June 1st, 2008 -- Posted in Food, Recipe, Vegetarian |
Here’s an inexpensive tasty healthy sandwich that can serve as an alternative to the usual ham and cheese sandwich. Be forewarned, I’m not one who measures when I cook, so use your own best judgment.
Ingredients
Eggplant
Tomato
Onion
Feta cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Whole grain wrap
Organic whole grain flour
Basil
Organic romaine lettuce (or whatever greenery you have)
What to do:
Thinly slice the eggplant and brush a little olive oil on both sides. Season with salt, pepper, basil and garlic powder.
In a hot skillet brown the eggplant until it’s nice and crisp on the outside while remaining soft on the inside. You don’t want an eggplant chip, nor do you want mushy eggplant. If you’re having a difficult time in getting the outside crunchy, sprinkle a little organic flour on the eggplant before putting it in the pan.
If the eggplant is burning too quickly, lower your heat and add a drip or two of extra virgin olive oil.
While the eggplant is cooking, thinly slice the tomato and a few slivers of onion (more if you like a lot of onion). Season the tomato with olive oil, salt pepper, garlic and basil. Let it sit until the eggplant is done. Put a little extra olive oil because the seasoned oil tastes great drizzled on the sandwich.
Once everything is done all you have to do is combine the ingredients.
Place the wrap on a plate; add a layer of lettuce, then eggplant, then the tomato onion mixture. Sprinkle feta cheese and drizzle some of the seasoned oil over the sandwich before you roll it up.
Depending on the size of the eggplant and tomato, you can make several sandwiches. They’re healthy, delicious and much less expensive than buying a pound of cold cuts.
Give it a try.
A couple of variations:
Add sautéed tofu, salmon, or chicken. The possibilities are endless (use your imagination)
May 27th, 2008 -- Posted in Recipe, Vegetarian |
Summer is here and the grill comes out of hibernation and my seasonal meat eating debate begins. I love grilled food! I especially love grilled vegetables. Vegetables seem to gain a while new personality once they’ve spent a few minutes on the grill
That’s all well and good, but being raised in a meat eating family, a grill usually means lots of meat. There’s something about eating perfectly seasoned and grilled chicken wings on a charcoal grill. It really doesn’t get much better than that (in my opinion).
In my never-ending attempt to improve my health and eating habits, I decided to forgo my usual turkey burger this Memorial Day and make veggie burgers instead. Being that it was my first attempt I didn’t think they were quite ready to be unveiled on a charcoal grill so I cooked them inside.
For all of you veggie burger makers out there, I welcome any tips, pointers and ideas on how to make the veggie burger consistency better. They tasted just fine, but they weren’t ready to go on a grill because their consistency would cause them to eventually fall in between the bars on the grill and become fire starter.
Here’s what I used:
- Package of dry navy beans
- Package of dry pink beans
- Tofu
- Onion
- Red and green pepper
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Cayenne pepper
- Brown rice
- Garlic powder
This is what I did:
After washing the beans, I boiled them in water seasoned with Goya chicken bouillon in a pot until they softened. The brown rice was left over from a meal I served earlier in the week so I didn’t have to cook it.
In a food processor I processed the beans, tofu, onion, pepper and seasonings. Actually I pulsed it so that it wouldn’t turn into liquid mush. I seasoned to taste and then took a scoop full and cooked it in a hot skillet with a little oil.
Although they tasted very good, they were a little too loose so I threw in a little organic whole-wheat flower to tighten it up a little. All that managed to do was give it a crab cake type of texture.
I sprinkled a little cheese on top to make it a veggie cheeseburger and called it a day.
My daughter is hooked. She said that next to French Fries she thinks that veggie burgers are her favorite meal (this from the queen of chicken nugget and fries).
My goal is to create veggie burgers of a grilling consistency. I don’t want to be the one stuck in the kitchen cooking veggie burgers while everyone else is outside having a great time around the grill.
Any suggestions?