January 23, 2014 January 23, 2014/ Morgan
I love a simple quick meal. I love eating healthy foods. Also, I love pizza. Smash em together and you’ve got THIS! An easy peasy meal that you can throw together for lunch, snacks, dinner, or heck – even breakfast!
Don’t tell me you are afraid of eggplant? Maybe you’ve had it the typical way it’s made – soaked in oil (blech!) or boiled in a sauce (eee…..!) or something else yucky. Roasted eggplant is a totally different vegetable. It’s tender, creamy, but still holds itself together enough to be eaten with your hands when made into little pizzas. I adore eggplant.
You could eat the whole dang eggplant if you wanted for less calories than one typical slice of VEGAN pizza. There’s only about 130 calories in a whole eggplant plus a whole heap of fiber (20 grams!), protein, vitamin C, calcium and other good for you stuff. Feel free to indulge, folks!
Slap some of that Jalapeno Spinach dip on there for a REAL treat. It’s REALLY GOOD. I love how creamy it is and it just pairs perfectly with eggplant. Trust me.
I think next time we’ll get out the peeler (I LOVE my ceramic peeler!) and take off at least some of the skin from the eggplant. It doesn’t taste bad, it’s just a little hard for the little one to tear apart with her teeth. She could do it but I might just make it easier on her.
If you can get your hands on some smaller Japanese eggplant these would make perfect little two bite appetizers (for game night?!!)
- 1 large eggplant
- big pinch salt
- pizza sauce or Jalapeno Spinach Dip
- toppings – chopped tomatoes, basil, sliced mushrooms, chopped peppers, chopped green onions, sliced black olives, etc
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Wash and peel your eggplant (or you can leave it unpeeled.) Slice it into 3/4″ rounds. Place the eggplant into a colander and sprinkle with the salt. Let it sit for about 15 minutes (this helps draw out extra moisture and some say helps with bitterness.) I like to wipe the extra salt and moisture off with a wrung out damp kitchen towel.
Place the rounds on a parchment paper or Silpat baking mat lined baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip them over and bake for another 5 minutes.
Take the eggplant out of the oven now and top with your favorite toppings. I love to do them all differently – different sauces and different combinations of toppings. Fresh herbs like basil are best kept off until the very end.
Put the eggplant pizzas back into the oven and bake for another 8-10 minutes. Take them out, let them cool slightly and DEVOUR!!!