Christy CushingStuffing eggplant with sautéed vegetables, ground meat topped with bread crumbs and fresh parmesan cheese makes for a deliciously well-balanced low nickel meal. Purple and blue foods are known for their extra antioxidant goodness that helps keep you healthy. Low in nickel, I absolutely love to eat eggplant, which is high in both fiber and magnesium.
Using stainless steel cookie sheets to bake, I use parchment paper instead of aluminum foil to create a barrier between the food I cook and the stainless steel cookie sheet. These days spray cooking oils can contain soy. My preferred brand of cooking spray oils is Winona Pure spray canola oil and olive oil.
Many processed bread crumbs contain soy, so I prefer to use Kikkoman Panko Bread Crumbs, which only includes wheat flour, sugar, yeast, salt. The company has various types of bread crumb, some of which contain soybean oil, so be sure to read the label.
This recipe is pretty straightforward, but there are a bunch of steps. Reading the recipe first before you start will make it easier to make and prepare. If you’re really hungry, know that this low nickel stuffed eggplant recipe takes a close to 90 minutes to make. Having said that, I still encourage you to try this recipe as it is an all-time favorite that’s satisfying every time!
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Low Nickel Stuffed Eggplant
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 white onion or 2 shallots diced
- 1 green or red pepper diced
- 2 stalks celery diced
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef or turkey
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs verify soy-free
- 1/2 cup fresh parmesan cheeese optional
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley
Instructions
- Dice the onion/shallots, red pepper and celery and set it aside.
- Line one cookie sheet with parchment paper, spray it lightly with cooking oil and set it aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Wash the outside of the eggplant and cut off the green stem at the top. Cut the eggplant in half, lengthwise.
- Using a spoon, scoop out the insides of the eggplant halves or the pulp and set it aside. Leave a thin layer of the pulp all the way around the inside of the eggplant.
- Place the two remaining eggplant halves on the cookie sheet lined with the parchment paper.
- Cut up the eggplant pulp pieces, placing them in a small saucepan that is ¾ full of water and cover the saucepan with the lid. Boil the eggplant pulp on medium high for 10 minutes or until it’s soft. Once it’s boiled, drain the water and set it aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat in a ceramic saucepan, sautéing the diced vegetables, seasoning the veggies with ground pepper to taste. Add the pound of lean ground beef or ground turkey and cook the meat thoroughly. Drain the meat fat.
- Carefully combine the softened eggplant pulp, cooked beef and sautéed vegetables to a large bowl, as everything will be very hot! Mix in the diced tomatoes, 1 egg, only ¼ cup of the breadcrumbs and only ¼ cup of the fresh parmesan cheese.
- Stuff the uncooked eggplant shells with mixed meat, egg and vegetable, bread crumb cheese mixture, sprinkling them with the fresh parsley and remaining ¼ cup of bread crumbs and ¼ cup of fresh parmesan cheese on top.
- Bake the stuffed eggplant uncovered in the oven for 45 minutes. Let it cool for about 5 minutes and enjoy!
Notes
Christy Cushing
Stevie Howe
2 comments
Nice Recipe!
Thank you!