Of all the healthy recipes that I learned how to make while I was on the HCG diet last year, this one is by far my favorite. Like I say in just about every single blog post, sometimes all you need is a hint of a flavor in order for a recipe to satisfy a particular craving. This recipe does that in spades. It’s got all the flavors of “real” eggplant parm, minus the breadcrumbs and the frying.

It’s also really easy to make. It is a little time consuming, though. From start to finish it usually takes me 45 minutes, so it’s definitely not my go-to meal when I get home from salsa class at 10 pm and I’m starving. But on the weekend, I’m all about it.

I haven’t even mentioned how DELICIOUS this is. It’s amazing. With all that cheese, how could it not be? You should definitely try this.

Sidenote: I’ve been working hard to improve the quality of the pictures in my posts, and I think the pictures in this post show a marked improvement! So I’m happy about that.

Easy and HEALTHY Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Ingredients:

• One large eggplant
• Tomato sauce (I used two cups of the sauce I made the other day)
• Mozzarella cheese (normally I use the shredded low-fat stuff you buy in a bag, but after reading about the funky additives that are in bagged cheeses, I decided to use fresh.)
• Grated parmesan cheese (I used about 1/4 of a cup)
• Basil (for garnish, optional)

Directions:

Preheat the over to 450F. Spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray (or something similar). Slice the eggplant into thin rounds, then place them on the baking sheet. Cook for about 15 minutes, flipping once about halfway through, until the slices begin to brown (I find that I prefer them when they’re crispier). Remove the eggplant from the oven and turn it down to 375F.

Take an 8×10 inch baking pan and spread out a thin layer of tomato sauce. (Why? I don’t know. My mom told me to do it, and I’ve since seen it in other recipes. Maybe it’s so the eggplant won’t stick to the pan?) Add a layer of eggplant. Over each eggplant slice, add some tomato sauce, then parmesan cheese (I do about one teaspoon per round, per layer), and then mozzarella cheese. Repeat until you’ve used all of the eggplant. I usually have three layers of eggplant.

Top it off with tomato sauce and cheese, then pop the pan into the oven for about 15 minutes.

All done! Garnish with basil if you’d like. I only added the basil for the pictures, but it actually tasted really good, so going forward I think I’ll continue to add it.