Healthy Eating - Eggplant?

This is a bit of a stray from my normal posts, especially for those followers out there. . . thank you for bearing with me. . .

I've been struggling with how to eat healthy in my daily life as I'm sure so many of you can relate. . . as a teacher I have time to truly enjoy eating fresh fruits and veggies in the summer and then struggle in the other three months of the year! So my husband and I went to a new local produce stand/market today and I fell in LOVE with Italian eggplant! I am an eggplant fan but sometimes they can be so big/awkward and I seem to always prepare it and cook it the same way and then sometimes I forget about it and then in the trash it goes a week later.

When I was perusing the market today looking for my regular purchases, I stumbled upon an eggplant jr. . . real name being Italian eggplant. Since it was so cute (and fresh) I decided to go for it.

So when I got home today with my aspirations of gourmet cooking that seem to surface whenever I go shopping. . . I took out some leftover spaghetti sauce, parm. cheese, and olive oil. I cut the eggplant in half (hot-dog way) and then I scored the inside, poured the olive oil, spaghetti sauce, and parm. cheese on the top of each half. Then I cooked it on 400 degrees for approximately 30 minutes. I let it set out for 5 minutes and then ate my wonderful lunch!  Check out the before and after pics!!!

If my memory serves me correctly, eggplant is available all year round so I am excited to have successfully cooked an eggplant AND have it be delicious! I'm hopeful in my future of healthy eating with mr. eggplant jr.!

BEFORE COOKING

AFTER COOKING: Ready to eat!