Category Archives: Meatless Main Dishes

Meatless Main Dishes are recipes that are hearty, healthy and contain no meat. For my non vegetarian friends and relatives, many recipes can be modified to include meat, and/or dairy.

More Adventures with Zucchini!

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It’s the peak of zucchini season and I wanted to find some yummy new ways to use zucchini that don’t involve turning on the oven.  These long, hot days make salad an appealing way to not heat up the kitchen.  This deliciously crunchy zucchini salad is a new favorite of mine, easy to prepare and keeps in the fridge for snacks and lunches.  No zucchini should go to waste, so get chopping.

Zucchini Salad

 Ingredients

2 cups of sliced zucchini julienned or whatever style you like (unpeeled please)

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

½ teaspoon minced garlic

4 teaspoons rice wine vinegar (it will be enough)

Freshly ground black pepper

Salt (optional)

½ cup chopped parsley and/or cilantro (my personal favorite)

Directions

Add all of the ingredients in a serving bowl and put in the fridge to chill.   It doesn’t get much easier than this.  Makes about 3-4 servings, so if you have more hungry mouths to feed, just make the quantities larger.   For a 1 cup serving it’s about 55 calories and less than a gram of total fat.

 

 

The Best of the Summer Garden!

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The farmer’s markets are bursting with fresh delicious fruits and vegetables, and it’s hard to  know where to begin.  The most generous of the vegies, of course, is zucchini, and as usual the big question is what to do with all that bounty.  Here are a couple of ideas that my family has always loved, and yes, we call it “hot dish.”

Zucchini Hot Dish with Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

4 small to medium zucchini, tops trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick (I slice them is rounds, but slicing them length-wise like lasagna noodles works too).

1 medium to large onion, sliced into thin rings

2 to 3 ripe tomatoes thinly sliced (Romas work best because they are meatier and have less juice)

goat cheese or feta crumbles

1/2 cup pesto

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Bread cumbs

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly oil a baking dish and lay down a layer of zucchini slices.  Next, scatter a third of the onion slices.  Drop some dollops of pesto on top of the onions. Sprinkle chunks of goat cheese on top of the pesto and then finish with third of the tomato slices.  Do a second layer of zucchini, onion slices, pesto and goat cheese followed by tomato slices.  Make a third layer, and put the last of the goat cheese on top.  Sprinkle with  bread crumbs and some parmesan cheese (gives it a nice crust).  Bake until the zucchini is tender and the bread crumbs are brown and crispy (about 35 minutes).  Let it rest and set for a few minutes before serving.

I usually serve this as a meatless main dish, but it would also work well as a side dish.  Try it and let me know what you think.