Eggplant Pizza

     My Grandma's garden is in overdrive and the backup plants she planted in my yard are producing tomatoes faster than I can pick them.  The toppling bowl of tomatoes on my counter is a constant reminder that I need to do something all the vegetables.  I know in a few months I will be yearning for a garden fresh tomato so I'm trying to make the best of the surplus before it goes bad!  In addition to the tomatoes, it has also been a good year for eggplant-one of my favorites.  I Pinned this recipe for eggplant pizzas about a week ago and it was as if my Grandma had been on Pinterest (she's never used a computer in her life) because the very next day there was a perfect little eggplant in my almost daily garden gift.  No school tomorrow means Wren and I are pretending it's summer vacation again and we have all the time in the world to cook up new recipes that take longer than 10 minutes and then blog about it.

Eggplant Pizza
Recipe Adapted From kaylynskitchen.com*

Ingredients
1 medium eggplant sliced into 3/4 inch pieces
olive oil
garlic, minced
1 can of tomatoes or a few fresh ones, diced
oregano
salt
shredded mozzarella

Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
1. Place the slices of eggplant on a doubled piece of paper towel.  Sprinkle with salt and allow to sit for 30 minutes so that the excess water is absorbed by the paper towel.
2. While the eggplant is resting, heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic, tomatoes, and oregano.  Allow to simmer until it is sauce like.  Add a tablespoon of water any time things start looking too dry.
3. After the eggplant has had time to dry out, blot the excess moisture using a paper towel, while at the same time brushing off excess salt.  Place on a greased baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes.
4. When the eggplant is roasted, top each slice with a spoonful of the tomato sauce.  Then top with a generous amount of cheese.
5. Broil until the cheese is melted.

Wren and Grandma checking out our tomato plants.

*If you want a more exact recipe, check out the link above.  Between making sure Wren wasn't eating dog food and she wasn't feeding the dogs her own dinner, I stole quick glances at the recipes and just kept my fingers crossed for something edible.