I bought a bag of mandarin oranges that are supposed to be easier to peel and have fewer seeds than regular oranges. Plus, they’re smaller, so the boys can eat them in one sitting, and they’re perfect for lunchboxes.

No. 2 wanted one at breakfast today and remarked that once it was peeled, it looked like a hybrid between an orange and a pumpkin. “It’s a porange!” he exclaimed, although it sounded like “porn-ge.” I suggested that he might call it an orangekin, instead, because porange might get him in trouble at school.

I can just hear the conversation now: “Hey guys, check it out: I’ve got a PORNge!” The teacher on duty does a double-take, and my 11yo ends up in the principal’s office.

To my blissful surprise, he was unfamiliar with the word, so I explained that the word itself wasn’t a cuss word, but what it stood for was bad, so he ought not to say it. I realized, as we were talking about it, that we’ve had previous conversations about being careful what you look at online and being respectful of our bodies (and other people’s bodies), but I don’t suppose we’ve ever actually used that word to explain it. We’ve talked about how it’s not right to look at pictures of naked people, but I don’t guess I ever said p-o-r-n (<<and I’m only hyphenating it here in an effort to keep the robo-spam comments at a minimum).

So, here’s to easy-peel oranges and uncomfortable breakfast conversation!

P.S. Now that we’ve established that looking at naked people is wrong, how will I explain works of art? Parenting is confusing, sometimes.

I don’t have a lot to share with you today, because I just got back into town from a conference. However, I will say that it can be difficult to stick to an eating plan while traveling.

I made do at lunch by scraping aside the rice and hoping the gravy/glaze/stuff on the chicken that I didn’t manage to scrape off discretely wasn’t too cornstarchy and sugary. The dessert reception was difficult, but I resisted pretty well. I did have two chocolate-dipped strawberries, but I avoided the pastries. <<That is saying a lot for this gal’s willpower! 🙂

All in all, I did ok, but it wasn’t my best two days of eating.

In case you didn’t know this already, eggplant is my favorite vegetable. I could eat it several days a week, and I am on a mission to discover a variety of ways to prepare it.

The thought occurred to me recently that eggplant would make an ideal man:

• It’s versatile and flexible. It can be dressed up fancy or down-to-earth.
• It is culturally apropos, whether the choice is Italian, Asian, etc.
• It is hearty and comforting, but it can also be spicy. 😉
• It is unique, yet it fits in with a variety of venues.
• It has a firm exterior, but it is soft on the inside.
• The short and plump variety are just as good as the tall and skinny variety; appearance matters little.
• It can be bitter if you don’t know how to treat it.
• It is good for you.

Without further ado, allow me to share my most recent concoction of stir-fried eggplant with tofu. It is so delicious, I ate it for lunch and dinner. 🙂

• Approx. 1/3 of one medium-size eggplant (or, if using the banana-shaped Japanese eggplant variety, use about 1/2 of one)
• 1/4 of one tub of firm or extra-firm (some packages say “hard”) tofu
• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce (hoisin sauce is also scrumptious, if you prefer)
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• dash of salt, to taste (but not too much, b/c soy sauce is already salty)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Cut the eggplant and tofu into strips about 1/2″ thick. (Even firm tofu is delicate, so slice gently if  you want strips instead of chunks.) Pan-fry the eggplant strips in a skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat until it begins to brown. Turn, as necessary, to brown both sides. Scoot the eggplant to the sides (so it doesn’t overcook), as shown above, and add the tofu strips to the middle of the skillet. Cook until toasty-brown, flipping as needed.

Drizzle oyster sauce and soy sauce over the skillet and gently (<<see above reference re: tofu fragility) stir the dish until the eggplant & tofu are coated. Remove from heat and serve immediately. Serves one as a main dish or two as appetizers/side dishes. Enjoy!

Prepping the tomatillos

I recently discovered shirataki noodles, a naturally gluten-free, low-carb pasta substitute derived from the konjac “elephant” yam, or in some cases, they are made from tofu (soybeans). The boys were having lasagna the other evening, and I was in the mood for spaghetti. There are a few ready-made brands of spaghetti sauce on the market with relatively low sugar, but I decided to try to make my own.

Here’s the recipe I concocted:

• 28 oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 tomatillos
• 1/2 tsp cardamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp oregano
• 3 Tbsp dried minced garlic*
• salt & pepper, to taste

Peel the papery wrapping from the tomatillos, cut off the stem tips (like you would a regular tomato), then cut into large chunks. Combine with other ingredients in a food processor, on low or pulse setting until blended. *The minced garlic adds a distinctive texture to the sauce; if you prefer a smoother sauce, you might use powdered garlic, instead. Just adjust the amount, as you prefer. The amounts listed above make enough sauce for about one small package of spaghetti.

After draining the shirataki noodles, I ladled sauce over it and microwaved the dish for a couple of minutes, until warm. It was a bit too juicy, so for future batches, I think I will let the sauce simmer a while on the stovetop, to reduce the excess liquid.

I was really pleased with the flavor. The tomatillos and cardamon gave the sauce a sweet little zip, while the oregano and garlic kept it authentically Italian flavored. The lettuce from our garden is still doing well, so I made a little side salad.

Also, the dish pairs well with a glass of Malbec. 😉 Hope you enjoy!

One part caramel vodka.

Three parts unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Pour over ice and stir.

Nominal carbs; maximum nomnomnom.

That is all.

I had a dinner event to attend after work recently, and I debated whether or not to eat a snack beforehand. The problem with attending a function where a plated dinner is being served is that you have very little choice in what to eat. I’ve learned to be creative (and discrete) at events like that. I usually leave food on my plate, and I’m still trying to break the mindset that it’s wasteful to do so … but the truth is that it goes to MY WAIST to eat it just because it’s there.

Thankfully, the dinner event ended up being buffet-style, so I scanned the dishes while I waited in line and planned my course of action. They were offering Caesar salad, ziti noodles with a meat/marinara sauce, breadsticks, grilled summer squash/zucchini/red bell peppers, lasagna and cake (I tried to ignore it, so I didn’t notice what kind it was).

So, I got a half-plate of salad (sans croutons) and a half-plate of the grilled veggie assortment. Summer squash & zucchini only have 3 net carbs per cup, and red bell peppers have 6 net carbs per cup (and I had way less than a cup of the bell peppers). I added a bit of the meat/marinara sauce (not totally safe, since a lot of spaghetti sauces have sugar, but I took a gamble) to the veggie assortment.

It was scrumptious, and I didn’t feel conspicuous avoiding the carb overload! In fact, I think grilled squash with the low-sugar spaghetti sauce that I usually use would be a nice, hearty dinner to make at home, too.

Well, my falafel didn’t turn out as pretty and moist as the ones I showed you previously, but they tasted good. I’m not sure why mine turned out dry; they didn’t appear to be over-cooked. At any rate, they appeased my craving! 🙂

The husb and I went to Metro Restaurant/bar downtown last weekend and shared a basket of fried green beans. I shouldn’t have had the breading, but I love fried pickles and wanted to see how fried green beans stood up, in comparison. They were so yummy! I could have eaten the entire basket myself, so it was good that someone else was there to graze with me, or else I probably would have thrown willpower out the window and regretted it later.

I thought fried green beans would go well with falafel, so I tried to recreate them at home. Suffice it to say that I have not successfully breaded anything, ever. I used a 1/2-&-1/2 mixture of flax seed meal & soy flour to keep the carbs down. I added salt & pepper, along with some cumin and paprika for a Mediterranean flair. For the “bath” part of the breading process, I used unsweetened almond milk. The green beans tasted wonderful; the breading just didn’t stay put (as you can see, LOL).

The one thing that I believe was an all-around success in this vegetarian fried meal endeavor was the tahini sauce. It was scrump-dilly-icious! The boys ate it as a spread on pita with the falafel, but I just ate it as a dip. I could see eating it with celery sticks, too. Yum!

I spy a melon!

We were excited at the end of the year when it looked like we might have a winter harvest of cantaloupe. One teeny-weeny cantaloupe was growing in the repurposed toy truck that we converted into a planter. Unfortunately, we had a couple of cold snaps that Texas winters are known for, and the wee little melon didn’t make it.

Who wants salad?

A few weeks ago, we decided to get started on the spring garden and planted four seedlings of green leaf lettuce. They have really flourished and are now ready to harvest! We pulled off a few leaves, which should grow back as the plants continue to grow.

The guys enjoyed their green leaf lettuce with carnitas on flour tortillas, but I made lettuce wraps for myself with a scoop of picante sauce, and they were delicious! (This is the part where I should admit to using pre-seasoned, fully-cooked carnitas, not from a recipe. 🙂 )

Carnitas lettuce wrap with salsa

Like the cantaloupe, our tomatoes didn’t survive the Texas weather [summer] last year, so we started the upside-down plant this week, in the hopes that we can have spring tomatoes, instead. I hope we can keep them alive this year, because I love the idea of having my own salad &/or lettuce wraps on hand, whenever I want.

I might be the only parent in town whose kid asks for lettuce on his sandwich and I send him to the yard to pick it himself! 😉

I guess I’ve been on a Mediterranean kick lately. After my successful experiments with making hummus at home, I’ve been craving falafel. If you’ve never had falafel, the best way I know to describe it is as a vegetarian meatball. It is dense and hearty with an earthy flavor.

Falafel is often served in a pita pocket or wrap with a side of dill-yogurt sauce.

Now this looks like a yummy falafel!

I tried making it a long, long time ago, and it turned out badly, so I need to try again. Unfortunately, many falafel recipes call for flour or breadcrumbs. However, check out this flourless, breadcrumbless recipe that I found! I can’t wait to try it.

In the meantime, I can get my falafel fix at a dive restaurant in town called D’s Mediterranean Grill. I know, I know … it’s hard to tell if the falafel is carb-friendly when you get it at a restaurant, but OMG, it’s so good!

Now, if only I knew how to make a low-carb pita …

via Flickr

This is a milestone year. No. 1 is giving a Valentine to a girl, and not because she happens to be in his homeroom & you have to give a card to everyone. (In fact, the 6th grade classes don’t exchange Valentines in homeroom — that was a bittersweet coming-of-age realization.) No, he is hand-delivering a Valentine to a girl ON PURPOSE. To top it all off, he also asked if he could make cookies tonight … so that he could take one to her at lunch tomorrow.

I can feel the apron strings loosening as we speak.

In other Valentine-related news, there was a bottle of 2006 Viridian Pinot Noir waiting for me when I got home from work today. So, someone does pay attention to what I like! 😉  I poured it into a decanter to let it breathe for a while … Wow, is it good! It has a brandy-like color and aroma, with a rich fruit flavor and a zing on the palate.