Thanks for posting recipes everyone. I am going to try eggplant lasagna and crockpot pizza this week. I am getting into the exercise challenge already...be prepared to get blown in my dust

Eggplant tips

Ok, I follow some of these tips some of the time. Buy Firm, Heavy, smooth looking, eggplants with no brown spots or squishy parts. Small Japanese eggplants which are sorta like a purple zucchini in size are the same, smooth and glossy, but Japanese Eggplant are sweeter, I've never pre-salted them.

Choosing and Storing

Pick eggplants that are smooth, firm, glossy looking and feel heavy for their size. Avoid fruit that have blemishes or soft spots.

It's ideal to use eggplant right away. Fresh eggplant doesn't taste bitter—the bitterness comes with age. If you have to store it for a few days, put eggplant in a paper bag, rather than a plastic one, which makes it spoil faster.

this is from Cook's Illustrated...I swear!

Eggplant Sex!

"Believe it or not, eggplants have genders, and we've found that females, which have more seeds when fully mature than males, also have a greater tendency to taste bitter. To determine an eggplant's gender without cutting it open, look at the spot on the bottom of the vegetable, where it was attached to its flower. That spot on a female will be deeply indented and will look vaguely like a belly button. On a male, the indentation will be shallower, and sometimes even flat."

Essential Elements

The eggplant's excessive moisture, above 90 percent, is the source of the trouble. Neither a hot pan nor a broiler can evaporate all that moisture, so the eggplant ends up steaming in its own juices, which weakens its flavor and turns its texture to mush. Worse yet, eggplant is so porous that it absorbs oil as if it were a sponge. This can cause it to stick in the pan, giving the cook only two options: add far too much oil or stop the cooking before the eggplant has become fully sweet and tender.

The best method for purging eggplant of its moisture is the classic technique of salting it before cooking. We tried both regular table salt and kosher salt. In test after test, we preferred kosher salt because its larger crystals were easier to wipe away after it has done its job. The finer table salt crystals dissolved into the flesh and had to be flushed out with water, which was counterproductive. As with any food destined for a sauté pan or broiler, it was essential to carefully dry the eggplant before cooking it. We cut eggplant into cubes to sauté because that increases the surface area, which makes for more flavorful browning, better absorption of flavorings, and quicker cooking. For the broiler, though, thin slices are easier to work with.

Hey Julz, we've been busy around here! Hope you made it home safe!

Beth SOO cool the C25K! I just printed it off, I have been sorta doing that on my own, but this will help me get more organized so I know I am making progress.
Bummer on the YI...hope it goes away quick! ick!

More eggplant info--this is a good article

I am becoming obsessed

http://www.foodfit.com/cooking/archi...ble_july04.asp

PS--I do want to make a try a new vegetable challenge thread, but I'm waiting to hear from Julz to make sure this is the right place for it, etc...I know it will get out of control here...but, in any case, I am done eggplanting for the night (ha ha)

smurf2110: Well, this was only my first day and it kind of went bad. Here is what happened: I signed up for this thing called podfitness, where a personal trainer creates a program for you and syncs it with your music for loading onto your iPod...well, the program that they gave me was too tooo tooo hard and I could only do about 5 minutes of it. It was doing pretty advanced things on the physio ball. So, instead I did a few chest presses on the physio ball and then did 32 minutes on the stationary bike. My hubby is into lifting and is going to sit down with me tonight, or tomorrow, and make a plan for me. When he gives me that, I would be happy to share it with you. It sounds like you are going to do great today! Great eating, great exercise, yay! For lunch, I had a salad with grilled lemon chicken skewers (365 cals). For dinner, I am having coconut curry tofu over brown rice (470 cals). Now, if I can just get up the motivation to cook it!!!

Switzie: isn't mowing the lawn a form of exercise? I say count it!

ceegee: I can relate. It was told to me not 2 weeks ago.

Manick: is there any way you could make the veggie challenge a separate thread? I just know the recipes will get lost in this massive thread.

Anne: you really are killing me, you know that right? I copied and sent that to my hubby via e-mail for his information.

KimL: Not a weird question at all! I definitely feel thinner when I eat right and exercise. In fact, I felt that way just today...I was "walking like I was thinner"...I guess what I mean by that is that I had more confidence when I walked.

caitbeans: Oooh...Chili's....that is my favorite chain restaurant to eat at. I love that they put all their nutritional information for every item on their website. I printed it out and keep it with me. They have so many options for customizing your meal to make it healthy. Chili's rocks!

JuliaHood: I am going to HAVE to use that one the next time the subject...ah, comes up!

bethbeth: Aw, that sucks. I hope it goes away soon...I hate those.

Well, I'm off to do some school work and then prep for dinner!

Hi Black team!!!

Today I was at a meeting all day and lunch was provided so I didn't have much choice, for supper I had broiled steak and fresh asparagus, the first homegrown of the year. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow, I think I'll take the afternoon off and go mushroom hunting, I love fresh morels in the spring.

Hi Manick, nice to see another Leo here. i'm in for the new vege challenge.

Smurf and others looking for ways to hide veges, I've put the veges through a food processor and used them to thicken soups or hid them in meatlof or things like that. Also cauliflower can me mashed and substituted for mashed potatoes.

Sxulcmnky--Are the Lean Cusine Paninnis good? I've thought about getting some but wasn't sure if I would like them, which one is best?

Switzie--Mow your lawn with a push mower, exercise and getting the job done.

My eggplant recipe or thoughts,
put it in stirfry,
or my favorite to do with zuccini, but should work with eggplant, brush with some olive oil and garlic then grill. If you don't want to start the outside grill use a george forman grill or something like that. I love the garlicy olive oil taste.

I say count the mowing if it was with a push mower. For myself, if I am doing something purely for exercise I count every minute of it, but if it is something around the house or yard that really works up a sweat and/or works a muscle group hard I count half of that time. Today I spent 40 minutes hauling heavy fence posts around and mowing part of the yard, so I counted 20 minutes in my exercise for today.

Wow gone for 8 hours and I have 5 pages to catch up on....That is great that we have a busy site.
I am not good at personals at all but I am interested in the exercise challenge but as for Veggie I am a very picky veggie eater I don't like to many but the basics, corn, green beans, lettuce, carrots, green peppers, celery may a few others but not many.

Oh funny about the husbands I think their minds are always in the gutter even if they think they would be helping us out just a ploy for their satisfaction.

Oh my Chili's sure does sound good and I didn't realize they had the nutritional values on their website I may have to go there and print it off as well. Thanks
Well everyone have a great evening

I got to go to yoga today! It was a different instructor because it's a different night than I usually go (I now work Thursdays), and it was a WORKOUT! I did some lifting and was going to do cardio, but my new shoes started to give me blisters =(

I'm also contemplating going VEGETARIAN for this challenge...

Wow... I didn't get to check the thread yesterday and all of sudden, it's at 17 page!!! It's going to take me all night to read it all through and catch up!

Well, let's see.. I'm doing good so far. Because my weigh-in is every Monday, I used the last Monday's weight for the official start weight. Well, I lost 3.4 lbs, so that's great. Can't wait till next Monday to see my "First" weight for the challenge.

I'm at work right now.. My schedule is 8:00 PM-4:30 AM EST.. I wonder if there's anyone in the team working night...?

I have a question, by the way. Any of you using any pilates DVD at home? I don't have time/money to go to actual pilates class and have been thinking about getting one to do at home... Which one is "good"? I've never done any pilates or yoga...

i use pilates dvds at home, i have leslie sansone you can do pilates and shape magazine pilates dvd also have the FIRMS pilates, i believe 10minute solutiuon has a pilates dvd as well

Tara--I had a DVD that I absolutely loved, by Crunch and is called Crunch Super Slimdown: Pilates Yoga Blend. The instructor is Ellen Barrett and I really like her. There is another Crunch one called Pick Your Spot Pilates and it has 10 minute workouts for different body parts, loved that one as well. I have been thinking about buying the pilates yoga blend one again, I sold it and have always wished I had not done that. If you have Time Warner, you can get a lot of pilates free off the On Demand channel as well...or Fit TV has an hour long one in the All Star Workout series (love those as well)

HI! I'm a newbie here and so excited to be on the Black Team! This seems like an awesome group of people and we are going to kick some Red & Blue booties!! Here's a little info about me...

Accent: People say I still have a "midwestern" accent (born in MN) - I still say "Bay-gel" (for Bagel) and "Sore-ey" (for Sorry)... I don't know though.

Best Friend: Kari (we literally have known each other all our lives... born 1 week apart and our moms were best friends... I love that girl!)

Chore I hate: cleaning the bathroom floor

Dad's name: Wayne

Essential make-up product: eyeliner

Favorite perfume: Clinique Happy

Gold or silver? Silver... or White Gold

Hometown: Portland, OR

Interesting fact: I'm totally OCD about organizing and cleaning my house.

Job title: HouseWife to Will, Stay-at-home Mommy to Jayden

Kids: 1 for now - Jayden (2 in June)

Living arrangements: With my wonderful husband and amazing son, just north of Seattle, WA

Mom's birthplace: Bristol, SD

Number of apples eaten in the last week: 1

Overnight hospital stays: Just 1... when I gave birth

Phobia: SNAKES!!!

Question you ask yourself a lot: How did I let myself get so fat?!?!

Religious affiliation: N/A

Siblings: 1 older bro

Time I wake up: 5am on weekdays (to workout); however long hubby and son will let me sleep on the weekends

Unnatural hair color: dark brown with blonde highlights (gotta cover the gray!!)

Vegetable I refuse to eat: Lima beans

Worst habit: Emotional Eating!

X-tra info? 1 black & white kitty named Kobe

Yummy food I make: I make a yummy lasagna and amazing enchiladas - neither one very low fat, unfortunately

Zodiac sign: Taurus