It looks like a Purple
People Eater to me

Before I start, I just want to say THANKS to everyone who sent kind words yesterday. I didn’t write the post to get people to blow sunshine up my ass, but you did create a warm glow inside. So thank you.

By request, I’m finally writing about cooking again. A little birdie told me she’d like to read about eggplant in between all the horrible news stories of the world.

So. Yeah.

I cooked with eggplant for like, the second time in my life.

The last time was probably when I was in high school and I must not have been impressed because it’s taken me 20 years to try it again.

But I started considering it when I was researching lowering one’s cholesterol and saw it listed in my Encyclopedia of Healing Foods along with beets, etc. as foods that could help.

And I’m really not ready to take on beets.

So eggplant it was. Even though, apparently, the recommendation is based on a study where rabbits lowered their cholesterol with eggplant juice. I’m cute and furry like a rabbit, right? It could work on me too.

According to this nutritional website 1 cup of eggplant has 2.5 grams of dietary fiber (10% DV). It’s also got some other vitamins, like 4% of your B6 and 3% of your Folate. But it’s also got 10% of your sodium!!!

Who’d have thunk?

So in the name of fiber and lower cholesterol, I went with another recipe out of my favorite cookbook, Thug Kitchen.

Have you purchased one yet? You need to.

I made Grilled Eggplant with Soba Noodles.

The soba noodles were also an area of apprehension. They are noodles made of buckwheat. Again, the last time I experienced buckwheat in anything was 20 years ago when my mother ordered buckwheat pancakes at a restaurant and they tasted like they’d been cooked in the smokestack of a train.

So… not tasty.

Here’s how the cooking went down this time.

Eggplant- didn’t last long enough on my kitchen counter so I had to buy another one. Future self, just buy it the day you are going to cook it and don’t end up with a mushy wrinkly purple blob on your hands.

It got marinated and then grilled. And I had super fun brushing more marinade on it while it cooked.

Soba noodles- totally looks like worms. And then you put sesame oil on it and then it looks like slimy worms. BUT. Totally tasty. No train smokestacks here.

For as brown and icky as they look, they are surprisingly lacking in fiber according to my online nutritional data site. They do rock the protein category though (6 grams for 1 cup).

So you mix your leftover marinade and eggplant and wormy noodles together along with a bunch of fresh basil. And you get some really oily, really tasty noodles. Once again, fresh herbs totally make the dish. You eat it at room temp or cold so it’s actually pretty refreshing on these hot summer days.

If I make this again, I’m going to have to lay off some of the oil. I felt like I had to wash my face after slurping up these bad boys.

Try it friends! Marinate and grill up some eggplant. Any other ways you like to cook with eggplant?

It’s still a weird one to me.