Eggplant Casserole

I adapted this from one of McDougall's Monthly letter. I love this dish!!

1 good sized eggplant

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 large onion sliced into rings and separated

1 large green bell pepper sliced into rings

1, 4 ounce jar pimentos

3 cups of low salt tomato sauce

1 Jar of your favorite sauce (I used Classico Fire roasted tomato and garlic--very spicy!!)

basil

oregano

Parmesan or Parmesan substitute (see at end of this recipe)

Preheat oven 400. Peel eggplant and slice into 1/2 inch slices. (I would make a change here--I would slice them a bit thinner so they wouldn't take as long to cook in the oven part of the recipe.)Mix cornmeal and garlic powder and place in shallow dish. Dip the eggplant into cornmeal mix coating both sides. Place on a cookie sheet that has parchment paper on it. Bake 10 -13 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Reduce oven to 350. Combine the sauces and taste--adding more seasoning if desired. Pour 1 cup of sauce into a 2 quart casserole dish. Place slices of eggplant on top of sauce (they can over lap). Place onion rings on top, then pepper rings, and a scattering of pimentos. Cover with sauce and then repeat all of the layers. Cook uncovered for 50 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan substitute and cook 5-10 more minutes.Then cover and cook another 30 minutes or until your vegetables are nice and done.

Parmesan substitute:

1/4 cup slivered or sliced almonds

1 Tab. of roasted sesame seeds

1/8 tsp. salt (or you can reduce this)

1/4 tsp lemon zest

Combine in blender until fine crumbs. Refrigerate unused portion.

A similar recipe can be found here:

http://nannykimsrecipes.blogspot.com/2013/09/for-gluten-free-bread-crumbs-i-used.html