I have been wanting to make a dish with eggplant for sometime now.  I always see all these tasty looking recipes that include this botanical fruit.  Afterall, who wouldn’t want to use something that belongs in such a cool sounding category 🙂

Most of the recipes I’ve been intrigued by use some type of parmesan and red sauce turning eggplant into what would appear to be a great substitute for meat.  I plan on trying something like this soon.  However, last night I really wanted to try to keep the calories under 400 calories and, with the Cyclone basketball game starting at 6pm, we wanted to be done eating and cleaned up by the time the game started.  I needed to come up with something that wouldn’t take too much time to prepare, would cook on its own so I could get a few things done while it baked, and that would still taste great!

As a result I came up with Provolone Turkey Eggplant Boats 🙂 .  I didn’t actually name them until they were done.  As  I served them and took a picture I laughed at how the turkey burger looked like it was going for a ride on a boat…thus the name 🙂

This dish only contained 343 calories per serving, was delicious, and very filling.  It’s amazing how much of an eggplant you can eat for so few calories.  I also liked how the eggplant substituted as a bun.  Cutting down into the turkey burger and having a piece of eggplant with it really complimented the flavor.

If you’re not an eggplant fan, I would strongly recommend still trying my recipe for the turkey burgers.  I may do a separate post on this soon.  Then you could serve your own side with it like one of my favorites – Crispy Sweet Potato Fries.   You’ll notice in the pictures that I only made two eggplants but still made four burgers.  T.J. is a little picky and would not eat eggplant so he had fries with his burger while Mike and I enjoyed our botanical fruit… can you tell I like saying that 🙂

I liked the eggplant a lot more than I thought I would and plan on using it again, often.  I can see how it would taste great in a lasagna and compliment many other dishes.  Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did!

Here is what you’ll need on your grocery list:

**This recipe makes enough to serve 4 people at only 343 calories per serving.  Again, you’ll notice in my pictures I made only 2 eggplants and 4 burgers because T.J. did not want the eggplant.  If you’re not an eggplant fan, give the burgers a try…they’re delicious.  The whole recipe is written for 4**

2 medium-sized Eggplants

1/4 cup Egg Beaters

1/2 cup Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs

20 oz Extra Lean Ground Turkey Breast (I used Jennie-O)

1 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp Onion Powder

1/2 tsp Garlic Powder

1/4 tsp Pepper

4 slices Reduced Fat Provolone Cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Peel the skin off both eggplants.  I’m sure there is a much more “professional” way to do this, but I just used a potato peeler and it worked fine.  Once they are peeled, cut both eggplants in half lengthwise.

Pour Egg Beaters into a large shallow bowl and bread crumbs into a separate large shallow bowl.  Dip each piece of eggplant into the Egg Beaters, covering all sides, and then dredge all sides of each piece of eggplant in the breadcrumbs so breadcrumbs cover most of the eggplant.

Place all four pieces of eggplant on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

**The order in which you bake the eggplant and cook the meat will depend on your method of preparing the turkey burgers.  I have a double oven so I was able to bake the eggplant in my lower oven for 30 minutes at 375 degrees (flipping once halfway through) and broil the burgers on medium-high in my top oven for 15-18 minutes.  If it is nice enough for you to grill, you can grill the burgers while the eggplant is baking.  If you have one oven and can’t grill the burgers, either bake the eggplant first and set aside while burgers broil or bake your burgers along with the eggplant.  I would guess this coud take up to 30-35 minutes to bake the burgers so you may want to start them a little before the eggplant.  Turkey burgers should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

To make the turkey burgers, take your ground turkey –  I used the 20 oz package of Jennie-O Extra Lean Ground Turkey Breast – and place in a large mixing bowl.

Add soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, and pepper.  Mix together using your hands.  This is the fun part because you can get dirty 🙂  This is also a good spot to let the kids help if they’d like!

Make 4 (5 oz) patties and place on broiling pan, baking sheet, or grill…depending on how you’re preparing them.

Prepare with your preferred style of cooking to an internal temperature of 165 degrees.

When burgers are done, place them on top of each piece of eggplant and top burgers with cheese.

Place back in oven and bake for 3-4 more minutes until cheese is melted.

Hope you enjoy this healthy and filling meal!