Found an awesome go to family meal!

I made eggplant parmesan for the family the other night as we have an abundance of eggplant from our organic garden.  I was worried that the family would not like it as my husband can be picky when it comes to new veggies plus you know how kids are.

Well the batch I made today went down very well to my surprise.  Except for my 3 year old daughter, but she is going through that terrible 3 stage so today the wind blew the wrong way and she didn't feel like eating much.

I found a recipe online and modified it

Ingredients:

2 large eggplant

3 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 cups fine dry Italian bread crumbs

olive oil, about 1/2 cup

1 package (8 ounces) sliced mozzarella cheese

2 to 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Directions for eggplant Parmesan

Cut eggplants into 1/4-inch thick slices (keep skin on). Dip eggplant slices into beaten egg; coat with Italian bread crumbs. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Fry eggplant in hot oil for about 4 minutes on each side, or until browned and softened. Transfer eggplant to paper towels to drain well.

Place fried eggplant in a shallow baking pan. Top with tablespoon of tomato sauce (see directions below) and top with mozzarella cheese slice, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Bake at 400° for 20 minutes, or until sauce is bubbly and cheese is melted. This made enough for 2 dinners, plus we gave some to our neighbor to try too.

Directions for tomato sauce

1 tablespoon dried minced onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

20 Plum Tomatoes - diced

5 garlic cloves - minced

fresh basil

fresh oregano

pinch salt

Sauté garlic in olive oil over medium low heat until tender. Add remaining ingredients; simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

I served the eggplant with a side of pasta penne with some of the extra tomato sauce on top.  Yum-O as Rachel Ray likes to say.  Nothing like fresh vegetables  for dinner - now I need to figure out how to make fresh pasta - now that would be the icing on the cake...