Mama's Eggplant Parmigiana

What to make? What to make? I looked in the fridge and there was a beautiful, shiny, purple, eggplant on its last day. :( My mom makes an awesome and easy eggplant parmigiana.  The cool thing about this recipe is that the kids can't really tell what's in it and they gobble it up.  I paired it with a green salad and homemade sweet potato rolls.

Eggplant Parmigiana Recipe
1 med-lg eggplant
2 cans diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
olive oil
flour
mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Pulse the tomatoes in a food processor or blender or smash them with a fork. In a small saucepan sautee the garlic in a little bit of oil then add the tomatoes and spices.  Then simmer on low until ready to use.  Peel and slice the eggplant in 1/2" circle.  My mom taught me that you should sprinkle each slice with salt and place in a colander in the sink for about 10 minutes.  You will notice that a brownish liquid will be draining from the eggplant.  Doing this rids the bitter taste that eggplants sometimes have.  Then rinse the salt off and place each piece of eggplant in flour.  Coat both sides of eggplant with flour.  It doesn't need a lot.  Then in a large pan, place a couple tablespoons olive oil and place eggplant in there flipping once when browned.  This shouldn't take very long, it only needs to be slightly browned on each side.  Place a little bit of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.  Layer the eggplant, a little sauce, and mozzarella, then repeat until all the eggplant is used up.  Top with mozzarella.  Cook for 30 minutes at 350.

The verdict: I love it of course.  Juliana and Dean both ate it all up.  Nolan found out that it had eggplant in it and he wouldn't even try it.  Ahhhh!! Steve liked it but he's not a man of many words.