Stuffed Eggplants

Stuffed Eggplants

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant; 4 graffiti eggplants; or 8 baby eggplants (I prefer the flavor of smaller ones)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 onion, small diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cups of left-over cooked rice (any variety is fine)
• 2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
• 1 cup frozen organic spinach
• 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
• ¾ cup grated parmesan (optional if you are dairy sensitive)
• ½ cup of toasted pine nuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the eggplant in half and scoop out the center (this is best done with a knife), give the scooped out eggplant meat a rough chop. Season with salt and pepper. Brush the eggplant halves with olive oil.

Meanwhile, in a medium saute pan heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Sautee garlic and onions until the onion is translucent. Add the seasoned eggplant and another tablespoon of olive oil, sautee for 1 minute. Add frozen spinach and cook until spinach is completed defrosted. Now add the leftover rice and mix thoroughly with the eggplant mixture. Add marinara sauce and make sure all the ingredients are mixed. This mixture does not need to be heated thoroughly because this is the eggplant stuffing which will go into the oven.

Fill the eggplant halves with this mixture.

Sprinkle filled eggplants with parmesan if desired. Alternately, you can also sprinkled eggplant with toast pine nuts. Place on a lightly oiled glass baking dish, and bake covered with foil for 30 minutes in preheated oven. Bake uncovered for another 15-20 minutes until eggplants are soft and tender. Keep a watchful eye when baking the eggplants uncovered as the rice mixture may dry out; check the eggplant after 10 minutes of baking uncovered. Let cool briefly and serve.