Servings:  4

Ingredients

• 9oz / 270g soba noodles
• 2 eggplant, sliced into 1- to 1½-inch (2-3cm) pieces
• ½ cup sunflower oil or other good oil for shallow frying
• seeds of one pomegranate
• 1 cup walnuts
• 2 spring onions / scallions, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed in a pestle and mortar with 2 big pinches sea salt
• zest + juice of one lemon
• black pepper freshly ground to taste
• 1 fresh chili, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons brown rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon honey or agave
• flat leaf parsley for garnish

Directions

Cook the soba noodles in a large saucepan of salted water according to packet instructions. Be careful not to overcook – you want them to have a little bite to them. Run them under cold water immediately after draining to stop them cooking any further. Then add a small glug of oil and stir through with a fork to stop them sticking.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and fry the eggplant. Once golden brown remove to a colander or a tea towel, sprinkle with sea salt and leave there to drain.

To make the dressing, process in a blender the garlic, salt, pepper, zest, lemon juice, chili, brown rice vinegar, olive oil, pomegranate molasses, sesame oil and honey. Blend until you are happy with the consistency. Taste and adjust for salt.

Stir half the dressing into the noodles along with the eggplant and two thirds of the pomegranate seeds, walnuts and spring onions. Top with remaining pomegranate seeds, walnuts, spring onions and flat-leaf parsley. Add more of the dressing until you are happy with the taste.

Recipe from Eden Kitchen.

On the suggestion of a friend, I decided to watch Forks Over Knives last week.  Normally I would slap myself on the hand as I try to change the channel and remind myself of the kind of crazy I get when I watch these sorts of things, but I chose to watch it.  I really enjoyed the documentary over-all, and if there’s one thing I walked away with it was this - the more natural and wholesome your food is before you begin cooking, the better for you it is all-around.

AKA - processed foods are bad for you.

This isn’t exactly news to me.  I’ve been staying away from artificial sweeteners like Aspartame and Splenda for years.  I don’t let my daughter have a chicken nugget unless I can cut it in half and see that it isn’t ground meat.  I do what I can to stay away from fructose corn syrup, even though it’s in everything.  But the part that interested me the most was the study they conducted on the effects of a whole-foods diet on a person with diabetes.  In the specific case they mention they were able to reverse the effects of diabetes completely.  I’m no scientist, and I have no idea what other factors may have contributed to this person’s change, but it was enough to peak my interest.  Diabetes runs in my family as well as my husband’s.

I stand skeptical on the benefits of a completely vegan diet.  I can see the value in eating less meat, but dairy I have a hard time letting go of.  This week I have picked out a completely vegan menu to give it a try, and I picked up some almond milk for my family.  I figure there’s no harm in giving this a try.  If nothing else, it will diversify my cookbook, right?

2-Minute Bean Roll-Ups

Servings:  4
Prep Time:  5 minutes
Cook Time:  30 seconds

Ingredients

• tortilla (I used whole-grain with flax seed)
• avocado
• 1 can of black beans, rinsed well
• fresh chunky salsa OR pico de gallo
• lime OR lime juice

Directions

Place beans on top of tortilla and heat in the microwave until warm.  Top with salsa, avocado, and fresh lime juice.

Recipe from Whole Food Mommies.

That’s really all there is to it.  This is super quick, healthy, and it is easy to adjust to meet your taste.  I actually made rice to put on the side of this but found I really didn’t need it - there was way too much food for two of us.  The avocado met some resistance from my one-year-old, but she tried it - which is a start - and she ate the beans, salsa, and wrap with no complaint (I gave it to her open-faced as she doesn’t quite have the dexterity to handle a wrap just yet).  Next time I may throw a small handful of grapes on the side instead of rice.