Sausage & Eggplant Towers of Loove!

Today’s recipe comes after a bit of the time looking for a new way  cook eggplant and sausage. I wanted something with hearty grilled vegetables + sausage + lots of love!

This recipe is also the first  episode of my new cooking show…..Healthy, Hot, & Delicious with Cookie!! Today will be concentrating on the food, but as I get better at working this camera and editing videos, we’ll be covering ideas on how to live a Healthy, Hot & Delicious life through good food & exercise!

So here she is, the first episode:

Would love to hear your feedback!

Ingredients:

• 1 medium sized eggplant
• 1 zucchini
• 2 large sausage links (i used a chicken basil sausage)
• 1 vidalia onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 small can peeled/diced tomatoes
• 1 small can tomato sauce
• about 1 cup flat parsley chopped
• 3 TB almonds chopped fine
• Agave Nectar (sugar is fine too)
• 8 eggs
• olive oil, salt, pepper

Steps:

1. Prepare the eggplant – Slice the eggplant crosswise into circles about 1/2 inch thick. Place onto a plate covered with a paper towel and sprinkle with salt and let rest for about 20 min.

1. Heat the oven to 350.
2. Slice everything else – Slice the zucchini in half crosswise, then into long slices along the length of each half. Dice the onions. Mince the garlic. Chop the parsley.

1. Grill the eggplant – brush olive oil and sprinkle salt, pepper on an aluminum lined pan. Place the eggplant slices flat on the pan.  Brush tops of slices with olive oil, sprinkle with salt pepper. Place in oven for 25 min. Flip half way through.
2. In a pan with a lid, heat olive oil. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds, stirring quickly. Add the onion, sprinkle of salt, and cook til onions are translucent. Add the sausage (remove from casing if necessary) and cook til browned, breaking apart any chunks.
3. Once the meat is cooked, add diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, 1/2 the parsley, about 2 tsp agave nectar, almonds, and salt/pepper to taste. Stir to combine, lower heat to medium and cover loosely with a lid. Let cook around 10-15  min stirring occasionally til liquid is cooked down.

 

1. At this point we are 15ish minutes in, place the zucchini on an oiled/aluminumed pan. Salt + pepper. Add the pan to the oven for the last 15 min of the eggplant cooktime.
2. Remove the veggies from the oven.
3. Fry an egg over easy – heat oil in a non-stick pan to almost smoking. Add egg, lower heat immediatly to med-low. Flip egg over and cook to over easy. Turn off heat.
4. Assemble your tower of love:

• Lay down a slice of eggplant
• Top with 2 zucchinis crosswise
• Spoon meat mix on top
• Top with fried egg
• Garnish with parsley
• Add  shredded cheese if you wish

 

That’s it! Dive in and enjoy the flavors.  There’s lots of flavor and texture here to entertain your tastebuds, alongside plenty of nutrients and protein to take care of your body.