Chicken Spaghetti
November 24th, 2009 § 1 Comment
Think a delicious bowl of pasta at the nearest Italian restaurant,
except better for you.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 big can tomato paste (figure 2 or 3 beer cans worth)
Broccoli, about the same amount as the chicken
Crushed red pepper
VIP optional ingredient- chopped garlic
VIP optional ingredient – asparagus
Put a quarter inch of tomato sauce down and dump the chicken (sliced
to 10 strips a piece) in. Turn and burn until all the pink is gone
from the biggest chunks. Add the rest of the tomato sauce and the
rest of the broccoli and any other ingredients you have lined up.
Your water for pasta should be boiling by now so toss in that wheat
pasta. Figure 10-15 minutes for the pasta to cook and by the time
it’s done, the sauce should be ready. Drain the water and dump the
sauce in the pasta pot and mix. Serve and bag the rest.
Cave cook
EG – Eggs and Tuna
November 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
To be sure – it sounds a bizarre combination, but try it once, and you
won’t be disappointed.
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 can tuna
Crushed red pepper
Cook scrambled eggs like you normally would, but leave 2 of the yokes
out – we’re not saying they are bad for you, but they do make the meal
a bit heavy with the tuna being added. Just when the eggs are done,
toss in that tuna and chop chop chop mix it all together for a minute
or 2. Dust it with some crushed red and you are ready to go.
Goes GREAT with some hearty cave toast, and a great post-workout meal.
Cave CookEG
Chicken and Broccoli Mix
November 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
This is one of the most delicious recipes we have on hand here at
Cave Chow. Thank the Chinese and whoever decided to invent broccoli
for this heart healthy, savory dish of natural food.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
Double the amount of broccoli (2x more than chicken)
Crushed red pepper
Soy sauce
Olive oil
Optional VIP ingredient – asparagus
Splash your pan with olive oil and soy sauce (about half and half).
Cut the chicken breasts into 10 slices apiece. Medium heat, turn and
burn as necessary. When the outsides are cooked but you can sill see
some pink when you slice through the thicker pieces, dump the broccoli
(and asparagus if applicable) in. Add additional OO ans SS as needed
if the chicken starts to stick (sometimes requires a good amount
more). Continue to cook until all the pink is gone and the broccoli
doesn’t look raw anymore. Eat your fill and bag the rest.
Cave Cook
Cave Light
November 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
A general list of cave light meals. Not to be mistaken as snacks,
these meals can be eaten in quantity or bundled together to make a
full sized meal if you are truly hungry.
Peanut butter sandwich (just peanut butter, as jelly is not on the
cave chow list)
Hard boiled eggs (optimal boiling time when making – 12 minutes, and
snack on half of these without the yoke)
A bowl of cold cereal with oats on top ( can also add bananas, apples,
almonds, etc. as you please)
Any item by itself on the cave chow list (tuna, fruit, vegetables,
bread, etc.)
Simplicity – fast and delicious.
Cave Cook.
Chicken, corn, and beans
November 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Here’s a great recipe for you and yours, built off the cave-chow-
approved list of items. It’s a protein packed mixture that is perfect
for lunches and dinners, especially after a good workout.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 can or 2 cups of black beans
1 can or 2 cups of corn
Orange Juice
BBQ Sauce
Pour a half inch of orange juice into your pan, and add couple good
globs of BBQ sauce on top ( don’t worry, it tastes good no matter what
the ratio).
Cut the chicken into strips, say about 10 slices per breast and dump
it in. Medium heat and cook the pieces till there is no white inside
when you slice check the thick pieces. Dump the corn and beans in
with some crushed red pepper and cook on low for another 10.
Fill your plate and bag the rest. Figure this stays good for 5 days
in the fridge and of course forever in the freezer.
FAMILY SIZED: Break out the biggest pan you have and multiply the
ingredient volume by 2, 3, or 4.
Delicious.
Cave CookC
Gym Etiquette
November 24th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Cave Chow has done quite a bit of training in Cincinnati, Chicago, Minneapolis, London, and San Diego, and we’ve noticed some disturbing trends as we’ve gone from one gym to the other – mainly, few people sweating (rough measurement of effort), few people stretching (rough measurement of body knowledge), dependence on trainers (too lazy to work on your own), and faith in traditional doctors and painless approach to healing injuries (unfortunately a sad product of today’s subliminal submission and acceptance of advertising and “new discoveries”).
Old or young, in shape or not, there are some core principles that should apply for everyone who “works-out”.
- Warm up and Stretch. As any athlete knows, a warm up and stretch is essential to performance during the workout. What you may not be knowing is that without stretching (which you can’t do till you are warm), you have a VERY high likelihood of eventual injury
- Work Hard. Thus the “work” in “work-out”. If you aren’t sweating, you should get a poor grade for effort. Stop measuring your calories or your little diet plans and progress charts and start working hard
- Breathe. How many people breath properly during a workout with weights? Very few. Become conscious of your breathing habits, endurance workout or not – they will help you perform and benefit your health
- Hydrate. While crucial, it’s the most hilarious thing to see people with water-bottle belts and fancy drink mixtures that aren’t even sweating. Remember – hydrate during a workout to REPLENISH fluids lost – which requires sweat in the first place.
- Mind the Core. Old or young, get familiar with your core (one of the few times we approve of a personal training session), strengthen it, and apply it throughout your training. Save your back and make yourself stronger.
- Make your Own Way – If you’re not motivated enough to workout on your own, you are probably a lost cause long-term and could save some money by not hiring a babysitter (i.e. trainer) to help you workout and set goals for you. Grab a knowledgable friend instead – half the time they will know more anyway.
- Avoid pills and supplements. Come-on, people!! Do you really think that taking weight loss, extra energy, or performance pills are actually going to help you? That sucking down creatine or gobbling protein is a good long-term plan? They don’t, and it’s not.
- Physical Therapists vs. Doctors. When it comes to overcoming injuries, go the physical therapist route first. Avoid doctors (even specialists), chiropractors, and anybody else preaching a painless or surgical approach to healing. They will cost you more and many times, give you a crutch for the rest of your life. There are some very good PT’s out there who can teach your body how to heal itself, the natural way. Use this route whenever possible.
Lastly, wake up America!! You don’t need flat screens or cool work-out clothes to get in shape.
Cave Trainer
Essential Food Spices
November 21st, 2009 § Leave a Comment
Most health supplements that you buy (pills, vitamins, etc) can be themselves supplemented naturally.
Here is a list of spices that you should have on-hand to make your Cave Chow even more delicious that it already is, and at the same time, supply your body with the catalyst it needs to ward off sickness.
Sea Salt – this is NOT the normal salt you buy in stores (make sure it is SEA salt) – essential to healthy life – prevents cancer, memory loss and many other aging diseases, needed by those who workout
Pepper – very good antioxidant, antibacterial substance, helps with digestion
Garlic – lowers blood pressure, great alternative to Aspirin, a great decongestant, provides vitamin C and B
Ginger – great source of antioxidants, boosts immune system, fights viruses, soothes upset stomachs and prevents nausea, great for preventing and overcoming common colds
Cumin – protects you from cancer, detoxifies the body, great source of iron, digestion aid
Cinnamon – alleviates pain and soreness, lowers blood sugar in diabetics, combats cholesterol and heart disease.
Tumeric – said to be powerful enough to delay or prevent Alzheimers, lowers inflammation and can be a great defense against cancer
Oregano – Extremely powerful source of antioxidants (up to 40 times more than fruit), cancer fighter and a great source of calcium, iron, zinc and others
Cayenne Pepper – improves circulation, excellent digestive aid, can stop a heart attack if administered within 30 seconds, increases body heat production and oxygen consumption
Soy Sauce – invented by the Chinese, often referred to as the healthiest people, it flavors just about anything
Olive Oil – although it’s a bit pricey, we cannot ignore the health benefits of this powerful food accesory. By the way, never, ever, use
Crisco or spray on butter for cooking. It’s simply not healthy for you
We know there are many more that we are not listing, but these are some of the more common ones, and with the focus on simplicity around here, it’s almost more than we ourselves can handle!
Cave Cook.
Cave Smoothie Power
November 19th, 2009 § 2 Comments
CAVE HYDRATE
While even the most most advanced cave kitchens back in the day made some pretty good tools, we have a leg up on them with this one. I don’t think blenders came around until the 1900s.
Anyway, here you are, quick and simple – the best remedy we can find to rebuild muscles after an intense workout (meaning – when you know you will be sore the next day).
- Milk, about a glass full
- One full banana
- 2 scoops peanut butter
- Fistful of raw oats
- Whey protein, if you are a guy
Dump it in, blend it up, drop some ice cubes if you have them, and drink it down – your muscles will recover nicely.
Cave Cook
Listen to your Cave Sense
November 19th, 2009 § 1 Comment
CAVE SENSE OF SELF
How much should you consume?
Don’t listen to all the mindless articles and “well-researched” advice on portions and all of that nonsense, if we may be so eloquent. Our bodies were designed to eat and drink an optimal amount that is different for everybody. Translation – no set amounts work for everybody.
S o when Jenny Craig tells you to eat 3 portions of this and 2 portions of that before they try to get you to buy, guess what – it might, or might not, work for you. Here at Cave Chow we don’t care what you weigh or how much you eat, all we care about is are you LISTENING to your body when you eat?
The cave generations didn’t have heart rate monitors, diet plans, and body fat indicators, and they weren’t treated like babies by the media either. The pathetic way people in this country are addressed by advertising and the media in regards to their health is absolutely shameful, and we have no-one to blame but oursleves.
So let’s snap out of it – and listen to our bodies for a change. Some simple rules that are all you need:
- Don’t eat unless you are hungry, and you will know if you are hungry! Given the same amount of food, active people will need more food than non active people. If you weigh 160 but are doing 2 a day workouts, you’ll be consuming more food than your 200 lb couch-bound peer, because your body needs it, and it will tell you.
- Do NOT overeat – the great sin of many Americans today. Food is fuel, it is sustenance – but if you aren’t doing anything that requires much energy (i.e. get up, go sit at a desk, come home, sit on your couch, go to bed), you don’t need a lot of food. Discipline yourself to eat only when you are hungry, until you feel full, then stop. Its an acquired sense, so pay attention to the body. Learn to listen to it and it will take care of you. A shortcut – if it’s hard to take a deep breath, stop eating.
You don’t need diets, eating plans, or specialized food to be a healthy person in great shape. You need common sense and you need to be adverse to laziness.
Don’t be wasteful – eat as your life energy requires.
Cave Cook
Cave Lunches are great conversation starters
November 19th, 2009 § Leave a Comment
CORPORATE CAVE MAN
Do you spend many of the sunlight hours in the corporate world? Do the hallways, bland colors, cube walls, conference rooms, and constant references to “synergy”, “optimization”, and “business model” drive you a little crazy? Well they damn well should! Cave Chow Lunches are a great way to shake things up a little bit, at least during the lunch hours.
Lunches at work – whether you prepare your own or head out to lunch, can be somewhat lacking for conversation topics. Some of us have been there, and we know there is nothing more depressing than a forced conversation. NOW - Bring some delicious cave chow to work. Trust us, when you sit down in a group of people with 3 hardboiled eggs, a peanut butter sandwich, and an apple, for some reason, people will be like, “haha, what is THAT?”. For some reason, people are quite fascinated by the idea of food in its utmost simplicity– its simply an anomaly to most that they’ve never before thought about.
It leads to great conversation for all. Some great responses to common questions -
- Would you like some?
- What, you never have this for lunch?
- Yep, I made it myself!
- I might be able to share the recipe.
Trust me, they will all be fascinated and slightly jealous.
Cave Cook
