you taste this, consider this against your goal. And frankly, like me not being able to walk, this would’ve had to taste really very bad for me not to actually eat this, to meet my goal, but our goals are all different. And our standards for food tasting are all different. So give it a taste and think about that question.
And again, think about what this is. We have very few carbs in here. The carbs are definitely in the vegetables, but there’s a lot of fiber. It’s carbs in the form of fiber, which we often don’t count in ketogenic diets. There’s really no sugar in this, unless you have some in the meat that you put on. Sometimes a certain sausage might have sugar in it. Bacon has sugar in it. You have to be careful about some of that stuff. But for the most part, whatever you’ve added probably doesn’t have sugar, and that is a huge win. This is calorie minded, just like Day 1 and Day 3 will be very calorie minded. This is very calorie mindful. Many ketogenic recipes are not. And many people out there are not having the success that we’re having in the Eat Like a Bear group. And that is one of the big reasons. It is one of the very big reasons is actually the calories. I know we are told the calories don’t matter. They matter.
Now, it’s more complicated than the old calories in, calories out thing, but they still matter. And you have to burn the fuel in this off before you’re going to start burning off the fuel somewhere else, like there. You burn off what you eat, then you burn off something else. So you overeat, you’re not burning the other stuff. That’s the basic problem. These recipes are highly crafted to help you lose it. And what’s my evidence? All of our success cases, all of the dozen now triple digit success cases.
Day 2, your one main question. It’s the same question every day, isn’t it?
What are you eating? And is it worth it? It really comes down to that. I’ll see you tomorrow.
