Eggplant Parmesan

I have two subscriptions to cooking magazines. One is Cuisine the other is EatingWell. EatingWell's  motto is "where good taste meets good health". Like Cuisine, EatingWell publishes recipes using seasonally available food. They have a fantastic recipe index that is divided into sections starting with appetizers and continuing with soups, sides and salads, chicken and turkey, beef, pork, seafood, vegetarian, sauces and dressing, breads and ending with deserts. This index is full of great information marking each recipe as either healthy weight "HW", lower carbs "LC" or healthy heart "HH". You also are told the calories, fat, carbs, fiber, sodium and if the meal will fit into your budget - costing less than $3.00 per serving. They even list a good number of their recipes online at eatingwell.com.  

Our farmer's market is overflowing now with eggplant . They range in color from almost black to dark purple to light purple and even white. Some are petite and oval some elongated and some are fat and heavy. I picked out two fat ones and headed home. Now what to cook? I really like buying food based on how it looks or smells and then deciding what to do with it. The September/October 1995 issue of EatingWell provided me with a healthy version of Eggplant Parmesan.

Eggplant Parmesan

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2 eggplants (about 2 pounds total)

3 egg whites

3 tablespoons water

1 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (1 ounce), divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup slivered fresh basil leaves

2 - 1/2 cups tomato sauce

3/4 cup grated part-skim mozzarella cheese (3 ounces)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Coat two baking sheets and an eight by eleven inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
• Cut eggplants crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices. Whisk egg whites and water in a shallow dish until frothy. Combine breadcrumbs, 1/4 cup Parmesan, salt and pepper  in another shallow dish. Dip the eggplant slices into the egg-white mixture, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. (Discard any leftover breadcrumbs and egg white.) Arrange the eggplant slices in a single layer on the prepared baking sheets. (I spray the tops of the eggplant with nonstick cooking spray to help them brown.) Bake for 15 minutes, turn the eggplant slices over and bake until crisp and golden, about 15 minutes longer.
• Stir basil into tomato sauce. Spread about 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bottom of the prepared baking dish. Arrange half of the eggplant slices over the sauce, overlapping slightly. Spoon 1 cup of the remaining sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle with half of the mozzarella cheese. Add a layer of the remaining eggplant slices and top with the remaining sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan. Bake, uncovered, until the sauce bubbles and the top is golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

Nutrition Information:

Per serving: 203 calories; 6 g fat (3 g sat, 2 g mono); 13 mg cholesterol; 29 g carbohydrate; 12 g protein; 8 g fiber; 563 mg sodium; 777 mg potassium.

I like to place this on top of 1 ounce of cooked pasta and serve it with a small salad. Life is good-enjoy!