Monday, March 7, 2011

Everything Eggplant



This week I'm going to talk about my newfound love; eggplant. 

Eggplant helps our digestive process and fights against coronary heart disease because of the high fiber content.  Eggplant also plays a role in regulating blood pressure and is packed with a number of vitamins, proteins, minerals and important phytonutrients (act like antioxidants).  If your looking to shed a few pounds for summer, incorporate eggplant into your diet as it is very low in calories and has a high moisture content.

Now that you know eggplant a little bit better, lets talk about how you can cook with it.

Stuffed Eggplant
1 .Cut Eggplant in half and scoop out the inside
2.     2. Cut the inside remains into very small pieces and fry over the stove with a little bit of oil.
3.     3. Add in you favorite ingredients, I used: tomato sauce, mushroom, celery, broccoli, garlic and pepper
4.     4. When browned scoop your mix into the shell of the eggplant
5.     5. Put a thin s layer of pasta sauce over the top, followed by spinach leaves (this can also be  substituted with cheese if you are not a vegan
        6. Place in oven for 45-50 min (until brown) on 350 F. 


Stuffed Eggplant: doesn't look very appetizing, but  it is delicious!

You can get out of knife and fork and eat the skin with the inside or choose to just eat the inside. Best paired with
a salad.

Eggplant Fries
These are quick, tasty and easy to make that can be served as a finger food or side dish.
Eggplant Fries: A tad over cook

1.    1.  Cut off the skin of the eggplant
2.     2. Cut the remaining eggplant into strips (make them as thin, thick, short or long as you like)
3.     3. Dip each strip in a boil of oil, then into a boil of breadcrumbs mix with Parmesan cheese. (Cheese is not needed, just ads additional flavor)
4.     4. Place of baking pan and cook for 20 minutes (until brown) on 375 F. Don’t forget to flip them halfway through.

You can eat your fries plan or dip them in pasta sauce, ketchup, plum sauce ect. 


That's all or this week, enjoy what you eat, Bon Appetite! 

21 comments:

  1. I LOVE eggplant!
    Thanks so much for these recipes...they sound delicious :)

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  2. I recently became a lover of egg plant can't believe I have been missing out on this vegetable all my life.

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  3. Agreed! Im trying out one of the recipes tonight:)

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  4. You must try Eggplant Lasagna. It's basically taking out a couple layers, if not all, of pasta and replacing it with eggplant. It' absolutely delicious and I think you would love it.

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  5. Let me know how it turns out for you Jess!

    Ron- that sounds delicious, i'll defiantly give it a try and get you know what I think.

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  6. I love eggplant!! I'm so glad you posted these recipes, I'm definitely trying one this week. I would also like to suggest eggplant parmesan to anyone, or you can try a vegan spin on it.

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  7. I'm a big fan of eggplant in stirfry. I'll have to try these out sometime. I'm definitely not the greatest cook, but I'll give it a shot!

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  8. I can't say I've eaten much eggplant, but I'd be willing to give it a try. Usually if I'm in a restaurant, the most common eggplant option on a menu seems to be eggplant parmesan...but it's on the same page as chicken parm and veal parm, which I'll invariably choose instead.

    These other options that you've listed seem pretty interesting and worth a look, thanks!

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  9. I didn't know there were soo many recipes just for one vegetable! I am definitely going to try out this recipe. The eggplant fries look yummy!

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  10. I've just recently tried eggplant for the first time and I have to say I really like it. I'll be sure to try out one of your recipes.

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  11. I love eggplant.It is easy to cook and taste delicious. When i visit my family in the last summer, I cooked them eggplant and the love it. The funny thing is that they did not even know that this vegetable exist.

    Advice, do not stop your blog is very interesting. I quit most of the meat. In the daily basis I just eat fish and eventually chicken, so your recipes are an excellent resource for me.

    Thanks Katie.

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  12. The eggplant fries looked fantastic! I have never thought of making eggplant into fries before. Eggplant is not my favourite vegetable, but how bad can anything be when its made into a french fry?

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  13. Mmmm, that all looks so good. My grandmother loves eggplant, she's not a vegetarian but still chooses it over meat. I may have to share these recipes with her!

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  14. I'm usually a picky eater, but when food is cooked in different ways i'm more than willing to try it. I love the different ways you can cook eggplant because I'm not a huge fan. I'm sure I'll like eggplant more now that I know it can be cooked differently .

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  15. I love eggplant. My favourite eggplant dish is eggplant parmesan but these recipes look delicious, I will have to try them. Ron's eggplant lasagne suggestion sounds great too.

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  16. I've tried eggplant lasagna, and to be quite honest, I couldn't get past the texture of eggplant. I'm a real texture person and don't even eat seafood because of it. I wish that I liked eggplant though because it's so healthy, maybe someday!

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  17. As you know, I am very skeptical of the vegetarian diet, but the eggplant fries sound like they would make a great side-dish.

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  18. I do like the sound of those eggplant fries. They sound different from the standard eggplant recipes, all of which involve tomato sauce (not that I mind it, but not in *every* recipe!) Will have to give those a try on the weekend.

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  19. my vegetarian roommate got me hooked on eggplant. she had a recipe for sweet garlic eggplant with rice that was delicious. the eggplant fries were something i would have never thought of, but they look great. thanks for the recipes :)

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  20. this sounds absolutely delicious! I am a huge fan of eggplant on the barbecue, but these recipes are a must try! Thanks Katie!

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  21. Hi FIRST NAME,

    Great site! Please e-mail me at natdecants@nataliemaclean.com. It’s about wine of course :)

    Cheers,
    Natalie

    www.nataliemaclean.com

    ReplyDelete