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Hi Everyone, 

I hope you are all enjoying your Summer so far.

I know that many of you have vegetable gardens growing with tomatoes, basil, zucchini and eggplants. Well, here is a recipe to use some of your vegetable harvest.

Stuffed Eggplant Boats with Ground Beef and Mushrooms 

This is another winner in my book and a nice change from using your eggplants just for Eggplant Parmigiana or Caponata.

 This recipe works the best with small tender eggplants.

 Depending on the size of your eggplants, you may have some extra stuffing you could use for a quick lunch the following day. 

I hope you try this and enjoy.

Until my next post, stay well and make every day a celebration!

Diane

Ingredients:

2 small long eggplants

14 oz. mushrooms (I use a combination of white button, cremini and oyster)

2 (1 lb.) pkgs. of ground beef or ground turkey

3-4 fresh tomatoes, seeded and chopped

4 tbsp. grated cheese

6 basil leaves, shredded

Sprigs of parsley, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

Olive oil

Mozzarella cheese, shredded for topping eggplants

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Wash the eggplant, cut them in half lengthwise, and scoop out the flesh. Salt the cavities, put the eggplant in a baking pan, cover the pan with aluminum foil, and bake for 20 minutes (they should be soft but not mushy)

Trim the roots from the mushrooms, wipe the dirt off with a damp cloth, and dice them lengthwise.

Add the mushrooms and the flesh from the eggplant to a food processor and pulse just a few times to make small pieces to fill the eggplant.

Heat ¼ cup olive oil with the garlic. Season the ground meat with salt and pepper. Add the ground meat to the oil and sauté until it begins to turn brown.

Add the diced eggplant and diced mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes over a medium flame, then increase the heat and add the tomatoes and the basil leaves.

After 5 minutes, turn off the burner, stir in the parsley and grated cheese. Check the seasoning.

Stuff the hollowed out eggplant with the filling, top with shredded mozzarella and heat them in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Serve them hot or warm