Eggplant it seems to me gets a bad rap. And maybe with good reason. It contains a heat sensitive toxin that can cause diarrhea and vomiting, it's known to be bitter and well it's funny looking. Nutritionally eggplant is mostly water and contains only a small amount of nutrients. But one 1/2 c serving of cooked eggplant has only 14 calories. I grew up loving eggplant because my mom knew how to cook it and I think if done right it can be a filling dinner entree. So here's mom's recipe.
1 medium eggplant
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
Italian seasoning
3 tomatoes (hopefully fresh from the garden or farmers' market)
Start up the bbq
Make several slices in the eggplant toward the stem but don't completely remove the slices.
Combine olive oil, 2 crushed cloves of garlic and Italian seasoning to taste in a small bowl or custard cup.
Place eggplant on tin foil and brush both sides of the slices with olive oil mix.
Slice tomatoes to medium thickness and place between eggplant slices.
Wrap eggplant in tin foil and place on bbq.
After 20 minutes roll it over and bbq for another 20 minutes. Eggplant should be soft and almost translucent looking when done.
Let cool and stew in its juices.
Serve with your favorite side dish and bread for mopping up yummy eggplant and tomato juice.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Mood Food
I've learned a lot of weird things about food and mood and me over the last 30 years. I'm sure we all have. Here's my weirdnesses:
1. Pesto hates me. I love pesto. Its basily garlicky goodness on pizza, pasta, my finger, delights me. But ever since I learned to drive pesto and I have "moments" and then I can't eat pesto. I think mostly its because of number 2.
2. Stress makes me throw up. New job, life changes, learning to drive, all terrible. Partly because it gives me migraines partly because it makes my tummy hurt.
3. Worrying gives me a sweet tooth. I had more chocolate during my dietetic internship that I was shocked I had teeth by the end. I should look into buying stock at Nestle.
4. Hamburgers=happiness. I blame the early years. We got to go to McDonalds like 3x a year with the crew: Casi, Brent, Tim. Get happy meals and a soda play on the play ground. Then there was Dog Days and free coupons to In and Out. And anyone thats been around me during marathons knows I NEED hamburgers. I'd come home owie and hungry fill the tub with ice and cold water and eat my burger. Have a bad day? Eat a hamburger.
5. Marathons make me need salt. I almost killed someone in the Nob Hill for a bag of salt and vinegar chips. The amount I consumed in an 18 month period should be criminal. Seriously.
6. Cooking relaxes me: the process of putting together ingredients and trying new things is a relief.
7. Making cookies reminds me of my family. Every year I take on the enormous task of making all the cookies my grandma used to make. I feel loved, I remember calls to her about how she did everything and I am grateful to have had this in common with her.
There are so many more. I think it's important to focus on this occasionally to note how you feel when you eat and why. What makes you eat? What weird food habits do you have?
1. Pesto hates me. I love pesto. Its basily garlicky goodness on pizza, pasta, my finger, delights me. But ever since I learned to drive pesto and I have "moments" and then I can't eat pesto. I think mostly its because of number 2.
2. Stress makes me throw up. New job, life changes, learning to drive, all terrible. Partly because it gives me migraines partly because it makes my tummy hurt.
3. Worrying gives me a sweet tooth. I had more chocolate during my dietetic internship that I was shocked I had teeth by the end. I should look into buying stock at Nestle.
4. Hamburgers=happiness. I blame the early years. We got to go to McDonalds like 3x a year with the crew: Casi, Brent, Tim. Get happy meals and a soda play on the play ground. Then there was Dog Days and free coupons to In and Out. And anyone thats been around me during marathons knows I NEED hamburgers. I'd come home owie and hungry fill the tub with ice and cold water and eat my burger. Have a bad day? Eat a hamburger.
5. Marathons make me need salt. I almost killed someone in the Nob Hill for a bag of salt and vinegar chips. The amount I consumed in an 18 month period should be criminal. Seriously.
6. Cooking relaxes me: the process of putting together ingredients and trying new things is a relief.
7. Making cookies reminds me of my family. Every year I take on the enormous task of making all the cookies my grandma used to make. I feel loved, I remember calls to her about how she did everything and I am grateful to have had this in common with her.
There are so many more. I think it's important to focus on this occasionally to note how you feel when you eat and why. What makes you eat? What weird food habits do you have?
I love food
I hate nutrition. I really do, with its big words and the vast unknown I have a love and hate affair with my chosen path. But I do love food. So I think thats what we'll talk about here my skinny girl love affair with food.
I'm a bad nutritionist I really am. I don't care about nutrition labels, several nights a week I have dinner of cold cereal or pb on anything really. And it doesn't bother me. Really. In fact tonight I had chocolate cake and milk for dinner. I've been blessed with a high metabolism and an inability to stay still. I've also been blessed with a deep love of fruits and vegetables which I'll attribute to growing up in the wonderland of Sonoma County.
I do find it interesting how so much of our food traits can be traced back to our beginnings. As a friend once remarked after dinner one night, "you can tell you were all raised in families that ate dinner together and shared your days over dinner. You talk a lot while you eat. But at my house we watched tv you didn't talk while you ate." Isn't it funny how those early years really determine how we eat for the rest of our lives?
Food has changed a lot for me over the years. At my folks house growing up there was fresh fruit everywhere. Eating healthy wasn't taught to me it was sitting in front of me when I climbed my favorite tree. No one had to tell me I needed 30 minutes of exercise a day I could hardly get changed fast enough to go out and play. In junior high and high school food became the enemy. At the junior college I discovered boys and BBQ and my whole relationship with food changed. In Fresno food became the way to interact, make new friends, and avoid doing homework. And now since college food has become all I do I talk about it at work whats good whats bad, what are you eating ,when are you eating. And I still love food but sometimes I'm a little over it. This year I'm trying to grow a little more of my own, invested in a CSA which has brought some new unseen foods into my life. So I'll share some of that here. Along with the struggles of trying to eat right after talking about it all day, while loving foods, and while interning.
I'm a bad nutritionist I really am. I don't care about nutrition labels, several nights a week I have dinner of cold cereal or pb on anything really. And it doesn't bother me. Really. In fact tonight I had chocolate cake and milk for dinner. I've been blessed with a high metabolism and an inability to stay still. I've also been blessed with a deep love of fruits and vegetables which I'll attribute to growing up in the wonderland of Sonoma County.
I do find it interesting how so much of our food traits can be traced back to our beginnings. As a friend once remarked after dinner one night, "you can tell you were all raised in families that ate dinner together and shared your days over dinner. You talk a lot while you eat. But at my house we watched tv you didn't talk while you ate." Isn't it funny how those early years really determine how we eat for the rest of our lives?
Food has changed a lot for me over the years. At my folks house growing up there was fresh fruit everywhere. Eating healthy wasn't taught to me it was sitting in front of me when I climbed my favorite tree. No one had to tell me I needed 30 minutes of exercise a day I could hardly get changed fast enough to go out and play. In junior high and high school food became the enemy. At the junior college I discovered boys and BBQ and my whole relationship with food changed. In Fresno food became the way to interact, make new friends, and avoid doing homework. And now since college food has become all I do I talk about it at work whats good whats bad, what are you eating ,when are you eating. And I still love food but sometimes I'm a little over it. This year I'm trying to grow a little more of my own, invested in a CSA which has brought some new unseen foods into my life. So I'll share some of that here. Along with the struggles of trying to eat right after talking about it all day, while loving foods, and while interning.
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