A Diet Even Gourmets Will Love

We asked seven local chefs to give us a day’s worth of their most healthful dishes—food that would also please the most demanding gourmet. The result? A week of nutritionally sound, edible bliss for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No abstention from carbs, no dining slavishly on a single fruit, just delicious food with fresh ingredients and smart preparation.

Dr. Ginger Patterson, registered dietician and Ph.D. with an office at Fitness on the Move in Fort Myers, looked at the recipes and signed off on our list. "They are phenomenal," Patterson says. "And they’re all wonderful as far as nutrition goes."

These dishes do require some technical skill in the kitchen. After all, the menus were selected by professional chefs. But the point of the Gulfshore Diet is that eating well and eating healthfully can be one and the same. We’ve highlighted one recipe for each day, but for the complete how-to on the rest of the menu, visit www.gulfshorelife.com. "The following recipes are for the gourmet cook, but you don’t have to be a gourmet chef to eat healthfully," says Patterson. Pull from ingredients and dishes for your own use, or if you don’t feel like cooking, you can always pay a visit to one of these chefs in their own kitchen.

Eat your heart out, South Beach.

Day One
Shelly Connors, founder of Fresh Food Commissary Company and culinary instructor at Wild Oats Marketplace

Breakfast: Low-fat, antioxidant granola with dried berries

3 cups organic rolled oats
½ cup organic golden flax seeds
½ cup sliced almonds
½ cup sunflower seeds
Sun-dried blueberries
Sun-dried cherries, chopped
1/3 cup local honey
¼ cup organic brown sugar
Juice from 1/2 orange, plus zest
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. pure vanilla extract
Sprinkle of cinnamon to taste
Mix oats, flax seed and almonds in large bowl. In saucepan, mix honey, brown sugar, orange juice, zest, oil, vanilla and cinnamon. Heat on medium until combined. Pour over dry ingredients. Pour honey mixture onto oats mixture and stir well. Bake in a 275-degree oven for one hour, stirring every fifteen minutes. After cooled, add blueberries and cherries to granola.

Lunch: Summer wheat berry salad

1 cup hard red wheat berries
½ mango, diced
1/8 cup English cucumber, diced
1/8 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 bunch chopped green onions
¼ cup low fat feta
¼ to ½ cup mixed, chopped fresh herbs of your choice (Italian flat-leaf parsley, cilantro and rosemary are recommended)
3 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
Juice of half a lime
Zest of lime
1 to 2 Tbs. local honey
Option: for added protein, add chopped grilled or poached chicken.

Boil wheat berries in salted water for about an hour until soft. Drain off water. Mix wheat berries, mangos, walnuts, onions, cucumber, feta and herbs in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, mix oil, vinegar, citrus juice, zest and honey. Drizzle over salad to taste.

Dinner: Wild salmon with avocado salsa

2 wild salmon filets
2 Tbs. tamari premium soy sauce
1 Tbs. local honey
1 clove minced garlic
1 Tbs. grated ginger
½ lime, zested

Marinate salmon in zip-lock bag with above ingredients for 20 minutes before cooking. Grill, broil or sauté in non-stick pan.

1 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 Tbs. sesame oil (toasted is preferred)
1 Tbs. local honey
2 Tbs. grated ginger
1 minced garlic clove
Juice of a lime wedge
2 green onions sliced thinly
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
½ cup diced jicama
1 ripe avocado, diced
¼ cup chopped fresh herbs like cilantro and Italian parsley

Combine vinegar, oil, honey, ginger, garlic and lime. Mix into chopped mixture of onions, tomatoes, radishes, avocado, and herbs. Serve on the side with the salmon.

Day two
Don Splain, personal organic chef

Breakfast: Heirloom strawberries with kefir and Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl Tea

Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearl Tea
½ pint heirloom strawberries
1 vanilla bean
½ cup kefir

Brew the tea first. Bring the water to 208 degrees and add 5 pearls per cup of water. Leave to steep. Don’t have to worry about this tea over-steeping or becoming too strong with tannins. You can brew a pot in the morning and drink it throughout the day, just refresh it with a little more water as needed. It doesn’t get bitter. If you find it too strong just add a little water. Too weak, add a couple more pearls.

As for the strawberries; what you need are good heirloom strawberries in season. They are usually the really tiny ones. Stay away from the big ones. Take the tops off half a pint of strawberries. Use a paring knife to do this, not a strawberry shark. With heirloom strawberries, if you use a shark—one of those measuring-spoon-looking things with teeth on it—you end up loosing too much of the tiny strawberry. The shark also removes much of the white interior of the strawberry.

After the strawberries are hulled, cut a vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Preferably an organic bourbon vanilla bean. Use the back of your knife to scrape the seeds out of the pod. Mix these vanilla seeds in with the strawberries. Use your hands to mix them in because the heat from your hands will release the flavor from the seeds. Once you have mixed all the vanilla seeds in with the strawberries, stir in about a half a cup of kefir and you’re done.

Lunch: Spicy fennel and grapefruit salad served with roasted fingerling potatoes and grilled pompano with pink lemon relish

Grapefruit salad:
1 bulb fennel
1 ruby red or pink marsh grapefruit
Sea salt
Spanish olive oil
Cinnamon leaf oil

Shave one bulb of the freshest fennel you can find using a Japanese mandolin or a knife if you are really good. After you shave the fennel, season it lightly with fine sea salt. This will make the fennel sweat, releasing the finer notes of the aromatics. While the fennel is sweating, segment one ruby red or pink marsh grapefruit, taking care to remove all the pith and seeds. Put the grapefruit segments in with the fennel and add two teaspoons of Spanish olive oil, tossing with your hands so as not to pulverize the grapefruit. Add one drop of cinnamon leaf oil and toss lightly.

Fingerling potatoes:
½ pound fingerling potatoes
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
Garlic, minced

Find the best fingerling potatoes by making sure that none of the eyes are bulging and the skin is firm and of uniform color. No green. Cut half a pound of potatoes in half along the axis, the long way. Toss them in 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon of water, and some coarse sea salt and minced garlic. Place the potatoes flat side down on a cookie sheet. Place the sheet tray on bottom rack in a conventional oven preheated to 400 degrees, or a convection oven preheated to 360 degrees. Bake about 35 minutes or, until done. You can tell they are done when you can pierce them easily with a knife.

Pink lemon relish:
1 pink lemon
capers
red onion
sea salt

Pink lemons are a little sweeter than the standard variety, but not as sweet as a Meyer lemon. Zest the lemon using a zester or a micro-plane, being careful not to remove too much pith. Once the lemon is zested, peel it and segment it by cutting the segments out of the membranes. Remove all the seeds. Rough chop the lemon with some capers and a little red onion. Season to taste with a little coarse sea salt.

Grilled pompano:
Pompano filet
Ghee or coconut oil
Sea salt

Lightly coat your pompano filets with ghee or coconut oil and season with sea salt. Don’t use olive oil because olive oil on a grill imparts a bitter, scorched flavor. Place them on a preheated, very hot grill. Wait for about a minute or two and give them a quarter turn. Wait about another 1 ½ minutes and turn the fish over. Close the lid to the grill and cook another 2 minutes. Serve it with the pink lemon relish over top and the potatoes on the side.

Dinner: Roasted rack of lamb with mashed sweet potatoes seasoned with pumpkinseed oil and sautéed Malabar spinach; grilled mango and vanilla ice cream for dessert

Grilled mango:
Tommy Atkins mangoes

While your grill is still hot from grilling the pompano, grill your mango. Use Tommy Atkins mangos. First lay it on a flat surface. Place your palm down on the mango, keeping your fingers up and out of the way of the knife. Carefully cut the bottom cheek of the mango off, sliding the knife along the bottom of the seed. This gives you a flat surface to lay against the cutting board as you cut the top cheek off the mango. Using a metal kitchen spoon or serving spoon you can remove the whole cheeks from the skin. Place mango cheeks flat side down on the grill. After about 4 minutes give it a quarter turn and wait another 4 minutes. Remove from the grill and reserve it for dinner.

Roasted rack of lamb, sweet potatoes and Malabar spinach:
1 rack of lamb
2 sweet potatoes
1 clove garlic
½ of a lemon, juiced
Oregano
Thyme
Salt
Black pepper
Malabar spinach
Pumpkinseed oil

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees in a conventional oven or 400 degrees in a convection oven. Take your lamb rack out of the refrigerator and let it sit. I prefer domestic lamb from Savage Isle Farm from Grand Isle, Vermont because there are large patches of wild thyme that the sheep graze on and the meet picks up that flavor. Place an iron skillet on the range and get it sizzling hot. Place your lamb rack fat cap down. This will help render off that fat while searing the meat. The pan should be singing the whole time. If it stops sizzling the pan isn’t hot enough. Slowly flip the rack in the pan. If the rack gets stuck to your pan, turn the burner down until the pan stops singing and it will shortly pop off. Turn the burner back up and continue searing the outside of the rack.

While the rack is being seared, place 2 sweet potatoes in the oven, along the sides on the middle rack. Set the timer for 20 minutes because that is when you will give them a half turn.

Once the rack is fully seared, season it with 2 tablespoons of oregano, 1 tablespoon thyme, salt and black pepper to taste. This needs to be done while the rack is still hot, causing it to sweat a little, binding the seasonings to the rack during the roasting phase of cooking. Place the rack on a roasting pan and place on the middle rack of your oven. You should have about 5 minutes before the sweet potatoes need to be turned. Do not clean your cast iron skillet yet.

Putting the rack in 5 minutes before the sweet potatoes need to be turned will give you a medium-well rack. Wait until 5 minutes after turning the sweet potatoes and you will get a medium to medium-rare rack.

Now go back to that iron skillet. Drain off all the fat and add about 2 tablespoons of it back to the pan. Mince up a clove of garlic. When the fat in the pan is just starting to get smoking hot, toss in about 3 good-sized handfuls of the Malabar spinach. Toss, add the minced garlic, toss. Just as the spinach is beginning to wilt, remove from heat, add juice from about half of a lemon (no seeds!) and salt and pepper to taste. Hold in a warm place while the sweet potatoes and rack of lamb are done to your taste. Malabar spinach tastes and cooks up very much like regular spinach, but unlike regular spinach it grows on a vine and is tolerant of heat and water. It is one of the few locally grown greens that can be harvested all summer here in Southwest Florida.

When sweet potatoes and rack are done to your satisfaction, remove them from the oven, turn the oven off, and put the spinach in there. Carefully slice open sweet potatoes, scoop into a bowl and mash with a serving fork, adding 2 teaspoons of pumpkinseed oil and a little salt and pepper. Place it in the oven with the spinach and also place the mango that you grilled off at lunch time in there as well to heat up for dessert.

Cut the lamb rack using the fingers of the rack as the guide for your knife. Plate by placing some of the Malabar spinach on the plate with some of the sweet potato. Use some of the sweet potato to prop up the lamb fingers. Season the lamb with some coarse sea salt and serve immediately.

After dinner, place the warm grilled mango in a bowl and top with your favorite ice cream. Suggested pairings would be French vanilla or port gelato.

Day Three
Brooke Wagenheim, master chef of Ada’s Natural & Organic Foods Supermarket & Deli

Breakfast: Grain, Eggs and Jam (balsamic egg drops, warm quinoa cereal and strawberry fig kanten gelatin)

Quinoa Grain Cereal:
1 cup quinoa
2 Tbs. raisins
2 Tbs. toasted nuts
2 Tbs. maple syrup
½ Tsp. grated lemon peel
Pinch sea salt

Rinse quinoa and put on cookie sheet in oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Boil 2 cups water, add toasted quinoa, cover, turn down heat to low, 10 minutes. Fluff quinoa into bowl and add remaining ingredients.

Balsamic Egg Drops:
2 eggs
2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbs. chopped parsley
Pinch sea salt

Boil ¾-full, small pot of water with lid. Add vinegar to water. Crack and drop in eggs to rapidly boiling water. Strain out eggs after 2 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley and sea salt.

Strawberry Fig Kanten:
2 Tsp. agar seaweed
2 cups organic fruit juice
3 strawberries
3 dried figs

Chop fruit and put in 2 small glass serving bowls. Bring juice and agar to boil. Pour over fruit, cover, chill for minimum 2 hours.

Lunch: Garden vegetable timbales with zesty lemon tomato salad

Timbales:
2 cups pasta
8 eggs
1 cup grated cheese (optional)
¼ cup milk
Pinch sea salt
2 Tbs. chopped onion
Black pepper to taste

Boil water and cook and drain pasta (al dente). Whisk rest of ingredients into bowl, add pasta. Pour into oiled muffin pans, ¾ full. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, cool slightly and pop out of muffin pans.

Tomato Salad:
2 ripe tomatoes
2 Tbs. chopped cilantro
2 Tbs. chopped red onion
3 Tbs. lemon juice
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Chop tomatoes and mix together with remaining ingredients, chill.

Dinner: Baked potato veggie burgers, eggplant rolls with proscuitto, goat cheese and dates

Veggie Burgers:
3 large peeled potatoes, boiled until soft
¾ cup shredded cheese
½ cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbs. tarragon
1 Tbs. fresh parsley chopped
3 Tbs. chopped onion
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients well. Using a 4- to 6-ounce scoop, form burgers and place onto parchment-lined or lightly-oiled cookie sheets. Press down and bake in oven at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

Eggplant rolls:
1 large eggplant peeled and sliced thin longwise, into about 8 wide, thin strips
8 dates, pitted
¼ cup goat cheese
4 thin pieces of prosciutto, cut in half
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. chopped garlic

Toss sliced eggplant in olive oil and garlic. Line oiled or parchment lined cookie sheet with eggplant in a single layer. Roast in oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool. Slice open one side of date, stuff with  ½ Tbs. goat cheese, wrap with prosciutto. Place on oiled or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Place stuffed date in the middle of roasted eggplant slice and roll up, placing seam side down. Cover and cook for 30 minutes.

Day Four
Andy Normil, personal chef and trainer

Breakfast: Egg white omelet with sweet potato pancakes and fresh berries

4 fresh egg whites, prepared as you would your favorite omelet
Sweet potato pancakes (available ready-to-heat from grocer)
Fresh raspberries, blueberries and strawberries mixed together

Lunch: White And Green Asparagus Salad With Scallops (Serves 4)

6 medium spears of white asparagus, trimmed and peeled
16 small spears of green asparagus, trimmed and peeled
12 large sea scallops
1 baby carrot, peeled
4 Tbs. low-fat natural yogurt
Juice of ½ lemon
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 heart of romaine lettuce, washed and dried
1 heart of oak leaf lettuce, washed and dried
A few leaves of chicory
Fresh chervil to garnish

Cook asparagus in salted water for two to three minutes until just tender. Drain, then cool quickly in ice-cold water. Drain again and keep on a damp cloth. Cut white asparagus in half lengthwise. Slice carrot thinly. Blanch slices in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain, then cool in ice water. Mix together the yogurt and the lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange the salad leaves, asparagus, and carrots on individual plates. Spoon a little yogurt on each plate. Wash the scallops well, then cut in half. Sauté the scallops in a non stick pan for 15 seconds. Season to taste and plate.

Day Five
Melissa Talmadge, chef at Redfish Blufish restaurant

Breakfast: Watermelon salad

1/2 pound seedless watermelon
1 English cucumber
¼ pound green pitted olives, such as cerignola or picholine
¼ cup champagne vinegar
2 Tbs. champagne
½ cup grape seed oil
2 springs of tarragon, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the watermelon into rectangular chunks about three ounces in size. With a vegetable peeler, hold the cucumber flat, lightly run the peeler down the length of the cucumber creating what looks like ribbons. For the vinaigrette, combine the champagne and champagne vinegar in a bowl. While whisking, slowly add the grape seed oil. Add chopped tarragon and salt and pepper to taste. To assemble the salad, season the watermelon with salt and pepper and place it on a plate. Combine the cucumber and olives in a bowl and add the dressing. Drape the cucumber ribbons and olives on and around the watermelon and drizzle with the remaining vinaigrette.

Lunch: Grilled shrimp salad with hearts of palm, shaved fennel, orange segments and cumin vinaigrette

20 large shrimp, peeled and de-veined
1 clove garlic
2 thyme sprigs
Small pinch of red chili flaks
½ cup olive oil
1 bunch arugula
8 oz. hearts of palm, cut into ½ inch pieces
1 fennel bulb, shaved into thin slices
1 orange, peeled and cut into segments
4 sprigs of cilantro, picked and leaves kept whole

For the Vinaigrette:
1 Tbs. cumin seed
1 Tbs. fresh squeezed orange juice
1 Tbs. honey
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

To prepare the shrimp, chop 1 clove of garlic and add it with 2 thyme sprigs and a small pinch of red pepper flakes to a ½ cup of the olive oil. Add the shrimp and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Over medium heat, toast the cumin for approximately 4 minutes, remove it from the heat and place in a mortar and pestle and gently grind to a powder. In a bowl, combine the cumin, vinegar, orange juice and honey slowly. Whisk in the extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Remove the shrimp from the marinade and season it with salt and pepper. Grill the shrimp over high heat for approximately 3 minutes on each side.

Place the arugula, hearts of palm, fennel, orange segments, and cilantro leaves into a bowl, toss with the vinaigrette and divide it among four plates. Place the shrimp on top of the salads and serve.

Dinner: Pistachio-crusted scallops with a black bean puree and spicy mango sorbet

For the scallops:
12 jumbo scallops, tough ligament removed
½ cup shelled green pistachios
2 slices of country bread
1 Tsp. minced garlic
1 Tbs. chopped cilantro
1 Tbs. melted butter
½ cup sherry
Salt and pepper

Preheat the broiler. Toast the bread in a 350-degree oven until hard. Combine all the ingredients except the butter and sherry in a food processor and pulse until fully combined. Place the mixture in a bowl and toss it with the melted butter. Place the scallops in a shallow baking pan. Season with salt and pepper and place 1 teaspoon of the mixture on each scallop. Pour the sherry in the pan with the scallops and bake until the crust is golden brown (approximately 4 minutes).

For the puree:
8 oz. dried black beans, covered with water a soaked overnight
Sachet (1 bay leaf, 2 thyme sprigs, 3 parsley stems, ¼ cup carrots, small diced ½ cup Spanish onion, 1 celery stalk tied in cheesecloth)
1 Tsp. minced garlic
¼ cup dried Spanish onion
1 Tsp. cumin
1 Tsp. paprika
Salt and pepper

Place the beans and the sachet in a large pot with enough cold water to cover them by 3 inches. Bring the beans to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook beans for approximately 1 ½ hours or until soft. Meanwhile, heat the garlic and onions in a medium skillet. Lightly sauté the garlic and onions until soft. Add the cumin and paprika and coat the onion mixture and let cool. Drain the cooked beans and remove the sachet. Place the beans and onion mixture in a food processor and blend until smooth. You may need to add a tablespoon of olive oil to achieve the desired smoothness. Season with salt and pepper.

For the sorbet:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
2 dried chilies
3 ripe mangos (about 2 lbs.)
3 Tbs. lime juice

To make the sorbet, heat the sugar, water and dried chiles and bring to a boil. Boil until the sugar dissolves. Then cool, leaving chile in the liquid. Wash and dry the mangoes.  Remove the two flat sides of each mango with a sharp knife, cutting lengthwise alongside the pit and cutting as close to the pit as possible. The mango flesh should be in two large pieces. Scoop the flesh with a spoon from the mango sides. Cut as much flesh from the pit as you can. Put all the mango flesh in a blender. Remove the dried chiles and take 1 cup cooled syrup and add to the blender. Add the lime juice and puree until smooth. Freeze the mango puree in an ice cream maker. Freeze the sorbet at least 6 hours, or until frozen hard.

To assemple the plate, place 2 tablespoons of the puree on a plate, surrounded by three scallops and a scoop of the sorbet.

Day Six
Brian Martin, executive chef of EVOO Market

Breakfast: Toasted multigrain bread with local honey, nonfat yogurt, granola and fresh blueberries

Toast multigrain bread and drizzle with local honey (Walker Farms honey recommended). Serve with nonfat yogurt, fresh blueberries and granola (Kingslake and Crane granola recommended).

Lunch: Ahi tuna and flatbread salad with ginger-miso vinaigrette

4 oz. sashimi-grade tuna per person, sliced thin (6 slices)
2 oz. ginger, peeled and diced
½ cup miso
1 cup soy sauce
½ cup Chinese black vinegar
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
¼ cup mirin
1 Tbs. sweet Thai chili sauce
2 cup grape seed oil
Salt and pepper
Maché
Baby spinach
Frisee
Toasted black and white sesame seed
Sesame flatbread crackers

Combine the ginger, miso, soy, black vinegar, rice vinegar, mirin and Thai chili in a food processor and puree. Next, with machine running, slowly add grape seed oil. Season to taste. Toss the greens with the vinaigrette. On the plate arrange horizontal layers of crackers, then tuna, then greens (3 to 4 layers should make a good-sized salad). Garnish by sprinkling the sesame seeds over the salad.

Dinner: Local black grouper with haricot vert, cauliflower and curry yogurt

6 portions of 6 oz. grouper filet, one per person
¾ lb haricot vert, blanched
18 cherry tomatoes, halved
3 oz. sliced almonds, toasted
2 heads cauliflower, cut into florets and blanched
2 oz. pitted kalamata olives
Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbs. curry powder
½ Tsp. cumin
¼ cup crème fraiche
Salt and pepper

Heat a pan with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil. Season the fish with salt and pepper and place in the pan. Sauté the fish until golden brown, then flip and sauté the other side. If the grouper filets are thick, you may need to place them in a 375-degree oven to finish cooking them. While the fish is roasted, toss the haricots, almonds and cauliflower in a pan until hot. Remove from heat, then toss in the cherry tomatoes. Place the olives and ½ cup extra virgin olive oil in a blender and puree together. Puree well, then strain through a fine chinois. Discard the solids. Place yogurt, curry powder, cumin and crème fraiche in a bowl and whisk to combine. To plate, place a mound of the vegetables in the middle of a plate. Spoon the curry yogurt and black olive oil around the vegetables, then place the fish on top of the vegetables.

Day Seven
Freedom Teague, organic chef at Food & Thought

Breakfast: Seasonal fruit salad or asparagus quiche

Fruit salad:
Mix diced seasonal fruits like apple, pineapple, mango, kiwi and oranges. Stir in orange juice and honey to taste.

Or

Asparagus quiche:
1 bunch asparagus, chopped
6 eggs, beaten
2 Tbs. cream
8 oz. raw cheddar cheese
2 Tbs. olive oil
Sea salt and pepper

Sauté asparagus in olive oil. Mix together eggs, cream, salt and pepper. Add this mixture to a pie pan that is lightly oiled and dusted with flour* to keep from sticking. Cover with cheese. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves 6. *(Use rice flour as a gluten-free alternative).

Lunch: Curry coconut chicken with basmati rice (serves 6)

Chicken:
4 chicken breasts
2 Tbs. coconut oil
4 carrots, sliced
1 cup green and red peppers, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 cup fresh or frozen peas
1 13.5 oz. can coconut milk
3 Tbs. curry
1 Tsp. turmeric
Sea salt and pepper
Cilantro

Sauté chicken breast in coconut oil for about 15 minutes. Add vegetables, cook for about 10 minutes. Mix coconut milk, curry, turmeric, sea salt and pepper. Add to sauté, simmer a few minutes. Serve on basmati rice. Garnish with cilantro.

Rice:
1 cup basmati rice
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt

Sauté garlic and rice in olive oil for a few minutes. Add 2 cups water and salt, bring to boil, reduce heat, cover, cook for 45 minutes. Fluff when done.

Dinner: Vegetarian stuffed eggplant (serves 6)

3 eggplants
1 onion, chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 pepper, chopped
1 Tsp. garlic, minced
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 Tbs. tomato paste
2 Tbs. soy sauce
Mozzarella to cover top

Cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Scoop eggplant from center, chop. Brush eggplant boat with olive oil and roast in 375-degree oven for 25 minutes. Sauté chopped eggplant with garlic in olive oil for 10 minutes. Add vegetables, sauté for 5 more minutes. Add rice. Cover bottom of pan with tomato paste and soy sauce. Fill eggplant boats with sauté, sprinkle with mozzarella. Place in pan on tomato paste. Bake in 350 degree oven until cheese is melted, about 10-15 minutes. Serve with veggie sauté and greens.