Bacon, Eggplant Polenta Casserole

This recipe comes from Forks Over Knives Cookbook (p. 258).  I modified to suit the needs of my family.  I will give the recipe and what I modified and how you can make this recipe Vegetarian or Paleo.  If you follow the recipe as I will list, it is gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free.

This recipe is very versatile and you can modify to your liking.  I will list what I did, but it will be similar to what

Ingredients:

• 1.25 lbs of bacon, diced (nix this if you're vegetarian)
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 4 orange bell peppers, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 2 large eggplants, stemmed & diced
• 2 heads of garlic, minced finely
• 3 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1 medium tomato, diced
• sea salt
• ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 Tbsp garlic & parsley salt
• 1 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 batch Basic Polenta recipe, make this while you make the recipe.

Directions:

• It's best that you have everything diced before you begin cooking.
• In a large skillet, cook bacon on medium high heat until almost cooked.  If you don't want this dish as fattening, drain off as much of the bacon fat as you'd like.  I usually save the bacon fat in a glass jar and reserve for other dishes that require grease.

• Add the onions and garlic and cook for a couple minutes in the bacon.  If you're making this a vegetarian dish, then use a non-stick skillet and saute in the hot skillet.  You may add some oil that can handle high heat like coconut oil, olive oil (not extra virgin olive oil), avocado oil, rice bran oil, grapeseed oils are some oils that can handle high heat.  If you want the dish lower in fat, you can use some water instead.

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Add the bell peppers and eggplants.  Cook covered for about 15 minutes, stirring periodically.  If the food sticks to the pan, then you'll want to add a little more water or oil, depending on what you're using.

• After you cover the peppers and eggplants to cook, make 1 batch of the Basic Polenta recipe.
• Stir in the tomatoes. 

• Season with sea salt, ground pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic & parsley salt.

• Reduce heat to medium.  Cover.  Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
• Add the fresh basil and mix.

• Spoon into a 9x13 casserole dish, but for me, since our casserole dish is extra bulky and I know this will be two meals, I spooned into two 8x8 casserole dishes.
• Top with the batch of polenta and spread out.  The polenta needs to be warm and still a bit creamy for this to be spreadable.

• Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes.