Alea's Eggplant Pizza Bites

"Last year I saw a picture of Erin's eggplant flowers, I resolved to grow them in my own garden. Not for the fruit, mind you, but for the flowers. I have never grown eggplant before because my husband always professed that it is the one vegetable that he did not like. He insisted that they taste like rubber tires and had brainwash convinced my children that eggplant was inedible. This spring, when visiting a local garden center, I saw some eggplant seedlings. Without doing any research, I impulsively picked the healthies looking plant from the bunch and brought it home. All I wanted was a couple of pretty purple flowers and perhaps a few eggplants that I would cook up for my lunch at the end of the season. As luck would have it, I bough a Hansel Eggplant whick is a profuse producer. I also happen to have the perfect conditions for growing eggplant: lots of sun, moist, well drained soil, and manure rich compost. I have not captured any great flower pictures, but I now have over 20 eggplants on my bush. As much as I like eggplant, I knew that I could not eat all that this bush is producing and decided I need to make converts of my children and perhaps even my husband! I can get my kids to eat anything that includes pizza in the name, so I began my campaign with Eggplant Pizza Bites." --Alea - Posted on www.5dollardinners.com

• Ready In: 50 mins
• Serves: 5
• Yields: 3 eggplants

Ingredients

• 3 (8 -10 inch)  fingerling eggplants, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1  cup  pizza sauce or 1  cup  leftover  spaghetti sauce
• 1⁄2 cup  shredded mozzarella cheese
•  basil, to taste
•  garlic powder, to taste
•  oregano, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Brush both sides of the eggplant slice with olive oil. Place the slices on a baking sheet and bake until browned and almost tender, approximately 4 minutes each side.
3. Spoon pizza sauce onto each eggplant slice. Top with cheese and sprinkle each slice with dried basil, garlic powder, and dried oregano. Bake until the cheese melts, approximately 4 minutes.
4. "My husband and kids made quick work of the pizza bites. Three eggplants down, seventeen to go!".