Don't hate me because I cook so well...

Cooking is such a therapy for me. Tonight I made two things that I've never made before, at least not on my own, but incorporated them both into one dish! Eggplant parmesan lasagna! Here's the before and after shots. I didn't think to grab my camera until I was layering on the yummy fresh basil leaves!





(Yup, I told you! I wasted no time in jumping back on the cheese wagon!) I breaded and baked the eggplant (had no eggs though, so I just used olive oil to coat the eggplant slices and pressed on a panko/parmesan mixture), made my own sauce out of a concoction of a bunch of stuff in my pantry, used up some nearly expired cottage cheese, mozzarella, and buffalo mozzarella, and added a layer of olives and fresh basil to be a little different! I've only ever made lasagna with my mom, but I'm glad I had before because I remembered her technique! Don't cook the noodles allllll the way, keep them in some cool water and when you're ready to stack the lasagna, lay out one noodle at a time on a kitchen towel and dry it before layering it on! Anyways, I stacked the lasagna and then topped it with the breaded eggplant and that buffalo mozzarella! It's going to be delicious! Too bad it's nearly 11:00 and it's still in the oven... I didn't eat much today (well at least not regular meals), so I'll probably have a piece and then save the rest to share with Matt over the weekend. :)

Yay. I feel better. :) Wow, this is the first blog post I've ever made where I actually took photos of my food and posted them. I should make this a habit...finally a food blog. We'll see. :)

Eggplant Parmesan Lasagna

For breaded eggplant:
1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2" slices
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Olive oil for brushing

For sauce:
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 14oz jar of traditional Prego pasta sauce
2 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
5 leaves of fresh basil, chopped
Any extra veggies you like! (I had leftover eggplant that I chopped and threw in.)

Extra ingredients for layering:
1 box lasagna noodles
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella, sliced
6 ounces of part-skim mozzarella (block), sliced
1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1 can black olives, chopped
15 (or so) whole fresh basil leaves

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Use non-stick spray to lightly coat the bottom of a cookie sheet and set aside. Combine panko and grated parmesan cheese into a medium bowl. With a pastry brush, coat both sides of a slice of eggplant then cover in panko mixture. You may have to cover it in the panko and crunch it down on both sides. Place on cookie sheet. A lot of breading will fall off when you transfer it to the cookie sheet. Repeat for as many eggplant slices as you can get to fit on the cookie sheet. (Any remaining eggplant can be added to your sauce!) Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown; be sure to flip each slice halfway through.

While your eggplant is baking, you can start your water to boil your lasagna noodles and start your sauce. Cook your noodles according to the package instructions, but be sure to test the noodles and strain them just before "al dente." When the noodles have been strained, fill the pot back up with cold water and leave the noodles in there. This will prevent them from sticking together before you layer them.

For your sauce, just combine all of the ingredients listed and let it simmer on low to medium-low stirring occasionally. Easy!

Once the eggplant is finished baking, take it out to cool and set up your layering station. Be sure to keep the oven at 400 degrees. Begin by taking a large glass casserole dish (I used my new pyrex that I got for Christmas!) and spraying it with just a touch of non-stick spray. Then you can begin layering. Here is how I would layer it from the bottom up:

Thin layer of sauce
Noodles (I was able to get three side-by-side)
Sauce
Noodles
Mozzarella block slices
Noodles
Sauce and black olives
Noodles
Cottage cheese
Noodles
Sauce and mozzarella block
Noodles
Sauce
Basil leaves
Eggplant slices
Buffalo mozzarella on each eggplant slice
Any leftover panko crisps left in the eggplant cookie sheet

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool at least 10 minutes, take a picture (because I'm sure it's beautiful), and enjoy! Makes about 12 servings.

Click here for nutrition facts!