You can't go wrong with an omelette!

Unless say, you burn it to crisps and cinders while you leave it on the stove when the phone rang and it's your tongue-wagging long lost friend on the line. Apart from that unfortunate event, omelettes are pretty much fail-safe with a great YUM factor and is seriously easy to cook.

Eggs are tricky as they are loaded with cholesterol. Here's a list comparing different cholesterol levels in eggs per 100g:

Hen egg - yolk only              1480mg

Hen egg - white only            0mg

Hen egg - 1 (55g) whole egg   228mg

Duck egg - whole egg           850mg

Quail egg - whole egg           415mg

Our daily dietary cholesterol intake should be less than 300mg. So, choose wisely when you are about to reach for another tempting sunny-side up or a second helping of nice fluffy scrambled eggs. Remember that other foodstuff that you consume may also contain cholesterol.

Tomato and mushroom omelette    

Serves 1 meal with staples

Ingredients:

1 medium chicken egg, beaten

1/4 medium onion, chopped 

1 medium tomato, sliced

4 mushrooms, sliced

1/2 stalk spring onion, chopped

Olive oil, for cooking

Preparation:

In a non-stick pan, heat olive oil. Add onion and cook until golden brown or fragrant. Add tomato and mushrooms. When mostly cooked, pour in egg. Decrease flame. Sprinkle spring onions on top and serve. 

I love the taste of unseasoned cooked egg but you can add some herbs and a tiny pinch of salt.

Crunchy baked caulies

I must say I am NOT fond of cauliflowers. Whenever we had Chinese stir-fried vegies, I'd pick them out and chomp them down hastily and then enjoy the rest of the food on the plate. I don't know, I find them rather bland and pretty unremarkable. Decided to give them another shot after catching a whiff of baked cauliflowers somewhere.

My my, I would definitely eat them in a regular basis now!

 Crunchy cauliflowers

Serves 2 meals with staples

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped.

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 150 degrees. In a roasting pan (or a cake tin) sprinkle cauliflower with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil. Chuck the pan into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes or until cooked. Remember to shake the pan every 10 minutes or so to avoid burnt caulies.

*Serving size according to 1500kJ/day diet.

Bake 'em, love 'em

I have reconciled with myself that I am so not an awesome photographer. I'll just have to make do with sub-par quality pictures. Sigh. Anyway, I was being lazy and whipped up this as a meal:

Baked Vegetable Market

Note that I did not include the sundried tomatoes in the recipe. They got burnt. Haha.

Baked vegetables

Serves 2 meals with staples

Ingredients:

1/2 head cauliflower, hacked to nice pieces

1 large tomato, with top sliced off

1 medium carrot, sliced 1cm thick

1 medium zucchini, sliced 1cm thick

1 large fresh button mushroom

1 bulb garlic

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation:

Dump cauliflower, tomato, carrot and zucchini onto roasting/baking pan, making sure of minimal overlapping. Chop 1/4 off of garlic bulb, sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon olive oil, season and wrap in olive oil. Season the other vegetables, drizzle with remaining olive oil. Pop into oven and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until cooked. Remember to remove the mushroom after about 10 minutes or they will burn.

Bubble and squeak

I do realize that this is not the best picture ever but I just have got to share this recipe with you. Apparently, eggplants (otherwise known as aubergine or brinjals) are loaded with fibre (if unpeeled) and are found low in the glycaemic index, which makes it great for diabetes control. They are also low in fat, WHOOPIE!

Oh and eggplant is a member of the 'nightshade' family. Which is a cool family name. 

Anyway, the trouble is I've never been a great fan of eggplant and if they're not cooked properly, they become a sticky slimy gooey mess. Ugh. Came up with this bright idea of an eggplant lasagna and my my it was divine.

Eggplant Lagsana

Serves 4 meals with staples

Ingredients:

1 medium eggplant, sliced 1cm thick

1 large tomato, sliced thinly

4 medium fresh mushrooms, sliced thinly

1/2 medium onion, sliced 

Salt and pepper, to taste

Pizza cheese, low fat, enough to cover top layer

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 120 degrees. Arrange eggplant slices at the bottom of a baking tray, season lightly. Remember to have a light hand when seasoning with salt. Arrange tomato, repeat with another layer of eggplant. On subsequent layers, use onion, tomato and mushrooms until you run out. Cover the top layer of lasagna with cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes or until eggplant is squeaky bubbly cooked.

Mushroom soup

 

 I've been having an inkling for nice, creamy mushroom soup ever since ages ago and all the canned ones in supermarkets contain sugar. After trolling the Internet for a recipe that doesn't add starch/flour, I've found this. I've got to tell you, it's Y-U-M! 

Delicious Mushroom Soup

Serves 3 meals with staples

 Ingredients: 

 250ml (2 cups) low fat/semi-skim milk

1/2 onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

300g fresh mushrooms, sliced/chopped

65ml (1/4 cup) fat-reduced cream

salt, pepper and herbs, to taste

Ingredients:

Bring milk, onions, salt, pepper and herbs to boil in a pan. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring often. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 15 minutes. Stir in cream. Transfer 1/2 of the soup into a blender and puree until desired consistency. Repeat for remaining soup. 

Tip:

To get chunky bits of mushroom, only puree half of the soup.

*Serving size according to 1500kJ/day diet.

Simple as!

Fried rice is a very common and popular Chinese/Asian dish. Usually cooked from leftover rice and a wide array of ingredients, fried rice is simple, versatile and yet utterly delicious. How I love to top it off with a nicely fried egg. 

Simple Fried Rice

Carbohydrate exchange(s): 6

Diabetic portions*: 2 meals

Ingredients:

brown rice, cooked (60g uncooked)

1/2 cup garlic shoots, finely chopped

1/2 cup french beans, finely chopped

1/2 cup mushrooms, diced

1/2 cup ham, sliced

egg

2 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp light soy sauce

sesame oil, to taste

pepper, to taste

Preparation:

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in large saucepan. Add garlic shoots and french beans, cook until garlic shoots are fragrant. Add mushrooms, stir and cook until soften. Add cooked brown rice and ham, mix thoroughly. Drizzle soy sauce and sesame oil. Mix thoroughly. Dish up. Heat remaining olive oil, fry egg. Serve on top of rice with a dash of pepper.

Tips:

Ingredients can be substituted according to personal preferences.

*Serving size according to 1500kJ/day diet. 

Prologue

Life's defining moments - birth, old-age, illness, death - comes in stages. Usually. Mine got muddled and illness came first before old-age.

I was 20 and a half on 2nd January 2010 when I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It was a shocker, my world crumbled and crashed around me. All I felt was this deep black void. I was numb, heartbroken and anguished. Why, I wondered, me? 

Peculiarly, I have nil family history of T1 Diabetes. It felt like winning a discordant lottery. It was my luck, my fate, my life to lead. I stared at the ceiling into the wee hours of the night and remembered something my friend said not too long ago: God shall not provide us challenges that we cannot conquer. I am not Christian but I believe that we are made to have the ability to overcome all challenges life throws at us.

I woke up the next morning, drying off my tears of yesterday and rebuilt my crumbled walls. I have determination, youth and supportive, loving people around me. I shall not be alone in this lifelong challenge. 

Diabetes strikes a personal chord, not only because I've got it, but because I have always loved and enjoyed food. I am also a half-baked dietitian. The greatest restriction for us diabetics is our diet and I am determined to enjoy my greatest passion. 

This shall be the the first of my many forages into the world of food, health and nutrition blogging. Hello!