It's week #19 of my 2018 challenge to try one new whole-food plant-based (WFPB) recipe each week. A reader recently commented that she was looking for good eggplant recipes. To be honest, eggplant is not something I make much, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to try something new!

This recipe idea comes from The Engine 2 Cookbook by Rip and Jane Esselstyn. I love this cookbook and have mentioned it before.  Rip and Jane are two children of Dr. Esselstyn, a renowned scientist and surgeon who has researched how diet can prevent and reverse chronic diseases. His work was featured in the documentary Forks Over Knives. If you're looking for a good WFPB cookbook, I definitely recommend this one!

What I like about this recipe (besides the fact that it's healthy):

• It's simple to make.
• The barbecue sauce, balsamic vinegar, and nutritional yeast give the eggplant a nice smoky/cheesy flavor.
• The rounds taste great alone (as a side) or in sandwiches.

What I ended up using/doing:

• 1 eggplant
• 1/4 cup good-quality barbecue sauce (Organic varieties are often free from high fructose corn syrup and artificial preservatives, colors, and flavors.) 
• 2 tsp balsalmic vinegar
• Nutritional yeast. I also tried the dairy-free "parmesan cheese" (used in the WFPB veggie pizza recipe I shared), which was also quite good!

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. 
3. Cut the eggplant into thin slices (about 1/4 inch thick) and place slices onto parchment paper.
4. I mixed the barbecue sauce and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl and used a brush to apply a thin layer of sauce to the eggplant slices. (This is a bit different from the method in the original recipe, but I found it to work best.)
5. After applying sauce, sprinkle nutritional yeast or "parmesan cheese" to the slices. 
6. Flip the slices and apply sauce and nutritional yeast to the other side. 
7. Bake the eggplant rounds, checking frequently, for 15-20 minutes, until browned. I flipped mine at 10 minutes and ended up cooking them for the full 20 minutes. They're best right out of the oven. 
8. Enjoy!

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This post was originally published on May 13, 2018.