Low Carb Eggplant Parm Stacks

I haven't done cooking with eggplant but boy oh boy were these tasty. If you've seen my Mary's Meatballs post then you know the backstory. Mary was my "work mom" at my first job out of college and she is one hell of a cook.

We were accountants and we worked long, long hours. Mary, being the team player that she is, would bring in trays of her (should be) World Famous Eggplant Parm. Our team would devour it in minutes. She was MY work mom because I usually got my own mini tray... again this is why I got fat after college. 

So here we are years later, I hopped on the phone with Mary and we started talking keto variations. PS she is totatlly on the LCHF train as well. She told me exactly what to do with the eggplant so that it comes out as perfectly as hers. We brainstormed over how to bread it and what to stack it with. She wanted ricotta, which admittedly would have been good, but I'm just not a fan, so sorry ricotta fans! 

The Ingredients...

• 1 Eggplant
• 2 cups Marinara Sauce
• Fresh Mozzarella (2 balls, the big ones)
• 1 cup Parmesan Cheese 
• 1/2 cup Almond Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tablespoon Heavy Cream
• 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
• 4 ounces of Italian Sausage 
• 2 ounces Crumbled Pork Rinds 
• 1 teaspoon Oregano
• 1 teaspoon Basil
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Fresh Basil for garnish

The Steps...

1. Prepare your eggplant. You're going to want to give this step a solid hour. Eggplant retain a lot of water, so you need to give plenty of time to "sweat" out the water. Slice the eggplant into half inch slices. 1 eggplant should yield yield about 12 usable slices (3 per stack x 4 stacks). Lay the eggplant out with paper towels underneath, salt liberally, and cover with more paper towels. Let them sit for an hour. 
2. Prepare your batter.
   1. In one bowl: Almond Flour, Pork Rinds, half of the Parmesan cheese, oregano, basil, garlic powder, salt and pepper
   2. In another bowl: 2 eggs and heavy cream
3. Once you've patted your eggplant dry they should be good and dried out. Dip them in the egg mix,  followed by the breading batter
4. Bake in oven or fry in pan with olive oil. I prefer the frying method. I think they came out crispier. 
   1. If baking, 400F for about 15-20 minutes 
   2. If frying, on medium heat cook each side for about 3 minutes or until desired. 
5. Once you have baked/fried your eggplant now let's get to stacking! 
   1. In an oven safe dish lay a bit of olive oil and marina sauce down to coast the pan. 
   2. Stack your eggplant: eggplant>sauce>mozzarella>sausage crumbles>parmesan>Repeat!
   3. For the final layer smother with sauce and more cheese 
   4. Garnish with fresh basil
6. Bake for about 15 minutes at 400F or until cheese begins to brown
7. Serve and enjoy! 

The Macros...

Italian Flank Steak Pinwheels

I’ve been on a real pinwheel kick lately, but this one was just a mountain of flavor. It was definitely worthy of a post and flank steak is such a great cut of meat. Too good to pass up…

This was simple, a bit messy, but overall pretty easy. The hardest part is making sure to keep everything together. Twine can be a lifesaver in situations like this, pictured I used a skewer, because it was all I had at the time. This wasn’t the easiest approach but I learned my lesson and now I have a stockpile of twine and toothpicks.

I had a pretty good size flank steak, make sure to grab a cut with plenty of length and not too much width… that’s what she… stop. No more of that.

The rest is pretty much just roll it up and cook it… another innuendo that I’m staying away from.

Ok let’s talk ingredients…

• Flank Steak (at least a pound)
• Sun Dried Tomatoes (dry)
• Fresh Mozzarella
• Mushroom
• Spinach
• Parmesan Cheese
• Basil
• Cooking Oil

The steps…

1. Dice your mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and saute until soft. Do this by heating a pan to medium heat with a little bit of oil (tablespoon). Add the sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper.. Cook for about 5-7 minutes just to soften them up and draw out the flavors.

2. Roll out your flank steak onto a large flat surface and pound flat. Add a bit of salt and pepper, no more than ¼ teaspoon each.

3. In this order: lay down a bed of spinach, followed by sauteed mushroom and tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, and parmesan cheese.

4. Now roll it up and pin it! You can do this a few different ways. Twine is by far the easiest.

5. With twine still attached cut into desired size, I prefer about an inch thick. Seen above.

6. Use a skewer or toothpicks to keep the pinwheel tight.

7. In a hot, greased skillet (make sure it works with the skewer and won’t cause the meat to be elevated) sear each side until gooey and melty!

The Macros…