Basil Scalloped Tomatoes with Croutons and Homemade Parmesan Cheeze

Hi y'all! How are things going? The week sure is going by fast and while it has been a little hot here in MI, we have also enjoyed some summer showers.





I have been enjoying a lot of good workouts lately combining Zumba, kickboxing, a weights class, and racquetball games with Ryan. I find myself working out twice a day and feeling WONDERFUL! I have been definitely been limiting my carb intake and eating more salads, veggies, and protein.





I received an update from my naturopath and realized that I had to lay off on foods with gluten. Gluten tends to not help one lose weight and that meats no SEITAN, Field Roast Sausages, or wheat related products. CRAZY, since I just started making my own seitan, I want to do everything possible to cleanse my body of non-natural foods so I tried not to dwell on having to limit and remove gluten from my life. Needless to say, I have 2 packages of Field Roast that I have been trying to get rid of so that I can start not eating gluten. What kind of protein can I eat now? Well, I will start eating more tofu, and more tempeh. Tempeh seems to be the hardest thing for me to get used to but I have several recipes in mind. I am taking one day at a time.



UPDATE: This recipe I made before I found out I have to eliminate gluten. Thanks for that note!





I recently came across a great recipe using tomatoes in a way I have never used them. Oh She Glows veganized Smitten Kitchen's version of the recipe so I was ready to take it on. I slightly adapted the recipe and I did not bake in the oven. I only cooked it over the stove for 10 minutes over low heat because I did not want to kill too many vitamins. Angela has lovely pictures and makes me always want to prepare what she is making. She also has a nice recipe for vegan parmesan. While I had been using Parma's vegan cheese I knew it was better to save money and make my own.



So here I took on two new recipes which only took 30 minutes between the two! I made the Scalloped Tomatoes and accompanied them with the Wild Mushroom Pate' I posted a while back. This was our dinner and boy was it good! No need for meat! Ryan even enjoyed each bite. Good to know that my cooking skills are coming out with good results.





Basil Scalloped Tomatoes



serves 2





2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 slices Ezekiel bread, (or other whole grain) chopped into 1/2-inch croutons

6 roma tomatoes, diced

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon Sucanat

1 teaspoon Kosher sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1/2 cup chopped basil leaves, lightly packed

1/4 cup 3-minute vegan parmesan cheeze





Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bread cubes and mix well with oil so that they are evenly coated. Cook bread, stirring frequently, until crisp on all sides for about 5 mins.





While the bread is toasting, combine tomatoes, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper in a large bowl. When the bread cubes are crisp, add the tomato mixture to the skillet, stirring frequently for 5 minutes.





Remove from heat and stir in the basil. Pour into a 1 quart shallow baking dish and top with Parmesan cheeze. Ready to eat!





Homemade Parmesan Cheeze



1/2 cup toasted sesame seeds

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I used Herbamare seasoned salt)





Toast sesame seeds until lightly browned and then throw all ingredients into a blender. Process for 30-60 seconds. Enjoy your vegan parmesan cheese!