Hurray for summer! Hard to believe that it’s August already and, for parents of school-age children, time to start Back-to-School shopping and thinking about getting back on a schedule – eek! I have a feeling that, like me,  you’re squeezing as much fun as you can into every waking minute

I’m feeling a little guilty, not to mention lacking content for She’s Cookin’, because I’ve not cooked anything noteworthy during the past two weeks – my excuse this week is that The Don’s been out of town and I’m just not inspired when there’s no one to cook for! But I will share this quick and easy dinner that would also be perfect for a casual afternoon with friends after a pool or beach day. Resist the drive-through or take-out and have everyone make their own pizzettas with garden fresh veggies from the farmers market, a little of your favorite cheese, and add a gourmet touch with a special ingredient such as this luscious Truffle Aioli that I  up found at Williams Sonoma.

Fresh Ingredients

Oroweat Sandwich Thins

There is no recipe – use whatever you have in the fridge or that suits everyone’s taste. I decided to add a sweet pizzetta to the repertoire, so also carmelized a Vidalia onion and grilled a nectarine. Also not shown in the photo is the Antonello’s Arrabiata Sauce for the savory pizzettas. Use your favorite prepared marinara or pasta sauce. I made half of the pizzettas with red sauce and half with the Truffle Aioli for a “white” pizza.

For the pizzetta crusts I used Oroweat Whole Grain White Sandwich Thins which I love because in one little “bun” you have 5 grams of fiber and only 100 calories.

Prepare your grill to med-high heat and quickly grill the eggplant,  nectarine, and Oroweat Sandwich Thins.

The green, or in this case, purple pepper will take a little longer – turning so it is charred on all sides, then place in a paper bag to steam so the skin is easily removed.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Assemble the pizzettas and bake on the middle rack until the cheese is melted and the crusts browned on the edges, about 5 – 7 minutes.

Make it a party Prepare all the ingredients, display on decorative plates, and let everyone dig in to make their own pizzettas!

Enjoy

After a day of indulging in chocolate and a rich and delicious Easter dinner at Spencer’s in Palm Springs  I tried to keep it light and healthy the next day. A Roasted Red Pepper Dip served with vegetable crudites and Oroweat toasted 100-calorie multi-grain sandwich thins was perfect.

Ingredients:

3 red bell peppers, roasted

1- 15 oz. can of organic cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

2 garlic cloves, minced

Juice and zest from 1 lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoons pine nuts for garnish (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven or toaster oven to 450 degrees F. Core and slice red peppers in half, place on foil-lined tray and roast until skin is blackened. Allow to cool, remove skin.

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until fairly smooth.  Add more olive oil for desired consistency and salt and pepper to your taste.

I used two of my must-have kitchen accessories (pictured below) for this recipe: this Cusinart mini-food processor that I bought at Sur La Table and I don’t know how I ever survived without a microplane for grating lemon and orange rind! (Its great for ginger – so much easier than mincing and the stringy part is left on the microplane). Both of these essential items can be purchased at my Amazon store.

As my Tweet Deck pinged and drew me in and out and away from the work I was trying to do on Saturday, I was glad to see that one of Twitter’s power women, was tweeting about the PBS show with Robert Kenner, director of  ”Food Inc.” and Michael Pollan which aired in November, 2008.  It must have been a rerun but, nevertheless, it was relief from the usual tweets about everything you ever wanted to know and more about SM (social media).

You may have seen Food Inc., the documentary movie that takes a harsh look at everything we should know, but that giant food companies don’t want us to know about the journey that our food takes from the processing plant to the grocery stores of America.  Michael Pollan is the author of, most recently, In Defense of Food: an Eater’s Manifesto, and his previous book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006) was named one of the 10 best books of 2006 by the New York Times and Washington Post and was the recipient of the California Book Award and the James Beard award for best food writing, to name a few.  He is the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley and “few people reflect and report more astutely on the state of American food production and consumption than Michael Pollan”.  If you read these books, as I have, they will change the way in which you view food forever.

Anyway, that’s an intellectual introduction to a very simple recipe for my Mission Meatless series which I’ve launched in support of the initiative known as Meatless Monday.  Meatless Monday stems from the idea that YOU can change our food system and one way is to go without meat one day a week.  How does this help?  According to this  list of 10 things YOU can do to change our food system by  the website Hungry for Change, an estimated 70% of all the antibiotics produced in the US are given to farm animals which are then consumed by us.  If the entire population went meatless for just one day a week. think of how many fewer injected animals would have to enter the food chain and how much less secondary hormones and antibiotics you would be ingesting.

Two-Bean Taco Salad

*Easy       *Vegan      *Vegetarian    *Gluten-free

This takes about 15 minutes to prepare.  I keep these tostada shells stocked in my pantry.

Then all you have to do is heat the refried beans, drain the black beans, and prepare the veggies.

Tostada shells, warmed in the toaster oven

1 can vegetarian refried beans

1 can low-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained

1 pkg. prepared romaine lettuce

2 carrots, peeled and grated

1 avocado, sliced

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced

Spread the refried beans on the tostada shells. Top with romaine lettuce and arrange veggies on top, arrange cucumbers around the plate. Serve with purchased salsa. Add cheese if desired (not vegan).

Note: On second thought, the blustery weather we’re experiencing this week in SoCal calls for a warm, tasty, and satisfying bowl of  Vegetarian Minestrone.