I love the rich aubergine colour and fat rounded curves of eggplant — surely the most elegant and mysterious of vegetables.

The only problem with eggplant, as I see it, is finding a way to cook and serve it that won’t have the household running madly off to a fast-food joint.

Enter the dinner-saving low-fat Cheesy Eggplant Bake, full of vaguely Italian tomatoe-y goodness and covered with bubbly mozzarella.

All Recipes has a similar one, but the recipe I picked up during the Healthy Eating Challenge is quick and easy.

It’s also delightfully virtuous — something like 250 calories per serving, in that range.

This recipe serves four.
(Really, it does.)

Cheesy Eggplant Bake

1 large eggplant
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 jar (660ml) Bella Tavola Strained Tomatoes with Basil *
3/4 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

* I didn’t have any Bella Tavola Strained Tomatoes with Basil lying around when I felt moved to bake this tonight, so I subbed in a can of crushed tomatoes, a little minced garlic, a little dried basil (because it’s still too early to grab some from the garden), a pinch of hot pepper flakes, and a splash of fat-free Italian dressing: perfect!

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking oil spray.

Slice the eggplant in half-inch slices.

Dip each slice (one at a time, using shallow bowls) in the beaten egg, then in breadcrumbs to coat.

Lay the eggplant slices on the baking sheet and bake for 25 mnutes, turning them over halfway through the cooking time.

Meanwhile, pour 1/2 cup of your strained tomatoes into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish — I use Corningware, actually, no problem — and arrange the eggplant on top so the slices just slightly overlap.

Pour the rest of the strained tomatoes on top, and sprinkle with mozzarella.

Cover with foil and put them into the oven (still on at 375 °F) for 30 minutes; then take the foil off and bake for 10-15 minutes longer until the cheese is a lovely golden colour and everything bubbles.

On top of losing 7 pounds in 10 days — yes!! yes, that happened! — one of the best things about doing my 4-week Healthy Eating Challenge is discovering new cool guilt-free recipes.

Low fat, low calorie, high in all sorts of dandy nutrients and vitamins, and pretty frugal, too… This recipe, discovered in the PC Healthy Living Recipes vault, is definitely going into the regular rotation in our household:

Chicken Thighs in BBQ Sauce

Combine:
8 boneless skinless chicken thighs
+
1/2 cup barbecue sauce for chicken and ribs
Put on an oil-sprayed pan.
Bake for 20 – 25 minutes at 400°F, turning once.
Eat.

I’ve been enjoying the BBQ Chicken Thighs with a small baked potato and a hefty side salad, as called for in my 1500-calorie Menu Plan. Now, what could be quicker and easier for a healthy supper?

It’s true. No threats, no bribes, no whips and chains were required — not even any withholding of chocolate chip cookies — to get He Who Hogs The Power Tools to snack on a breakfast cereal with soy protein in it.

(PC Blue Menu Soy Crunch Multi-Grain Cereal, in case you’re wondering. It’s one of the new foods I’ve been trying as part of the Healthy Eating Challenge this past week.)

Honestly, when I started out on this 4-week adventure, I was bracing myself for a certain air of quiet martyrdom from the meat-and-potatoes man who shares my fridge.

Oh, sure, he was saying all the right things:

Really, whatever you want to do, I’ll support you. Yes, dear, this is a good thing. Yes, I suppose we should be getting more healthy foods and watching what we eat… Whatever you want to do, really, no, it’s fine…

But I wasn’t convinced that his heart was in it.

You should have seen us shopping for the motherlode of Healthy Groceries! Toddling around the store, menu plan in hand, I’m loading up with fruits and veggies and are you sure you need that much yogurt? …

Telling you, I’d have paid good money for one of those quick-snap photographers to be on hand to catch the expression on HWHTPT’s face when he saw me pick up the umpteenth healthy fibre-rich low-fat feeling-all-virtuous food product with Soy in its name!

So today, here we are, cruising the sunporch, watching the Sunday afternoon go by and having a cup of tea with my visiting mother.

HWHTPT suddenly clears his throat:
I made a sandwich yesterday with one of those Soy Deli Slices.
It wasn’t bad. Tasted a bit like bologna.

Silence. We turn to stare at him. He won’t meet our eyes.

After a minute he looks up, takes a deep breath, and says:
I’ve had a couple bowls of that Soy Crunch Cereal, too.

Pause.

I kind of liked it. Actually, it would be okay if we got some more of that stuff. It’s a pretty good TV snack… I’m not sure how much is left in the box.

Score one for the humble soy bean — magically transformed into a form of tasty low-fat high-fibre nutrition that even a Cookie Monster man will choose to eat.

Before:
Soft ‘n’ Squishy Not-So-Fit
Virtual Jen

So, I mentioned how keen I am to get on board with the Healthy Eating Challenge, right?

Brace yourself, we’re ready to rock!

And, by the way, nuts to those of you who expected me to post a real-life “before” picture! My Virtual Model here will do the job for now.

Besides, there are more motivations to eat healthy food in sensible amounts than a photo could show.

You know, like feeling all perky and fit and firm; and walking uphill without having to call for a tow-truck; and not having your mother try to slip a bottle of vitamins into your coat pocket whenever you drop in to visit her… all that sort of Quality-Of-Life thing.

Moving on…

I had my first chat with a Loblaw’s dietician this morning, picked up a few good food pointers, and I’m ready to head on over to PC.ca to pick out a menu plan for the next 4 weeks.

Feel free to follow along, by the way. The menu plans (and recipes and healthy eating tips) are available for anyone to use, not just us Loblaw’s groupies.

How many calories do I need in a day?

So, we’re looking at 3 different 4-week menu plans there, for three different calorie-intake levels.

Fortunately, there’s also a little questionnaire form to help you pick the right plan. Enter this info:

• gender,
• age,
• height,
• weight,
• activity level, and
• weight goals.

So far, so good. (And you might as well tell the truth for the first few of those, since no one’s looking. I won’t ask, or tell.)

Activity level?

Yesterday I organized the big basement freezer and mucked out the fridge, in preparation for doing this Challenge — is there a physical activity category for “stupidly exhausting”?

The National Institute of Health gives some helpful examples of moderate physical activity: washing your windows for an hour, say, or walking 2 miles in 30 minutes. (Given that choice, I’ll be going for a walk!)

Okay, now, do I want to gain weight {*snorf*} or lose weight, or maintain?

I know what my waistband is telling me. And that Virtual Mini-Me picture. And — here I go again with the confessions — on the weekend I tried on my dear old black jacket, that faithful old companion of the road adventures of my misspent youth. Ah, memories… But it wouldn’t fasten up!!

Yeah, I think we could use a little trimming down and tightening up on the way to better overall nutrition and health. But let’s get all scientific about this, shall we? and see what story the body mass index (BMI) has to tell.

BMI is a measure of body fat that’s based on height and weight (kg / m²) — but never mind wrestling with the math, just use an online BMI calculator to get the number, then check what range your BMI falls into. Since we’re in such a confessionary mode today, I’ll tell you that my BMI is 25.7 (yes, that’s in the overweight category). See? That’s what a normally semi-fit woman gets from a long hard winter of potato chips and sitting on the couch!

Granted, the BMI index is more of a guideline than a commandment (and sometimes reality makes BMI a joke)… but still, I’d like to kick mine back into the normal range.

Normal is good.
I’ve heard.

1500 Calories, eh?

So I’ll be going for the 1500-calorie Healthy Eating plan. Three meals and three snacks a day? Wow. I’m not even sure I can eat that much…

Looking ahead…

The biggest challenge for me is going to be portion control — that, and doing the breakfast thing.

Yes, yes, we know. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. The nice Loblaw’s dietician I talked with on the phone this morning says a lot of people have a struggle to make themselves eat breakfast. That’s because we snarf down a big snack at 10:00 at night — yep, guilty as charged! — so we’re not hungry in the morning.

So, that’s one eating habit I’ve got to change — less late-night snacking, more breakfast.

As for the portion sizes, there are a couple of thing going on here. One is that restaurants have been super-sizing our meals for so long now that we’ve lost all sense of how much food we really need.

Also, as usual, it’s the man’s fault.

Live with a man and you’ll get fat — studies prove it! Naturally, men can eat more than women without porking up, so dining with He Who Hogs The Power Tools has led me into the habit of matching what’s on our plates when dishing out the food. Not so good.

So that’s the second major change — reading the package nutrition labels, and getting out the measuring cups, and generally trying to re-learn what a proper healthy portion is supposed to look like.

Next step:
Play with the drop-down selections to finalize my Healthy Eating Challenge menu plan, print out a shopping list, and try to hook up with the local grocery store’s dietician… Wish me luck? There could be a roasted-veggie lasagna involved, if I play my cards right!

Lately, now that we’re finally starting to peel off mega-layers of winter clothing, unpleasant surprises have come to light. Look away now if you’re squeamish. (Or skip down the page to something far more visually rewarding, if you prefer.)

It’s this pasty-pale end-of-winter body — so long covered up in wool and fibrefill and fleece — so long neglected because, really, who cares when all you want to do is hibernate? Now there’s a hint of spring, of sunshine, of the possibility of weather warm enough to want to wear shorts and little sun dresses and dare-to-dream a bathing suit, perhaps… so I’m suddenly aware of a certain softness at the waistline…. A certain avoir-dupois in the rear end…. A certain alarming lack of firmness about the inner thighs…

What, too much information?

Sorry. I’ve been hanging out with CardioGirl too much lately, and listening to Claudia boast about finding her hip bones when Karen whipped her back to the gym…

Peer Pressure + Vanity = Healthy Eating

Long story short, I’ve signed up for the President’s Choice Healthy Eating Challenge.

This means setting some goals for health and fitness and whatnot, and then dragging my cushy tush into town once a week, to meet with a Loblaw’s dietician and confess my chocolate sins.

The idea is that I’ll follow a 4-week healthy eating plan that’s based on the PC Blue Menu line of products, while Loblaw’s kicks in for groceries and nutrition counselling. Which all works out pretty well because (a) I lack the gene for self-denial and self-control, and (b) I like most of the Blue Menu foods I’ve tried — can we say “Roasted Vegetable Lasagna”?

So, it looks like this will be starting up in the next week or so…

Must confess, I am a bit nervous.

I have a vision of these weekly dietician visits as something like being called into the high school principal’s office — “Just where were you, young lady, when you should have been in your third period Home Economics class?!”

But if you could see what happens at my belt line when I forget to suck in my gut (and just be glad you can’t see that, really), you’d know I’m not just doing this because Loblaw’s is picking up the check.

And no, I’m not just doing this because Galen Weston’s hot, either.

Although he is.

Especially for the 30-something exec of a grocery chain. It’s sort of like that boy-next-door thing that John Denver worked like a gold-plated mule about a century ago — but updated with a sophisticated hint of urban geek chic. Bonus points for having a billionaire daddy, naturally. Points off for turning in his Eligible Bachelor status a couple years back…

But hey, who’s counting? Put the man in a crisp chambrey-blue shirt up there on my TV screen, talking PC Organics with a dimple-cheeked baby –

Yeah, I’m watching the commercials.
And not eating chips.

So now for you, my dears, here’s the oh-gosh charming outtakes reel: