And, of course, we watched the whole episode.  I kind of hate to admit that, but those shows just reel you in sometimes don’t they!?!  I will say that out of the three Kardashians, Khloe does seem to be the most normal.  Please tell me you have at least one embarrassing reality show you watch.

Let’s get to the good stuff..the food!

I made this dinner on Monday night but I just knew I had to dedicate a post to it, it was that good.  I subscribed a while back to Vegetarian Times magazine but this was the first recipe I made out of it. 

I don’t technically call myself a vegetarian and know many of you have seen lots of meaty meals on my blog.  I just think this magazine provides great ideas for using vegetables!  Case in point…eggplant involtini.  The only change I made to this recipe was not pureeing the stuffing…mainly out of laziness.   So I just gave those veggies a quick chop.

Grilled Eggplant Involtini (courtesy of Vegetarian Times Magazine )

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplant, 1 peeled and diced, 1 cut into 8 slices
• 3 tomatoes, halved and seeded
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained
• ¼ cup chopped basil leaves
• 3 tablespoons capers, drained
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 2 cups prepared tomato sauce

Ingredients:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss together diced eggplant, tomatoes, onion, and 3 tablespoons olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Spread on baking sheet and roast 25 minutes or until vegetables are brown and tender.

Heat remaining 3 tablespoons oil in grill pan over medium-high meat (the griddle worked wonders).

Cook eggplant slices on grill 3 minutes per side or until tender. Cool.

Coat baking dish with cooking spray or tinfoil. Spoon ¼ roasted vegetables onto edge of each grilled eggplant slice.

Roll eggplant slices into logs.

Spoon tomato sauce over eggplant rolls in dish. Bake 10 minutes or until tomato sauce is hot and bubbly.

Serve!

Swanky boy and I both really enjoyed this.  It reminded me of a favorite dish my mother makes..eggplant parmesan.  Except, we know this is a quite a bit healthier.

The only bummer is that I didn’t get to a specialty store to pick up nutritional yeast. I really want to try it out since every blog I read claims it tastes so similar to cheese.  I cheated and put a sprinkle of mozzarella on mine instead.

In exciting race news…

My coworkers and I made our shirts for our 5k color run this weekend.  I can’t wait!!

We went a bit appropriate.     Just as a hint, our team name is “that’s what she said!”

Thanks for reading!!

If you had to pick, which Kardashian do you like most?  What is your favorite reality TV show?

I think I have said this before, but I love these challenges cause I can experiment a bit more than I usually do on my blog.  And these chocolate nut baked oatmeal bars turned out pretty darn good.

Of course the focus is on healthy recipes, so I bought the good chocolate.  The pricey-but-worth-every-bite chocolate.

Now, why should you eat 70% or higher when it comes to chocolate?  Well the higher the percentage, the more of those healthy compounds called flavonoids.  

And when it comes to chocolate, be sure that sugar is not listed first on your ingredient list.

Chocolate Nut Baked Oatmeal Bars (makes about 12)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2  cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or any nut you liked)
• 2 oz 70% dark chocolate
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups skim milk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together dry ingredients.

Mix together wet ingredients.

Pour wet into dry. Stir to combine.

Pour into baking dish either coated in cooking spray or lined with parchment.

Bake for 40 minutes.  Let cool and cut into squares.

These were quite excellent!  I love that you get a taste of chocolate in each bite.

The ingredient list on these babies is pretty fabulous too.  With every taste you get fiber, protein, and healthy fat. 

If you want to add in more sweetness, dried fruit be a great addition.

Enjoy!!  I know I am.  As I write this post, I am munching on one with my coffee.  Not a bad way to start off the morning if I do say so myself.

For past Recipe ReDux Challenges, check out my page here.

What is your favorite healthy way to use/eat chocolate?