Very Simple and Delicious Roasted Eggplant

It took me awhile to attempt cooking eggplant. I found them to be slightly intimidating and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. Thankfully, I got over that! Here is a very easy, quick, and tasty way to roast an eggplant.

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees

- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease (Pam, olive oil, etc)

- Slice the eggplant half lengthwise, then cut each half into quarters. Cut each quarter in half to make a two shorter pieces

- Place the eggplant skin side down onto baking sheet. Brush each piece with olive oil and season with salt and pepper

- Roast in oven 25-30 minutes or until softened and golden brown

- Remove from oven and sprinkle with lemon juice

Ta da! Nothing hard or scary about this eggplant recipe. You can add them to rice or pasta dishes. Or eat them as a side to any meat entree. I even like to dice them up and add the cold leftovers to salads.

Delicious Quinoa Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp rasins  (dark or golden)

2 Tbsp dried apricots thinly sliced

1 cup cooked red or white quinoa

1 large lemon, squeezed

Salt to taste

3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 Tsp ground coriander

1/4 Tsp ground cumin

1/4 Tsp sweet paprika

2 medium ripe avocados, cut into 1/2-inch chunks

2 medium scallions, thinly sliced

3 Tbsp chopped almonds

Pepper to taste

- In a medium bowl, soak the raisins and apricots in hot water for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside

- Whisk juice from lemon in a small bowl with olive oil, coriander, cumin, paprika

- In a large bowl toss the vinaigrette  with the quinoa, raisins, apricots, avocado, scallions, and almonds. Season with salt and pepper to taste

This quinoa salad is delicious both warm and cold, enjoy! Thanks to Gloria for sharing this recipe with us.