Grainless Mediterranean Veggie Bowl

This grainless Mediterranean veggie bowl is the perfect lunch for a busy day! It takes 30 minutes, one pan, is low effort, and makes for a quick clean-up. It's a hands-off and nutritious lunch. All you need to do is chop up your veggies, roast them in the oven, and serve on a savory yogurt base that provides additional protein.

Ingredients for your ovulatory phase: eggplant, tomato, bell pepper, and tahini. During the ovulatory phase, estrogen and testosterone surge, so you want to eat foods that help your body balance out the spike in estrogen and support the heart.

Eggplants are high in antioxidants which calm inflammation and promote liver function - which is extra important as estrogen surges and our body wants to metabolize as much estrogen as possible to maintain a healthy quantity. It also is high in fiber which helps the digestive tract flush out estrogen, and maintain a healthy gut which plays a large role in proper hormone production.

Tomatoes are great for ovulation because they are liver friendly, and easily digestible, which makes space for the body to focus on metabolizing estrogen. They are also rich in vitamin C which aids proper hormone production.

Bell peppers are an ovulatory food because they’re high in vitamin C, which helps with the absorption of iron, and vitamin E which is antioxidant - helping your body reduce inflammation and efficiently metabolize excess estrogen to maintain hormone balance.

Tahini is a luteal phase food because it's essentially just sesame seed butter. Sesame seeds (therefore tahini) are high in zinc which is crucial for progesterone production and they contain lignans which help block excess estrogen as progesterone rises.

---

Grainless Mediterranean Veggie Bowl

Serves: 2 Active Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes

---

Ingredients

Roasted Veggies

• 1 cup eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes

• 1 Roma tomato, quartered or cut into 6 wedges

• 0.5 red bell pepper, roughly chopped

• 1 Tbsp olive oil

• ¼ tsp salt

Yogurt Tahini Base

• ½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt

• 1 Tbsp hummus

• 1 tsp tahini

• lemon juice, to taste

• ½ tsp harissa powder

Serve with

• pomegranate seeds

• parsley

Process

1. Preheat the oven to 425°

2. Start by adding all the veggies onto a baking sheet. Spread oil and salt over them, and use your hands to fully massage it in.

3. Bake for 20 minutes, take out of the oven to flip the eggplant, then cook for 10 more minutes

4. With 10 minutes to go, prepare the yogurt tahini base by mixing all the ingredients in the bowl you plan on eating with (less dishes!). Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Add the roasted veggies onto the yogurt tahini base, top with parsley and pomegranate seeds