Hi guys,

I'm still a little new to this WOE, and though I've gotten better, I'm still facing the same problem that's plagued me from childhood: finding ways to enjoy vegetables. I can eat more now than I used to be able to (at one point, anything green tasted horrible to me; my taste buds have really matured), but I'm still not really ENJOYING them enough to get them into my diet as much as I should.

So I was thinking today how great grilled veggies with melted mozzarella cheese would be - you know how things just pop into your head? I was watching one of my coworkers eat something unidentifiable and Dominican, but it had melted mozzarella on top, and one thought led to another... Anyway, as a twenty-something with limited cooking experience (and much of that experience was with baked goods that are no longer valid!), I'm trying to figure out how I could do something like that in a New York apartment.

First of all, how would one go about easily preparing grilled vegetables? Would a George Foreman grill do the trick? Is there a better way to do it indoors? (Needless to say, an outdoor grill is out of the question).

Secondly, what kinds of vegetables would be good for something like this? I know my mom used to grill peppers, but I'm not a pepper fan, I tend to prefer my veggies a little softer and not quite so hot. I was thinking squash and zucchini... what else might work?

So far I've done dinners consisting of salad with raspberry vinagrette and goat cheese and walnuts (yum!!!), baked chicken, scrambled eggs, and steak. So I do have basic cooking skills and have not yet had any kind of great disaster but I do need to bone up my low-carb 'quickie meals' for those nights when I just need something quick, hot, yummy and low-carb!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

You can get the same kind of "grilled" effect by using your broiler.

Cut the vegetables fairly thickly, about 1-inch, oil well, season with salt, pepper and any herbs that you like and lay on a shallow pan. Broil as close to the heat as you can, turning over when they are flecked with brown on one side. Turn over to cook the other side. Sometimes broiling on one side will do the trick. You want them soft, but not falling apart.

Eggplant, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, large mushrooms - trim the stem flush with the cap - and sweet bell peppers all broil well. Eggplant will take the longest to cook. You can also split endive and radicchio in half and broil it too.

Karen

Thanks for the suggestion! Sounds good... guess I need to get a broiler! Did I mention I'm still building my kitchen? I have a blender... a waffle iron... pots and pans... cookie sheets... cooling racks... no broiler yet, though.

In the meantime, while I'm waiting for my budget to allow new purchases (I have very tight pursestrings right now), are there any other suggestions?

Thanks for the help!

Do you have an oven/stove? Almost all ovens have a broiler. They're either on the top of the oven or on the bottom. With the bottom ones, there's usually a drawer that pulls out to put the food on.

If you really want to live it up, get a food processor and ice cream maker.

Karen

You can also pick up a stovetop grill. It is a cast iron contraption that sits on top of your stove burners, We picked one up at Target or Walmart for about 20 bucks. It works well and you get those nice grill marks for presentation value. You just need to make sure to keep it well oiled. We grill about any veggie that we can. Coat well with a good olive oil and your favorite seasoning. My absolut favorite is red onions. sliced abot 1/2 inch thick then slide wooden toothpicks into the side of the slice to hold it together. 3 will do it nicely. good luck

Thanks for the advice and help! Boy do I feel stupid about that broiler thing... but you know, in all the years I was growing up, I don't think I ever saw my mother use the broiler on our oven? And she went to college on a Betty Crocker scholarship. We're talking expert cook here. (I mooched some cooking skills off her, but since I left home two years prematurely to go to boarding school, I didn't get the full cooking education I could have had). I honest to god have never seen one used before. Now I know! Good stuff, good stuff. Gonna have to try that one out again.

So I tried the veggies tonight, just zucchini and squash to start. I dredged them in olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika and Mrs. Dash (okay, so my spices leave something to be desired!) I wasn't sure how long to cook them in the broiler, but the whole thing ended up taking about half an hour.

I think I overcooked them - they came out a little mushier than I intended. But the grilled taste was great, and the mozzarella added some good flavor.

I'm going to give it another try, and investigate this broiler thing some more.

So thanks, Karen and cptkirk!