Eggplant and Meat Sauce Lasagna

It's summer, and while I want to enjoy veggies, I also am trying to avoid having too many starches in a day... so I decided to make an Eggplant and Meat Sauce lasagna... the Eggplant served as the noodles in place of pasta. I think it's very yummy so I'm passing on my recipe to you.

Eggplant and Meat Sauce Lasagna
1 Eggplant (mine was 1.25 lbs) sliced thin - think lasagna noodles
1 1lb lean ground meat (I used ground sirloin)
1 onion, chopped
1 28oz can chopped or diced tomatoes
1 6oz can of tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
Bay Leaf
2-3 garlic cloves
pinch of red pepper flakes
15 oz part-skim or fat free ricotta
16 oz reduced fat or fat-free mozzarella cheese
2 eggs

Slice eggplant and soak it in cold salted water to draw out the bitterness of the vegetable. (We also read to boil it for 5 mins in salted water after this and we did so, but shouldn't have... the noodles will hold up better and taste just fine after being soaked for about an hour)

Meanwhile, make the meat sauce. (*Note - you can sub your own meat sauce that you like) Brown the beef in a skillet over medium-high heat, cook - stirring to crumble until meat is no longer pink. Toss in the chopped onion and garlic and saute. Add in the spices (basil, red pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper to taste), then add the tomato paste and mix in. Add in the tomatoes and bay leaf and allow to simmer for about 25-30 mins. Add in 1/4 chopped fresh parsley towards the end of the 30 mins.

In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, eggs, 1 clove of garlic, salt, pepper and 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley.

In a lasagna pan - or deep pan of your choosing, layer the eggplant then ricotta mixture, then meat mixture(take the bay leaf out) then half the cheese and repeat.

Bake at 375 for 40-45 mins.

Enjoy! I know I did :-)