Veggie Recipe!

I made a new delicious vegetarian dish all on my own tonight!

I usually take someone else’s recipe and work from that, but this came right out of my own head!

I will call it a Veggie Bake! – 4 servings, 1 hour cook, 30min prep.

• 1/2 large eggplant sliced into 1/8 slices (you may need more, you may need less.  It all depends on the size of your dish)
• 1 zucchini sliced very thin on a mandolin, food processor (I am sure small slices would work too, you just want to make sure you can cover the bottom of your dish twice!)
• 2 portabello mushroom caps sliced lengthwise
• 1 can dieced tomatoes
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1 tbs capers
• bunch of herbs, whatever you have on hand – I used parsley, oregano, rosemary and thyme from my garden
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• S&P
• 2 slices of fresh mozzarella
• 1/2 cup shredded parm

1. Heat a little EVOO in a sauce pan and add onion until clear
2. Add garlic
3. Add can of tomatoes and paste
4. Add capers, S&P to taste and herbs
5. This is your sauce – let it simmer on med-low until you are ready to assemble

1. Spray the bottom of your dish with EVOO spray
2. Layer eggplant along bottom of the dish like fish scales
3. Then pour on 1/2 the sauce
4. next layer the zucchini with the same method to cover the sauce and eggplant
5. Next layer mushrooms point to point across dish.
6. Sprinkle 1/4 cup parm over dish
7. Repeat steps 2-6 with remaining eggplant, zucchini and mushrooms
8. Lastly break up the mozzarella cheese and spread it over as the final touch.

1. Cover in foil and bake at 375 for 45min
2. Remove foil and cook another 15min or until cheese browns.
3. Let sit for 10min before cutting

I KNOW it seems like a lot of steps and ingredients but is basically sauce and layered veggies with cheese.  You could ever use jar sauce if you want!

I served my bake with 2 pieces of multigrain rustic toast from Trader Joe’s spread with a little real butter!

Layers.  Yes they do fall apart, but it sure tastes good!

Next time I may drain the tomatoes, but that is about the only change I would make!