Eggplant and Mozzarella Melt

I had an eggplant in my food box and wanted to try another fun recipe and this looked really good!

Eggplant Mozzarella Melt

What you need:

• 2 eggs-$.26
• salt and pepper-on hand
• 3/4 cup plain dried breadcrumbs (I used whole wheat Italian)-I had this on hand but the bread crumbs are around $2.50 a container-I'll say $1.25
• olive oil for baking sheet-on hand
• 1 medium eggplant-$1.78
• 1 loaf of soft Italian bread-$1.48
• 2 cups store bought tomato sauce-$.56
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese-$3.48 for 16oz=$1.74

This is one of those recipes where you go to figure out the calorie count and it's a bit more difficult. How many calories is that loaf of bread? It didn't have a calorie count on the package since it was from the bakery area. I ended up just estimating it at 800 calories and using a break down that was already in Lose It. I made it 10 servings because 4? Way too big of a serving.

Total cost=$7.07 or $.71 a slice

This turned out good but a little bland. I think if you took this idea but used the tomato sauce mixture from this recipe it would have a lot more flavor. I think this would be good for a family potluck or with a big pot of Minestrone soup.

Julia Child's Eggplant Pizza

I got an eggplant in my food box and I was kind of just "eh, what am I supposed to do with THAT thing?" The last time I tried cooking eggplant was when I was doing the South Beach Diet and I made this big pan of roasted vegetables. Eggplant being one of them. I then proceeded to eat all the vegetables BUT the eggplant because, ick, it was nasty.

I was looking around on Pinterest when this recipe caught my eye.

Julia Child's Eggplant Pizza

It used one eggplant, which I had! and just a few other ingredients so I added them to my shopping list for the week.

• 1 eggplant-I got mine in my food box but they run about $1.78 each
• 1 Tbsp Salt-on hand
• 2 Tbsp + 2-3 tsp Olive Oil- On hand
• 2  1/2 Tsp dried Italian seasoning-I had a packet of that salad dressing seasoning left over from something else, you could probably just mix a few spices together if you didn't have that (oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt)
• 10 large basil leaves-$.49
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan-$1.15
• 1/3 cup grated low fat mozzarella blend-I just buy one of the balls ($3.58) and grate off my own $1.00
• 3 large garlic cloves-$.24
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes $.58
• 1/4 tsp oregano-on hand

Total of $5.24 for about 8 slices which makes them about $.66 cents each and calorie break down according to the Lose it calculator is 86 calories a slice.

The little pizzas turned out so good that my son actually said "I could eat these all day!". Must be good if an eleven year old wants to eat it. They were also still good the next day reheated in the microwave for my lunch.  I'm definitely going to be a regular eggplant buyer now!