Jason and I recently visited a nice little restaurant in downtown Cary where I ordered a truly delicious quesadilla. It was made with goat cheese instead of the more traditional Mexican cheeses and it also contained lots of tasty veggies. I liked it enough that I made a mental note to try and recreate it at home. This version tastes great and doesn’t take too much time to make.Nutritional Information
233 calories; 8g protein; 32g carbohydrates; 10g fat; 7mg cholesterol; 493mg sodium; 7g fiber
» Read more: Veggie & Goat Cheese Quesadillas
I threw a party to celebrate Jason’s birthday and procrastinated about creating the party menu until the day before the party was supposed to happen. Luckily, I found an article that came from O Magazine about easy to make party foods. This goat cheese appetizer was one of the items that I decided to try because it sounded like an unusual and tasty combination of flavors. It combines goat cheese with mango chutney, cilantro and peanuts. Everyone at our party enjoyed it, and I liked it enough to serve again when we had our last big family get together at my parents place. Serve it with whole wheat crackers or melba toast for a quick and tasty hors d’ oeuvre.
The tempeh in these wontons is marinated in a Japanese style sauce. Shiitake mushrooms and chives, as well as shredded cabbage and carrot, add additional flavor. I brushed the wontons with a little butter and baked them in the oven rather than frying them, which would have added a lot of additional fat. Serve with a salad tossed in ginger dressing and slices of Asian pear.
This recipe comes from the Passionate Vegetarian. I was skeptical that a dip made from pureed carrots would be exciting, but Crescent Dragonwagon does a good job of selling it in her cookbook. In addition, all of the wonderful flavor comes from veggies and spices, so it it fairly low-fat. I used it as a dip for veggies when I made it, but it would be equally tasty on a sandwich, or on crackers. If you want to use it as a dip, you can make it thinner by adding additional carrot juice or vegetable stock.
The original recipe for these wontons instructs you fry them in a deep fat fryer. I sprayed them with cooking spray and baked them in the oven instead, to make them less fattening.
