Yours portly has been making some adjustments to his diet lately.  With the wedding coming up, I want to lose a few pounds so I’m not quite so chunky in all those wedding photos.  I also want to feel better and to improve my health overall.

To that end, I’ve been doing a lot more cooking at home.  It being summertime in South Carolina, my local Piggly Wiggly has tons of delicious, mostly-local produce available, so I’ve been eating copious amounts of veggies and fruits.

A local farmer is supplying fresh okra to the store, and it is very tasty.  Okra grows in long pods full of tiny (and easily edible) seeds.  It can be fried, roasted, pickled, etc.; all of these methods result in deliciousness.

Okra, for the uninitiated, is often served fried in the South, and fried okra is a favorite Southern side dish.  When prepared as such, it’s chopped into little medallions or coins; breaded; then dropped into hot oil.

As I’m looking for something healthier and easier, I’ve opted to roast my okra.  I looked up a simple recipe online and got to it (Robin would be proud)!

The recipe is super simple:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Coat a baking pan with some oil
3. Arrange your okra on the pan, and season to taste (I do a spritz of oil spray across them, then do a little salt and pepper, and sometimes oregano and a little garlic powder)
4. Put in oven for about 7.5 minutes
5. Remove from oven and toss okra for more even browning
6. Return to oven for another 7.5 minutes; remove and serve hot

One pound of okra is anywhere from 120-140ish calories (the Internet has different estimates), so you can eat a lot of okra.  One night this past week, I served fried eggs and tomatoes over a bed of okra (about 0.7 pounds of okra), along with some cheese and meat, and the entire dinner was roughly 450 calories for a massive plate:

Obviously, you could serve two or three people an ample portion of okra as a side with this same recipe, and often I’ll split it into two servings.  But it’s been a great food for the summer and for weight loss, and it’s easy to prepare and very filling.

I made a short YouTube video the first time I roasted okra, which I’d like to share today:

Bachelor Chow 101: Roasted Okra

I’d like to swap that canola oil for olive oil, but the spray is super easy and effective (and probably only adds around 20-30 calories to the recipe).

Okra is not to everyone’s liking, but if you like it, it’s a great food—low-calories, filling, and easy-to-prepare.

Happy Eating!

—TPP