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Monday, August 8, 2011

Grilled Eggplant Pizza

Woo hoo! My first recipe post!
This recipe was inspired Miss Wisabus's Zucchini Mini Pizzas.
There are no pictures, but they really are not necessary because this is so simple.
You will need:
One eggplant
Pizza Sauce
Shredded Cheese
Pizza Toppings of your choice

First, slice your eggplant. I sliced mine to an average thickness, about the same as you would slice a tomato for big burgers. 
Next, grill one side of each eggplant slice. I used a panini press to do this, but a griddle or George Foreman grill would work just as well. This could possibly be done right in a pan, but removing the pizzas after they are topped might be difficult. 
Once the top side of the pizza is warm to the touch and you have nice grill marks on the bottom of each eggplant slice, flip each slice. 
Now you can start topping your pizzas. Put the pizza sauce, cheese and toppings on each slice. I usually take them off the grill once the cheese has melted because then I know that they have heated all the way through.

This is such a cheap, easy, and healthy meal! It tastes a lot like Eggplant Parmigiana, but because its not breaded, its healthier. It can also be low-carb, if you use a low-carb pizza sauce and low-carb toppings.  
For real, this doesn't take more than ten minutes to make and its sooo good! Nate liked it, too, and he liked that it was a healthy, yet tasty, dinner.

It's About Perspective

What a weekend! The past six days have been completely crazy.
Our plan was to drive to Jacksonville after work on Wednesday to pick up Ron (my father-in-law) and Andrew (my brother-in-law) from the airport and then spend the night at Aunt Sue's house before heading home. We were going to make a quick stop in Gainseville on Thursday to visit some friends to pick up a car that some friends were going to let Ron borrow. Unfortunately, on our way home late Thursday night, our car died in the middle lane of the intersection. We pulled over, realized that it was completely dead, and left it there for the night. We all piled in the car that Ron was using to head back to the Fairfield's house in Gainseville to spend the night there until we could tow our car in the morning. At that point, the car we were borrowing started to act up. Ron managed to get it working and we got to the Fairfield's. By now, I felt so overwhelmed. I was sick of dealing with car troubles. I knew that we would get home okay, but I didn't know how we would continue to get to work after that. It wasn't just the stress of the car problems that overwhelmed me. The kindness of our family and friends was so much more than I could have asked for. My dad and brother volunteered to drive up to Gainseville to tow our car back early the next morning. My dad assured me that we would figure something out and that we could borrow his car. The Fairfield's daughter gave up her room so that we would have a bed for the night. Mrs. Fairfield asked if she could wash my clothes for me and that was when I lost it. I just cried. I am continually surprised by how amazingly generous our families and friends are. I was thankful and just felt so undeserving. I was very stressed and on edge by the time we got home late Friday evening.
Here's the thing: while I was dealing with car problems, which seemed huge at the time, some friends of our family were dealing with much harder problems. My dad's friend, Achrol, was in a motorcycle accident on Wednesday. He was immediately bayflighted to a hospital in Tampa and remained in ICU all weekend. His sons, Jared and Austin, are my age and have families and responsibilities of their own. All of a sudden they were being faced with an actual life-or-death decision. I went to see Achrol on Sunday and the worst part was seeing the hopelessness in his boys' eyes. They wanted to be positive but were afraid to get their hopes up. Achrol went back and forth between getting better and getting worse. We were (and are) praying constantly. As of now, it seems that Achrol has no chance of improving. I have been told that he will be taken off of life support tonight.
Our car problems don't even compare to what this family is facing. I am thankful for the wake-up call and the reminder that life is fragile, but I wish it wouldn't have come this way. I pray that I will live my life with a Biblical perspective and will keep my faith in God alone. I will let the Word determine my attitude and perspective, not my circumstances.
Please join me in praying for Achrol, Jared, and Austin, as well as their families. They are going to need a lot of prayer, love and support in the times to come.