Healthy Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant parmesan is amazing, but it's not the healthiest meal in the world.  It's so drenched in cheese and butter that it takes a perfectly healthy vegetable and makes it a food quite high in fat.  Plus, it takes a while to make eggplant parmesan, and time is something I don't have a lot of these days.  So, I decided to make an alternative eggplant parmesan: it has the essential elements of the dish but simplifies it so that it's easy to make and much better for you.

Ingredients:
-1 eggplant
-1 cup italian style bread crumbs
-1/4 cup grated parmesan
-1 tsp salt
-2 tsp pepper
-2 egg whites
-1 large tomato
-4 servings of whole wheat pasta, cooked
-drizzle of olive oil

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.  Slice eggplant longways into thin (1/8" to 1/4") slices.

Sprinkle heavily with salt on both sides and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Rinse and pat dry with paper towels.

2.  Put egg whites in a large shallow bowl and lightly whisk.

Put bread crumbs, parmesan, salt, and pepper into another shallow bowl or plate and mix.

3.  Dip eggplant slices into egg whites...

Then coat with bread crumb mixture.  Really press it down so that the crumbs stay on the eggplant pieces instead of making a big mess :)

Set on a greased cookie sheet or in casserole dish.  Bake for 13 minutes on each side.

4.  Boil pasta.  Cut up a large tomato into cubes.

Toss the pasta and tomatoes together with a drizzle of olive oil.  Salt to taste.

5.  Serve eggplant slices over tossed pasta.

This is a wonderful dish because it incorporates all the flavors we love about eggplant parmesan without inundating it with needless calories.

It has that deep flavor of eggplants coated with a light, crisp breading (dipped in egg whites, which have no fat or cholesterol).  You have hearty whole wheat pasta and fresh tomatoes instead of noodles and sauce containing heavy cream.

It's a light dish that works well on a summer evening but won't weight you down.

Mmm, a heavenly flavor combination!

Enjoy!  Definitely try this recipe out sometime.  "You'll thank me later!"

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.