Versatile Veggies

I put the onions on first, then the pepper, then the mushrooms, and finally the eggplant.

Before this year, I used to buy grilled peppers at a local farm stand. They were expensive and utterly delicious. Then I learned that I could make them myself. So now, whenever I see red bell peppers on sale, I buy a batch and cook them all up at once. Last week, I also cooked an eggplant, some mushrooms, and a large sweet onion. It takes about an hour from start to finish but provides me with a lot of good eating. I used to marinate the vegetables before cooking, but now I just brush them with oil and add the seasonings afterwards.

After the veggies are grilled, I usually slice everything up and combine them with a bit of olive oil seasoned with minced garlic. I get at least three meals from a platter like this. The first day, I made a warm sandwich. I toasted some french bread, smeared it with goat choose, and piled on the vegetables. It's a slightly messy sandwich to eat, but a wonderful combination of flavors and textures.

The next day, I spread garlic hummus on a whole wheat wrap, covered this with cold roasted veggies, added chopped lettuce and spinach, and rolled it up. Another great sandwich, and very different from the first.

The final meal was pizza. I sliced plum tomatoes to the other vegetables, as well as a few chopped kalamata olives. Then I spread them over a pesto-coated pizza crust and sprinkled everything with Parmesan cheese. Finally, I added a bit of shredded mozzarella and baked the pizza for about 20 minutes.

I do eat meat, but not at every meal; these vegetables have the mouthfeel of meat: chewy, rich, and tasty. Investing a little cooking time to grill them made for very fast food later on. Furthermore, each dish had a very different taste and feel from the others, so I never got bored.

The Usual Suspects

I love casual invitations to home-cooked meals, partly because I love to see what other people throw together on the spur of the moment. We all have different household staples on hand, and we all have different dishes that we can create at the drop of a hat. For example, I never run out of coffee, tea, milk, cheese, eggs, crackers, and salad fixings. Cheese omelet, anyone? In addition, I always have pesto in the freezer or refrigerator; some type of pasta; canned tomatoes; premade sauce; and fresh garlic. Another staple in my house is Boboli pizza crust.

I usually buy two of the whole-wheat large size, because they freeze well and thaw very quickly. The crusts are a perfect vehicle for a variety of leftovers. I  begin with a heaping tablespoon of pesto, spread all over,  followed by some type of tomato sauce. Then I improvise.

Last night, I threw on some fresh chopped tomatoes and a whole bunch of leftover grilled vegetables: eggplant, onions, mushrooms,  and bell peppers. I sprinkled some Parmesan over everything, threw on some mozzarella, and baked the pizza directly on the oven rack for a few minutes longer than recommended. The resulting dish is wonderfully tasty, filling, healthful, and easy to eat. In addition, the entire meal takes less than half an hour to prepare.