Eggplant Pizza (no crust needed!)

Do you love pizza as much as me? Is Italian food your guilty pleasure? Looking to add more vegetables into your life? Are you on a low-carb diet and just DYING without delicious warm bread?! Well then I got the perfect recipe for you. This is one of my favorite foods to make because it's pretty easy, doesn't take too much time or effort, and it's so freakin' tasty. Obviously like with any pizza, you can customize and change things up as you wish, but this is my version of Eggplant Pizza and I promise you'll love it!

Feeds about 2-3 people as a main dish and 4-5 as a side dish.
Total cooking time: about 1 hour, give or take 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant


• 1/2 cup of olive oil


• 1/2 to 3/4 cup of marinara sauce


• 1-1 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese


• 1/3 cup of bread crumbs (optional)


• seasoning to taste (garlic, parsley, oregano, etc.)


• a few pinches of salt

1. Rinse off your eggplant. Cut it into about 1/2 - 1 inch slices. Do not make them any thicker or else it takes longer to roast them! Place the slices onto a tray. Sprinkle a few pinches of salt onto the slices (do NOT overdo it!) This is meant to bring out some of the bitterness of the eggplant. Let them sit for 15-30 minutes.

2. Before starting this step, preheat the oven to 375°. Place the oil in a separate bowl to make it easier. I usually add my spices into the oil and mix it together to make it a bit simpler, but you can add your spices after the oil process. You can do this step with just a spoon but if you have a cooking brush definitely use that. Brush a layer of oil onto each side of the eggplant slices. Don't overdo it with the oil, but also make sure there's a good even layer on each side!

3. Place the tray of eggplant slices in the oven for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, flip EACH slice over so now the other side gets to roast. After about 10 more minutes (check every few minutes since every oven is different) take the slices out and flip em over again. Now they're ready for the sauce and cheese!

4. Place about a spoonful of sauce on each slice, depending on how big it is. How much sauce you put on is really up to you and what your preference is, but I suggest putting a medium layer on—enough to give it that pizza style but not so much that it makes the eggplant soggy.

5. Next comes time for the CHEESE! This is also up to you and how much you love cheese. I put enough so that the slice is covered but not overflowing with cheese. You can also add a few bread crumbs (panko would work best) to give it a bit of a crunchy texture. Once you're done with the cheese, the slices are ready to go back in the oven for another 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how melty and "burnt" you like your cheese. I also suggest lowering the oven temperature to about 350° or 325° for this step.

Let cool for a few minutes and you're ready to eat your low-carb but delicious eggplant pizza!!! Enjoy :)

P.S. I don't have a picture of the final product because they're so good that I devoured everything before I got a chance to snap a pic :-x