[Recipe] Grilled Eggplant Panini

As an overseas students living on my own, eating well is quite an issue. Takeout is out of the question when it comes to that, and hence I had to turn to cooking. However, some days I would get back home after a long day at Uni and feel too tired to put an effort into preparing my dinner that I end up fixing up the same simple and rather unhealthy dishes, such as fish burgers, pizza or noodles. I honestly was starting to feel sick from repeatedly eating such food. And that's when my obsession with hunting for and collecting healthy yummy recipes started. The main criteria was for it to be simple and with a quick preparation time, since I would usually be ravenous and dead tired when preparing it and hence have no mind for something extravagant.

I'll begin with reviewing my current favorite (how biased is that :P)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
8 1/2-inch slices eggplant (about 1 small)
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
8 slices whole-grain country bread
8 thin slices fresh mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup sliced jarred roasted red peppers
4 thin slices red onion

Preparation:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high.

2. Combine mayonnaise and basil in a small bowl. Using 1 tablespoon oil, lightly brush both sides of eggplant and sprinkle each slice with garlic salt. With the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, brush one side of each slice of bread.

3. Grill the eggplant for 6 minutes, turn with a spatula, top with cheese, and continue grilling until the cheese is melted and the eggplant is tender, about 4 minutes more. Toast the bread on the grill, 1 to 2 minutes per side.

4. To assemble sandwiches: Spread basil mayonnaise on four slices of bread. Top with the cheesy eggplant, red peppers, onion and the remaining slices of bread. Cut in half and serve warm.

How delicious does that look? <3 Ok, I have to admit I kinda didn't follow the recipe 100%. In step 1, I combined the mayonnaise with an Italian herbs mixture that contained the following:

• Marjoram
• Basil
• Red Bell Peppers
• Rosemary
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Thyme

I left out the roasted red pepper altogether, because I simply do not like it. You could try using Colby cheese instead of Mozzarella, tastes just as yummy (I personally prefer Mozzarella). Lastly, after the final step of preparing the sandwiches, before cutting them in half I placed them back in the oven for another 2 minutes on low, so as to warm the sandwiches up. Oh and, if you are preparing for one, cut the amount of ingredients to a half or a quarter (depending on how much you eat).

Rating: 10/10 *two thumbs up*

Recipe Source (contains more nutritional information about the sandwich, as well as other people's twists to the sandwich)