ArcaMax

Here We Go Again...

I remember when I was little my mother used to say, “Christmas again? Didn’t we just do Christmas about a month ago?”

I was shocked. As a child it seemed like forever to me since the last Christmas. How could my mother be so wrong?

Now I get it. Seems like we just did Christmas and whoosh...we just did Christmas again. And soon to come is New Year's day -- again. Time flies when you reach adulthood and it seems to speed up as each year goes by. When I look back, for the life of me, I can’t figure out where the whole last decade drifted off to. I want it back and I want it back NOW.

Not gonna happen, is it?

Well, here we are again. Time to set goals, and if you do that sort of thing, announce New Year’s Resolutions.

What are you going to have for goals this year?

Last year I was at a meeting with 21 female CEO’s. Each of us had to get up and announce our three main goals for the year. They gave us a few minutes to think about it so we could make notes and then each of us was called to the podium to report out.

Would you believe that 20 out of 21 announced that one of their top 3 goals was going to be “lose weight”? Some were more specific than that, by saying something like, “I want to lose 25 pounds." Twenty out of twenty-one. What does that say about our society?

Worse, several of them admitted that this has been a top goal for YEARS.

I can tell you what it says. It says America is gaining weight. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) keeps track of such things. Our weight has been increasing at an alarming rate. Over 60 percent of the population is overweight. Almost 35 percent of the population is categorized as obese. This is ridiculous and it’s sad. It’s alarming because being overweight means you get other ailments like hypertension, acid reflux and diabetes just to name a few. Don’t get me started.

I don’t think I need to lecture you. So many of us are looking at the problem in our mirrors every morning. We are well aware, thank you very much.

So many set a goal to lose weight.

I’ve been reading parts of a book on setting goals and achieving them. It’s called "The 168 Work Week", by Kevin Hogan. There are lots of things that Kevin says that I find overly graphic. He likes to figuratively yell at you in his book. That’s his style.

There was one sentence that really caught my eye:

When you do something you aren’t familiar with, or comfortable with, or you inherently don’t like, you rarely will find the stick-to-it-iveness to continue.

That sentence sunk in and it sunk in deeply.

Let’s think about it (pause).

In my opinion, we have to think about each portion of the sentence on its own.

Let’s still use losing weight as our goal. (You can analyze this sentence with ANY goal you might have so give it a try).

Lose weight is the goal. Using the first part of the sentence let’s analyze it: If you aren’t familiar with losing weight and you don’t know how to go about it, and don’t have any guidance, you’re likely to fail. Makes sense to me.

If you are not comfortable with losing weight, don’t like to feel any suffering or don’t like the idea of having to give up the way you currently eat, you’re likely to fail once again.

If you really hate dieting in general and have a bad attitude about whether it will work or not, then of course it won’t work.

So it appears to me that you have to be willing to adapt to one or all of the above before you’ll achieve your goal.

In dieting you probably need to study the options and pick the one that makes the most sense for you so you can achieve your goal with confidence. You will be more familiar going in.

Or,

You have to find a method of dieting that you feel you are going to be comfortable doing. Then you might actually enjoy a diet. Wow. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

Or even if you don’t like dieting, you are going to have to get just angry enough with your current situation that you are fed up and will stick to it because you know it’s the right thing to do for your health, so this time you are bound and determined to make it work. Full commitment this time.

So when you are setting your goals this year, feel free to analyze your goals using that sentence. Break it down. Your goal might be:

Saving Money. Exercising, Spending more time with family. They can all be analyzed with this sentence.

When you do something you aren’t familiar with, or comfortable with, or you inherently don’t like, you rarely will find the stick-to-it-iveness to continue.

Write down your own goals and analyze them. (By the way, did you know it’s been proven that if you write down your goals you are 300% more likely to ACHIEVE them? Seems so simple. Write down your goals. Post them where you can see them. You’ll make them happen).

I’m kind of glad I came across that sentence in Kevin Hogan’s book. I think I’ll do a better job of evaluating my own goals using this simple, one sentence “analyzer”.

One of my goals this year was to bring you more healthy recipes. I’ve heard from many of you that I have been doing well in achieving that goal. I promise this next year I’ll bring you even more healthy recipes, so as we close out 2009, enjoy this healthy recipe from The Zola Diet.

Cheers,
And Happy New Year!
Zola

Pork Tenderloin with Mild New Mexico Red Chili Sauce

So I’m back this week with another pork recipe. That’s 3 times in a month I’ve given you pork recipes because one week I gave you two different recipes for pork in one column. This time I’m coming back with a pork recipe because there’s a Southern custom that involves having pork for New Years because it will bring you good luck and good fortune. I learned that one from my mother-in-law so I always cook pork on New Years. Thought you might like to, also.

If you don’t like spicy food, don’t be afraid to make this dish. It’s quite mild. Very flavorful. If you like spicy food, I have pointed out in this recipe the place where you can really kick up the heat factor. It’s all up to your taste.

Serves 4 to 5

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

1 bag of New Mexico dried chilies (3 oz). These bags are usually near the fresh peppers in grocery stores.

1 tsp of garlic, minced

2 shallots, diced

2 Tbl butter

2 tsp of agave nectar or 1 pkt of stevia

Cayenne to taste

1 cup of whole cream

1-1/2 cup of water

For the meat:

2 pork tenderloins

2 tsp of meat rub. Your choice. This can be a spicy rub or an herby one. You chose. Just make sure the rub has no sugar in it.

2 tsp of olive oil

Directions:

To begin the sauce, remove the chilies from the bag. Cut off the stems and slit each one open so you can scrape out the seeds. Do as much of this with the knife as you can. The seeds are the hot part of the chili and the ribs they stick to are hot, so you don’t really want to get much of this on your hands. Throw away the seeds and stems.

When the chilies are cleaned put them in a large sauce pan. Cover with water and boil the chilies for 15 minutes. This softens the chilies. Then drain and let them cool off.

After you clean the chilies, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly to get the hot chili juice off of them. Alternatively, wear rubber gloves while you perform this step.

Now, prepare your meat to roast at 375 degrees. In an oven proof pan place the pork tenderloins. Rub or brush on the oil. Sprinkle each pork tenderloin with a teaspoon of the meat rub. Place in the oven and begin roasting while you finish your sauce.

In a sauté pan add your garlic, shallots and butter. Saute on medium just until softened. Add the agave or stevia. Stir. Put the drained chilies and the sautéed veggies in a blender with the cream. Close the lid and puree the sauce. Then start to add the water and whiz until it gets to the consistency you like.

Pour the sauce into a medium sauce pan and heat it. Taste it and see if you want to add any cayenne for more zip. This is really a very mild, yet flavor-filled sauce even without adding the extra kick. Just don’t boil the sauce or you might scorch the cream.

Pull your tenderloins out of the oven at 20 to 30 minutes and check for doneness. I roast them to 160 degrees which will still allow for a bit of pink color. Some folks want to roast to at least 170 degrees because they like their pork more well-done. The pink is not dangerous. (Just be SURE to roast to over 140 degrees for food poisoning safety with pork.)

Slice the pork tenderloin on a diagonal for oval slices. Each person gets about 4 quarter inch slices. Spoon sauce around the pork or over the top as you prefer. You will likely have extra sauce. It’s great the next day on an omelet.

Cheers
Enjoy,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.