I made baba ganoush for the first time ever and it turned out better than any I have ever had at a restaurant! And I have not even added the lemon juice yet. We are out of it and Sheri is picking some up while doing errands right now.

I pan fried the eggplant with a little olive oil until most of the cubes were a little browned. I let them cool and then tossed it into the food processor along with olive, tahini (ground sesame seeds. Looks very similar to peanut butter.), salt and pepper, and garlic powder. I left the skin on the eggplant. That gave the baba ganoush a nice rich color.

I also prepared a box of tabouli. It has to sit and absorb the water and olive oil. The next time we are at Whole Foods I want to buy just plain cracked bulgar wheat and make my own tabouli; not from a box mix. We have fresh parsley and tomatoes to add to the tabouli too.

About 10% of the alfalfa seeds have little white tips sticking out of them now.

Do not be afraid of using olive oil. It is a fat and is therefor dense in calories, but as long as you don't go over your daily calorie limit, you can't use too much olive oil.