Peanut Butter Mocha Cups

Look at me being all green and reusing baby food jars!  This Earth's Best jar is the perfect thing to hold, store and take along desserts and snacks.  It holds just over 1/2 cup and is so much prettier than plastic. 

And for the dessert, I was reading through the South Beach diet book recipes just because I love so many of them and came across my peanut butter spread recipe!   They are changing it up a bit to make it a dessert rather than a spread and replace the honey with stevia or splenda to make it low carb but it's still just as creamy and delicious.   After garnering inspiration from Cara and her cinnamon coffee fro-yo I decided to change this dessert recipe up a bit and make a mocha peanut butter cup.

Peanut Butter Mocha Cups

Serves 2

Printable Recipe

Appropriate for Phase 1 South Beach Diet

4 WW Pts

Ingredients

1 cup 1% cottage cheese, divided

2 Tbsp natural peanut butter, I used Naturally More, divided

4 packets sweetener of choice, I used Stevia

1 tsp vanilla extract, divided

1/2 tsp instant coffee, I used Starbucks Via

1/2 tsp Hershey Special Dark cocoa powder

Directions

1. Blend 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, 2 sweetener packets and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract until smooth.  Spoon into a small bowl.

2. Blend second 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, 2 sweetener packets, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract and add coffee and cocoa powder.  Spoon into a small bowl.

3. In two small jars or containers, divide the mixtures from each bowl evenly between the two jars, spooning alternate rounded tablespoonfuls from the first bowl and second bowl to create layers. 

Fiesta! Fiesta!

After having quite a birthday week with a shiny new 2 year old who has all her own opinions on...

clothing, whether to wear it or not, usually not,

food, whether to eat Orignial Tings Crunchy Corn Sticks (which I have dubbed "cheesy poofs") for breakfast or really any time of day 

bath time, whether to bathe or not; definitely not with Momma, Daddy, she'll consider it,

TV, whether to watch it at all times when at home on a rotating basis of Elmo, Captan Kevin Faver's Fishing Show, Golf or "drums" which would be some channel that shows videos of live bands, that would be a definite, YES as there is always at least golf on.

Needless to say, in order to get to work you have to leave the house by a certain time.  Trying to get a small person to do these things they do not want to do while having a huge tantrum can be challenging.  The best part of my morning lately is after I get her strapped into the car seat.  I sit in the front seat, crank the air and take a sip of coffee.  For a millisecond, ah, "me time".

Friday rolled around and I was having a particularly stressful day at work so, of course, my mind was daydreaming about what to have for dinner.  Ah ha!  A Mexican Fiesta!

I immediately emailed hubby about this idea at 9:32 AM and (thankfully he knows I think about food a lot and did not consider this weird) he said "Sounds Great!!"

Hence the tacos.

Dawn's Mexican Fiesta Tacos

Serves 4

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb organic, grass fed ground beef

1 1/2 onions, chopped

1 ear fresh corn, kernels removed

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 lime, juiced

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Spice Blend

2 Tbsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp dried oregano

Coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Shells and Toppings

1 pkg corn taco shells

4 ounces 2% shredded Mexican cheese blend

4 cups lettuce, sliced thinly

4-8 Tbsp corn and black bean salsa

4-8 Tbsp reduced fat sour cream

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the onion and corn, cook until soft, about 5 minutes. 

2. Add the ground beef and spice mixture.  In the pan, crumble meat and mix with spices and onion mixture.  Cook until browned, about 7 minutes or so.  Drain fat.

3.  Add black beans to pan and gently stir into beef mixture.  Taste and adjust spices as necessary.

4.  Place 2 taco shells on each of 4 plates.  Layer 1/8 beef mixture in each (eyeball it) and any of the toppings each person desires; salsa, cheese, lettuce, sour cream.

**Note:  A premade seasoning mix can be used; however, check the ingredient list to see what is in it. We were going to try and give some of this to our daughter and the premade mix had milk in it!  Also, change up the toppings any way you like.  Next time I might try some avocado and jalapeno. 

Grilled Chicken Soft Tacos with Pepper Onion Relish

Hi all!  Well another birthday came to a close yesterday.  33!  I am so lucky to have wonderful friends and family to celebrate with.   Last Saturday was a couple's dinner out for dinner, drinks and dancing, Tuesday night was dinner at Mandaloun Mediterranean (which I have not christened my favorite restaurant) and movie, Eat Pray Love and then yesterday was lunch at Flavors Indian with work friends.  This coming Saturday I have a family dinner at Outback Crab Shack!

With all that eating out I like to make simple meals at home in my down time.  Here I simply used some grilled chicken, left over peppers and onions, some shredded cheese I had on hand and fresh cilantro on a multigrain wrap.  It doesn't get easier than that!

This recipe utilizes leftovers and is so simple I can hardly call it a recipe.  I'll just post what I used below.

Grilled Chicken Soft Tacos with Pepper Onion Relish

Ingredients

Left over grilled chicken

Pepper Onion Relish

Fresh Cilantro 

Shredded Low Fat Mozzarella

Multi-whole Grain Wrap

Directions

1. Layer everything together and wrap!

Eating Well's Chili Rubbed Tilapia

I have made Clean Eating's Chili Rubbed Tilapia several times now and love it but I'm trying to cut back on the carbs for a bit (it has a banana black bean salsa with it) so I found an alternative with Eating Well's Chili-Rubbed Tilapia with Asparagus and Lemon.  Since I had eaten my asparagus with my eggs for breakfast I decided to give it a try with broccoli. 

I loved the chili and garlic together and the splash of lemon brightened the broccoli, however, the chili powder did color the broccoli a bit so when I serve this again I think I would go with the asparagus.  Notice I said "when I" serve this again.  Yum.

Chili-Rubbed Tilapia with Lemon and Fresh Broccoli

Altered from Eating Well's Chili-Rubbed Tilapia with Asparagus and Lemon

Serves 2

Printable Recipe

4 WW Pts

Appropriate for Phase 1 South Beach

Ingredients

 1 large head of broccoli, chopped
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic, powder
1/4 tsp salt, divided
2 Tilapia or other firm white fish fillets
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp lemon juice

Directions

1. Steam the broccoli until tender-crisp.

2. Combine chili powder, garlic powder and 1/8 teaspoon salt on a plate. Dredge fillets in the spice mixture to coat. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the fish and cook until just opaque in the center, gently turning halfway, 5 to 7 minutes total. Divide over 2 plates.

3. Add lemon juice, the remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt and broccoli to the pan and cook, stirring constantly, until the broccoli is coated and heated through, about 2 minutes. 

***Note:  To serve 4 double everything but the lemon juice


Nutrition


Per serving : 210 Calories; 10 g Fat; 1 g Sat; 1 g Mono; 48 mg Cholesterol; 3 g Carbohydrates; 24 g Protein; 4 g Fiber; 418 mg Sodium; 645 mg Potassium

Berry Parfait

My co-worker, Jolene, and I have parfait discussions.  After sampling several different varieties with fresh, whole fruit, sugar free jellies and pre-made parfaits We both decided we like the jelly-ish fruit in our parfaits but I prefer to make my own so I know exactly what goes into it.  I made a few with the Polaner, sugar free jelly with fiber, but when you read the ingredient list there are quite a few ingredients I have no idea what they are.  In keeping with the spirit of clean eating I came up with the idea of pureeing some frozen fruit with a bit of water and packet of stevia powder and the sweet-tart flavor was pure perfection! 

Berry Parfait

Serves 2

Printable Recipe
2 WW Pts

Ingredients

3/4 cup frozen mixed berries such as strawberry, blueberry or raspberry

1 Tbsp water

2 packet stevia

1 container double protein, non fat Honey-Vanilla Greek yogurt

2 heaping Tbsp Granola, I used Cascadian Farms organic dark chocolate granola

Directions

1. Puree the fruit, water and stevia in a blender or magic bullet.  Divide the mixture between two small cups.

2. Divide the yogurt between the two cups and spread on top of the berry mixture.

3. Sprinkle 1 heaping Tbsp on top of each serving.

Grilled Burgers, Mushrooms and Onions with Balsamic Tamari Butter and Goat Cheese

It's Monday once again. Back to the real world after a very fun weekend out for my birthday (which isn’t until Thursday but this was the best time for us all to meet up). We had a “couples night” out at the beach that started out at an amazing restaurant on the water called Marker 32 and then out to some fun bars at the beach for live music and dancing. We had an amazing time but I have come to the realization that I can’t party like I used to. I made it until 12:30 and everyone else outlasted the birthday girl!

The inspiration for the dish below is from one of my all time favorite sides, Cooking Light's Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter.  I decided to add a bit of organic tamari to the mix and it lent a distinctive saltiness to the dish.  

Grilled Burgers, Mushrooms and Onions with Balsamic Tamari Butter and Goat Cheese

Serves 4

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Burgers

1 lb lean ground beef

1 Tbsp Worcestershire

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp minced garlic

Coarse salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Veggies

1 large sweet onion, sliced into rings

1 8 ounce package of baby bella mushrooms

1 bunch of fresh asparagus

Cooking spray

Garlic salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Balsamic Tamari Butter

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp tamari

2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

4 ounces goat cheese

Directions

1. Preheat the grill to medium high heat.

2.  Mix the beef through garlic into a medium bowl and season with salt and pepper.  Mix gently with hands until just combined.  Divide into four equal burgers and spray both sides with cooking spray to coat.  Wash hands.

3.  Place onions through asparagus on a grill pan.  Spray with cooking spray, season with garlic salt and pepper.  Flip the veggies then spray with cooking spray and season.

4. Place burgers and veggie grill pan on grill.  Close lid and cook for five minutes.

5.  Turn side burner on grill or small burner on stove to medium heat.  Add butter to small saucepan and cook until bubbly and just browning.  Add tamari, honey and balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until burgers and veggies are finished.

6. Flip burgers and veggies.  Close lid and cook an additional 5 to 7 minutes or to desired doneness.  Remove both from grill and set burgers aside to rest.  Toss veggies with warm balsamic butter to coat.

7. Place one burger, 1/4 asparagus, 1/4 of veggie mixture on each plate.  Top each with one ounce of goat cheese. 

Curry Lentil Soup with Maple Tahini Tofu and Fresh Grilled Corn

I know I've mentioned the Pacific Foods Soups in the past and I just can't seem to get enough of them!  They are so light but have this velvety texture that is like silk on the tongue.  The flavors are perfect by themselves or pair well with just about anything; various fresh veggie relishes, cubed grilled chicken or even tofu! 

Curry Lentil Soup with Maple Tahini Tofu and Fresh Corn

Serves 4

4 WW Pts

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 carton of Pacific Foods Curried Red Lentil Soup (1 cup each)

1 package light firm tofu, pressed, drained and sliced lengthwise

1 Tbsp tahini (sesame paste)

1 Tbsp real maple syrup

2 tsp tamari

2-3 Tbsp water

Cooking spray

4 ears fresh corn

Coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions

1. Mix the tahini, maple syrup and tamari in a small bowl.  Slowly add in water until you get the desired consistency.  Add the tofu and turn to coat.  Marinate for 12 to 24 hours.

2. Preheat grill over medium high heat.  Spray the tofu and corn on all sides with cooking spray.  Season the corn with salt and pepper then add corn and the tofu to grill.  Grill each side of tofu 5 to 7 minutes or to desired doneness, turn corn when tofu is turned.  Cool tofu and cube, cool corn and cut off kernels off cob.

3. Pour soup evenly into four bowls.  Microwave to package directions (or on high until heated through).  To each bowl add the kernels of one corn cob and 1/4 of the grilled tofu.

Dawn's Kick Ass Pomegranate Sangria

I'm sure you've been hearing about all the antioxidant benefits of pomegranate juice.  I did some research about the origins and found that the pomegranate is native in Northern India to Iran and was introduced in California in 1769 by Spanish settlers. 

What is the reason for all this talk of pomegranates?  Well, the lovely people from POM Wonderful sent me an entire case of 100% pomegranate juice sangria the first thing I made with it! 

Do you have a favorite recipe you use pomegranate juice for?

So cool and refreshing as we sat outside and watched the kids swim in the dinosaur pool.

Dawn's Kick Ass Sangria

Sugar Free!

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 bottle merlot

1 1/2 cups clear rum

2 cups red grapes

1 lemon, sliced thinly

1 orange, sliced thinly

1 nectarine, sliced

1 cup sliced strawberries

2 cups POM Wonderful pomegranate juice

1/2 cup agave (or honey)

1/2 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 cans diet lemon/lime soda

Directions

1. Mix the merlot through pomegranate juice and refrigerate overnight if possible. 

2. Heat the agave, water, vanilla and cinnamon to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes to reduce.  Let cool and pour into the wine mixture.

3. Add the lemon/lime soda and serve immediately over ice.  Be sure to add some of the fruit into each glass as garnish.

A Thanks to The Cookie Momsters, a Gluten Free Bakery

For my daughter's birthday I made the kids plain vanilla cupcakes and ordered special ones from Cookie Momsters for her.  They were gluten, egg, soy, nut and dairy free and she loved them!  The frosting was sweet and creamy and the cake part was a bit more dense than a typical cupcake but still delicious!  The price was reasonable as well.  I bought eight cupcakes at $2 a piece.  I now keep them in the freezer and simply pull one out when another child has a birthday so she can partake in the special day as well!

The Cookie Momsters Bakery

5041 San Jose Blvd.

Jacksonville, FL 32207

(904)739-2080

http://www.cookiemomsters.com/

Mail order available.

The storefront is a bit hidden as they don't have signage above the glass but it was very easy to get to.

This is Janice.  She was so sweet and helpful!

The display cases feature some of the bakery items available including full birthday cakes!

They also feature gluten free entrees.

Delicious samples of some of the items are available.

Overall we had a great experience with this special bakery.  Thank you to Cookie Momsters for making my daughter's birthday really special!

Sloppy Joes with a Cuban Twist

Organic, humanely raised ground pork was on sale at my local natural food store, Native Sun.  But what to do with ground pork?

Most nights, after I get home from work, make dinner and clean up, my daughter and I watch a bit of Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals.  I can't say RR is my favorite to watch but she does have some simple and easy to follow recipes.  I came across one from her magazine for Cuban Sloppy Joes that utilize ground pork.

Perfect!

The lime and spices that go into the recipe really give it a unique twist.  We really enjoyed it!

Cuban Sloppy Joes

Altered from Rachel Ray's Sloppy Cubanos

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 

1 pound ground pork
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons ground coriander 
1 teaspoon allspice 
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar 
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 
Grated peel and juice of 1 lime
1 cup chicken broth
One 8-ounce can tomato sauce, or 1 cup left over pasta sauce
4 Arnold Sandwich Thins, toasted
4 ounces shredded 2% Mexican cheese blend  


Directions


1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the pork and brown, 3-4 minutes.  Drain fat.

2. Add onion, garlic, paprika, coriander and allspice; season with salt and pepper to taste and cook for 5 minutes.

3. Add the brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, lime peel and lime juice and mix well; stir in the chicken broth and tomato sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes.

4. Divide meat mixture evenly over the bottom half of the toasted sandwich thins, top with cheese blend, place top half of thin on top.   

BBQ, BBQ Everywhere

Happy Monday all!  I haven't posted in a few days as I was off from work (and therefore computers in general) to prepare for my daughter's second birthday.  I missed you all!

I decided to have a (supposedly) simple, easy cookout that turned into a rather large affair as two year old birthdays go.  We ended up ordering $200.00 worth of BBQ meats from our local Bono's BBQ but had a $100 off coupon!  Woo hoo!  With all that food we fed 20 + adults and 6 or so children with plenty of left-overs so the next night we had both of our parents back over for BBQ salads!

I didn't really want the typical olive oil and vinegar dressing to go with the BBQ salad, what sounded good was honey mustard dressing, so I turned to google and came across Alton Brown's Honey Mustard Dressing.

I used the exact three ingredients from his Honey Mustard Dressing recipe plus a bit of fresh ground pepper and that's it!

It was perfect with the BBQ meats over a simple salad.  Sweet and mustard-y and tangy.  Pictured here is some turkey and pulled pork.

Asian Panko Crusted Black Sea Bass

In a moment of inspiration I came up with a recipe on the way home from work last night and it is definitely a keeper.  Easy, light and really, really delicious.

I tend to shy away from Asian dishes for some reason.  Maybe because I haven't stockpiled a lot of the ingredients such as fish or hosin sauce.  What I do have is some wasabi mustard I came across at my local Fresh Market on sale.  I really wanted to use some of that in my dish so that is where the Asian inspiration came from.   On the side I whipped up a chunky mango salad that was dressed simply with Annie's Organic Goddess dressing.  It would have been great with some fresh cilantro but when I took mine out of the fridge it was looking rather sorry so I decided to forgo that ingredient.  If you try it out and it's good let me know!

Asian Panko Crusted Black Sea Bass

Serves 2

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

4 small sea bass fillets or other white fish

1 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp wasabi mustard

1 tsp soy sauce

2/3 cup panko (Japanese bread crumb)

1 Tbsp black and white sesame seeds

Cooking spray, I used organic coconut

Directions

1. Preheat the broiler to high.

2.  Mix the honey, mustard and soy sauce in a small bowl and then transfer to a shallow dish.

3.  Pour the panko and sesame seeds in a second shallow dish and mix well.

4.  Dip the fish fillets in the honey mixture and then roll in the panko.  Spray with cooking spray.

5.  Broil 3 to 4 minutes per side.

Chunky Mango Salad

Serves 4

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded and diced

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

3/4 sugar snap peas

1/2 cup baby carrots, sliced

3 Tbsp Asian dressing, I used Annie's Organic Goddess

Directions

1. Mix all mango through carrots in a medium size bowl.

2.  Pour dressing over salad and toss to coat. 

Fresh Corn

Good morning all!  We had a wonderful, busy weekend.  Friday night my hubby and I went out to St. Augustine for drinks at A1A Aleworks.  Saturday I took some birthday photos of my daughter as next weekend she will be two! 

We were out on the dock and a manatee hung around for about 10 minutes and surfaced about five times!

The rest of the weekend was spent prepping for her birthday cookout next weekend, giving the dogs a bath and doing errands.

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We can't seem to get enough of grilling fresh corn so we end up with a ton of leftovers.  I cut it off the cob and make salsas, soups and now even eggs!  I loved the texture it brought to the egg whites.  Enjoy!

Egg Sandwich with Grilled Fresh Corn

Serves 1

Printable Recipe Link Below:

https://sites.google.com/site/coastalcooking/egg-sandwich-with-grilled-fresh-corn

3 WW Pts

Ingredients

1 light multigrain English muffin

1 slice 2% American cheese

1/3 cup liquid egg whites

1/3 cup grilled, fresh or frozen corn

Garlic powder

Kosher salt, fresh ground pepper

Handful of arugula

1/8 to 1/4 cup canned fire roasted, diced tomatoes

Cooking Spray

Directions

1. Spray the cut sides of English muffin with cooking spray and toast.

2. Spray inside of a ramekin with cooking spray, add the egg whites and corn; season with salt, pepper and garlic.  Microwave for 1 to 1 minute 10 seconds on high.

3. Place English muffin on plate, top one side with cheese, egg white mixture, arugula and tomatoes.  Place top of English muffin over the tomatoes and enjoy your sandwich!

Blueberry Peach Parfait

Things have been crazy at work so I'll keep this short and sweet.

Because I now have granted blueberries the honor of being my favorite fruit I had to use some in another parfait recipe along with the leftover lemon-peach crème I had from the peachy parfait.

Blueberry Peach Parfait with Maple and Lemon-Peach Crème

Serves 1

4 points per parfait

Printable Recipe Link Below (as link function not working)
https://sites.google.com/site/coastalcooking/blueberry-peach-parfait

Ingredients
1/2 large peaches, chopped
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup peach lemon creme (recipe below) or sub additional yogurt
3/4 cup blueberry nonfat yogurt
1/4 cup Cascadian Farm® Organic Cereals Granola fruit and nut (or other granola)
2 Tbsp sugar free Maple Syrup

Peach Lemon crème (Optional)
Serves 4
1 peach, chopped
1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp honey

Directions


1. Blend peach, cottage cheese, lemon juice, vanilla extract and honey in a blender until smooth.

2. Layer, in each of four parfait glasses, the following:
Half of the yogurt
1/8 cup granola
1/8 cup Peach Lemon Crème
Half of the peaches
Half of the blueberries
1 Tbsp maple syrup


3. Repeat


*Notes: Step one can be made in advance

Peachy Parfait with Maple and Lemon-Peach Crème

I have been doing a lot of very difficult parfait testing.  Researching, thinking....tasting.   Yes, yes, all very difficult in the name of blogging but I do it all for you just because I love ya.

Here is the real suffering right here.  The peach parfait with maple and lemon-peach crème I created.

Peachy Parfait with Maple and Lemon-Peach Crème

Serves 4

4 points per parfait

Printable Recipe Link Below (as my link function is broken):
https://sites.google.com/site/coastalcooking/peachy-parfait-with-maple-and-lemon-peach-creme

Ingredients

5 large peaches, chopped (keep each peach separate most accurate measuring)
1 cup 1% low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 tsp lemon zest 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp honey 
4 cups low fat or fat-free vanilla yogurt
1 cup Cascadian Farm® Organic Cereals Granola fruit and nut (or other granola)
1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) sugar free Maple Syrup 

Directions

1. Blend 1 of the cut peaches, cottage cheese, lemon juice, vanilla extract and honey in a blender until smooth.

2. Layer, in each of four parfait glasses, the following:
1/4 cup yogurt
1/8 cup granola
1/8 cup cottage cheese blend
1/2 one peach
1 Tbsp maple syrup

3. Repeat

*Notes: Step one can be made in advance

Grilled Vegetable Panzanella with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Saturday we had a cookout at my friend Justine's new place at the beach.  I'm so happy for her as they are close enough to ride bikes to the beach and her mom and aunt live less than five minutes away. 

My assignment for the cookout was to make the salad.  Originally I was thinking pasta salad but then I thought of Panzanella and started grazing in foodgawker. 

Panzanella is an Italian salad typically made with day old bread, fresh veggies, herbs, vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.  There are so many possibilities!

 The one I came across was the grilled panzanella from Food o' del Mundo.  If you know me, I love grilling veggies, so this was right up my alley!

I prepped all the veggies at home.  (I didn't actually use ALL this corn)

Nabbed two multigrain baguetts.

Some gorgeous baby arugula.

Fresh basil, of course.

And some parsley.

On to the grill the veggies went.

The dressing was mixed up with half olive oil and half of this seasoned dipping oil from Williams Sonoma.

When we got to Justine's I cut up the mozzarella. 

Oops.  I bought the kind that comes in a roll.

The boys were outside grilling and of course my little one wanted in on the action.

Here is my amazing dinner.  Fish, red beans and quinoa and grilled veggie Panzanella.

I must say, each bite was even better than the next.  I'll definitely make the fish and the red beans and quinoa again as well as the Panzanella!

All the fresh ingredients with the balsamic dressing was pure perfection.

Just look at the big chunks of crunchy grilled bread.

Perfect for soaking up all the delicious dressing!

Grilled Vegetable Panzanella with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Serves 10

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

2 loaves multigrain bread, sliced, sprayed with olive oil, seasoned with garlic powder, salt and pepper
6 oz fresh mozzarella, sliced


1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 large red onion, peeled and quartered
1/2 Cup Kalamata Olives 
1 8 oz package baby bella mushrooms
4 ears of bi color corn
2 bell peppers one Red and one Green
2 squash, sliced lengthwise
2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
Handful fresh basil, chopped
Handful fresh parsley, chopped
Olive oil cooking spray
Coarse ground salt and fresh ground pepper
Garlic powder

Dressing:


1/8 cup olive oil
1/8 cup seasoned olive oil (or sub with regular olive oil)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 good quality balsamic vinegar or balsamic reduction
2 tsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp honey
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat grill to medium high heat and spray veggies on all sides with cooking spray.  Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper.

2. Grill veggies for 7 to 10 minutes, flip and grill an additional 7 or so minutes.  Remove from grill, cool and slice into bite size pieces.

3. Whisk dressing together as veggies cook.

4. Add sliced bread to grill.  Grill until just browning, about 5 minutes, turn and brown other side.  Remove from grill and cut each slice into quarters.

5. Layer arugula, veggies, fresh herbs, mozzarella, olives and dressing.  Add grilled bread and toss to coat.  Serve immediately.