Stuffed Eggplant

Eggplant is something that I think a lot of people don't like, but I also think that a lot of people don't like it because they have either never even tried it or it was poorly made when they had it. Eggplant can become "rubbery" if it is not cooked right, but this is such a great way to cook eggplant and you get to eat lots of food quantity wise, but not a ton of calories. Sounds good to me!

So what you will need for this dish is an eggplant (duh), onion (1), garlic (I use 2 cloves, but it just depends on how you like it. One would be fine), zucchini (1), mushrooms (4 whole mushrooms or about half a container of sliced mushrooms) , tomato (1), salt, pepper, and feta cheese (optional). Set your oven temperature between 400-425. (I am vague about this because oven temps vary, but I set mine at 425)

Cut the eggplant in half and scoop out the insides. This will create to shells. Put those in a pan, skin side down because you will be stuffing them with all the veggies soon. 

Empty eggplant shells. 

Chop the garlic, onion, zucchini, mushrooms, tomato and the eggplant that you scooped. In a skillet, saute the garlic and onion in about one tablespoon of olive oil until translucent. Then add the mushrooms, zucchini and eggplant. Let that cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. When it is almost done, add the chopped tomato. Once you add the tomato, it should only need to cook for a couple minutes longer. There shouldn't be too much liquid in the pan, but if there is an abundance of it, just try to pour some out in the sink without dropping all of the vegetables in there also. Done that a time or two. OOPS!

Now try to stuff that all back in the eggplant. Obviously it is not going to all fit, so just pile it high, but do try to keep it all in the eggplant. Then add some water to the pan--an inch or less--just enough so that there is water on the bottom of the entire pan because this will help the eggplant to cook. Put it in your pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, but check on it randomly. You want the water to simmer a bit. If you check it and it looks done before the 30 minutes, just take it out and cut the side of the eggplant a little to see if it is soft and cooked through. If it's not, just put it back in. Like I said, oven temps vary, so there really isn't an exact time on this, but I think it should take at least 20 minutes. Once it's done, crumble a little feta on top if you would like and place it back in the oven for a couple minutes, just to let the cheese soften. If feta isn't your thing, try goat cheese. I never have (we are a Feta household all the way) but I am sure it would taste great also. If no cheese is how you're feeling, then that's great too.

What I love about this dish is it seriously fills me up. I can usually only eat half of a half (so a quarter of an eggplant) but on rare occasions, if I am famished, I can eat an entire half. And that's OKAY. As you can see, this whole thing is mostly veg, minus the cheese. And the amount of cheese added is so little, that it definitely doesn't deter from the healthy of this dish. Have it as a side to a protein if you wish. Or maybe even on a little bed of angel hair pasta. It is up to you. Enjoy =)