This week, I made the grilled eggplant steak for dinner, which did not disappoint. It was the recipe I was most excited to try, and it was incredibly realistic as a quick-to-make dinner. I could prep the vegetables ahead of time and only left the feta until before it was time to eat. The process took about 20 minutes and was perfect for just getting home from work.

I had never made eggplant before and was worried about grilling them properly. I was making it for my family, so I elected the first one to be a tester before serving the rest of them. I followed the directions exactly and was impressed with how it had a crunchy result and made a strong bowl to put the filling ingredients within. With being able to prep this all the night before when I had extra time, I could quickly mix the vegetables and scoop them into the eggplant as soon as it came off of the element, with the lemon juice being the finishing touch. As far as realisticness, this dish is one that I could see making time and time again as I ate within half an hour of getting home, and it was fresh as opposed to something frozen.

The grilled eggplant had a great texture against the fresh vegetables, and I made more of the Mediterranean Chopped Salad from last week to go with it. I prepared one eggplant steak and some salad for my lunch the next day, with both holding up and being great lunches.

I knew that eggplant was not a high-protein ingredient going into making it, but I had known that it was known for having a good amount of fibre, which kept me full for the rest of the night. Since there were chickpeas in the side salad, I allotted those as my protein. Next time, I would try incorporating the chickpeas into the filling if I did not have any protein in the meal. I would be interested to try some raw chickpeas and roasted ones in the eggplant steak to see which texture I liked better with the grilled eggplant, and I am excited to experiment with these in the future.

Overall, I was very impressed with this recipe. I enjoyed the freshness and that it kept me full. Most of all, I appreciated its practicality. It was a lot-prep meal that was quick to make and was delicious even the next day as lunch. It is a recipe I would see adding to my final cookbook as a staple in my diet.

Next week, I will make the Spinach Ravioli with Artichokes and olives. It is a dish I am very eager to try. I have never had spinach ravioli, but I love the beef version of ravioli. I am excited to try something new, especially one that is seemingly very low-prep and does well as a meal prep.