As promised when I posted my Zucchini Boats, a new eggplant recipe for you! Not to down my Eggplant Parm, either, but this recipe is way easier.

Ingredients:

- Eggplant
- Tomato Paste or homemade pizza sauce
- Mozzarella Cheese
- Parmesan Cheese
- Salt
- Olive Oil
*optional: fresh oregano, basil, parsley*

Directions:

- Cut your eggplant into pieces about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Try to make them as even as possible. If they are too thin, they won't be as good!
- Cover with salt and place over a colander or something like it (I definitely just used my bacon screen and placed it over my sink) to help the water soak out of the eggplant. In my life, things can soak out as much as they soak up! Ha! Let the eggplant sit for a good thirty minutes or so, until it looks as pictured below.Note: I would set your timer for about fifteen or twenty minutes, preheat your oven to 425, and then continue your timer as needed!*

- If you haven't already, preheat your oven to 425. Lightly coat your eggplant with olive oil.
- Place on a baking sheet and roast for 12 to 15 minutes, then turn them over and roast the other side. Pictured my eggplant was not cut as evenly as hoped, and you can see (top right) that my thin piece didn't do so well with the roasting.

- Once you've roasted both sides, switch your oven to broil. I put mine on low so the cheese is less likely to burn.
- Spread tomato paste/sauce or pizza sauce on your eggplant. This part it REALLY is up to you. You don't want to put too much sauce and have it get all soggy (which is why I used tomato paste the second time around), but it can still be yummy! If you're just using plain tomato sauce, I suggest adding some spices (see ingredients above).

- Sprinkle your cheeses on top of the tomato base/spices. Use as much as you like. Stick under the broiler for UNDER two minutes. This should melt the cheese perfectly (just to bubbling and before too brown/burned).

VOILA! A healthier pizza for your liking. The great thing is you really don't have to wait on this one either, and probably shouldn't. Eat while cheese is melty and the eggplant is still warm! There's no "final" picture because I was too busy eating it that I forgot to photograph it... oops!

Recipe adapted from Kath Eats Real Food

Never have I ever made pizza before. I know, shocking. You'd think out of everything that'd be the ONE THING I have made. But, I hadn't.

Now I have. And I intend to repeat the process.

So easy and delicious. Homemade pizza doesn't make me feel like I'm leaking grease from all pores and need to go run around the block a bazillion times.

So, here it is!

Ingredients:

Dough
- 1/4 C warm water
- 1 packet of yeast
- 2 C unbleached, all-purpose flour
*Or you could do 1 C all-purpose, 1 C whole wheat. I didn't this time, but I intend to next time!*
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 1/4 C water, room temperature
- 1 tbsp olive oil

Pizza Topping
- 1 lb fresh tomatoes, thickly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, quartered
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
- 1 tbsp + 1 to 2 tsp olive oil
- Fresh Basil
- 1 tsp oregano, fresh or otherwise
- Parmesan Cheese
- salt or sea salt


Directions:

- Preheat your oven to 450.
- Place your sliced tomatoes and garlic on a prepared cooking sheet (lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper... the latter probably works better).
- Drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil and toss gently. Then sprinkle them with salt (I used sea salt).
- Cook the tomatoes for 30 minutes. Check on them halfway through. If they are browning too much, carefully turn them over with a spatula. (No picture, sorry!)
- Turn the oven off and let the tomatoes cool.

- While your tomatoes are cooling down, pour your yeast into your 1/2 C warm water. Let sit for around five minutes, until the water is bubbly.
- Mix together your flour and salt.
- Add your 1.25 C room temperature water to your yeast mix.
- Carefully add a little of the yeast mix at a time. I ended up using about 3/4 to 2/3 of it. Mix your dough accordingly. Should be just the slightest bit "sticky". DO NOT use all of your yeast mix.

-Preheat your oven to 350.
- Knead the dough into a fabulous pizza-esque shape and place on your prepared pan.

- If you haven't already, remove your tomatoes from the oven.
- Drizzle your dough with 1 to 2 tsp olive oil.
- Carefully arrange your tomatoes onto the dough.

- Add your freshly sliced mozzarella next, followed by the basil and oregano, and then top it with parmesan cheese (as much as you desire).

- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until desired crispiness.

Don't burn your mouth on the cheese! Let it cool down a bit before you gobble it down.


Recipe for the crust adapted from: The Curvy Carrot.

Inspiration for the Pizza as a whole came from: David Lebovitz.