Eggplant 4-eva!

You want eggplant? This is eggplant! Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a nine-inch baking dish. Cut up one large eggplant into half inch slices and decoratively place on a cookie sheet (or baking sheet, whatever you like to call it), sprinkle some salt on top, and then brush some olive oil on top. Bake for 20 minutes and then put it on a plate. You will be tempted to eat the eggplant as is, but don’t. More deliciousness awaits.

Set the oven temp to 350 degrees.

Cut up a red or green pepper and coat with olive oil. Bake for ten minutes and then set aside. Don’t eat these either, although you probably won’t be as interested.

Now, mix together 1 cup ricotta cheese, 3 lightly beaten egg whites, ½ cup of Parmesan cheese, 2 tbsp basil, 2 tbsp parsley, a lil’ bit of cayenne pepper, and some salt until thoroughly blended.

Layer half of the eggplant slices on the bottom of the baking dish. Then distribute the cheese mixture on top. Spread ½ cup tomato sauce over the cheese. THEN put the peppers and 1/3 cup sliced black olives on top of that (can you HANDLE how delicious this is going to be???). Then put the rest of the eggplant on top, as if you were tucking the cheesy goodness in for a long winter’s nap. Lightly dust the eggplant with Parmesan cheese like you were Tinkerbell, and then bake for forty-five minutes.