Dear Blog Friends,
I have to apologize. I have not added any blogs since last May. I have made excuse after excuse to myself. First I told myself that no one cooks in the summer, it is too hot and we all grill. Then I decided to retire so work became a little hectic and I just put blogging on the back burner. But the truth is blogging is hard work. However, I have decided to bite the bullet and try again with this new recipe.
As you know from my previous blogs, I am constantly trying to find ways to make meals that are lower in calories, but edible. Lately I have been making Eggplant Parmigiana. Normally this is considered a high calorie dish because the eggplant is fried. However, I have been making the lower calorie version below.
Directions:
Start with one nice firm eggplant. Cut the top and bottom off the eggplant and slice the eggplant into eighth inch rounds (I like to peel the skin off using a potato peeler - but you can leave the skin on). Dip the eggplant slices one at a time into a beaten egg and then into a mixture of plain bread crumbs seasoned with pepper, dried basil and dried parsley (the bread crumbs and all the other recipe ingredients already contain salt). Add the coated eggplant to a non stick frying pan that has been sprayed liberally with vegetable spray. Brown the eggplant slices on both sides.
Now here is where I cheat.
Layer the bottom of 10 by 13 glass baking dish with some of Dave's Gourmet Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce (I bought it at Stew Leonard's because I am a sucker for new products and I must tell you it is delicious).
Place a layer of eggplant over the sauce. Top the eggplant with a heaping layer of the butternut squash pasta sauce and sprinkle with low fat shredded mozzarella cheese. Continue layering the eggplant, sauce and mozzarella cheese until all the eggplant has been used. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Uncover the baking dish and bake another 15 minutes.
Nutritional information:
Per CalorieKing.com, Eggplant Parmigiana has 504 calories and 1471 mg of sodium per serving.
How did this version stack up?
Butternut Squash Pasta sauce 100 calories and 360 mg sodium per serving
Eggplant 20 calories and 0 mg sodium per serving
Bread Crumbs 110 calories and 200 mg sodium per serving (unless you get the no sodium version)
Part skim shredded mozzarella cheese 80 calories and 170 mg sodium per serving
Grated Parmesan cheese 20 calories and 70 mg sodium per serving.
Total 330 calories and 600 to 800 mg sodium per serving
Try it and let me know if you like as much as we do.
