Sneaky Sneaker

When I was planning my trip to the grocery store today, I was hoping to get some vegetables that I haven't had in a while. So begins the story of how I think I need to sneak vegetables into every meal. 

I remembered a while ago when my mom and I found a yummy recipe for Eggplant Lasagna. In my past life, I was terrified to try most unusual vegetables (i.e., anything but carrots and corn), but now that my tastes have matured, I actually enjoy most of them. Eggplant is one of these "unusual" foods.

But, the beauty of eggplant is that it doesn't really taste like anything. I decided to make this recipe again, thinking I would trick Josh into eating eggplant. I knew I had about an hour to spare before he came home, so I used my pretty food processor to slice the eggplant, and I took out just what I needed for the recipe, putting the rest into a tupperware container in the back of the fridge. 

Muahahhaha...

The guy is much smarter than I give him credit for. I should have known by this point that he always goes to the fridge when he gets home from work. 

"Honey, what is this?" he says while holding up my "well hidden" box of surprises.

"Eggplant." I said.

J: "Oh, are you putting it in the lasagna?"

Me: "Yeah...."

J: "Ok."

End of conversation. No struggle, no argument, nothing. The man is easy to please.

So, if you want to try to trick your loved ones into eating eggplant, I suggest using all of it and putting it into your recipe before they bust you :)

And try this recipe:

• 1 box 100% whole wheat lasagna noodles
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• 1 medium eggplant
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 3 cups cottage cheese (instead of ricotta!)
• oregano, basil, and italian spices to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grab a 9x13 baking pan and layer it with 1/4 of the jar of spaghetti sauce. Precook the eggplant by warming olive oil in a large skillet. Place eggplant in and sautee for approximately 4 minutes. Meanwhile, boil water and cook the lasagna noodles until they are limp, but not fully cooked (around 5-6 minutes). 

Once the noodles are somewhat soft, lay three noodles across the bottom of the pan. Then, cover that layer with 1/3 of the remaining sauce, eggplant, mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, and spices. Repeat this "layering" until you run out of supplies. 

Bake the lasagna in the oven for 40-45 minutes.