Preheat your oven to 415º and line two baking sheets with parchment.

Remove the ends from the eggplants and toss them out. Slice the eggplant into 3/4" discs. Arrange them on plates or trays and sprinkle salt over them. This allows the eggplant to sweat, release flavor, and become more tender. It makes a huge difference! Allow them to rest for 30 minutes.

Place the slices on the baking sheets and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt and pepper on each slice. Put sheets into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, flipping the slices halfway. They will start to dry out, so drizzle with more olive oil when you flip them.

The eggplant is done when the slices are very soft.

While the eggplant is baking, you can spice up the tomato sauce.

In a medium bowl, add your tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, red chili flakes, basil, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon sea salt. Most tomato sauces are already quite salty, so taste your sauce to determine whether you need more salt.

Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a skillet and heat to medium.

Add sliced onion to the pan and sauté for 3-5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and sauté for another 3-5 minutes, finally, add garlic and sauté for about 2 more minutes.

Decrease over temperature to 400º and spray a 9" x 13" baking dish with olive oil and line the pan with the eggplant slices.

Slice tomatoes into 1/2" thick rounds.

Pour half of the tomato sauce over the eggplant and crumble half of the goat cheese over the sauce. Next, spread the sautéed mixture evenly over top.

Add sliced tomatoes and the remainder of the sauce. Top it off with the other half of the goat cheese, crumbled.

Sprinkle sea salt and black pepper and lay thyme sprigs across the top.

Bake 30 minutes, until the goat cheese starts to turn golden brown.