Hitting a wall and the freaky eggplant

I'm home and congested! NOOOOO. You have no idea how hard I've been trying to not get sick. I have 2 kids in school bringing home all kinds of germs everyday. Now I have one home with a croup cough and a leaky nosed baby. GREAT. They got me. I have had the sniffles and a cough for 3 days now. Of course this comes just as I've been starting to train for this marathon. So stupid me strikes again. I was so determined to get out there that I tried to go out and train Sunday morning (in the cold) with this cough. I felt great at first; pumping my music and feeling like rocky as he was climbing the steps of the Philly museum. Oh how quickly that changed. I went out ran the first mile, and then hit a big awful wheezing wall of pain. I gingerly hobbled back home and sat in front the TV and waited to drown my pain in Superbowl sangria. I will definitely start listening to my body more. That sucked.

Tonight, I want to share with you another ingredient that used to scare me because quite frankly I didn't grow up with it. I had tried it a few times in the past and was NOT a fan to say the least. I can say now that I am NOT afraid of an eggplant anymore. Here is one of the tastiest healthy baked pastas that I have ever made.

So to make this you have to start with the raw ingredient. The eggplant. This strange purple thick skinned (does not resemble an egg in ANY way) vegetable

*First I peel and slice the eggplant and lay it out on a cookie sheet. 

*Sprinkle the eggplant liberally with salt and let sit for a 1/2 hour to leech out the bitterness. It will actually start to sweat. (The strangest thing ever)

*Rinse and lightly coat in some seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs. (garlic powder black pepper)

*Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and let the eggplant crisp on the edges.

*Remove the eggplants and let cool. Slice into strips

*In a skillet, toss a half of diced onion, a whole head of minced garlic and saute in extra virgin olive oil Add 2 cans of tomato sauce, a dash of red pepper flakes, black pepper, and italian seasoning. 

* Toss the sauce over prepared vegetable enriched pasta of any kind then mix in the eggplant.

*Place in a casserole dish and top with low fat mozzarella cheese. (If you have low fat ricotta to add it's delish!) 

Serve with a tossed salad and watch it disappear!