When I moved to Vancouver from Calgary, 7 years ago, the first friends I met were a wonderful couple named Teri and Paul. Still my dear friends today, they taught me a lot about vegetables...being vegetarian and all. As I mentioned, growing up in Calgary, in a family of meat and potato eaters....cream corn was often the veggie of choice on the side....that sloppy, drippy, crap they shove into cans and call corn ( in utter defence of my mom...this was a favorite of dad's and ours (at the time...retarded palate to say the least)...and she has since expanded her veggie repertoire exponentially....to dad's chagrin I'm sure)
I am very grateful for meeting Teri and Paul, as they loved to cook and often had me over for dinner (still do!). At this time, I was still trying to figure out how to work my stove...but I thought, if I want to keep these people as friends, I had better have them over to my place for dinner. So I quickly learned how to make pasta with veggies....perfected the "salad" and continued to learn about my new world of vegetables. I must say, I am pretty darn good at cooking vegetarian meals now....better than I am with a lot of other things! And its a great way to make sure you and your hubby...and maybe even your kids, get all of the nutrients they need!
Ivan and I returned home last night after our fabulous trip to the Okanagan, and we were famished. So we did a brief drive by pick up at Golden Valley Farm Market 3045 West Broadway...we think this is the BEST along the strip, for price, selection and quality, loaded up on the weekly essentials and headed back home to make grilled veggie paninis.
This is such a simple thing to make...no recipe required...and if you double up the cheese, you can probably sell it to your kids as a grilled cheese.
Start with your favorite bread (we are health nuts during the week, so we eat chipmunk bread with no flour)Spread mayo, or goat cheese or pesto, or a combo onto one side and a sweet chutney on the other..ex. cranberry, fig (whatever you like) Slice your favorite veggies into half inch slices...last night we used Eggplant, zucchini and yellow pepper. Toss in a bit of Olive Oil, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper (add a wee splash of balsamic if you want some zip) then throw on the foreman grill (WHAT...you don't have a George Foreman Grill...GET ONE!)Grill until soft and tender (peppers will take the longest). Place veggies on one slice..top with your favorite cheese (swiss or fontina work well)..throw in a little fresh spinach if you like (we do)...close the sandwich, throw back on the grill for 3 mins or until cheese is melted and bread is nicely toasted...and voila! We ate these alongside some of that spectacular Okanagan asparagus..also grilled on the Foreman, and dinner was a healthy success! Getting your veggies in, really just takes some creativity. Hopefully my husband is reading this right now, so he will know how to make these himself. tee hee!
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment