Roasted Cauliflower

What do you do with cauliflower beside chop it up and eat it on a veggie tray?...Roast it! My mom and good friend have both loved this recipe when I made it for them. It is a perfect fall and winter dish. (This recipe is from Cooking Light)


Mellow, slightly sweet roasted garlic and onions round out the flavor of cauliflower.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
Ingredients

* 2 teaspoons olive oil
* 2 medium onions, quartered
* 5 garlic cloves, halved
* 4 cups cauliflower florets (about 1 1/2 pounds)
* Cooking spray
* 1 tablespoon water
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (*see note below)
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, optional

Preparation

Preheat oven to 500°.

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic; cook 5 minutes or until browned, stirring frequently. Remove from heat.

Place onion mixture and cauliflower in a roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Combine water and mustard; pour over vegetable mixture. Toss to coat; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake at 500° for 20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with parsley.

Note: * I have made with spicy brown mustard because I don't have dijon and it is dynamite!

Eggplant Schnitzel

Eggplant is great for you (high in fiber,folate, potassium, manganese, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, thiamin, niacin, Vitamin B6, pantothenic Acid, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, and phytonutrients) but I have struggled to find scrumptious low fat vegetarian recipes. Please share if you have any eggplant recipes that fit this category. I adapted this one from recipezaar.com.

Ingredients
* 1/2 to 3/4 cup milk (see note below)
* 1 large egg
* 2 cups dried Italian seasoned breadcrumbs (*see note below)
* 1 Aubergiune eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds

Directions:
Whisk the milk and egg together in a shallow bowl. Spread the breadcrumbs on a large plate. Dip the eggplant slices into the milk mixture, then coat the slices with breadcrumbs. Shake off the excess crumbs, and place on a prepared baking sheet. Spray the vegetables with cooking spray(or you may brush with some olive oil**), and bake 10 minutes. Flip vegetables, and spray again with the cooking spray (or more olive oil). Bake 10-15 minutes more, or until the eggplant slices are tender and breadcrumbs are dark golden brown.

Top with hummus and/or roasted red pepper tapanade and serve with a huge mixed spring green salad! Yumidy!

Notes:
*Use whatever milk you use - rice, soy, almond, cow, etc.
**Use whatever you have or any gluten-free substitute that you may use for breadcrumbs. I have made my own Italian breadcrumbs by adding Italian seasoning and basil and kosher salt to regular breadcrumbs or matzah meal.
**I have made this without the spray or olive oil. The cooking spray just helps the browning process.
***This recipe can also used with portobello mushrooms, as well.

Grilled Portabellos

Grilled portabellos! Better than steak (at least to me)!
This is a fast and easy main dish that I made up from reading a bunch of recipes online.

**Choose nice not wilted portobello caps
**Scrape gills and center out using a spoon
**Gently wash the portobello
**Drizzle with olive oil, tiny bit balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with salt and pepper
**Grill on medium high for about 7 minutes per side. Watch to make sure they do not burn. I haven't tried it but I am sure you cook these on an indoor grill pan or in the oven.

Top with with hummus (white bean pesto hummus is great- recipe to come) and roasted red pepper tapenade (on the stem side and a luscious green side salad, Mediterranean style is tasty, tasty (various olives, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, sliced pepperoncini peppers, etc.)

buon appetito!

Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

This tapenade is the best! I use this for a topping on Mediterranean inspired salad instead of dressing, as an accompaniment to grilled portabellos and eggplant snitzel, as a dip for cut raw veggies like zucchini, cucumber, carrots, etc. I first bought some at Trader Joe's and it is really good. It is in a small jar- Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade. I looked for a recipe to be able to make it myself. I found one (allrecipes.com) and tested it on several friends and they thought it was good. So here it is:


Ingredients

* 1 (7 ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
* 1 (6 ounce) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
* 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
* 1/3 cup olive oil
* 1/4 cup drained capers
* 4 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the red peppers, artichoke hearts, cilantro, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, capers, garlic, and lemon juice. Pulse until finely chopped and the mixture is blended. Transfer to a serving bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving to blend the flavors.

Notes:
**Be sure to mince or chop the garlic and you might want to reduce the amount of garlic the first time.
*I put the capers in the processor first to finely mince and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Let me know if you make it and come up with other uses! Enjoy!