Friday, September 10, 2010

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. 

No comments: