Eggplant parmesan recipe for the calorie conscious.

Eggplant parmesan recipe for the calorie conscious.

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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

Chicken Chili Soup Recipe

Chicken Chili Soup Recipe

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I mentioned that I had concocted a variation of my Dads chicken soup recipe into something with more of a Spanish flair to it, its more of a chicken pepper soup than anything but everyone that had some of this loved it and I thought it was pretty good myself, so here it is for you to enjoy.

what you will need
1 chicken carcass
3 medium sized onions (the large side of medium)
1/2 lb Celery
2 cloves of garlic
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 can whole kernel corn (2 cans would make for a heartier soup, I use one to save calories)
2 cans Goya black beans (1 can may be used to save calories)
About 6 pepperocinis
1/4 cup sliced jalapeño
Cayenne pepper
White rice
Black pepper
Bell’s poultry seasoning
Salt
Goya Adobo

What to do

1 Take a decent sized pot (more than a gallon) I am sorry I do not know exactly how large the pot I use is. fill the pot with water leaving enough room for the carcass and put it on to boil, while its starting to boil take as much of the meat off of the carcass as you can and put it on a plate. We usually have a thigh and a leg and random amounts of white meat still on the bones; just get as much as possible off. Now cut the carcass into a couple of pieces and drop it and all the skin and bones into the pot that’s on the stove. Leave it alone for at least an hour, I cook it for an hour and a half usually, sometimes closer to 2 hours. Basically long enough to make a nice strong broth.

if you want to cut back on cooking time cook it for 45 mins and use a few chicken cubes instead, I honestly do not think it tastes as good with the cubes but if you are short on time its still good.

2 while that is boiling chop the 3 onions up nice and fine and place them to the side, chop both bell peppers up into smallish pieces and place them to the side, cut the celery up as well at this time and place it to the side, slice the pepperocinis and the jalapeño up into small pieces you basically want it to disappear into the stock when its completely cooked, lastly cut the chicken that you took off of the carcass up into soup sized pieces and chop the garlic up fine, place them to the side

3 when the broth is ready strain the bones and skin out of it saving the broth, place the broth back onto the stove and put the onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic, jalapeño, pepperocini and chicken pieces into the strained broth to cook. add slightly less than 1 tspn of the Bell’s poultry seasoning into the broth and veggies and give it a stir, shake as much Cayenne pepper in as you can stand (I make mine hot and it doesn't take much to really heat it up), shake in some Adobo (1 tbsp approx), add salt and pepper to taste, I like to use a lot of black pepper at this point and the Adobo is salty so you may not need any salt at all, let that boil until the peppers and celery start to get soft, less than an hour usually.

4 while that’s cooking strip the rest of the meat off of the carcass, you would be surprised at how much meat is still on there! Discard the carcass once you have all of the meat, and I like to just drop that meat right in with the peppers and onion, also add the can of crushed tomatoes at this time.

5 when the peppers and celery are just about soft, open and drain the corn and black beans pour the corn and the rest of the chicken that you put aside earlier into the pot (if its not already in there) and let that cook 15 mins or so. After that add the black beans and taste it, if it needs a tad more poultry seasoning, Adobo or pepper add it now and let it simmer for another 15 mins.

6 cook the rice separately and let the soup simmer while that cooks. When the rice is done so is the soup. It should take 20 mins.

While the soup is simmering (it will be a few hours total simmer time) remember to give it a stir every now and again and taste it along the way, you can actually taste this recipe getting richer and more blended as it cooks. I usually let the soup cool for at least 15 minutes before eating it but that is not necessary, when the rice is done the soup is and you can put some rice in a bowl and pour on the soup, remember to give it a stir before you take a serving out, I have found that the oils from the peppers seem to rise to the top so stirring it mixes the oil into the soup assuring you get a spicy bowl, this is a pretty spicy soup and sort of has a chili taste to it, My whole family liked it and even though it is spicy my 2 and a half year old daughter asks for more every time I make it.

As Ever
Me