I had a craving for pea soup, but I don’t love ham or its relatives. I found the best recipe for ham-free pea soup here. Yum!

I followed Ina’s recipe as is, minus the crispy ham on top. I’m sure bacon or pancetta would be great on top, too–but it doesn’t need it. Make sure to use a decent extra virgin olive oil, one that’s actually made from olives and has a greenish tint. My grocery store favorite is California Olive Ranch (no, they’re not paying me to say so!) There are generally coupons for it every few months in the paper, too.

Prego update: I’m 25 weeks pregnant with the surrogate twins. I had an ultrasound a few days ago and both boys were doing flips. I don’t know how they have room in there since I look as if I’m full term. It’s going to get interesting as the weeks progress; I already get out of breath from walking up my stairs! Yikes.

I’ve gained an ungodly amount of weight but I’m eating pretty well. Today is leftover pea soup and grassfed sirloin day. I might even throw in a baked yam. It’s normal to gain a ton with twins, it’s just hard for me as someone who has struggled with my weight for so long. I’m excited to get healthy again after the twins are born. I’m a weirdo, right? I should probably be enjoying my “license to eat” a bit more.

I look as if I’m 7 months pregnant, maybe more. I actually have gained EXACTLY enough weight for the twins. It’s a lot, but I’m shocked I haven’t gained more. I am still focusing on eating mostly healthy, organic, grassfed, real food. In fact, I bought two tiny grassfed sirloin steaks for myself to cook in the next day or two. Does anyone have any cooking ideas? I’ve never made sirloin before. I’ll probably just salt, oil, and sear it, then top with a bit of pepper and butter at the end.

Unlike my first pregnancy, this one has left me feeling generally unwell and unable to eat much.  Unfortunately, with twins, I am supposed to be eating 3500 calories per day.  Yes, you read that right.  Even using butter, full-fat meats and dairy, that’s impossible for me without adding in some carbs.  I’ve even had to resort to Saltines when I couldn’t stomach anything else.  The horror!

I’m still attempting to eat organic when I can, low carb when I can, but my first priority has to be for the twins’ health.  If that means I have to suck down the Frankendrink Ensure with High Protein to get enough calories, so be it.  I’m hoping once I feel a little better I’ll be able to stomach healthier foods.  Even my awesome low carb shake turns my stomach right now!  Boo!

If anyone out there has been in a similar situation, I’d love to hear from you.

PS–I thought about posting my weigh-in but I would probably cry.  I actually haven’t gained much yet, but even as someone overweight to begin with, I’m supposed to gain 31-40 pounds for the twins.  Whoa.

1 16-ounce bag dried black beans
2-3 tablespoons kosher salt (halve if using table salt)
2 bay leaves (optional but add a nice flavor)
2 teaspoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers
1 tablespoon kosher salt (halve if using table salt)

Dump beans onto a sheet pan and pick over for stones. I always thought that was an urban legend, and of course I had a small white stone in this bag.

Pour beans into a big bowl.

Dissolve 2-3 tablespoons kosher salt into water.

Pour over beans and refrigerate overnight. If you’re in a time crunch, you can just rinse the beans and triple (yes triple) the cooking time.

When you’re ready to cook your beans:

Rinse and drain beans.

Dice one onion and sauté over medium heat in a tablespoon of oil in a 4-quart saucepan.

Mince or grate 3 or 4 cloves of garlic.

When onion is softened, after 4-5 minutes, add garlic and cook for about a minute.

Pour in beans and enough water to cover by an inch.

Put in a bay leaf or two if you have them. You could also add cilantro in this step if you don’t think it tastes like poison.

Bring to a boil (may need to turn up heat).

Turn down heat to simmer then cover and leave it alone for an hour.

Add a tablespoon or so of kosher salt and a few teaspoons of adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers (I finally find these in my grocery store after years of searching, Goya brand in the international foods aisle). Next batch, I’m going spicier and dicing a few peppers, and adding more adobo, but two teaspoons gave it a nice, mild spice.

Stir then return to a simmer and cover for another hour.

Taste, add more salt and more adobo if desired. I suggest simmering ten minutes or so if you add more adobo, to cook the adobo and meld the flavor into the beans. If the beans are still hard or “al dente,” they need to cook longer. I suggest slightly increasing your heat, then check the beans every ten to twenty minutes.

Serve over rice, with salsa, or eat them straight–you really can’t go wrong!

This is not a low carb app, but it’s certainly low carb friendly as there are plenty of amazing meat recipes. The slow-roasted beef is the absolute best roast beef I’ve ever had in my life. Generally, every recipe is the “best recipe,” as they test exhaustively until they find the perfect recipe.

The app also has the extensive product reviews that Cook’s Illustrated Magazine prides itself on. Which is the best Greek yogurt? What’s the best brand of frozen peas? I find these really helpful when I find a coupon for a brand I don’t usually buy. I pop on the app, look up the product, and see if the brand is worth buying.

Do you have a favorite cooking app?

I finally got so annoyed with my daily guessing game that I emailed Oxo customer service to complain about it. I didn’t expect much more than an apology. Instead, they’re sending me free replacement sets of cups and spoons! It turns out I’m not the only person who had this problem, as they redesigned the cups and spoons to eliminate the issue. How cool is Oxo?

Thanks again, Oxo. I’m looking forward to trying out my new measuring cups and spoons! I think these (below) are the new cups I’m getting.

You’ll need:

• 8 eggs
• 4 egg whites, or a scant half cup of Egg Beaters
• 1 10-ounce package of frozen cut spinach, thawed
• 1 cup of crumbled feta
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• Hot sauce to taste (optional)

1. Whisk eggs, egg whites, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in a large bowl until combined and frothy.
2. Stir in spinach, feta, and tomatoes.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
4. Butter a 12-muffin tin, or two six-muffin tins.  Alternatively, you can use a bit of olive oil to lightly coat the cups.
5. Pour mixture into the prepared muffin tin(s). Try to make them equal, and try to leave about a half-inch of room at the top as these should expand a little.  I used a liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout to do this.
6. Bake for 20-28 minutes, until the tops are just barely starting to brown and the eggs look set (see picture above–the top is shiny but not wet).
7. Let cool for 15-20 minutes.
8. Remove from pan (I used a small spatula to go around each mini-frittata and they all just popped right out).
9. Enjoy!  The picture below is the cut half of a mini-frittata.  I had already scarfed the other half…

This is eggs and bacon the way I like them: extra crispy bacon and runny-yolked eggs.

For the bacon, the oven is clearly the way to go.  It’s so easy, and you can’t really mess it up unless you burn the bacon…which I like.  Set your oven at 350 degrees, lay your bacon strips on a sheet pan, and throw it in the oven for 12-20 minutes depending on how thick your bacon is.  I would check at 12 minutes just to see how it’s going.  Say hi.  I actually talk to my bacon a bit and coax it along into perfection.  I have a crush on bacon.

For the eggs, you want a preheated pan, a little olive oil or butter (or both! go wild), and as many eggs as you’d like.  Crack the eggs into a little bowl and dig out all the shell you got in there while you’re heating the pan on medium, or medium-low if your range runs hot.  After about 5 minutes, check to make sure your pan is hot.  Don’t burn yourself!  Just quickly tap the side of the pan to check.

Put the oil/butter into the hot pan and swirl it around.  Slide the eggs in there, carefully if you like the yolk runny, and cover with a lid or plate.  This helps the egg cook on both sides.  After one minute, check on your eggs.  If they’re still liquid-y, re-cover and let cook for another minute.  Once they look almost done, as in no runny white, you can carefully flip them and turn off the heat.  Let it sit for 30 seconds or so to solidify the egg white while keeping the yolk runny. Don’t be afraid to check on it obsessively like I did when I was first making eggs this way.  Just lift a corner with a spatula to see if the white is cooked to your liking.  When it’s ready, add salt and pepper if you’d like and enjoy!

If you really preheated your pan, this should be a very quick operation.  If you find it’s taking forever, your heat may be a little too low.  If it’s loudly popping and sizzling for more than a few seconds after you put the eggs in the pan, your heat is too high–turn it down to low or medium-low.  You’ll get the hang of it!  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, comment below, whatever you’d like.

You’ll need:

• 1 good-looking eggplant
• 2 teaspoons of garam masala
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon of kosher salt

1. Wash your eggplant under cold water.
2. Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick rounds.
3. Sprinkle both sides of the rounds with salt.
4. Place rounds in a colander over a bowl or in the sink.
5. Let rounds stand for two hours or so–you can probably leave them overnight in the fridge if you’d like.
6. Preheat oven to 350.
7. Rinse the rounds under cold water.
8. Dry the rounds thoroughly on paper towels or kitchen towels; they should be green and leather-like.  If they’re not, dry more!
9. Brush both sides of rounds with oil.
10. Sprinkle both sides with garam masala.
11. Arrange rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet; otherwise, the rounds may get stuck to the baking sheet and fall apart when you try to get them off.  Not that I would know that from experience…
12. Bake for 20 minutes, or until sliced are soft and browned.  I find this is just enough to get rid of the bitterness of the skin.  If you’d like, you can try cooking these longer to turn them into “chips,” but I haven’t had good luck with that so far.
13. Enjoy!

Some people on the all-knowing interwebs have suggested I go gluten-, lactose-, and fructose(!)-free and see what happens to determine whether or not I have problems with those things.  That’s all well and good, except I don’t have the patience or willpower to so drastically change my diet without solid evidence.

Low carbing may be drastic to some, but in the past it’s helped me to feel great–I had more energy, no weird blood sugar crashing, and sustained weight loss.  This time around, I started off really sick and I’m getting sicker.  I don’t think it’s due to low carbing, as I’ve started eating bread and pizza this week for the celiac test and feel much worse.  But I’m willing to consider anything, any type of diet, if I have medical proof of what’s wrong with me.

So it should be interesting!  I have a feeling I’ll end up having to go everything-free AND get my stupid gallbladder removed (that’s a short but extraordinarily painful story for another day), but I’m a bit of a pessimist.  On the brighter side, I think I’m going to cook a gluten-, lactose-, and fructose-full Easter dinner for my family, so they’ll be excited!