Meatless Monday: Eggplant Parmesan

Let me start out by saying that if you are not doing Meatless Mondays you should.  I keep mine to not eating standard meats, but do eat eggs and stuff like that still.  Cutting out one day of typical meat from your diet actually has the potential to be incredibly helpful to the environment if/when it catches on widespread (due to the grain, water, and space requirements of livestock) and can be completely budget friendly.  Not to mention, it can be DELICIOUS.  Plus, you need to get more veggies in your diet anyway no matter who you are...even if they are fried ;).

My MMs used to revolve around gourmet grilled cheese or cheese pizza, but I have started to branch out a little.  Today, I indulged in Eggplant Parmesan.

Recipe to follow here in a second, but first a public service announcement: Be smart about 10 for $10 sales.  There are some legitimate scores on these sales, such as mushrooms, greek yogurt, soft drinks, etc.  There are also some legitimate rip offs.  Two horrible offenders reside in the produce section:

1) Colorful Bell Peppers: Green bells are usually no more than like $1.30 a pound around here as far as I know, and they rarely weigh a full pound.  So that orange pepper you pay a dollar for is about twice the price of the green one that you could be purchasing.  Shop smart and use those scales to prove it.

2) Eggplant: Understandably I am sure some people prefer the baby eggplants because they probably have little to no seeds or something like that.  But those tiny little guys are a dollar whereas I got one three times the size (at least) for $1.43.  So if you aren't hung up on the itty bitties, verify with the scale.  Large ones are absolutely perfect for this recipe!

Ingredients:
-1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced (about an inch thick or so, just make sure all slices are consistent thickness for similar cooking times)
-1 Egg
-1 regular ol' spoonful of greek yogurt (technical measurement) OR a TB or two of milk (I was out)
-1/2 c flour
-1/4-1/3 c panko
-Basil
-Salt
-Pepper
-Serve with: Spaghetti, garlic bread, cottage cheese, etc.

 To fry this eggplant I mixed the egg and greek yogurt together.  This worked out DIVINELY as a substitute for milk and made a really thick base to get the flour mixture to stick.  I highly recommend it if you have plain greek yogurt on hand.

In another bowl I mixed the flour, panko, a couple shakes of basil, and salt/pepper together.  Each eggplant slice was salted and peppered and then dipped in the egg first and flour next.  I staged them on a plate while I got them all dipped and the oil heated.

I used regular cooking oil (just enough to cover the bottom) in my skillet on medium heat.  Once it got hot I plopped the little guys in and cooked until golden, flipping them every few minutes.  Your time will vary based on how thick you made them, but I would say I flipped every 3-4 minutes and flipped a couple of times.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I had spaghetti noodles boiling away (whole wheat).  Once they were done I drained them, added a small amount of sauce (I don't like a ton of it) and tossed in some tomato halves and mozzarella.

Wait, I said parmesan right? Well I was out of it.  I am a firm believer in using what I have.  So you would either add parm to your sauce or sprinkle it over your goodies at the end.

Or use mozz.  Also delicious. Heck, use both!

Anyway I let the spaghetti and sauce heat on low until the eggplant was done.  I wanted to serve it with cottage cheese but I am out of that too, so english muffin garlic bread won out.


See? Meatless Monday is such a versatile idea that even if you are out of half of everything you want, you STILL can have a delicious meal. 

From the one eggplant I think I could safely say 3 people would have gotten a delicious meal.  There may have even been minimal leftovers.  In recap: $1.50 on eggplant, Pasta (super cheap eatin'), Pasta sauce (Hunt's is often a dollar), and other ingredients you probably already have in your fridge and pantry, you could feed multiple people.  Not to shabby!

Mine tasted delicious, but you may prefer a deeper golden crust.  I was super hungry as I had never eaten lunch today, so this was A-OK by me.

And for dessert, a pumpkin ice cream sandwich! I will be so sad when those run out....

NOT! I am going to make more ice cream shenanigans when they do. :)

Until next time.