Eggplant parmesan recipe for the calorie conscious.

Today we have a recipe, this is something that I have been missing since I started down this road to better health and that thing is eggplant parmesan. The way that I was shown how to make this dish is to thinly slice the eggplant, dip it in egg followed by seasoned white flour fry the be'jesus out of it, layer it between mozzarella, parmesan cheese and sauce which was always followed by greasy smiling faces and full bellies. Since I had some eggplant growing out in the garden I thought I would try a lighter version of this all time favorite for us calorie conscious folks and I have to admit that it turned out pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

Fresh from the garden.

Here are the ingredients.
21oz fresh eggplant
2oz low fat mozzarella cheese
3 T parmesan cheese
1.5 cups spaghetti sauce
1 cup Panko bread crumbs
2 egg whites
Less than 1/4 cup 1% milk
Garlic powder
Black pepper
Goya Adobo
Olive oil cooking spray

1.) Preheat your oven to 375 then start off by separating two egg whites into a bowl and add the milk, beat that up and set it to the side. put the panko bread crumbs into a second bowl and season them with the Adobo, black pepper and garlic powder to taste, I like a lot of garlic so I went heavy on that, now place that to the side.

2.) Next thinly slice the eggplant into about 1/4 inch thick pieces, I cut them at an angle as I had thin eggplant and wanted to give them some area for the crumbs to stick to. Dip the slices into the egg/milk mixture and bread them with the seasoned panko. Spray a cookie sheet with the olive oil cooking spray and lay the breaded eggplant slices in a single layer on the pan (I used 2 pans) then spray the tops of the layered eggplant with a light coat of the cooking spray, I find that spraying the panko before it goes into the oven results in a crispy golden brown finished product compared to not spraying. Place the eggplant into the oven for 25 to 30 minutes until the eggplant is tender time will depend on how thick your slices are.

3.) Measure out your cheeses and sauce while the eggplant cooks in the oven, when the eggplant is done baking it should be crispy and starting to brown. Start the first layer of sauce in your baking pan and when the eggplant is done baking make a layer of the eggplant on top of the sauce.

Straight from the oven

Here is the first layer in the pan after baking the breaded eggplant.

4.) Keep layering eggplant, sauce, and the two cheeses in the pan until it is full, top it with the rest of the two cheeses and loosely cover the pan with foil. Place the pan into the 375 preheated oven for 15 minutes then take it out and uncover it, put it back in for an additional 15 minutes uncovered. The cheese will be starting to brown at that point and the delicious smell of your eggplant parmesan should be filling the air.

Ready for the oven.

The completed dish.

5.) After letting it sit for 5 minutes, make a plate and enjoy the work! eggplant is one of those dishes that I don't make too often because of having to bread each individual slice of this magnificent vegetable not to mention the high calorie count in the fried version but all of that breading is worth it on this one.

The entire pan had a total of 1040 calories in it which translates to 260 calories per serving if split in 4 equal parts which was a very good size portion as you can see from the photo above. If the pan was cut into sixths the calorie cost per serving would be right at 175 per piece and as a side dish going off of what I got with my quarter pan piece a sixth would probably be a decent portion considering that the plate above is a full size dinner plate. The calorie counts are based on the measured ingredients and the final product I did have slightly less calories that that total, I did have some panko and the egg wash left over when all was said and done but for the sake of simplicity I divided all measured ingredients and used that number for my calorie count. The dish was incredibly tasty for being baked instead of fried and I can honestly say that everyone loved it! I will be making it again.

If you try this recipe I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did and please leave me a comment to let me know that you tried it!

Roses are red violets are blue this eggplant recipe today is all I got for you!

As Ever
Me