First the snack: I was hunting for something to snack on the other day, and none of the obvious things were in the fridge or in the cupboard. I did find a few leftover roast peppers and a bit of feta cheese. Promising... We know how good red peppers are for us, but can I justify the cheese? With lots of tangy flavour, feta is lower in fat and calories than most other cheeses. Bingo! And this was sooo delicious it made the Ryvita tasty!
Snack: Feta Dip
1/3 block of feta cheese
About half a pepper, roasted
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 juice of 1 lemon
Put all of the above into a food processor or blender - whizz until amalgamated - done!
When I set myself the challenge to find a use for red peppers as part of every meal of the day, I was worried that dessert would be a stretch. Until I made these. I made a savoury cheddar cheese cookie and added the sweetness of roasted pepper. Mmmm Mmmm....
(makes approx 16)
1/4 cup finely diced roasted red pepper
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 cup wholewheat flour
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
100 grams (just under 1/4 pound) very soft butter
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan oven/400ºF
Use a fork to whip the very soft butter a bit. Add both flours, cayenne pepper and salt and mix well until it comes together like a dough. Add roasted pepper and mix through. Add grated cheese and gently mix through.
Bake for 12 minutes. Remove to cooling rack.
(Loved these so much we ate them before I remembered to take an "after" photo!)
Tomorrow: Dinner! It would be easy to tell you to chop up some red peppers and sauté with mushrooms as a side dish to any meal. But tomorrow I'll give you my favourite chili recipe: Hungry Firefighters Chili!