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October 10, 2005
The Magic of the Fritatta
Well, bloggiefriends, I just have to tell you that I am having a great day.
First, thank you for all your wonderful comments. It makes me want to create fake identities and write nasty comments on my own blog just to inspire you to such heights of sweetness! You make my day!
Second, the editor of a prestigious magazine just said that he likes my blog. How cool is that??? I am well aware in writing the blog that I am not a real writer or a real scientist... I am a normal person following a strange diet and writing about it. I do love to write and always have, but aside from college I've had no formal training (well, my parents did send me to writing camp in the summers when I was a kid -- thanks Mom and Dad! It must have worked!) and I basically write entries while I drive around doing my job and then jot them down as soon as I get a quiet moment at the computer. So wow!!! I am grinning from ear to ear! :)
Meanwhile, my weekend cooking absolutely rocked, if I do say so myself. Last night I made an eggwhite fritatta with Asian mushrooms and asparagus. It was heavenly. I used 1 cup of eggwhites, 1/2 cup of fat free plain yogurt, and then 28 calories of asparagus, 23 calories of mushrooms, a little half-salt, and fresh ground pepper. I cooked it in the oven on 300 for about 40 minutes (covered with foil to keep the top from burning) and then turned off the oven for the last half hour and just let it soak in the warm. Added 1 teaspoon flax oil to the top just before serving (never heat your flax oil! It oxidizes.) It was so good!!! For dessert for MR I made a fall-themed concoction: 216 g apples, diced, with 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin, microwaved with cinnamon. Then I added 1 teaspoon hazelnut oil and 15 g hazelnuts.
On Saturday night I cooked the heirloom eggplant I had purchased at Whole Foods with just a light dash of half salt and some pepper. We are trying to figure out what entree I made, but the heirloom eggplant was so delicious that it seems to have blotted out the memory of any other food that night. Who would have thunk it? Eggplant is usually so tasteless, but this eggplant was divine.
Okay, we figured it out. I made a "Cream" of broccoli soup by blending broccoli with fat free plain yogurt in the food processor, adding it to a cup of veggie broth, and stirring in Trader Joe's sliced bell peppers. It was quite good, though not as startling as the heirloom eggplant. I'm planning a trip back to Whole Foods to secure more heirloom eggplant. Just eggplant, just steamed, with a little salt and pepper. And it was that good. Hard to believe, but it's true.
On Sunday for lunch I made MR a "taco" salad, with Quorn grounds instead of ground beef, salsa, cottage cheese, romaine, avocado, green peppers and tomato. I ate my traditional lunch of "breakfast salad for lunch" topped with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salsa, plus a cup of cottage cheese.
Tonight I have made a curried pumpkin Quorn dish, with Quorn tenders, pumpkin, curry, yogurt for creaminess. Some hazelnuts on the side for MR, red wine for both of us. It's an absolutely heavenly dish. I might serve it next Sunday for a brunch party MR and I are throwing for some friends. Almost all the food will be orange and black for Halloween! And yes, I will be wearing my pointy hat!
In the meantime, I have been losing weight, as is the predictable result of cutting my calories and skipping my typical night out with friends for over a week. I hit 101.5 this morning. Don't worry, I am being very careful to monitor my nutrition, and I frequently eat slightly different meals from MR even when we have dinner together, so that I can meet all my nutritional needs. For example, I am constantly adding two tablespoons of brewers yeast to my dish instead of the eggwhites I put in his dinners. Getting optimal nutrition seems to make a tremendous difference in my hunger levels. I'm eating very low calorie, but so nutrient dense that I feel satisfied on a whole different level than how I used to feel when I was just plain stuffed with empty calories.
Posted by april at October 10, 2005 5:49 PM