Holy Crap I Just Made The Most Delicious Sandwich Ever

So I don't usually post my "clean out the fridge night" made up stuff because a) it's usually difficult to recreate and, b) they usually take a billion ingredients, but this one was SO GOOD, I wanted to share. I think most people have this stuff lying around... half used packages of tempeh and ground meat, half used onions, cans of breadcrumbs, etc, etc but if you don't... don't bother with this recipe. If you do, enjoy. I've broken it into several parts, so I apologize that the ingredients list is scattered. All I bought for this was the baguette, the mushrooms, and the eggplant.

Meatball/Eggplant Marinara Sandwich
-baguette
-fresh spinach (or whatever lettuce-like thing you have)
-breaded eggplant (see below)
-sauce/protein slop (see below)

Step one, breaded eggplant:

-one eggplant
-plain almond milk (or soy/hemp/whatever)
-bread crumbs
-basil
-oregano
-pepper
-oil

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the eggplant as thin as you can, and then dunk it in the milk. Season the breadcrumbs with the seasonings, and using small portions at a time, coat each eggplant slice in the breadcrumbs. The bread crumbs won't stick once the plate gets wet, which is why i advise doing the breadcrumbs in small batches. Put them on a cookie sheet greased with some olive oil and cook them at 350 til cripsy and brown. No need to use the entire eggplant. Save a portion of it for later. I used about 3 slices per sandwich (makes 3 sandwiches) and then ate some while I was waiting for everything else to cook, so maybe slice like 12 slices to bread and bake.

While that's baking... make the slop.

-olive oil
-half an onion, chopped
-some sliced portabellas
-half a package of Yves Ground "meat"
-1/2 a package of tempeh (I like the flax one)
-1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce of choice
-chopped garlic (or garlic powder)

Sautee the onion and garlic in the oil, add the mushrooms and sautee a little longer. Then add the tempeh. At this point you might need a bit more oil. Add the spaghetti sauce (about half a jar) and then the ground "meat" and simmer that for a little. Taste it and add more garlic/basil/oregano/pepper/salt as needed. You can add other italian-friendly veggies here like diced tomatoes, green pepper, etc. Whatever you have.

While that's simmering, take a baguette (I use the Whole Foods one sliced into thirds) and make sandwich sized cuts. Then cut it open almost completely (like they do at Subway) leaving one part attached like a hinge. At this point I scoop out most of the bread because I like to be wasteful, but it's up to you. Throw some lettuce (or fresh spinach like I did) on, followed by some eggplant slices, and then pile on the slop.

SHIT THAT'S GOOD.

I didn't think to take a picture until it was halfway devoured and it looks totally gross and unappetizing in the picture, but...

om nom nom nom.