An exotic lunch experience

  Today is Friday & tonight we are going out on the town. I’m creating a special lunch that is easy healthy & delicious.

Here is what I served

Red Pepper hummus

Warm Spinach artichoke dip

Lavash

Cheddar, mozzarella and bleu cheese

Tomato with crumbled feta and aged balsamic 

              RED PEPPER HUMMUS
Garbanzo beans $1.00

Roasted red peppers $1.00

Lemon. $40

Garlic $.40

Olive oil $.30

Salt & pepper

              TO MAKE THE HUMMUS
I put it all in the food processor

First the

Garlic to mince

Then the beans

1/2 Lemon

2 Tbs olive oil 

roasted red peppers

(I leave out the Tahini that most recipes call for as I don’t care for it)

If you make this use your favorite recipe.

                     LAVASH  
 I’m serving this with home made Lavash. I use the King Arthur flour Multigrain cookbook recipe but there are many out there.

Making my own tastes wonderful and costs me literally pennies $.75

                     TOMATO 
I sliced a tomato $.35

Topped with crumbled feta $.75

And drizzled with a good balsamic vinegar

        SPINACH ARTICHOKE SPREAD

I combined spinach, onion, artichokes and mozzarella

With yogurt a touch of 1/ &1/2 salt & a touch of cayenne

Cooked for 20 minutes at 350 degrees then pulsed it in a food processor to

Make a light spinach artichoke dip $1.75 combined.

                CHEESE PLATE

I put out small portions of cheese

bleu cheese $1.00

cheddar $1.00

mozzarella $1.50

I love cheese counters where you can buy just what you need. Luckily cheese keeps well in the fridge and I use it often.

                       SOUP

Small portions of the leftover Carrot Ginger soup will work nicely to round out the meal. $0.00 (I love leftovers soup).

Total $10.20 give or take a few cents

      TIP OF THE DAY: Cheese is often thought of as fattening & touted to be detrimental  to ones cholesterol. The trouble is we love cheese. My solution has been too keep cheese in our diet but use it as more of a condiment. I add small amounts of cheese to a lunch with many components. I crumble a bit on a tart or a touch on eggs. I not only use less but we can buy the most flavorful exotic cheeses that might be a bit more costly but the balance is we buy less of it. Try a small amount of a really flavorful cheese rather than a 10 pound block of box store cheese and see if you agree.