Daily Ups & Pounds: Eggplant Romano!

Don't mind the dumb-looking cheese.
I grabbed the wrong grater.

So, here in this house, we could eat Italian food every day. I mean, every. single. day. and probably never tire of it. The hubs and I both have family that came here straight off the boat from Sicily. We were basically raised on meatballs and sub sandwiches. And, sometimes, when you want a good Italian carb-heavy meal, you just have to say, "Mangia! Someone go get my fat pants!" So, I'm going to tell you about our delicious dinner from this evening. I'm not going to pretend, for even a second, that it was remotely healthy...or clean...or whatever. It was just delicious. That's all I'll give you. So, if you're trying to lose a few pounds this week, just go on and click out of this post and I'll be back with something healthy another day. Now, if you're a foodie who doesn't mind a non-MyFitnessPal-friendly indulgence now and then, listen up...

We all (even the kids) love eggplant parmesan (romano) in this house. I usually make a semi-healthy version (sautéing sliced eggplant in oil and then layering and baking with marinara, romano, and some mozzarella). My culinary skills have been diminishing since summer showed up. You know...salads, fresh fruit, burgers and veggies are DELICIOUS to eat all summer, but don't require too much effort. So, tonight, I thought I'd spend a little extra time.

My hubs was pretty much begging for angel hair pasta to be incorporated with tonight's dinner some way, somehow. I have this mental block, though, that tells me angel hair noodles just can't stand alone with sauce. They're too wimpy and need to be accompanied by something else substantial to be an actual meal. SO, I thought I'd bread some eggplant and fancy-up my usual recipe - just a little. SO, we ended up with breaded eggplant served over angel hair that was (and I totally am showing my own selfie here) SUPER DELICIOUS. You know it's good when all the kids ask for seconds (this was after they decided to practice stop-drop-and-roll because I filled the house with smoke while I was browning the eggplant, btw). So, without further ado...check it out!

Here's what you need:

One good-sized pretty eggplant (aren't they all pretty, though?)
Cooking oil (for the pan)
2 eggs
Flour (I really don't know how much - a bunch)
Pepper (1-2 tsp)
Garlic powder (1 tsp)
Panko Japanese style bread crumbs (MUST. GET. PANKO. - don't skimp!!)
Romano or parmesan cheese (don't buy crappy cheese, either!)
Mozzarella, shredded (about a cup)
2 jars of basil marinara sauce (yes, I'm using jarred sauce again. At least I'm not doing drugs [Pops].)

Here's what you do:

Fire up that oven and set it on 350.
Start warming up your skillet with oil.
Slice your eggplant (medium-thin slices)
Add flour and pepper to a gallon size zip lock. Put your eggplant slices in the bag; SEAL the bag (check it again to make sure it's really sealed); shake the crap out of the bag, covering the egg plant with flour.
Crack your eggs in a bowl and whisk
Add the bread crumbs, garlic powder and about 1/2 cup of romano to a pie plate, mix.
Pour about a quarter to one half a jar of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
Carefully remove eggplant from the bag, one slice at a time. Knock off any excess flour.
Dredge each slice in egg (both sides); then, coat both sides with bread crumbs.
Drop the slices into the hot oil in your skillet. Lightly brown the slices on each side and transfer to baking dish. You can probably do four slices at a time, depending on the size of your skillet.
Keep doing this until all eggplant is browned up. You will probably have to add more oil as you go. If you have to make a second layer of eggplant slices, add a little sauce in between the layers.
When you're finished browning the eggplant, add one more layer of sauce and top with mozzarella cheese.
Bake about 30 minutes, until cheese is nice and melty.