Kids Ate Eggplant!

We had 3 different types of eggplant from our CSA box. I did not grow up eating eggplant as far as I recall, so coming up with ideas for it is a bit challenging. I guess I think of it as a "grown-up food," which of course is a huge mistake. The moment you let your kids know that something is not for them, they either A) want it even more or B) won't touch it with a 10-ft. pole. Their reaction usually is based on watching whether or not you really enjoy the food you claim they cannot have. My son already begs for dark chocolate, and my daughter's eyes light up when she sees my nasty highly addictive diet soda (we all have our vices).

Back to eggplant. I immediately thought eggplant parmesan when I picked up the eggplant, but then I got the chicken nuggets bug and ran out of panko (Japanese bread crumbs). I had made mighty fine enchiladas with the eggplant and various squash last week, so I didn't feel like making more quasi-Mexican food quite yet. However, if I didn't do something with these eggplants soon, they would all end up in the compost. In fact, the reason we had 3 eggplants and not 4 is because one already became compost material.

How to make eggplant that my kids and husband would happily eat? I think this is why websites like AllRecipes.com and RecipeZaar.com exist. I spent a few minutes searching for eggplant recipes, ignoring all of the recipes that required breadcrumbs or looked complicated. At last I found the recipe to go with our Friday night dinner:

Cheesy Eggplant Pesto Stacks

Wow are these good! It was like having a pesto pizza without a wheat-based crust. I wish I could say I used our own pesto, but I didn't feel like thawing out the large amount Aaron made (amount unknown, but knowing Aaron it will be a lot). I wish I could say I even grated my own cheese, but I was feeling extremely lazy and used some store-bought grated cheese. Even with less than ideal ingredients, this dish was delicious and not at all hard to make. We all loved them and complained that I had not doubled the recipe.

My next adventure with eggplant will be a casserole that claims to disguise the eggplant. Personally, I don't think eggplant has so much of a taste as a texture, but I'm all about casseroles.