Eggplant Parm Panini

Tonight for dinner, Matt and I set out to make Eggplant Parm.  Instead of breading and frying, we grilled – what a great way to make a parmesan! 

First we peeled and sliced two eggplants (in the process I lost a nice chunk of skin from my thumb – ouch)

Then Matt salted the eggplant and we let it sit on a dishtowel to allow the bitterness to be “sweat” out.  Finally, he rinsed the eggplant and squeezed the water out of the slices with a new dishtowel (we went through a lot of dishtowels tonight).

Matt shook the eggplant in a bag with olive oil and on our hot indoor grill the eggplant went. 

Meanwhile, I diced garlic to make “homemade” sauce – in a sauce pan went a little olive oil and garlic.  We sautéed that for a few minutes and then added Muir Glen Tomato Sauce, some dried basil and oregano. 

When everything was done, I started assembling my panini.  In my whole wheat wrap went a layer of sauce, eggplant and reduced fat mozzarella cheese. 

Tasted much better then it looked!

Matt, on the other hand, chose to eat his eggplant stacked with melted cheese in between each layer.  He claimed his dinner was much more “blogworthy”

I may agree with him tonight.

I loved my panini though – the eggplant was perfectly grilled and had a wonderful flavor. 

Simple Changes September

September 30, 2009:  Stop Using Water Cooler at work

Right outside my office door, one will find this

Please note, that is a “how to stop the swine flu” poster. 

I typically bring my Sigg waterbottle from home filled with water using my Pur water filter.

I have given up bottled water (although I did drink a bottle of water after my race on Saturday – I couldn’t wait long enough to get my waterbottle out of the checked bag area!) but yet I still drink water from the water cooler.  Isn’t that a giant bottle of water?  Granted it is MUCH better then normal bottled water, but still.

I am now the proud owner of a Brita water pitcher. 

Now that the water filters are recyclable, using the Brita water filter is just like drinking water from the tap (no waste!). 

Do you use a water filter? 

I can’t believe this is the last day of Simple Changes September!  I have learned a lot this month – I hope to do a reflection of the month in the next few days.