Is it flatbread or pizza? I like calling these flatbreads, reminds me of dining outside in a cafe, sipping wine and munching on artisan flatbread sandwiches.

The farmer’s market had these gorgeous heirloom tomatoes and I wanted to make something yummy to celebrate the end of summer. These grilled flatbreads hit all summer birds with one recipe: grill, tomatoes, zucchini, and red peppers.

Make extra of these vegetables, they are great as leftovers and in sandwiches for the rest of the week.

Don’t have a grill? No worries, you can use a grill pan or bake in the oven.

Grilled Vegetable Flatbread

Ingredients:
1 recipe Sun-dried tomato spread, below
1 recipe whole wheat pizza dough, below or prepackaged pizza dough
2 large zucchini
1 large heirloom tomato
1 red pepper
1/2 onion
olive oil, for brushing vegetables and pizza dough

Make the sun-dried tomato spread, see below for recipe and instructions.

Preheat grill or grill pan to medium high. Divide the dough into four even pieces. Roll out dough into an oval shape. Really, it’s a flatbread so any shape will do. Brush with olive oil or cooking spray so dough won’t stick to the grates.

Prepare the vegetables: slice the tomato, zucchini, onion, and red pepper into thin slices. Toss with salt/pepper and oil. Place vegetable slices onto the grill or grill pan for 5-10 minutes per side until cooked. I used a vegetable basket for the onion and tomato slices so they wouldn’t fall through the grates. Alterantivly, you could roast the vegetables in the oven beforehand.

Set the vegetables aside. Once you start grilling the flatbread you want to have the vegetables and spread ready and close by.

Place the dough onto the grill and cook for ~7-10 minutes until lightly charred on the bottom and heated through. Remove from heat and spread sun-dried tomato onto non-grilled side. Place grilled vegetables on top. Place back on the grill, topping side up, for 3-5 minutes until warmed. Serve immediately.

Sun-Dried Tomato Spread:

1 can white-northern or canneleni beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp. water
1/4 cup parsley leaves
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 garlic cloves
salt/pepper

In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Yum!

There always seems to be a dish or two that I will forget to post in a timely matter. I made this for Christmas dinner this year, adapted from The Millennium Cookbook. We were supposed to make homemade pasta to go along with this sauce, but by the time dinner rolled around we were too hungry to wait! The braised garlic reminds me of my grandfather who would eat a few cloves of roasted garlic a day. I love this roasted spread on a piece of toasted bread. No need to worry about vampires or Twilight fans when you make this dish.

Tomato & Peas Carbonara

3 cups soy milk (original)
2 tbsp. nutritional yeast
1 tbsp. white miso
2 tbsp. fresh oregano or 1 tsp. dried
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. ground fennel seeds

4 large heads garlic
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp. rosemary and/or fresh thyme

1 lb. pasta
1/2 package sun dried tomatoes (not packed in oil), julienned
1/2 cup fresh peas or thawed frozen

Preheat oven to 350. Cut off the top 1/2 or so from each head of garlic so that the bulbs are exposed. Place the bulbs in a shallow baking dish. Add the vegetable broth, thyme and rosemary to the dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 90 minutes. Once cool, squeeze out the garlic of the top of the bulb. You should have about 1 cup.

In a blender or food processor add the garlic from above and the rest of the ingredients starting with the soymilk and ending at the fennel seeds. Transfer to a sauce pan and heat on medium heat until warm, stirring frequently.

Heat a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Once you begin to warm the sauce in the sauce pan, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of cooking water. Add the cooking water and the drained pasta to the warmed sauce. Add the peas and sundried tomatoes and gently toss together. Season with salt/pepper if desired.

Serves 6. Calories 368., 6g fat., 4.5g fiber., 17g protein

Our first course was this wild mushroom soup that was incredible. Also from The Millennium Cookbook

Cashew cream, chanterelle, lobster and oyster mushrooms, vegetables… how can you go wrong?

What did you make for Christmas Dinner?