Eggplant Lasagna

June 20, 2017

Eggplant Lasagna

I’ve been wanting to make an eggplant parmesan or lasagna for awhile. But, even though eggplant parmesan is delicious, it takes a lot of work to fry and then press all the pieces of eggplant. And, that much grease sort of makes me sick to my stomach! So, I’m not frying the egg plant in this! I did pre-bake the slices, which is much easier!

This sort of came about on the spur of moment, by accident. I was simply out of the items I wanted, to make a meal for my company, and I had eggplant! So, I decided to go ahead and experiment on the company! ?

I was a little nervous… But I only had the ingredients I had… And I needed to make a meal!

Thankfully, it did turn out! My company liked it! So, I hope you will too!

This would be delicious with green peppers sautéed with the meat, and olives added to the cooked meat mixture, I think!

The spices in this were simple. Both of these came from Costco, I believe.

This would be an S if you are following THM.

This makes 2 large 9×13 casserole dishes, so cut it in half or thirds if you are not feeding a large family or company. You could also try putting one in the freezer for later.

Eggplant Parmesan
3 large eggplants, thinly sliced
3 pounds ground meat (I used turkey… beef would be fine, though)
Coconut oil, if needed, to cook meat and veggies
1 large onion
3-6 oz. cans tomato paste
3 Tablespoons Montreal Steak Seasoning
3 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning
1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
16 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups egg whites
4 cups grated mozzarella
4 cups grated cheddar

Instructions

Eggplant:
Place all the eggplant slices in a casserole dish and pre-bake at 300° for about an hour. You can leave the peelings on like I did, or you can take them off.

Meat mixture:
Brown the meat. I needed the coconut oil since I was using a lean ground turkey. But if you are using hamburger you may or may not need oil. When the meat is nearly done, add the chopped onions, and peppers if you’d like, and continue cooking until the meat is done and the veggies are soft. Then add the tomato paste and spices to the meat and veggies.

Cottage cheese mixture:
Combine the cottage cheese, cream cheese, and the egg whites in a blender. I used my Vita Mix. Blend well.

Layering:
You will need to divide the ingredients by four, for two layers in each dish, except for the egg plant which will have an extra layer on top. Also, reserve a little extra cheese to place on top of each of the last eggplant on top.

Layer the ingredients into the bottoms of two greased casserole dishes in this order. 1: Eggplant slices. 2: Meat mixture. 3: Cottage cheese mixture. 4: Grated cheeses. Repeat. Top with another layer of eggplant with a little more cheese on each eggplant round.