Grilled Veggies with Vinaigrette

This is a great summer time dish using all the colorful produce the season offers. I served this with home made mac-n-cheese, tofu and dinner bread.

Grilled Veggies with Vinaigrette (from cooking light)

Vinaigrette:

2 TBS white wine OR red wine vinegar

2 TBS extravirgin olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp dijon mustard

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Salad:

1 bundle asparagus, trimmed

2 portobello mushroom caps, washed

1 - 2 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise

1 - 2 yellow squash, cut in half lengthwise

1 small red onion, cut in half

1 red OR orange bell pepper, halved and seeded

2 TBS fresh chopped basil 

1 TBS fresh chopped chives or green onion 

1 TBS fresh chopped parsley

crumbled farmers cheese or queso fresco

1. Prepare grill to medium - high heat

2. To prepare vinaigrette, combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.

3. To prepare salad, coat veggies with cooking spray or olive oil. Place Veggies on grill rack, grill about 4 minutes on each side until slightly blackened. Remove veggies from grill and let cool slightly. Cut veggies into 1 inch pieces.

4. Add veggies, basil, chives, parsley to vinaigrette. Toss to coat and add cheese. 

Mozzarella Chicken Sandwich

It has been a while since I've updated this blog, sorry. We had this sandwich a few weeks ago and it was really yummy and not to difficult to make. The recipe called for store bought pesto, but I decided to make my own and have included a rough sketch of the ingredients if you choose to make your own as well.

1/4 cup sun-dried tomato pesto

1 package veggie delight chicken patties

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp olive oil

1 loaf ciabatta

3/4 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced

1/2 cup sliced bottled roasted red bell peppers

1 large tomato, sliced

Pesto:

fresh basil - maybe 1/4 to 1/2 cup

1/4 cup marinated sun dried tomato

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup walnuts

2 TBS low fat mayonaise

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Place ingredients in food processor and process until combined well (play with the ingredients as this is from my memory and I did not actually measure anything)

Sandwich:

1. Saute veggie chicken in olive oil, salt and pepper until browned. Remove from heat, slice.

2. Preheat broiler.

3. Cut ciabatta in half horizontally. Place bread, cut sides up, on a baking sheet. Broil 3 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove bread from pan. 

4. Spread pesto mixture evenly over cut sides of bread. Arrange the chicken slices evenly over bottom half. Top chicken evenly with cheese. Place bottom half on baking sheet, broil 2 minutes until cheese melts. Arrange bell pepper and tomato over cheese, and cover with top half of bread. Cut into 4 sections and eat!