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It’s easy to get stuck in a rut when it comes to our eating routines. Week in and week out we fall back on the same staples we are most comfortable with. This can be boring and even unhealthy depending on what your staples are. Food should excite the senses! What we choose to sustain ourselves should be a beautiful mix of colors, enticing smells, tantalizing tastes and complex textures. Healthy food doesn’t have to be boring. Food is a celebration of life! Every time we enjoy a meal, we are promoting life.

My family was no exception… I wasn’t excited about cooking anymore and my family wasn’t excited about eating it either. So how do you break out of your food comfort zone? For my family, changing our lifestyle forced us out of our rut. We cut out meat for many reasons but what we didn’t expect was how making this change would push us into a more exciting food experience. Our comfort zone was heavily meat based so removing that from our life forced us to explore other alternatives. We started grabbing produce we had never tried before like eggplants, artichokes, jackfruit, pomegranates, leeks and others. We started researching vegetarian recipes from other cultures we had never explored before. What we found was a whole marvelous world outside of burgers and chicken breasts!

One of my favorite discoveries was eggplant! Many shy away from the beautiful purple plant because they aren’t sure what to do with it. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of my families favorite eggplant recipes! Eggplants are a nutrient-dense food, meaning they contain a good amount of vitamins, minerals and fiber in few calories. In addition to containing a variety of vitamins and minerals, eggplants boast a high number of antioxidants. Thanks to their antioxidant content, some studies suggest that eggplants may help reduce the risk of heart disease and even help control blood sugar levels.

Eggplant is incredibly versatile and can be easily incorporated into your diet. It can be baked, roasted, grilled, fried or sautéed. Because it has such a mild flavor we have found it to be an excellent meat substitute with the right seasonings. It goes well with just about anything and can the be main focus of a meal or an impressive side dish.

Stepping out of your food comfort zone is as easy as grabbing an interesting looking item you’ve never tried before and figuring out what to do with it later. Pinterest has a wide variety of diverse inspiration as well! Get out there and get excited about food again!