Middle Eastern dishes are at the top of our healthy comfort food list. The Middle Eastern restaurants we frequent in Chicago have tons of vegetable-packed options, and one of our favorite dishes is a plate of very lightly fried cauliflower with fresh tomatoes, parsley and tahini sauce.
Here's a recipe recommendation for an even healthier homecooked version:
The Washington Post has a recipe for a very similar dish with roasted cauliflower from Olives & Oranges: Recipes & Flavor Secrets from Italy, Spain, Cyprus & Beyond by Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox.
To turn this dish into a complete meal, they recommend serving it with bulgur wheat soaked in equal parts lemon juice and water. Or, serve it with whole wheat pitas and slice up whatever fresh vegetables you have on hand (like tomatoes, carrots, red onion, lettuce – traditional tabouli salad would be great too) and let everyone make their own pocket sandwiches.
Related: Best Healthy Comfort Foods? Ideas Wanted!
Recipe: Yazbek Tabouli
(Images: Nuts Online, Laurel Fan, licensed under Creative Commons)

Straw Mat from The ...

I actually work with Meatless Mondays, the public health campaigns that Kim O'Donnell writes about once a week for the Washington Post, that you mentioned. I work for a non-profit public health campaign called Meatless Mondays, which takes a medical spin on it. The mission of Meatless Mondays is to reduce American's meat intake by 15% thus reducing an individual's chances of getting heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. Reducing your meat by 15% can be achieved just by cutting meat out of your diet one day per week (we encourage Mondays, hence the name.) If you are interested in healthy, affordable, tasty meatless recipes, visit http://www.meatlessmonday.com. You might like the Garbonzo Bean Burgers or the Moroccan Pumpkin Stew, both comforting warm dishes like the cauliflower and tahini one you mentioned. They can be found in the recipe archives under dinner. We're also affiliated with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, so the site can also be a great resource for health articles and tips.
Interesting, one of our favorite quick cauliflower dishes is to saute them with onions until carmelized, add some soy sauce, serve with Annie's Goddess dressing (tahini based I believe) and perhaps some yoghurt over rice.
here's my take on this combo. SUPER simple to make and soooo tasty:
http://exclusivegenerator.blogspot.com/2011/07/curry-roasted-cauliflower-with-lemon.html?spref=tw