No Pizza, Mo problems!

When I went to film school in LA back in 2012, our easy go to meal was pizza – it was cheap, we didn’t have to cook and it lasted for a couple of days. Ah to be young and not worry about calories! 

One day, during an intense class discussing our scripts, I get a text from my roommate with these exact words – 

Roommate: Its an emergency! I need your help, please come home soon!!

As the oldest of my roommates, I always felt motherly and responsible for them so naturally I was worried.

Me: WHAT HAPPENED? Are you okay? I’m in class! I’ll be home as soon as I can.

Roommate: I ordered a large pepperoni pizza by mistake instead of a small and now I need help finishing it!!!

Obviously there was no greater emergency, so I rushed home and helped my roommate devour a large pepperoni pizza (I’ve since turned vegetarian but it had nothing to do with the pizza)

Now , 5 years later, back in the US, I still want all the cheese and all the pizza but when I did my research on processed bread, it kinda shocked  me  because One –  I can’t pronounce half the ingredients, Two – a store bought pizza slice is equivalent to almost my entire day’s food limit and I eat a lottttttt of food. Now, I still do enjoy a good slice of pizza every now and then but I needed to think of cheesy and equally good alternatives without all the carbs since the low carb life has been so good to me and my body. There’s the cauliflower crust pizza but that’s too much work and so I decided to experiment with eggplant slices. There’s a ton of recipes out there for mini eggplant pizzas, but I decided to try my own version. You can alter based on your preferences. So here’s the recipe
MINI EGGPLANT PIZZAS

Cook time : 35-45 min

Servings : 2

Diet friendly : Low carb, Keto, Vegetarian and anyone else who likes pizza

Ingredients 

1 large eggplant 

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Marinara sauce (homemade or store bought)

Toppings of your choice – I used red peppers and Arugula 
Method

• Pre heat oven to 375 degrees

• Cut the eggplant into half inch slices and sprinkle with salt on both sides. Rest the eggplant slices on paper napkins for 10-15 mins. This helps to extract excess moisture. Wipe the slices and place them in a baking tray.

• Spray with olive oil, pepper and Italian seasoning.

• Roast the eggplant slices in the oven for about 20 minutes, flipping them over at the half way point.

• Once it’s done (should look a little dehydrated and browned), top with sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice.

• Turn the setting to broil and broil your mini pizzas for about 5-8 minutes or till the cheese bubbles.

•  Finally, take out of the oven, top with chili flakes and devour this deliciousness.

Additional info

To give this another twist and make it an eggplant parm pizza, after step 3, coat the eggplant slices in egg white/mayo, dip it in some flour (any flour will do) and finally coat it with bread crumbs before roasting. Step 5,6,7 would be the same. It just adds an extra crunch to your pizzas.

You could add chicken, pepperoni or even soy granules to up the protein content.
Nutritional info  per serving 

Calories : 250 

Carbs : 15 grams

Fat : 8.4 grams

Protein :   10 grams