Fearless
Passions

Here’s a quick and easy meal that will sure to add nutrition and flavor to your family’s dinner. Think of it as pizza without the crust. The whole thing starts with none other than eggplant.

Now I know what you’re going to say, “My family doesn’t like eggplant.” Yeah, I get it. The texture of this vegetable chucked full of vitamins and minerals is less than ideal, but wait until you see what can be done.

One of our biggest challenges in the cruising lifestyle is to find and consume enough vegetables for our diet. It seems we go in spurts of a diet heavy in meat, a diet heavy in fried food or a diet heavy in seafood. None of these are bad if mixed with variety.

Recently we went through the heavy on meat diet and I just had to pull out one of our favorite meals. Eggplant seems to be a staple in the islands and I can show you a ton of ways to fix it that eliminates the slime factor. It’s a great source of fiber as well. (We all need more fiber, right? That’s what the experts say.)

Eggplant Sausage Bake

Start by pre-heating your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a 9 X 13 baking dish.

Next take one large or several small eggplants, there are several varieties and sizes and sliced them into 1/2″ wedges. Line your baking dish with the slices, overlapping is fine.

I like to sprinkle the eggplant with garlic powder, but here’s where you can start getting creative. Again, think pizza and the spices you’d put on top. Then I lightly drizzle the eggplant with chicken broth if I have some open, or plain water. The moisture helps the softening process when baking, but you don’t want to get too heavy handed, or you will have mush. (That’s when the kids rebel. Not good.)

You’ll want to start baking the eggplant about 5-10 minutes before you add your toppings. Then the rest is easy.

A good ground Italian sausage is our favorite protein to add, but I’ve been known to take plain hamburger and spice it up with red pepper flakes, chili powder, basil, oregano, garlic, and anything else I have a hankering for. You can also use pepperoni, chicken, or even fish.

I think this would also be wonderful with a bit of pizza sauce, though we just use a can of dices tomatoes, again a bit more vegetables. This meal usually is a quick throw together after a long passage, so we tend to keep it simple as we’re pretty tired after all that fresh air and sea. So if you’re really ambitious, I’d suggest sautéed onions and peppers as well for a topping.

If you’d like a few more topping ideas, check out my post on Pizza Delivery.

Lastly, grated cheese. Mozzarella is a good choice, but we use whatever we can get our hands on. Bake for 10-15 minutes until heated through and cheese is melted.

Serve with a lettuce salad and you have a nutritious meal in less than 30 minutes.

What is your go to nutritious meal? Does your family get enough vegetables? Or, how do you sneak vegetables into your family’s diet?