Has anyone ever seen a sesame plant? What happens to sesame seeds when they grow up? Well I wikipedia'd it and apparently there IS a sesame plant. It's a flowering plant called Sesamum. I really hope that getting this information into my head didn't cause something more important to drop out....

Anyway, this past weekend, Boyfriend ordered and greatly enjoyed a Chinese eggplant dish from an Asian restaurant and we happened to come across the Chinese eggplants in a Russian grocery store, of all places.

So we came home with 2 of these and 2 regular eggplants. I had decided to make some sort of "improved" Chinese sesame sauce for these guys and the perfect day for it was Tuesday night. Yes, I realize it's now Thursday and I haven't blogged. This brings me to my next point.

I knew I was about to have a pretty bad Wednesday/Thursday/Friday at work (bad=busy) so I figured if I made the two eggplants and some rice, I could be set for dinner Tuesday and lunch on Wednesday and Thursday. A big part of the way I cook involves making dishes and meals that can translate into lunches and are easily packable.

I chopped up the two eggplants (cut each in half lengthwise then made these little half-circle slices that you see above) and left them in a bowl filled with heavily salted water for about 30 minutes. This gets rid of the bitterness. After 30 minutes I drained and rinsed the eggplant and threw in 2tbsp sesame oil (now I have the dark stuff, much more flavorful), a splash of soy sauce and a tbsp of sesame seeds (not necessary I think). I sauteed them in a nonstick pan (I did spray it down with some Pam) until they were brown and pretty soft. While the eggplant cooked I chopped 2 scallions and grated up this piece of ginger. Usually I use the powdered stuff but decided to go fresh this time. I had to chop off the "bark" on the outside before grating it though. Eh. Powder would have probably been fine.

In a small bowl I added 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp balsamic vinegar, maybe 1/3 cup chicken stock, 1tbsp agave nectar, 1 clove of garlic, grated.

After the eggplant cooked, I took it out of the pan and Pam'ed it again. Threw in the scallions and ginger for about 2 minutes then added the sauce and 2 tbsp sesame seeds. 2 minutes later, I threw in the eggplant and mixed everything together.

It came out looking like this, which looks VERY similar to the Chinese restaurant version but only requires 2 tbsp of oil and 2-3 tbsp soy sauce. The original recipes for this kind of thing called for at least 4 tbsp oil (sesame AND canola) as well as 1 tbsp white sugar and 1 tbsp honey. That's a LOT of calories I took out!

So I thought this would be 3 servings and I've still got one serving left, so I guess 4 is more accurate.

For dinner on Tuesday (and for lunch Wednesday/Thursday) I put the eggplant over some brown rice.

Ginger/Scallion Brown Rice Recipe
1 cup brown basmati rice (or any rice)
2.25 cups water and chicken stock (use whatever ratio you like)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1 small clove of grated garlic
1 chopped scallion
Grated ginger (I'm sure powder would work here too)

On a sad note, the weight situation is getting worse, not better so I've had to start logging calories into one of those food logger websites. I haven't really been very conscientious before when I have tried this but I'm sticking with it now. I've also gotten myself a somewhat cheap food scale so I'm really going to get on top of this.

Further, I'm going to be starting a pretty rough month at work on Monday so I fully expect the blogging to take a bit of a hit but I'll do the best I can since I'm trying to keep the readers I have and get more. Tomorrow I'm going to see a musical and go out with a good friend from high school. Hopefully not much damage will be done. 

I'm dubbing today an official no-snack day for me. I'm doing well so far (it's 4pm).

Last night was my big trial of defensive eating. A friend and I were supposed to go to an Italian restaurant but since I'm really not that into Italian food (I know, I know, I'm a freakshow) I had planned to get a light salad (no cheese, no pasta) and have only one alcoholic beverage.

We wound up at a Mediterranean place and aside from a few bites of hummus I actually adhered to my goals! Of course, breakfast and lunch were hearty affairs. =( The hummus at Virage where we went was ALL tahini. Yuck! I al

We also went to a comedy show where we got pictures with Colin Quinn. The show was good, but I wound up getting home so late and now I'm exhausted. I have a feeling there will be no kitchen adventures, despite the mountains of eggplant in my refrigerator =(

On a sad note, despite being so good at keeping goals, I'm not quite at goal weight, again. And with a graduation formal looming 16 days from now, I am hoping to shed the 2 lbs I'm carrying above what I would like. So, hopefully the blog will help me keep to my no snacking goals.

I will definitely be doing some cooking for Mothers Day but until then I'll try and post something every now and then!

Sunday dawned a beautiful, warm sunny day. I had planned to walk the 3 miles to yoga this morning, but got caught up in blogging and didn't. Still, managed to enjoy the beautiful weather before hunkering down in a sweltering yoga class. Saw a movie (not good, wont comment) and grabbed a beer with a friend. We wound up having a beer and a snack at a pub that was just way too fancy for me. I like fancy, but not when it's a pub! Anyway, I ordered a radicchio salad but wound up getting a little grilled head of radicchio topped with cream, almonds and what was supposed to be a butternut squash carpaccio? I will not veto ANY pub that has the gall to put a vegetable carpaccio on it's menu!

After this, I headed over to dodgeball where my team went 4-0 and absolutely creamed our competitors. No socializing afterward, just a nice loooonnnggg walk back and a stop at Tasti-D-Lite along the way. Came home at 9 and got to work making....OMELET MUFFINS!

These muffins are the perfect solution to your early morning egg fix without loading your belly with calories and oil and without lightening your wallet from that trip to Dunkin Donuts.

At less than 100 calories per muffin (1/2 egg each) these guys can be made on Sunday night and enjoyed (2 at a time, probably) until Tuesday morning. Microwave for 35-45 seconds before eating.

Ingredients (makes 8 muffins)
4 eggs
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup ricotta cheese (part skim, all skim, whatever)
1tsp salt
1tsp black pepper
Add any toppings you like in your omelet.
I made this one with salsa and feta cheese because I had it on hand.
I would say 1/3 cup black bean and corn salsa, 2.5 servings of fat free feta cheese.
This batch makes about 8 mini muffins (1/2 egg in each, about 100 calories apiece)
Note: I have a plastic muffin "tin" (see below) so I just spray it with some Pam before cooking.
**This recipe has NO oil or butter!**

Fill muffin cups almost all the way (this doesn't rise THAT much, and the muffins kind of implode a little when they come out of the oven)

Bake at 375 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out dry.

I put some Parmesan cheese on top of these about 5 minutes before they were ready to come out of the oven.

This is what they look like when you crack them open.

Bready...moist......cheesy....
salsa-y....yum!!

I took 2 to work with me this morning. Microwaved for 45 seconds, wrapped in foil, perfect breakfast during lecture.  Added half an apple to this. Other half appeared in my lunch salad later.




Future endeavors? Mother's Day Egg Muffins. These will have lox+cream cheese (fat free of course) and dill.

Perhaps feta/tomato/olive....turkey bacon/cheddar cheese/tomatoes? Possibilities are endless!
What do you like in YOUR omelets??

As I said, after a 6 mile hilly run in the park, I figured I owed myself an indulgence. So off we headed to Queens for Oysterfest, hosted by London Lennie's.

We started off with a Bloody Mary Oyster Shooter, then 1.5 dozen oysters, Boyfriend got a fried oyster Po' Boy (I had 2 bites only!) and then we each took another shooter (mine with oyster, Boyfriend without)

And, I discovered what an Oyster Rockefeller is....Turns out it's an oyster covered in cheese, cream and spinach. Sigh, I would have rather never known.

Afterward, we headed to a Russian supermarket. These places have the FRESHEST, CHEAPEST produce. We stocked up on eggplants, peppers, apples, grapes....and I got everything to make the tastiest salad ever.

This baby was made with pear (soaked in cherry flavored balsamic vinegar, more below), 1/4 of a huge pepper, mixed dark greens, a handful of trail mix, about 1.5 servings of fat free feta cheese and some sort of wheat/rice puff crunchies on top. I also poured a little water into the remains of my honey squeeze-bottle and squirted around a little honey water.

I also made one of these for Boyfriend (who put it on the side of a big slice of pizza...his and hers part II?) and he really loved it too. I think this was one of my fave salads so far, especially because now that sunny weather is coming, I want my salads to be sweet and refreshing!

Note on Balsamic Vinegar: This is my first experience with good, expensive Balsamic. I've always used a lot of it anyway so I figured I'd make a splurge and I found a set of 4 flavored vinegars for $25 online. I was so impressed I have no idea how I'm going to go back to the regular stuff. This was a bit thicker though so I'll have to use it with caution.

One of my good friends also came by earlier that night and we are hanging out on Monday and he wants Italian. I guess Monday will have to be a really good example of defensive eating!

Goals: Order something without cheese or pasta? (2 things I'm not a fan of at night anyway, talk about water retention!)

Hope I keep 'em!