Mini Baked Eggplant Parm Rounds

​Last night’s yumminess...

✨

I wasn’t planning on making eggplant parm last night...I had already eaten something light early on in the evening and had planned on going to bed on a relatively empty stomach. (TBH- I consistently do #intermittentfasting and try to avoid eating after a certain time of day... more on that later.)

HOWEVER, I was home... I was feeling kinda stressed, a little down, and I had an eggplant in the fridge. 🍆 Soooo OBVIOUSLY I made a little sumpin.

As you guys know- for me, cooking is therapy... I cook to meditate. I don’t just love to cook, I NEED to cook. So this need, paired with a nice juicy eggplant and fresh basil, turned into the above 👆🏻 individual plant based eggplant parm babies.

What you need (for about 6 servings- 2 rounds each):

1 medium sized eggplant

1 clove garlic

1 handful fresh basil

Handful cherry tomatoes

1 can tomatoes in sauce

Vegan mozzarella cheese (I used @carrotsandflowers recipe which you can find on her blog under vegan caprese)

Chili flakes

Himalayan salt

Cracked black pepper

EVOO

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 C/ 475F and slice the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto the eggplant and bake for 20 minutes.

In the meantime, make the tomato sauce by sauteeing the garlic and a pinch of chili flakes in 2 tbsp of olive oil. When they begin to sizzle pour in the can of tomatoes. Simmer on medium heat, stirring continuously until a thick sauce has formed. Add salt to taste and blend with immersion blender until smooth.

Once the 20 minutes are up, take the eggplant out of the oven and dollop the sauce in each piece. Sprinkle some basil on top. Place a “vegan mozzarella round” on top, place some sliced cherry tomatoes and chopped basil. Sprinkle a little more EVOO on place back into the oven (on broil this time) for 7-15 minutes. Just until the cheese “bubbles” and begins to brown.

Serve and ENJOY!!! 🍆✨🍆

It’s SO good that I ended up eating about 1/2 of them- despite the fact that I wasn’t even hungry. This is actually an issue of mine: I like my food so much that I over eat every time I cook. And I cook ALL THE TIME.

Oh well, C’est la vie 🤷🏼‍♀️

Enjoy the recipe!

🇮🇹😘