OH MY gosh this Eggplant Parmesan was so good!!!! Our moms both loved it as well 
Of course we had to have a bit of vino! I had a big glass of red with a few sips of white –
And look what happened to the white bottle!! Stupid fancy wine opener…
m
For dinner….
First we cut 2 large eggplants into half-inch slices and sprinkled them with kosher salt over the sink for an hour to remove the bitter flavor. Rinse upon completion. You’ll want to salt them for at least 30 minutes. (See this post for salting method.)
Then we grilled the eggplant slices for char on our gas grill.
Then we prepared a homemade tomato sauce on the stove top:
- 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 can tomato paste
- 2 tbsp capers
- 2 tbsp chopped kalamata olives
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- A generous sprinkle of red pepper flakes
- Splash of balsamic vinegar
- Splash of Sherry (optional)
Once the eggplants were grilled and the sauce was hot, we spread them out on a baking sheet and topped them with the sauce, followed by an 8 oz package of reduced-fat mozzarella and about 6 tablespoons of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. It all went into a 400* oven for about 10 minutes – until the cheese was brown.
Pre-oven –
Post!
We served them over some steamed kale that was doused in aged balsamic vinegar. You might wonder why we have kale so much. Well, the spinach at Harris Teeter, which is what I had planned to serve, was from California, soggy and $2.99 each. The kale was North Carolina grown and $.99 per pound. Kale it was! Actually, I think the kale went nicely because it’s a little tougher than spinach and held up under the eggplant.
Seconds! We each had a tiny piece left for seconds that wouldn’t fit the first round.
Believe it or not, this whole dinner – 4 slices of cheesy eggplant with cheese, sauce and kale – was only 400 calories. And about 15 grams fiber and 28 grams protein. This WILL be a repeat dinner!
Dessert
And lastly, dessert. A bit more Breyers Vanilla with a crushed ginger snap and chocolate chips. Thank goodness this special occasion is drawing to a close tomorrow – I’m a little wine and desserted out! (Well…not really 🙂 )
Off to read Eat, Pray, Love.
Alicia says
Dinner looks great, as usual. I understand the bit about too much dessert as I’m trying to finish off the cake I baked plus macarons from PH.
Gosh, I really have to get myself a copy of ‘Eat, pray, love’ as I read so many good things about it.
Aimee H. says
sounds like you’ve been having a blast though! dinner looks delish =)
VeggieGirl says
Oh my goodness, that Eggplant Parmesan looks stunning!! And steamed kale?? YUM!! A VeggieGirl favorite :0)
Enjoy reading ‘Eat, Pray, Love’!!
Robin says
Wow Kath! I don’t even like eggplant parm but yours looks so good I might just have to make it!
Romina says
I loooooove Eggplant parmesan! Yours looks amazing. =)
Betsy says
i never questioned why you eat so much kale…i thought you ate it cause it is sooo tasty!!!!! 😉
Leah says
Yummy, I do love a good eggplant parm’ AND a big glass of Clos du Bois!! I could not get through EPL although I tried. I loved the first chapter (EAT!) but got bored during the whole Pray thing. I’ll have to go back to it — maybe next week when we’re on spring break.
Claire says
I love eggplant parm. Grilling it sounds wonderful…I usually just bake. I’ve served it over spaghetti squash and it was good, but this over kale/spinach sounds interesting. I’ve never had kale but love spinach, so probably would like it.
Kelly T says
Dinner looks amazing. I love making my own sauce more than using canned, but am usually too tired by the time it comes to make dinner that I opt for the latter. Your sauce sounds amazing, it makes me want to replan my dinner tonight.
Your dessert just sparked a 10 min plea with the boyfriend to drive me to go get ice cream because we just walked there and back and didnt think to get any. he says no. which means i will get ice cream in about an hour.
Ilene says
oh my gosh that dinner/dessert combo looks so delicious! i’m craving cheese and ice cream right now…weird
oh btw, i believe your spelling of “moms” those 2 times don’t need the apostrophe. blame the grammar teacher 🙂
Heather K says
looks scrumptious!! :-p
how does everyone feel on binges? I have been trying to lose weight and have been doing well for three weeks (Lost 5 pounds) However, I have binged twice, but have gotten right back on track the next day (about 1000 calories more than I should have eat) How do you think this affects weight loss? Is it going to ruin all of my work for the week? I know this is similar to the discussion on a cheat day I guess…
Kate says
I’m new here–hi!
First, I have to agree with everyone that that eggplant parm looks amazing. This post might give me the bump I’ve needed to give eggplant another try!
Heather, I just wanted to put in my two cents about your binge days. First, awesome job on eating well! It sounds, however, like something is going on if you’re having binges. Are you eating enough? Having enough variety? Are you eating to calm stress? Having a binge is not the same as having a “cheat” day. A cheat is a planned meal that allows you to enjoy something you wouldn’t normally eat, while a binge is out-of-control eating spurred by something other than hunger or a desire for a specific food. The first is healthy, the second is not. I would really encourage you to try to get to the bottom of why you’re bingeing, as it can be a serious problem. Bingeing is a destructive behavior and you’ll be so much happier and more successful with healthy living if you can figure out what’s going on and find healthier ways to deal with it.
To answer your question specifically, whether or not your binges will affect your weight loss depends on what your calories look like for the rest of the week. Please, please, though, do not over-restrict to make up for the extra calories! Just be good to yourself and, like you’re doing, get back to healthy habits as soon as you can.
Annalise says
re: binges
I posted here the other day about binges, which do indeed differ substantially from so-called “cheat meals”, and so I thought I would throw in some comments on my own binge eating past. Many people will wisely counsel that binge eating is frequently triggered by emotional state–stress and the like, sage advice. BUT, for me personally, when I was binging, my binges would be triggered by the exact opposite:states of happiness and almost pride..aka entitlement for treats. For example, I remember my last binge well. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and I was happy with what the scale was saying (and more importantly how I looked and how my clothes fit, because as we all know, weight is a poor indicator of fitness and health, blah blah). I thought to myself, “hey annalise, wouldn’t it just be so fun to eat absolutely whatever you wanted and as much of it all day long?”—mock if you like, but that rhetorical question really did go through my head. My unhealthy thinking was basically that instead of “matienence” by smaller fluctuations in day to day calorie intake and expenditure, I would severely restrict, lose a few pounds, and then very literally gain a few pounds over the course of 24 hours. Actually that’s not entirely too true—i would intake less calories then needed, but more importantly i would only eat super healthy things and none of the treat type things I enjoy. I know the pattern of restriction followed by binging is typical and “they” say its because one allows oneself to overly get cravings this way and so on, and that makes perfect sense, so “they” advise allowing yourself small treats of whatever you enjoy most while still eating healthy—a half cup of light ice cream, a small piece of dark chocolate, etc…..that is very sensible advice, HOWEVER, it only works for certain sorts of individuals. For me, it was something that Women’s Health mag recently said: that’s like telling a crack addict to have just a little crack! A tiny bit of something decadent makes me crave like no other more. I hate the idea of having to stop eating something delicious once I’ve begun. I either had to eat super super healthy or super bad. whew, long post, sorry (thanks so much Kath for permitting this kind of forum talk). It turns out for me that my binge eating/deprivation was linked to OCD tendencies. Also, the whole time during this period of my life I weighed between 115-120 at five feet five inches. So no one ever suspected my problesm, which was dificult for me to face them. anyway, good luck! and please if anyone has comments for what i’ve said about my binges being on days when i received good test grades or when i was proud of myself for looking good, please tell me.
Kiala says
I ate a whole box of kung pao chicken last night.
First day of girl time.
And three pieces of dove chocolate.
Oh well.
Food happens.
Sara says
Kath,
I would love it if you made some more videos!!! Maybe if you have some extra time during your spring break?
Question: This is probably a stupid question but how would I cook the eggplant if I don’t have a grill? I’m learning how to cook!
Kath says
Ilene ,
You are so right about Mom’s!! I know that rule but I tend to split those ‘s in – I’ll go fix them 🙂
Sara,
I’d love to do another video but I don’t know what would be fun to make. I need the husband here to film me too, so maybe this weekend. Any ideas or suggestions!?
If you don’t have a grill, you could pan-sear the eggplant or broil it.
Kath
Lindsay says
Mmm never thought of grilling the eggplant on a gas grill! I’ve always just broiled it in the oven – looks delish!!!
JK says
Annalise-
How did you get out of your binging habit? I am definitely guilty of binging and for me it has definitely affected my weight. I don’t know how to get out of the pattern. I will be good for a few days and then I derail all my good habits with a few days of binging.
hilary says
kiala: your comments are perfect. food happens. thats my new life motto. thanks!!!!!!!!! hahaha
Melissa says
Good Morning Kath 🙂 I just have a couple questions. The eggplant parm looks great, however I clicked on the link to show the “salt method” and I didn’t see it anywhere in the linked post….. Can you help out with this?
Also, this is a silly question but I’m going to try eating more spinach and kale. How do you “steam” it or use it like this for recipes? And for this one, when did you add the aged balsamic vinegar?
And last but not least, when you do the Classic Kath Oats, can you give a breakdown of the calories just once? I try to replicate yours exactly (which are DELISH by the way!!) but always end up with more calories….
Thanks!!
Kath says
Melissa,
You’re right – I had the link wrong. Here’s the right one: https://www.katheats.com/?p=541
Basically you want to put the eggplant in a colander or a wire rack and salt them generously for at least 30 minutes to get some of the bitterness out. Then just rinse the salt off when you’re ready to cook.
For the kale, I put it in a big dutch oven with about 1/4 a cup of water and 1-2 tbsp balsamic from the start. I put the lid on and it was reduced and tender in about 10 minutes. I lifted the lid to stir a few times.
Here’s the Classic Oats breakdown:
Oats – 150
Skim milk (1/2 cup) – 50
2 oz or so of banana (sometimes we use 2 small, other times split a large, so I change this number around accordingly) – 50
About 10 grams walnuts – 60
About 10 grams almond butter – 60
1 tbsp ground flax – 35
Tsp brown sugar (only do this occasionally) – 11
= ~430
Hope that answers your questions!
Kath
BKshei says
this one really makes my mouth water. cheese 🙂
Melissa says
Thank you!!!!