Easy Eggplant for Everyone!

Ah, another week has come and gone and it's once again Sunday!!  Another hearty, healthy, satisfying meal I like to end weekends with is my eggplant.  Not really parm, but it uses many of the same ingredients.  I started this awhile ago, and have tweaked it over and over until it eventually morphed into a yummy casserole of sorts-and is extremely easy to create.

Like everything I post on here, I urge you to make this your own-use it as a guideline if you wish!  Everyone's tastes and nutritional needs differ.  Also, I've used almost all organic ingredients in this dish; again, that is optional, but recommended for cleaner eating.  If you can't locate all of the organic ingredients, I will say that the meat and cheese are the most important in this recipe to buy organic.  Also, if I can't find an organic eggplant, I tend to cut the skin off-skins tend to protect fruits and vegetables from toxins.  The only main carbs in this dish are going to be from the veggies (and a touch from the sauce), but it is indulgent with a lot of cheese-healthy in moderation!

Happy Cooking! (Serves 2-4)

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant diced
• 1 lb. ground meet (of your choosing: bison, beef, turkey, chicken, or none!)
• 1 package mushrooms sliced
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 2T chopped garlic
• 2T olive oil
• Sprinkles of any combo Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc)
• Pinch salt

• 1 jar tomato sauce (CHECK THAT THERE IS NO SUGAR IN INGREDIENT LIST)
• 1 small container ricotta cheese (assuming that you eat dairy)
• 1 1/2 cups mozz or Italian blend shredded cheese
• Optional sprinkles of parm

1. Heat a large skillet with the olive oil
2. Brown ground meat, cooking through
3. Add diced eggplant, mushrooms, garlic, onion, and seasoning
4. Stir and sauté together until eggplant is softened, slightly brown, and onions translucent 
5. Transfer all from pan into large casserole dish
6. Pour jar tomato sauce over eggplant mixture
7. Cut in the ricotta throughout mixture
8. Top with shredded cheese
9. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or so (eyeball that the top cheese isn't getting too brown, but you want the rest heated through)
10. Spoon to serve and enjoy!  Top with some parm and more seasoning if you wish.

***(If you feel you MUST include some starch, you can cube some slices of spelt or flax-based bread and sauté with veggies, but it's really not necessary-you'll see!)

Have a fabulous week ahead-Stay Chic, Stay Healthy;)