Healthy Homemade Meal

As a little kid, my family wasn't all that tuned in with eating "healthy". My mom did her best though. As every family tends to do, we struggled a little. My parents both worked 7am-6pm jobs, sometimes my dad would be getting off even later than that. So, dinner was always up to my mom. After getting off work and picking us up from afterschool care, or sports practices at school, she was wiped. And rightfully so! Both of my parents were exhausted upon their return home. Dinner usually revolved around the famous Hamburger Helper meals, and I'm not kidding when I say this, me and my brother LOVED them. But were they super healthy? Not really. Sometimes she would make potato casseroles, lasagna, spaghetti, sloppy joes, country style steak with all the fixin's, but more often than not it was Hamburger Helper.

Once me and my brother got older we were more involved in school clubs and I was always at sports practices or games, so we would go out for dinner or do takeout from our favorite local dive place. Those were the best nights, because my family loves good food. Chicken tender and french fries were our staple at any restaurant growing up. Again, not so healthy. My parents weren't into organic produce or food items and we were rarely (if ever) told we couldn't get a menu item at a restaurant because it wasn't healthy. As you could guess, my brother and I were a little on the chunky side in elementary and middle school because of this. We did grow out of that though. Thank. God.

My mom tried her best though, and I have to give her credit for at least trying, right? My grandma is the cook in our family. She was always making our favorites which included homemade chocolate pound cake, homemade mac & cheese, homemade cookies, homemade bread... Have I said homemade enough already? Clearly, my mom didn't inherit that "homemade" trait that my grandma so graciously treated us with.

A game changer for me was when I moved into a one bedroom apartment almost a year ago. I was officially on my own and I wanted to make sure that my healthy lifestyle continued. I love to cook, and cooking comes with a lot of experimentation. I've honestly never made anything bad. I know, that's annoying, sorry. But get over it, it's true! I am the spice queen, and honestly EVERYTHING is better with spices. Knowing how to pair the right herbs and spices with food is something my dad actually taught me. He's the grill master, and a general master at everything. Typical dad move. He taught me early on what dry rubs were and how to season your steak and let it rest before grilling it. He's also the garlic king, which is a spice I cook everything with. I'm sure you're probably wondering why he didn't cook more in our household, and it's because he's always been a golf course mechanic and grounds maintenance keeper. So he is in the sun all day every day, and when he gets home he is hot, tired and exhausted. I don't know how he still does it at 55 years old. The last thing he would want to do when he came home is be cooking over a hot stove, and my mom never complained about that.

I digress.

My favorite thing I make is my favorite recipe, eggplant parmesan. And truthfully I usually don't add parmesan to it, I always use mozzarella. But you can use any of your favorite cheeses!

My Recipe:

Ingredients:

One eggplant

Two cups of all purpose flour

Two cups of panko bread crumbs

Two Eggs

Oregano

Salt

Pepper

Garlic Powder

Parsley

Mozzarella Cheese

Any kind of tomato sauce, I use vodka sauce because it is my favorite! Canned from the store is absolutely fine as well!

1. Separate your dry ingredients and combine them into one bowl (i.e., bread crumbs, flour, and spices)!

2. Whisk the two eggs together and combine into one bowl.

3. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

4. Slice the eggplant. I typically cut the eggplant so that they make circles.

5. Place tinfoil over your baking sheet/pan and then spray with your choice of cooking oil.

6. Take each individual eggplant slice and wash in the egg bath.

7. Then take the slice and proceed to cover it in the breadcrumb/flour/spices mixture. Make sure the eggplant slice is thoroughly coated in the mix.

8. Do steps 6 and 7 for each eggplant slice. Place each slice on the baking sheet.

9. Put the baking sheet with the eggplant into the oven for 30 minutes.

10. Once the eggplant has finished baking you will add a dollop of your preferred tomato sauce to each baked eggplant slice.

11. Once the sauce is on, sprinkle your desired cheese to each slice.

12. Place the pan back in the oven and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

This is what your dish will look like straight out of the oven! I always like to have fresh zucchini noodles and sauteed mushrooms to go with mine, feel free to accompany any of your favorite sides with this dish! Enjoy! :)