Rain, again?

I spent the afternoon doing more organizing and relaxing, and had a quick snack of some grapes before heading out for a light walk with my mom- so we intended.

Only 15 minutes into the walk we felt raindrops, so we knew we were going to have to cut our walk short. Unfortunately we only got about 20 minutes in... but I was SO glad we came back when we did- it started downpouring only a few minutes after we got back! Just in time!

I decided to start dinner early, so I got to work in the kitchen making my own Eggplant Parmesan Stacks, based on a recipe I learned while I was in Italy, with a few modifications (no frying the eggplant, less cheese and no hard boiled eggs). It came out SO delicious, I was so proud of myself!

Here's the recipe:

Baked Eggplant Parmesan Stacks
Serves 4

2 medium or 1 1/2 large eggplants, sliced into 8 1/2" rounds
salt
marinara sauce- make your own (tomato sauce, olive oil, oregano, garlic, parsley) or use jarred
1/2 sliced red onion
cooking spray or olive oil
shredded reduced fat mozzarella (about 1 cup)
fresh grated parmesan cheese
fresh or dried basil

1) A half an hour before you begin preparing the eggplant, slice and rinse eggplant, sprinkle with salt and let sit
2) When you are ready to start preparing the eggplant, rinse off each slice thoroughly and dry
3) Spray a large skillet with cooking spray or drizzle with olive oil; turn stove on medium high
4) Place eggplant slices on skillet, sautee until lightly browned, turning once
5) Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees and slice onion
6) Spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce along bottom of casserole dish, layer with sauteed eggplant, and top with more sauce and a bit of mozzarella on each slice
7) Sautee the onions until they are limp, in the same pan as the eggplants, top eggplant slices with onions
8) Top slices with second slice of eggplant, cover with sauce, mozarella and a generous sprinkle of parmesan on each
9) Top with dried basil, and place in oven for 2-30 minutes, until cheese is browned and sauce is bubbly

The serving is two stacks per person, so I had two along with some whole wheat penne in garlic spinach. It was just enough, (although I did grab a couple spoonfuls of leftover sauce as well) and reminded me of Italia!


Any more questions??