Grilled Eggplant Mini Pizzas

I love grilled eggplant and always make extra to have on hand for snacking. It helps me not reach for cake or hunks of cheese. These mini pizzas also keep the carbs down for those of us trying to lose the middle (see previous post about my New Year's resolutions).

I was recently working on a Valentine's day post for Char-broil and threw some eggplant on for myself, which is why the photo below is blurry. The real shot was of a pepper on the grill, with the eggplant receding in the background. My point? Cut the eggplant in rounds, rather than lengthwise for this recipe.

The key to grilling eggplant is to lightly coat the slices with oil and salt, and let sit for about an hour before grilling. That gives the oil enough time to soak in and the salt enough time to firm up the eggplant.

Shake any excess oil off before grilling.

Grill for a few minutes on each side so that they are nicely caramelized but not falling apart. Chill for 15 minutes or up to four days to put in salads or to snack on, like these yummy mini-pizzas.

For the sauce, I simply smeared on some pesto (but tomato sauce would work just as well), then added grated mozzarella and Parmesan and broiled until the cheese bubbled.

Voila! It didn't even break my diet, which is more than I can say about a few minutes ago. Damn that chunky peanut butter. If only I'd had some delicious grilled eggplant in the fridge.