Paleo Stuffed Eggplant

Eggplants are still large and plentiful at the local farms despite that it is mid October, so I couldn't resist buying one and trying a new recipe. This vegan sauteed vegetable recipe is easy, fast, and flavorful. It makes nice presentation and an interesting side dish. 


                             



I found this recipe on a blog called Flavors by Four, my Secret Recipe Club partner for the month of October.
The blog is authored by a mother daughter team. I found 76 vegetarian recipes to choose from, lots of gluten free friendly recipes, and lots of interesting ideas in addition to a variety of all kinds of recipes. The posts include great pictures and quality step by step tutorials.  I highly recommend checking out their blog. It is definitely a blog I'll be following.

I wanted to keep the recipe vegan, so I left out the cheese. I generously added some fresh basil ( still growing in my yard) and fresh thyme. My eggplant was huge, so I only bought one. It worked out well.

Ingredients:
2 medium to large eggplants ( I used one huge eggplant) 
2 tbsp olive oil, split
1 tbsp chopped garlic ( I used 2 tablespoons) 
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese ( I left out the cheese) 
I added 1/4 fresh basil and some fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cut both eggplants in half and scoop out the insides leaving a little eggplant by the shell to keep its shape. This isn't easy to do.  I did it with a knife and spoon. With a paper towel and 1 tbsp of olive oil, wipe inside of eggplant and set on baking sheet.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
In a large skillet, saute the eggplant insides which you have diced, the onion, garlic and green pepper.  Cook until all ingredients are tender about 10 minutes.  ( I needed to cook it for about 20 minutes) 

Fill each eggplant shell with cooked veggies.  Top with diced tomatoes.  Cook in preheated oven for 15 minutes. 

Variation for the eggplant recipe: 

Another variation: I added some cooked quinoa to the eggplant vegetable mixture to make it more filling if you want to eat it as entree with soup and a salad. The quinoa adds protein.

Just picked these from my garden

My cherry tomatoes are still plentiful in mid October

The story of my cherry tomato patch: 

I never planted cherry tomatoes. One day three years ago, we noticed a tomato plant sprouting among our bushes. By the end of the summer, it was full of cherry tomatoes. We tasted them ( hesitantly) and found them sweet and delicious. We marveled at where the plant came from. Maybe a bird dropped a seed the year before.. did we toss a cherry tomato in the bushes??

Well, the next summer, we had three plants again,  but the cherry tomatoes were bitter and the skin tough. We didn't really eat them.

Summer #3, this summer we have about three wild plants, and the cherry tomatoes are sweeter and better than ever... we do nothing to take care of them and they grow wild among our bushes.

If you are looking for a fun tomato plant to grow for kids, small cherry tomatoes are the ones to pick. They take very little care, are prolific, and keep coming back each year.For the past two weeks, we have been picking about 100 day from 3 plants..my grand kids love it.. and if you squeeze a few in the soil at the end of the season, they will come back..

This recipe may be shared on some of the following blog carnivals:    blog carnivals 
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