For the past couple of months, Mr. Mari and I have been eating out way more than we should. Not only do we need to trim back for our pocketbooks’ health but we need to for our waistlines too. Between all the fun dinners we had with friends and family in NYC, all the fun places we’re trying in our new city AND our decadent Easter trip, we’ve put on the “Freshmen Ten”. Yikes. We were once sitting at the counter at Eataly’s The Pasta & The Pizza restaurant and saw one of the chefs put half a stick of butter into each pasta serving. Doinks! No wonder the food you eat when dining out tastes so good. What does this mean? This means I’m doing a lot of cooking at home - where I can control what I put in my dishes and I’m not cooking a ton of carbs.
Many moons ago, Mr. Mari and I decided to try the Atkins diet. We did the two-week induction period (no booze, no caffeine, very limited fruit and vegetable options) and the pounds just melted away. You’re supposed to reintroduce carbs back into your diet slowly, little by little, keeping tabs on your weight to carb intake. Unfortunately for me, I have very little control when it comes to pasta. Once I start eating it, it’s all I want. So the pounds came back. Not back to where I started but I definitely lost some ground.
So, the next few weeks of posts probably won’t include much in the way of baked desserts (except for my attempt at a Princess Cake for Mr. Mari’s birthday) but it will have lots of carb-friendly thoughts. They won’t necessarily be carb-free but they will be carb-light “enough” - like no baked potatoes or wheat-based pasta dishes.
The first recipe is a simple one: hard-boiled eggs. What? I know, it sounds crazy to write about this but after reading website after website on how to make the perfect hard-boiled egg, I think I finally cracked the code. I make a dozen eggs at a time so Mr. Mari and I can have them around for a quick protein snack or easy addition to a salad. Just keep them in the fridge, shells on. They will last probably about a week.
It doesn’t matter which color egg you use - white, brown, green. We’re told with food that fresher is better but the older the eggs, the easier it is to peel them. I buy a dozen eggs and keep them around for at least a week before boiling them up.
HARD BOILED EGGS
Makes one dozen
One dozen large eggs
Water
Ice
Take your eggs out of the fridge and place them in a saucepan that fits them well in a single layer; you don’t want your eggs bobbing around too much or stacked in layers. Cover the eggs with one inch of cold water. Place on the stove, turn the heat to high and bring water to a boil. Stir them around for a while once the water starts warming up (this will help keep the yolk centered).
Meanwhile, get a large bowl and fill it with water and lots of ice. Set aside.
Once the water boils, remove from heat and place a tight fitting lid on it. Keep it covered for 12 minutes. Immediately drain the eggs and plop them into the ice bath until they are chilled. The shock of the icy water helps loosen the shell too. If all your ice has melted, dump out some water and add a little more ice (your water bath is too warm). Once cooled, drain and keep in a covered container in the fridge or if you’re ready to eat one, keep reading.
To peel, lightly tamp the egg all over. Gently roll the egg to finely crack the shell. Start peeling from the fat end (where the air pocket is), peel around, occasionally running it under water to help loosen the shell and to wash away any shell shards. Enjoy!
Note: If you use medium sized eggs, keep them in the hot water for 9 minutes; for extra large eggs, keep them in the hot water for 14 minutes.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 at 10:00AM 
Many moons ago, I sang TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein)’s praises and you haven’t heard boo from me about it since. Well, since Mr. Mari and I are trying to shed our Freshmen Ten, I pulled Ole Faithful out of the cupboard. The first thing I made was meatloaf, substituting the breadcrumbs for some TVP. Success! The meatloaf was super moist and flavorful (I soaked the TVP in chicken stock). Now I’m thinking about trying to use TVP as fried chicken breading. Stay tuned for that experiment! Meanwhile, click on over for some TVP & Meat - Loaf!
