Make Your Own Italian Eggplant Caponata Still Looking For Progresso Caponata?

Eggplant Caponata makes a great appetizer.

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Childhood Memories
Pretty much every holiday dinner in my family started with an antipasto. Occasionally, part of the antipasto was eggplant caponata. Even though my family made most things from scratch, the eggplant caponata was made by Progresso. 

Most prepared foods that come in cans is terrible. But I will tell you, those tiny little cans of Progresso Eggplant Caponata were wonderful, but unfortunately they are no longer available.

I hadn't eaten caponata for years. But last year, my girlfriend Margarite made a huge jar  for me. It immediately brought back childhood memories of this tasty dish. I devoured the entire jar and immediately planted eggplant in my garden.

My sister-in-law Dianne has fond memories of her aunt Vera's caponata and recently shared that recipe with me. There are things I like from Margarite's recipe and things I like from aunt Vera's. So I made a trial batch using the best of both recipes and it came out great!

Eggplant from my garden

Too Much Oil
The only unhealthy thing about caponata is the copious amounts of olive oil used in most recipes. Aunt Vera's recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups and Margarite's uses 1 cup. My brother Peter gave me a tip about microwaving the eggplant before frying that significantly reduces the amount of oil needed. Although I rarely use a microwave for anything other than heating up leftovers, I think this trick works very well and it allows me to reduce the amount of oil to less than 1/2 a cup. That still sounds like a lot but this recipe fills a 1 liter jar, lasts for a very long time in the refrigerator, and is used sparingly on crackers or baguette slices.

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Eggplant Caponata Appetizer
Vegan, Dairy and Gluten Free
[Fills a 1 liter jar]

Ingredients
2 large or 3 medium eggplants
7 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 cups diced onion
4 stalks celery, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced (~1/2 cup)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup chopped pimento stuffed green olives
1/2 cup drained capers 
1 tablespoon pine nuts or walnuts, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons sugar
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce 
1/4 cup water or as needed
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Directions
Peel the eggplants, leaving on some of the peel. Cut into 1-inch cubes and place, in a single layer, on a microwavable plate covered with two layers of paper towels (you will have to do this in two batches.) Cover with a single layer of paper towels and cook in the microwave on high for 7 minutes. 

Microwave for 7 minutes

Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large enamel coated, non-stick skillet. Sauté the eggplant on moderate heat, turning occasionally, until tender and browned on all sides. Remove the eggplant from the skillet and set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the skillet. Add the onions, celery, and bell pepper and cook on moderate heat until tender and golden brown, about 15 minutes. 

Add garlic, olives, capers, nuts, salt, pepper and sugar and cook, stirring, for several minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce and vinegar.

Stir in the cooked eggplant and cook, covered, until tender. Add a 1/4 cup or more of water if needed.

When the eggplant is tender, remove the cover and cook a few minutes until the water is completely evaporated. Stir in 1 more tablespoon of olive oil, and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Cover and let the caponata sit in the pan for several hours to allow the flavors to develop.

Place in a 1-liter, air-tight jar and refrigerate until needed. 

Caponata will last for weeks in the refrigerator.

Serve at room temperature on gluten-free crackers or baguette slices. 

Miso And Ginger Glazed Eggplant - Vegan And Gluten Free!

Miso-glazed eggplant makes a wonderful appetizer or side dish

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Miso
When in a Japanese restaurant, I always order miso soup or have something that's been glazed with miso. But to be honest, I haven't cooked a lot with it at home. But this week I've been experimenting quite a bit with miso. Yesterday I failed to recreate a good miso soup but made a pretty good miso-tahini dressing (I'll blog that in the future when I perfect it). Today for lunch I used miso, in combination with grated ginger, to glaze and then broil eggplant, and it came out great! It took less than 30 minutes so it would be a pretty easy appetizer or side dish when entertaining. Although most people sprinkle sesame seeds on this dish, I use raw hemp seeds to get a bit of omega-3 into the recipe.

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Miso-Ginger-Glazed Eggplant     
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]
Requires large, shallow, roasting pan

Spray organic olive oil
1.5 pounds Japanese eggplant
1/4 cup unpasteurized, organic, mellow white miso
1 packed teaspoon finely grated, peeled, fresh ginger root
2 teaspoons sesame oil 
2 teaspoons gluten-free, low sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon organic cane sugar
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon raw hemp seeds
1 scallion, thinly sliced (1 tablespoon)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease roasting pan with olive oil or olive oil spray.

Slice eggplant in half lengthwise and place in the roasting pan. Spray the top of eggplant with olive oil. 

Place eggplant in the oven and roast until they soften, about 15 minutes.

Spray oil is a way of using much less oil on eggplant, a vegetable known for absorbing large amounts of it.
Sesame oil is used for the miso glaze.

While the eggplant is roasting, make the glaze by combining miso, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, and cane sugar in a small bowl. If it's too thick to spread, add a tablespoon of water. Set aside.

Westbrae white miso is made with cultured organic white rice, organic whole soybeans, water, and sea salt.

Remove the eggplant  from the oven. Spread miso glaze uniformly over the eggplant. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to taste. 

Spread glaze over the eggplant.

Carefully, wearing oven mitts, raise the oven rack to about 5 inches from the broiling element. Place the miso-glazed eggplant under the broiler and broil until brown and bubbly, about 4 to 6 minutes. Watch carefully so it doesn't char.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle the eggplant with hemp seeds and scallions, and serve immediately.

Sprinkle with hemp seeds and scallions.

Per serving: 117 calories, 5 g total fat, 0.6 g saturated fat, 356 mg omega-3 and 2,136 g omega-6 essential fatty acids, 5 g protein, 16 g carbohydrates, 7 g dietary fiber, and 762 mg sodium.

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Spaghetti And Tofu Stuffed Eggplant - Vegan And Gluten Free

Spaghetti makes a fun stuffing for fiber packed eggplants!

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Just for Fun!
I've been wanting to do something with eggplant lately so I decided to stuff them. Most stuffed eggplant recipes use chopped meat or breadcrumbs. I thought, "wouldn't it be fun to stuff them with spaghetti"?

Eggplant
This purple beauty is packed with fiber and is an excellent source of manganese, potassium, folate and a host of other vitamins and minerals. They do belong to the nightshade family of vegetables so some people avoid them. Being Italian, it's impossible for me to avoid nightshade vegetables which include tomatoes and peppers - how could I possibly cook without these wonderful vegetables? But some people are sensitive to the alkaloid solanine, contained in nightshades, which can aggravate joint pain in a small number of people.

Although these eggplants are organic, you can buy conventional with safety as eggplants are part of the "Clean 15" and are grown with very little pesticides.

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Spaghetti and Tofu Stuffed Eggplant
Vegan, Gluten Free (when made with gluten free spaghetti)
Requires a large pot, a 3 quart saucepan and a 9"x13" baking dish
[makes 4 servings]

2 eggplants (1 pound each)
4 ounces whole wheat or gluten free spaghetti
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped,
8 ounces firm, organic, non GMO tofu
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
2 tablespoons vegetarian nutritional yeast
1/2 cup diaya mozzarella style shreds
1 cup prepared marinara tomato sauce 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease the 9"x13" baking dish and set aside.

Prepare the eggplant. With a sharp knife, score the eggplant 1/2 inch from the edge. Be careful not to penetrate the bottom of the eggplant.
With a spoon, scoop out the pulp leaving enough eggplant to provide structure.
Save 4 cups of pulp, discarding any with too many seeds.
Place hollowed out eggplant, hollow side down, in a large pot on a steamer basket. Cover and steam briefly until they begin to soften, about 3 minutes. Don't cook too long or they will lose their shape and be difficult to stuff. Carefully remove the eggplant shells and drain on a paper towel.

Score eggplant and scoop out pulp

Leave enough eggplant to provide structure

Cover and steam briefly 

Break the spaghetti in half. Using the smaller, 3 quart saucepan, prepare the spaghetti according to manufactures instructions. Cook "al dente".
Rinse and set aside.

Use your favorite spaghetti.
For gluten free, use brown rice or quinoa spaghetti.

Chop the eggplant pulp into 1/2 inch cubes and place in the 3 quart saucepan with a half cup of water, black pepper, dried basil and salt. Bring to a boil on high heat. Lower the heat, cover and simmer until eggplant softens, about 5 minutes. Remove the cover and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated.

Cook eggplant pulp until soft and dry.

Heat the olive oil in the large pot. Add the onions and cook until they soften, 5 minutes. 
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, another minute.

Crumble the tofu and add to the onions. Cook several minutes, stirring constantly.  

Turn off the heat and stir in the ground flax and nutritional yeast until well combined. 

Add spaghetti and most of the mozzarella shreds, reserving 1 or 2 tablespoons for topping. Adjust salt and pepper if needed.

Mix all stuffing ingredients.

Place the eggplant shells in the baking dish and stuff each with 1/4th of the mixture.

Cover with marinara and sprinkle with the remaining daiya mozzarella shreds. 

Cover with foil making sure the foil does not touch the eggplant.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 5 minutes.

Stuff and bake.

Remove from the oven and serve. Each eggplant half is one serving.

A single serving provides 15 grams of fiber!

Per serving (made with whole wheat pasta): 326 calories, 11 g of total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 568 mg omega-3 fatty acid*, 1,677 mg omega-6 fatty acid*, 0 mg cholesterol, 15 g protein, 49 g carbohydrates, 15 g dietary fiber and 624 mg sodium. 

Per serving (made with gluten free brown rice pasta): 336 calories, 12 g of total fat, 2 g saturated fat, 561 mg omega-3 fatty acid*, 1526 g omega-6 fatty acid*, 0 mg cholesterol, 13 g protein, 49 g carbohydrates, 13 g dietary fiber and 629 mg sodium.

* This does not include any contribution for omega-3 or omega-6 fatty acids from daiya mozzarella shreds, nutritional yeast or the gluten free pasta since that information was not available from the manufacturer. 

Vegan Eggplant, Portobello Mushroom, Red Bell Pepper, Tomato Sauce On Gluten Free Corn-Quinoa Pasta

This low fat pasta sauce is packed with veggies.

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Do Not Fear the Carb
I know, it's January and everyone is on a diet, joining a gym and trying to shed the pounds they gained during the holidays. But that's no reason to totally give up pasta. Just make sure you don't cover it with a high calorie sauce and limit your serving of pasta to a few ounces.


Italian Americans Love their Gravy!
Somewhere between Southern Italy and Brooklyn, my Italian ancestors decided that sauce was "gravy" and instead of using it to delicately coat and flavor pasta, they decided to use it to drown it.
I'll never forget my first trip to Italy. I was at my friend Isabella's house and she decided to make pasta. She took out a very small saucepan to make the sauce. I wondered how on earth she was going to make "gravy" in such a tiny pot! That was probably the first time I had ever eaten pasta with the "appropriate" amount of sauce. Surprisingly, it was quite good.
I still love to use a lot of sauce on my pasta dishes but instead of making fatty, meaty gravies like my grandparents did, I make sauces that are packed with veggies that are low in fat and high in powerful plant chemicals. 

Instead of meat, I use plenty of veggies in my sauce.

Eggplant, portobello mushrooms, red bell pepper and crushed tomatoes make up this delicious low fat pasta sauce.

Selecting your Pasta
Pasta is only a problem in our diets when we select brands made from highly processed flour that is low in fiber. Pasta made from highly refined flour causes your blood sugar to spike which triggers a surge in insulin. Diets high in these "high glycemic" foods can lead to type II diabetes. 
If you are not sensitive to gluten, whole wheat pasta can be a good choice as a 2 ounce serving can provide 5 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein. If you are glucose intolerant, there are some very good brands that even a fussy pasta eater can enjoy.
My absolute favorite gluten free pasta is made by Quinoa Corporation. Their Ancient Harvest Quinoa Supergrain pasta is made from a blend of non-gmo corn flour and organic quinoa flour. A 2 ounce serving of their rotelle provides 4 grams of fiber and 4 grams of protein. Not quite as high in fiber as those made with whole wheat but higher in fiber than white pasta. Most important, they are safe for those who have celiac or gluten sensitivities. The best thing about quinoa pasta is that it has a good texture and can be cooked "al dente". It doesn't fall apart like many of the gluten free pastas made from rice and other grains.

Ancient Grain Quinoa makes my favorite gluten free pastas! 

If you can tolerate wheat, select a whole grain pasta rich in fiber and protein.

Eggplant, Portobello Mushroom, Red Pepper, Tomato Sauce
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes ~ 6 cups, enough for 1 pound of pasta]


1 lb eggplant, unpeeled, diced
Salt for sprinkling
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste
1 cup chopped onion
4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped red bell pepper (1 large)
1 large portobello mushroom, 1/3 pound, diced
1/2 teaspoon salt,
1/2 cup red wine (optional)
1 teaspoon dried basil
4 cups crushed tomatoes (32 ounces)
Black pepper to taste
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped


Place diced eggplant in a steamer basket and sprinkle generously with salt. Toss so the salt is distributed. Let the steamer basket sit in the sink for 15 minutes or until the eggplant sweats.  Leaving the eggplant in the steamer basket, rinse off salt and steam until cooked - about 10 minutes. Set aside.

Sprinkling the eggplant with salt and allowing it to "sweat" removes the bitterness. If you are using small eggplants that don't have many seeds (like Chinese, Japanese or Sicilian zebra or graffiti eggplants), you can eliminate this step and just steam the eggplant.

While the eggplant is steaming, heat oil to medium heat in a large saucepan and stir in red pepper flakes. Add onion and cook for 5 minutes.
Add garlic and cook for another minute.
Add red pepper, chopped mushroom and salt and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until peppers and mushrooms are soft. 
Add wine and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add steamed eggplant, basil, crushed tomatoes and bring to boil.
Lower heat and simmer, partially covered, for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reaches the desired consistency. 
Adjust salt and add freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Top with fresh parsley and serve on your favorite pasta.


Per 1/2 cup serving of sauce: 58.7 calories, 1.5 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 23 mg ALA omega-3 and 236 mg omega-6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.4 g protein, 10.9 g carbohydrates, 3.4 g dietary fiber and 199 mg sodium.

Vegan Eggplant And Red Bell Pepper Lasagna - Low In Calories And Fat, High In Fiber. Perfect For Entertaining!

Eggplant and  red bell pepper lasagna in a 9' x 13" tray

How to Turn Lasagna into a Healthy Family Meal
When you think about lasagna, the words, "healthy", "low fat" and "low calorie" don't exactly come to mind but you can truly made a delicious lasagna that's light and guilt free. 
I don't know what the Olive Garden restaurant puts into their lasagnas but they have managed to turn this traditional Italian delicacy into a "heart attack on a plate". Their own website shows one dinner serving of  their  "Lasagna Classico" has 850 calories, 47 grams of fat, (25 grams of which are saturated), and 2,830 mg of sodium, (nearly twice the daily recommended limit by the American Heart Association). Oh, and by the way, this was their light lasagna! Their "Lasagna Rollata Al Forno" weighs in at 1,170 calories, 68 grams of fat, (39 grams of which are saturated), and 2,510 mg of sodium. And this is before they come around and bury it in extra parmesan and hand you a basket of bread sticks. Is anyone wondering why their is an obesity epidemic in this country?
My yummy recipe has less than 300 calories per serving, only 7 grams of fat, (only 1/3 gram of which is saturated)! You can feel really good about serving this to your family and since January has been "weight loss month", you can even serve this for dinner and easily stay within your 1,200 calorie per day limit!

Ingredients for our veggie lasagna. For 30% more fiber, use whole grain noodles.

Today's recipe bulks up the layers with eggplant that is naturally low in calories, and a good source of dietary fiber, folate, potassium and manganese. It also uses red bell peppers and onions and has a creamy ricotta filling made from tofu. I like SprouTofu, from Wild Wood Organics that uses sprouted soybeans but any organic, non-GMO firm tofu will do.

Steamed eggplant high in fiber, folate, potassium and manganese

Eggplant itself is a very healthful vegetable. The problem is that cooks love to fry it up. Eggplant, for some reason, soaks up oil like a sponge so it's almost impossible to lightly sauté it. The secret to this dish and other dishes, like an Asian stir fry, is to first "steam" the eggplant. In the lasagna, the steamed eggplant will soak up the wonderful flavors of the sauce and the sautéed peppers and onions so you won't miss any flavor but you will cut out tons of calories.

Sauté onions and red bell pepper

Cut the red bell peppers into larger slices and chop the onion and sauté until soft. You can use other veggies too. Add mushrooms or artichoke hearts. Let you imagination go wild! 

Vegan seasoned ricotta 

For those of you who avoid dairy, you can make a ricotta substitute by blending tofu with ground flax mixed into water and some seasonings. It firms up just like ricotta and tastes great! I pulsed in a handful of fresh parsley at the end. You can also use fresh basil if you'd like but right now the only herb still alive in my garden is parsley!

Building the lasagna

Now's the fun part! If you are using a 9"x13" pan that's only 2 inches high, you'll only be making 3 layers of noodles with 2 layers of filling. I usually spread the tofu ricotta directly onto the cooked noodles and layer everything else on top of it. For some added nutrition (especially for vegan critical vitamin B12 requirements), sprinkle Vegetarian Formula Red Star Nutritional yeast over each layer. 

Serve with a raw tossed green salad and dazzle your guests!

Vegan Eggplant and Red Bell Pepper Lasagna
[makes 8 servings]
1 eggplant, approximately 1 1/4 pounds, sliced in 1/2" slices
A few pinches of salt for eggplant
1 pound firm organic, non-GMO tofu, cut into large cubes
2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds
1/4 cup water
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, (or to taste) 
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper, (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley (or fresh basil)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large red bell pepper, (or 2 small), cleaned and sliced
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil
12 (or more) regular or whole wheat lasagna noodles, cooked according to directions
4 cups prepared tomato sauce, unheated
4 ounces of your favorite vegan cheese, (more or less to taste)
4 heaping tablespoons vegetarian formula nutritional yeast


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 
Take out a 9"x13" baking dish.
Place a steamer basket in a large sauce pan or Dutch oven. Steam eggplant slices, sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, until a fork easily pierces them, about 6 to 8 minutes. You may have to do this in two batches. Remove from sauce pan and set aside. Empty water from sauce pan as you will be using it to cook the onions and peppers.
Place the tofu cubes in a food processor with an S blade.
Mix the ground flax seed in with the water and beat with a fork until well blended. Add salt, pepper and garlic salt and mix together well. Add the flax mixture to the tofu and process until smooth. Pulse the fresh parsley into the tofu ricotta just until mixed. Set aside.
In a sauce pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the red bell pepper and onion, together with the dried basil, until soft, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Set aside.
Cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions. Leave them a bit "al dente" because they will be cooked again in the oven. Drain, rinse and keep them in a dish or their cooking pot in cold water until needed.
To build the lasagna, put a cup of tomato sauce in the bottom of the 9"x13" baking dish.
Cover the bottom with 3 cooked lasagna noodles. If they have been stored in cold water, shake off the water before using.
Spread half of the ricotta mixture over the noodles.
Lay half of the eggplant, half of the red bell pepper and onion mixture, and one third of the cheese over the ricotta mixture. Drizzle a cup of tomato sauce evenly over the layer and sprinkle half of the nutritional yeast over the sauce.
Cover with 3 more lasagna noodles and repeat, using up all the rest of the ricotta mixture, eggplant, red pepper and onion mixture, and 1/3 of the cheese. Cover with another cup of tomato sauce and sprinkle the rest of the nutritional yeast over this layer.
Top with the rest of the noodles. Cover with the rest of the sauce, making sure to coat the noodles completely and sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese.
Tent with aluminum foil, making sure not to touch the top of the lasagna with the foil, and bake in the preheated oven until hot and bubbly, about 40 minutes. Uncover and cook for another 5 minutes.
Cut into 8 servings and serve immediately.


Per serving: 291.7 calories, 7.4 g fat, 0.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 14.9 g protein, 35.3 g carbohydrates and 7.9 g dietary fiber.


Per serving using whole grain noodles: 286.7 calories, 7.3 g fat, 0.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 16.1 g protein, 41.6 g carbohydrates and 10.2 g dietary fiber.


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Vegetarian Brown Rice Sushi with Roasted Eggplant, Peppers and Shitake Mushrooms

Sicilian eggplant, banana peppers and fresh shitake mushrooms.

Vegetables in large, shallow roasting pan.

Sushi being rolled on a bamboo mat.

A Sushi Dish that Appeals to All

This delicious, warm sushi roll has broad appeal. Besides the traditional raw fish lovers, this is a good sushi option for vegans and vegetarians. It is also a sushi alternative for pregnant women who are avoiding raw fish.

Brown Rice Sushi

The first time I had brown rice sushi was at a restaurant in Palo Alto that was actually named "Brown Rice Sushi". I was quite excited to think that I could eat one of my favorite foods and not have to eat white rice. It's not that I don't enjoy white rice, in fact I do. But from a nutritional point of view, I always opt for whole grain. Even though white rice is often fortified with many of the vitamins that were stripped out during the manufacturing process, cooked brown rice has much more fiber, about 4 grams per cup. White rice only has 1 gram per cup. We should all aim for at least 25 grams of fiber per day for optimal health and this recipe provides over 11 grams per roll. Fiber helps keep weight under control and can lower the risk of certain cancers, help prevent heart disease and diabetes while maintaining the health of the digestive tract. Besides being high in fiber, brown rice is also a very good source of magnesium, manganese and selenium. Although I know brown sushi rice exists, I've always just used short grain brown rice for making sushi and it comes out fine.

Oven Roasted Eggplant

Although eggplant is not a nutrient powerhouse, it is low in calories and high in fiber. Instead of the popular deep purple, elongated pear shaped "globe" eggplant, I like to use some of the smaller, lighter colored or streaked varieties available. They tend to be less bitter. I used 2 small streaked Sicilian eggplants also known as "zebra" or "graffiti" eggplants, when I developed this recipe. The long, thin Japanese or Chinese varieties would be really good to use also. One of the things to be careful about, when cooking with eggplant, is its affinity for oil. If you were to fry a slice of eggplant, it would soak up oil like a sponge so avoid fried or tempura eggplant in restaurants. They will be very high in fat and in calories. In this recipe, the vegetables are tossed in just a few teaspoons of sesame oil mixed with a few other seasonings and roasted with jalapeno and banana peppers, and shitake mushrooms. This gives the dish lots of flavor and not many calories.

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Vegetarian Brown Rice Sushi with Roasted Eggplant, Peppers and Shitake Mushrooms [makes four 8 piece rolls]

For the Sushi

2 cups cooked short grain brown rice

5 teaspoons seasoned rice vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

1/3 teaspoon sea salt

For the Marinade

2 cloves garlic, grated

2 teaspoons unrefined sesame oil

2 teaspoons agave syrup

2 tablespoons soy sauce

For the Sushi Roll

2 small eggplants (1 pound), cut into thin strips

3 red or green banana peppers (3/4 pound), cut into strips

8 fresh shitake mushrooms (1/4 pound), cut in half

4 small jalapeno peppers, cut in half

16 basil leaves (optional)

4 sheets Nori

Cook rice according to directions. While rice is cooking, prepare vegetables. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease a shallow, 12" x 14" roasting pan and set aside. Prepare the marinade by combining garlic, sesame oil, agave syrup and soy sauce. In a large bowl, toss the eggplant, banana peppers, jalapeno peppers and shitake mushrooms with the marinade until they are evenly coated. Spread all of the vegetables evenly in the lightly greased roasting pan and bake for 30 minutes, turning them after 15 minutes. Remove roasted vegetables from oven and set aside. When the rice is cooked, prepare the sushi rice. Heat vinegar, sugar and salt until it dissolves. Fold into the cooked rice while fanning it until it's sticky and no longer wet. To prepare the sushi rolls, place a sheet of Nori on a bamboo mat. Put 1/2 cup of rice over the Nori starting one inch from the bottom. Place one fourth of the eggplant, banana peppers, jalapenos, shitake mushrooms and basil leaves over the rice. Using the sushi mat, roll from the bottom up. After the bottom edge is over the filling, squeeze it gently with the mat and then roll to the top. Wet the top of the Nori and complete the roll. The moisture will seal it. Cut the roll with a very sharp knife into 8 equal pieces. Serve with extra soy sauce if desired.

Per roll: 235 calories, 3.8 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 8.5 g protein, 43.4 g carbohydrates and 11.3 g of fiber.