A few of you have asked for my veggie recipes, so I thought i'd post a few for everyone to try this summer. A lot of these make great homemade appetizers.
Cheesy Tomatoes
3 large on the vine tomatoes
olive oil
minced garlic
Italian seasoning
Basil leaves
salt
pepper
cheese of your choice
so what I do is oil the pan down, and put all of the ingredients on the tomatoes. The cheese is last..and the basil leaf goes on top. Then I throw them in the oven until the cheese is melted. I put it on about 425 but you can also use the broiler on low. I prefer parmesan or mozzarella cheese. You can do a cold version of this by using smaller cherry or roma tomatoes sliced and throwing in round mini mozzarella balls with all the ingredients and a bit of oilve oil...OR turn it into bruschetta by putting all of it on slices of french bread before putting it into the oven.
Lemony Avocados
Avacado-medium firm
lemmon pepper seasoning
Pam or similar
Slice the avocado, sprinkle lemon pepper on them. Spray the cooking sheet. put in the oven, around 400 degrees. you can also for variation wrap in bacon, drizzle in olive oil, sprinkle with cheese, use fresh lime or lemon juice. Be creative. I love avocado warmed up in the oven! I started doing this as a way to eat frim avocado. It seems they are always so hard when they first come from the store and who wants to wait days to eat them?
Stuffed Jalapenos
Several decent sized jalapenoes
cheese
bacon
pam
Stuff them, wrap them, cook them..spray the cooking sheet first. Wash out the seeds.. you don't need the bacon. I often do this without bacon..and with lime or lemon juice on it. You can also put hamburger meat in them with cheese..also pretty good. 450 degrees.
Cabbage Steaks
one medium sized cabbage
lemon pepper OR Italian seasoning
olive oil
minced garlic
slice cabbage into steaks. make sure cooking sheet is oiled. Drizzle cabbage with olive oil too. sprinkle seasonings on them and minced garlic. Put in the oven for abut 30 minutes..on 425. Check on it until its the consistence you like. I like mine just a tad burned. This gives it a crispy taste.
Baked Green Tomatoes
green tomatoes (make sure they are FIRM)
Panko bread crumbs
1 egg
flour
Pam
sriracha
mayo
Mix your flour and bread crumbs together. You can also put in any seasonings you might like. Mix up one egg and put in a bowl separately. Dip the tomato into the egg mixture and then the flour/panko. spray your cooking sheet. Put into oven at about 450 for about 25 minutes. again..i know its ready when it looks very brown because i like it a tad crispy. Mix the sriracha and mayo up for a super good dip[ping sauce. I find this WAY easier than frying up the tomatoes and also more healthy. Plus less mess without all of the excess oil to do away with. IS it just as good as deep frying them..no..however it is still very good. i really liked it. I had so much batter left I also did some squash this way and it was super good!
Spaghetti Squash
1 large spaghetti squash
So, when i first found out about spaghetti squash i was ecstatic. I thought noodles with half the calories?? I can now eat three times the noodles. Hooray. However they cost about 3 bucks a piece in the store. I'm currently attempting to grow my own
Making them took me a time or two to figure out. First of all you slice it in half and then clean out all of the seeds. When i first saw one I thought that WAS the noodles so I thought if i cleaned it out..there would be no noodles. that isnt the case so clean it out. Then put it in the over on 450 for anywhere from 30 min to an hour depending on how large your squash is. You will just have to check on it. once its cooked you need to get it cool enough to work with. so run it under cold water and let it sit. Then you will scrape the squash and you will see the noodles. At this point you can doctor your noodles up however you wish. Marinara, cheese, butter and garlic.. throw in bacon or beef. Seriously however you eat your noodles you can do it with this squash. Is it as good as regular noodles..um, do you think it is??? No, however an ENTIRE oven baked squash is only 240 calories. this means you can eat about 2-3 pounds of squash and not regret it. DIG IN.
Cucumber, tomato and onion salad
1 large cucumber
sliced roma or cherry tomatoes
1 small minced red onion
balsamic vinaigrette OR vinegar, oil, salt and pepper
Cut all of that up and put it in a covered bowl and let it sit in the refrigerator for 1 hr to one day. I thought everyone ate this sometimes in the summer. My boy friend had never heard of it.
Lettuce Wraps
You have probably had a variation of this before. Turn it into a fun appetizer by putting ingredients you want on a trey with some nice peanut sauce or chili sauce. Ideas include nuts, shaved carrots, onion, noodles, cucumber, and crispy noodles. just wrap in lettuce and enjoy. I prefer all ingredients cold.
