Ina Garten's Roasted Eggplant Spread

I am tired of wearing layers of clothing.

Black and grey, grey and black.  Thin T-shirts under sweaters, sweaters over sweaters, vests over sweaters, socks inside socks, scarves over turtlenecks.  I think you are getting the picture of what it takes to stay warm when a polar vortex is happening.  I am more than ready to chuck my winter coat and boots and break out my fun clothes, my jammin' summer clothes.

But the calendar tells me otherwise.  For now, I must go with warmth because snow and ice and brisk winds will still be hanging out in my area of the world at least for another month. 

Besides the bulkiness and weight of the layers of clothes, the other downside of dressing like this is that you feel like you can indulge in comfort food since no one can see you in anything that's form fitting.  I try to remind myself that the food decisions I make today in the cold of February will determine how much I will have to diet in the warmth of April but the calendar's clinical numbers just don't seem to intimidate me.

My healing solution is to get off the sugar wagon and go for healthy, fresh foods that are tasty, yet low in fat, and no one does that better than Ina Garten, foodie and home entertainment expert extraordinaire who is also known as the Emmy Award winning host of the Food Network program, Barefoot Contessa. 

Ina's style is easy and uncomplicated and so are her recipes.  I share with you today Ina's Roasted Eggplant Spread which she says is "not only good, it is good for you."  Ina also says in her Barefoot Contessa cookbook that this recipe has "almost no fat for customers who like to save their calories for dessert."  She's so smart!

We all are trying to work more veggies into our diets and this is one way of doing it.  Ina recommends serving this with hummus, pita bread, Greek olives, feta cheese and stuffed grape leaves.  Check out Ina's recipe and I think you will agree that it's perfect served hot or cold:

 

Ina Garten's Roasted Eggplant Spread
Photo: Melanie Acevedo

 

Roasted Eggplant Spread (Serves 6 to 8 )  

I medium eggplant, peeled
2 red bell peppers, seeded
1 red onion, peeled
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the eggplant, bell pepper, and onion into 1-inch cubes.  Toss them in a large bowl with the garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.  Spread them on a baking sheet.  Roast for 45 minutes, until the vegetables are lightly browned and soft, tossing once during cooking.  Cool slightly.

Place the vegetables in a food processor fitted with a steel blade, add the tomato paste, and pulse 3 or 4 times to blend.  Taste for salt and pepper.

Fast & Sweet

Down the street from my office, there once was an organic salad carry-out place, sort of similiar to Chop't but not as inventive.  It went out of business many months ago and I have been watching the empty store to see what kind of business would open up in its place.

My office friends and I have been discussing what we would like to see go in there (Panera got my vote) and we all assumed that the next restaurant would be serving something in the same vein as salads, and if not salads, then something healthy for people to eat.

Wrong! Dunkin Donuts now occupies the once empty space where salad greens and raw veggies were served.  This week they are advertising a breakfast sandwich that uses a doughnut instead of a bun.  My son told me that he actually has eaten one of these sandwiches and they are delicious (figures!) but still it seems so unhealthy to me on so many levels.  Tells me a lot about what's selling in downtown DC, right?

Fast and sweet gets people every time.  Especially when people are working in high-pressure situations.

It's such a rude trick from the food industry: the idea that something sweet or fattening or loaded with carbs can plug up that hole you are desperately feeling or wipe out that anger you are feeling or soothe the hurt feelings that are within your psyche.  Physical reactions to the death of a loved one may include loss of appetite or overeating and sleeplessness so it's perfectly natural that you would reach for the chocolate or the french fries or the glass of wine to comfort your broken heart. 

 

Don't get me wrong, I completely understand the appeal of these foods because I used to eat them all the time too.  When I used to party my brains out, the next morning I would always want fast food.  While I was eating it, I felt great.  But afterwards, I actually felt worse because I didn't give my body any nutrients to use to process the alcohol in my system or build up my immune system. 

 

As more and more scientific evidence surfaces every day, there is no escaping the fact that there is a direct connection between health and diet.  People are also finding out for themselves that when they eat fresher, natural foods rather than processed foods (that would be me!), they feel a whole lot better.  Fresher may be a little more pricey than frozen or processed but there should be no doubt about spending the extra money because the quality of your life and the quality of your health are worth the investment.

 

Whether you're grieving or stressed at work or anxious about your life in general, you are vulnerable and that's when the desire for fast and easy and convenient processed food kicks in.  Once in awhile it is okay to indulge in something unhealthy because otherwise you're going to feel deprived.

 

But do yourself a big favor.  You and I are not having a craving for broccoli or kale or carrots but it's eating those things that will keep us going strong, strong enough to walk past Dunkin Donuts.
 

Fat Tuesday

Today is Fat Tuesday.

 

For Catholics, today is the last hurrah before lent begins tomorrow.  That is how Mardi Gras come to be.  Essentially, Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday and with Mardi Gras comes some hard partying and parades and good times before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. 

 

 

 

 

Lent is a time of fasting and serious reflection, a time of giving something up or doing something that's personally hard in order to prepare yourself for the celebration of Easter.

 

This year, once again, my demon is sugar.

 

I know all the bad stuff about sugar and how it is bad for your immune system and how it is highly addictive. Yet, try as I might, during the holidays, I cannot resist the cookies and chocolates that seem to surround me. I tell myself that when the new year arrives I will put the brakes on the sweets but then my birthday arrives in early January and I'm back on the sugar train.

 

The problem is that sugar makes you feel better.  At least it makes me feel better for the moment of that I eat it.  I read somewhere that when you eat sugar, it tells the brain to release dopamine, a chemical that the brain also releases when certain drugs are ingested or when you exercise a lot.  I'm always trying to remind myself about this sugar-brain connection but then I start to think about freshly baked cookies.

 

 

 

 

 

My friend Eileen makes the most outrageously delicious cookies in the whole world and when I see a plate of them offered at get-togethers, there is no way I can resist them.  Her cookies are like potato chips: you can never eat just one.

 

Whenever I think I'm the only one who is out of control about sugar, I pick up Kris Carr's book, Crazy, Sexy Diet, and I go directly to her chapter on sugar.  Here is an except from Carr's chapter entitled, Cupcakes, Coffee & Cocktails:

 

"Look I know firsthand how hard it is to heal addictions.  I come from a scarf-and-barf, drink-too-much history.  Date night with myself was a debaucherous romp into coma-ville.  I'd buy a bunch of cookies and wine, pop the top button of my jeans, and chow down.  Occasionally my higher self would guide me to the trash can before I finished every last crumb.  An hour later my lower self would bark orders to pick through the trash and retrieve the delicious drugs like a back-alley junkie.

 

Elegant people don't dig through the trash.  The chic and stylish don't attack their doughnuts with Windex.  Yes, I admit it.  The only way to keep my paws off the contraband was to blast it with Windex.  Clearly I was out of control."

 

Lent is arriving at the perfect time for me.  I need to be motivated to give up the sugar for an extended period of time and this way I'll be doing it for a higher purpose and a heavenly being.

 

And maybe, just in case, I'll keep the Windex nearby.

 

Staying Healthy

I don't think Halloween is considered the beginning of the holiday season, but in an unofficial way it's the start of that time of the year when fattening goodies seem to be everywhere.  It's a constant struggle, and for me, I really have to mentally up the ante against gaining weight and remind myself that it may taste good now but it will take a lot longer to work it off.
 
Halloween is all about the candy and it seems to be everywhere: the grocery store, CVS, offices and even banks -- which never give out anything for free.  At least with Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year's, there are other food groups to choose from when you are celebrating.  But with Halloween comes the introduction of the powerful food/candy/holiday connection that I've always associated with this time of year.  Starting with Halloween, I tend to relax my diet and give myself permission wayyyyyy tooooooo many times to eat sugary things and unfortunately, this sugar party can sometimes last until at least the New Year, if I don't try to put the brakes on it.

Every year I tell myself that it's okay to buy candy to give to the kids in neighborhood and this year I intend to buy only two bags.  Not two bags of something I really, really find tempting like M&M's or Reese's Peanutbutter Cups but two bags of something I dislike.  My way of dealing with the possibility of over indulging is to buy candy I don't like at all.  Yes, I know it's hard to believe, there is such a thing.  I don't like Sweet Tarts, gummy worms or gummy bears, Milky Way bars, Three Musketeer bars, or anything that has caramel in it.

This year my strategy is read a lot of Kris Carr and try to keep myself on some sort of a nutritious track and to exercise more frequently.  If you are not familiar with Kris Carr, she is a cancer survivor, wellness warrior and author of several books, including the best-seller Crazy, Sexy Cancer Tips and Crazy Sexy Diet.  I find her to be refreshing and down to earth and her books are chock full of great factoids such as this one: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has estimated that we eat 79 pounds of corn sweetner per year.  That's a lot of sugar!

When you first eat candy, it initially makes you feel so good and seems to take away feelings of stress, loneliness or anger.  But don't be fooled.  It's a temporary high and in the long run, sugar doesn't help your body or your mind feel stronger or healthier.  It compromises your immune system and with all the holiday socializing that's about to be upon us, we all need to be as healthy as we can be.

As Kris Carr says, we are all sweet enough, all on our own.