Healthy Recipes: Very Vegan Eggplant Pasta

In an effort to get healthy and do research on a project I decided to try a vegan diet. Vegan's do not eat any animal products including meat, fish, poultry and animal by-products like eggs and milk. During this experiment, which is still in progress, I am learning new recipes and making up some as I go. One of the first dinner recipes my family decided to try was Vegan Eggplant Pasta.

My significant other was the one who prepared the dish but I watched closely to learn how to prepare it in the future. Here is the recipe for Very Vegan Eggplant Pasta which is a tasty, healthy pasta recipe.

Very Vegan Eggplant Pasta

What You Need:

Fresh Eggplant- sliced ¼ inch thick or thinner

Low Fat Italian Dressing (Try an organic version!)

Sunflower Oil

Breadcrumbs (try crushing whole wheat crackers!)

3 White Mushrooms- Chopped

2 large slices Green Pepper- Chopped

Tomato- diced

Garlic Clove- minced

Spaghetti Sauce (Original or Garden Style)

Whole Wheat Linguine

Preparation:

In a sauce pot pour spaghetti sauce. Add half of the minced garlic clove, the diced tomato, chopped green pepper and white mushrooms to the sauce. Place a half cup of low fat Italian dressing in a small bowl. Soak eggplant slices one at a time for about 5 minutes each. Place a skillet with a little bit of sunflower oil on a burner over medium-low heat. Add the rest of the garlic clove to the sunflower oil. Dip each slice of eggplant into the breadcrumbs, coating both sides. Lay the eggplant in the skillet. Brown the breaded eggplant on both sides for approximately 5-7 minutes on each side.

Prepare whole wheat linguine as directed on the box.

Serve pasta with sauce and eggplant on top or on the side. A side salad makes a nice compliment to this meal.

The Very Vegan Eggplant Pasta was tested and approved by the whole household. My nine year old son found the eggplant to be delicious and wanted seconds and then thirds of the dish. It is a very filling meal. Another bonus was the kids loved the pasta and had no idea that it was healthier for them because it was made with whole grains.

I recommend this healthy eggplant recipe to anyone looking for an alternative pasta idea!

If you want to read more about the vegan challenge check out my blog 21 Day Vegan.