Cauliflower Rice

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In our quest to bring healthy vibes to our household while helping yours truly maintain his girlish figure, we've been leaning more toward the meat-free, lower carb diet. Not because we're crunchy and holistic (well, maybe a little), but for a whole host of reasons that I won't bore you with. In addition to my abstinence from sweets, which has thus far been progressing rather smoothly, we're eating less bread (no white bread-my favorite food), more veggies, and tons of fruit.

I have to say, I really miss eating killer soft white bread, like fresh ciabattas and sourdough boules, and avoiding sugar is next to impossible, but for the most part, this new eating pattern hasn't been that bad. For whatever reason I don't feel the sexy, irresistible allure of sugar calling to me. In fact, when I look at a bar of chocolate, I can pretty much walk on by and not feel tempted, though I have to confess, I did eat a bowl of ice cream the other night. I was warned my mom that it might drag me back down into my compulsive/binge-y sweet eating habits, but I found this wasn't the case. I figure a bowl of ice cream now and then may be about as good as it gets.

We are also dabbling in creative ways to eat the healthy veggies that everyone loves to hate, including cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, and cabbage. We've been making “cauliflower rice” in place of the real stuff, and while it tastes nothing like rice, it's not bad, and the girls like it. Plus, you can put away bowls of the stuff and not worry about glycemic shock or getting plugged up, an unfortunate consequence of eating lots of rice. Brussel sprouts are a family favorite, but I've found an easier way to make them that everyone seems to love, and with cabbage, caramelizing it is the way to go.

And, both mom and A have indicated that they'd prefer it if I'd make less food for supper, because I tend to make too much. The reason for this is because I can't stand it when the food runs out and there's no food left (bad planning), and leftovers usually get put to good use. However, with greater quantities of food come the temptation to simply eat more - just go to any all-you-can eat buffet and see this in action.

Having excess food is not a bad thing when you have a person such as myself (who enjoys engorging himself) and a growing boy in the house, but I understand where mom and A are coming from, and I'm happy to accommodate them. Plus, it's less food to prepare, which makes my life easier - no argument here. As a compromise, I've started making various burgers for N in addition to our pared down (mostly) vegetarian options. For burgers, we omit beef and go with veggie burgers, turkey burgers, and various “meat substitute” burgers. Don't ask about the last ones, you'll think I'm crazy.

Everyone seems to be happy, so far. There are days when I'm craving white rice big time, and if it's just the guys, I'll make it, but overall our diets have been pretty healthy. Throw in all that glorious fruit salad in the morning, and GI tracts are doing okay. I hope to keep it that way.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Nicholas Noyes for the pic.