Eggplant Parmesan is in the Air

I believe spring has arrived. Today was warm and wet and reminded me of those first spring days when you were a kid and you could finally enjoy recess again! My friend Melissa and I were talking about how when we were kids you knew it was spring when all the girls got their jump ropes out again and spent recess skipping and singing rhymes. She sang one for me!

"Cinderella, dressed in yella,
went upstairs to kiss her fella.
By mistake she kissed a snake,
How many doctors did it take?
1...2...3...4...(etc)"

And I have to share another one I used to sing!

"Strawberry shortcake
Huckleberry pie
who will be your lucky guy
a,b,c,d,e,f,g (ect)."

Lol, I have fond memories of tripping on a letter and all the girls screaming a boys name in the class, then us all giggling in horror and disgust! Boys still had cooties then!

Skipping doesn't just have to be for kids either! It's a great workout and really gets your heart pumping! Try sneaking it into your workout sometime to mix things up. I guarantee you won't be able to stop that smile from creeping across your face!

For Valentine's Day dinner I decided to go all out. I made two dinners, one for Bry the meat eater and one for me, the vegetarian. We did share a salad to start and easy homemade Black Forest Cake for dessert. Tonight I want to share with you my delicious, delicious meal.

Eggplant Parmesan.

This picture really doesn't do the dish justice. It was perfectly crispy, cheesy, soft and saucy. Bryan suggested that you could even eat this as a Parmesan Sandwich instead of a casserole and I think he's brilliant for it! That's how I'll be eating the left overs this weekend!

It was pretty simple to make and was quite filling. It goes great with a salad but would also be good with pasta or couscous. I'd actually like to make it again but with some breaded zucchini as well!

I mean just look at it layered before the cheese was melted.

I was too excited to eat this that I didn't get nearly enough beauty shots of the final dish!

Try it for yourself and you'll understand what I mean.

Ingredients

1 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 t dried basil
2 or 3 eggs
1 large eggplant cut into thick slices
1 jar of your favourite tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and lightly grease a baking pan.

In a small bowl mix the bread crumbs, Parmesan and basil well.

In a shallow bowl beat your eggs. One at a time dip the eggplant slices in the egg then set them in the bread crumb mixture to coat well. I coated them as much as possible! Then, place the slices on your pan.

Bake your eggplant for 15 minutes then turn them onto the other side and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven.

Finally, grab a casserole dish (ideally 9 x13, mine was a little small) and cover the bottom with about 1 cup of pasta sauce. Place the eggplant slices over top then cover them with another layer of sauce then 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layering with the remaining ingredients.

Return the dish to the oven to bake for another 20 minutes or until the cheese has fully melted. ENJOY!

Now just for a tease, here is all that's left of Bry's dinner...

*Adapted from the Looneyspoons Collection