What do bread, wine, cheese, chocolate, coffee, soy sauce, yogurt and beer have in common?

They're all fermented... and healthy.

(Vegetarian)

Eggplant parmesan is usually made with fried eggplant, tons of mozzarella and parmesan. While delicious, the eggplant quickly becomes a sponge for the oil, and with the addition of mounds of cheese, you end up eating the mother load of all fat bombs. And why go for the bad fat when the good is just as tasty? Olive oil is rich in monosaturated fats, which help reduce bad cholesterol (ldl), and maintain your level of good cholesterol (hdl), improving the overall ratio of ldl to hdl which lowers your risk of heart disease. For this recipe, I've reduced the overall fat by baking the eggplant instead of frying it. I've also cut way down on saturated fats by using egg whites in place of whole eggs, cutting out the mozzerella, and reducing the parmesan cheese to just a sprinkling. It's enough to make your heart sing "That's amore!"

2 cans minimal mercury tuna, such as Wild Planet

2 scallions, chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

2 tablespoons pistachios, chopped

1 tablespoon capers

3 tablespoons Greek-style nonfat yogurt

3 tablespoons light mayonnaise

1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar

dash Tabasco sauce

salt and pepper to taste

On with the mold, into the blues. You could build yourself a veritable blue cheese tower of babel with Britain’s Stilton, Denmark’s Danish Blue, France’s Roquefort, Ireland’s Cashel Blue, Italy’s Gorgonzola, and Spain’s Cabrales. It seems this moldy cheese is loved in every language.

On the home front we’ve got good old Maytag Blue, as dependable as the washing machine whose name it shares (and yes, they are related; the dairy that makes Maytag Blue was started by the grandson of the founder of Maytag appliances).