Today’s post is very special. It was written by a very good friend of mine who not only shares my love of all things kitchen, but my general quest to eat healthy, tasty, and fun food! She constantly has great ideas and is always up for trying some new recipe or invention of her own. I asked her to contribute the following piece – which I hope you will find interesting and helpful! Any ideas that make daily cooking healthy and simple are ideas I like! Enjoy!

And BTW – please don’t make fun of the crazy Canadian spelling – that wouldn’t be neighborly!

-Kathy

————————–

Grilled Veggies

I have always been a huge fan of grilled veggies. They are so easy, so healthy and so versatile to cook with. My love of them though has become even greater as they have become the main focus in my cooking since my husband is completely vegetarian. It has always been a habit to chop up a head of romaine or some baby spinach with dinner as an every night side-dish but now I’ve had to become a little more creative in coming up with entrée’s that are tasty and filling but don’t come across as a pile of greens or limp vegetables on a plate. What is amazing is actually how easy this is to do!

I have 3-4 main vegetables that are staples in my fridge: zucchini, red peppers, eggplant and onions. Between these 4 easy little veggies and my beloved all-clad grill pan we can have an array of varied meals. I like to grill up a big batch on weekends, usually 2/3 peppers, 3/4 small zucchini, 1-2 Asian eggplants and a big old red onion or a small bag of shallots, which then provide the base for the upcoming weeks dishes. Having them pre-grilled not only brings out their flavours but also let’s me easily store them and throw something together quickly after work.

There are tons of easy dishes that can be made with little preparation using these base veggies (and of course many many others can be substituted and added). Some of the common dishes that are staples for us include:

• Goat Cheese Leek-Tart with layered vegetables – I particularly like red peppers against the goat cheese
• Mediterranean Pasta – sprinkle in a variety of finely chopped grilled veggies, a little spinach and/or artichoke and olives/capers with olive oil, garlic and feta – there are so many options in the pasta department; baked dishes which are great with grilled veggies, spaghetti with spinach, lemon & ricotta, penne with broccoli and pine nuts
• Vegetable Quiche/Souffled Omlettes – any form, crustless or with crust – mixed grilled vegetables or artichoke or spinach & feta
• Grilled Eggplant Lasagna with Goat-Cheese/Ricotta, tomato and black olives
• Indian Food – our favourite is a tikka masala with the staple veggies and tofu over basmati rice – but a spicy eggplant curry is also nice and easy
• Risotto – a staple in our house – ricotta with zucchini, goat cheese with any vegetables, 4-cheese risotto stuffed and baked in a pepper
• Burritos/Enchilada’s with mixed grilled veggies, black beans, corn, avocado, etc
• Veggie burgers (onion, mushroom, bean base) topped with grilled veggies
• Pizza – with any variety of grilled veggies. I also like to do a flat bread or puff pastry topped with some veggies as a pre-dinner snack
• Veggie Pad Thai with Tofu – also great to throw in broccoli & bok choy
• Soup – any type of pureed vegetable soup: broccoli, potato leek, tomato-red pepper, carrot-ginger, zucchini, butternut squash, etc
• Potato Rosti – topped with julienned grilled veggies
• Cheese Fondue with Grilled Vegetables – this is one of our favourites to entertain with. Without fail the cheese and veggies are always demolished.

Of course any of the above can be prepared non-vegetarian but still with a healthy dose of vegetables included. Any of these options with a good side salad or some sautéed spinach ensure that you can easily get your 5 servings of vegetables per day.