Elegant Eggplant Appetizer

This is a great alternative to cooking a full meal on a hot day or the perfect appetizer at your next cocktail party. It goes well on crostini, crackers, and even as a spread on a sandwich. Serve with a green salad and you've got yourself a full meal without all the sweat.

You could probably make this in a slow cooker if you added about 1/2 cup water. Next time I'll try that method and post the recipe with any needed changes for the slow cooker.

I want to let you know I have a few other recipes coming up soon. The Not-fried Southern Summer Squash and a Not-Quite Nicoise Potato Salad were my quick and easy successes last week and are perfect for a weeknight meal.

Elegant Eggplant Spread
Makes about 2 cups
soy-free and gluten-free

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup (160 g) minced onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup (149 g) minced sweet or bell pepper
• 2 cups (164 g) minced eggplant
• 1/4 cup (13.5) sun-dried tomatoes, minced in food processor
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) red wine
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onions and garlic until translucent. Then add the peppers, eggplant, sun-dried tomato, tomato paste and red wine. Cook until the eggplant is soft and cooked through. Add extra water or wine if the mixture gets to dry before the eggplant is completely done.

Serve warm or cold with crackers or toasted thinly sliced baguette. Use leftovers as a tasty pizza topping!

Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Wheat Balls

These bean balls are inspired by Isa's bean balls, but aren't everyone's? I wanted to do more of a mock turk'y meat ball so I used white beans instead of kidney. Plus those were already waiting in my pantry. I have a rather large amount of sun dried tomatoes I preserved last year that I obviously forgot about - so be ready for more recipes for them in the near future.

Make sure to check out the recipe for the Slow Cooker Hide and Seek Veggie Pasta Sauce on my other blog, Healthy Slow Cooking.

You might be able to do a gluten-free version by leaving out the wheat gluten flour and using pre-cooked rice in its place in the food processor. I have a sausage recipe in my book that uses walnuts and rice and it works great. I would probably make them patties rather than balls, but you could make a mean bean patty Parmesan.

Sun-Dried Tomato White Bean Wheat Balls

soy-free

Makes 2 dozen

• 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes 
• 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans, or 1 (15 ounce) can drained 
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup water, or broth 
• 1/4 cup almonds 
• 1 cup vital wheat gluten flour 
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast 
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves minced)
• salt and pepper to taste (I used smoked salt)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup oat bran (or bread crumbs, wheat germ, etc.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a food processor pulverize the sun dried tomatoes (or puree if they are packed in oil). Add beans and 1/4 cup of the water and puree. 

Add everything except the oat bran and process until well combined. You will add the extra 1/4 cup water if needed, but leave out if the mixture is a just right. At this point you want to be able to knead it and roll into balls.

Spread 1/4 cup of the oat bran on a cutting board. Dump the ball mixture onto the cutting board and knead for a minute or two until all of the dough is the same consistency. 

Cut the dough into 24 similar sized pieces. I use a dough cutter, but a dinner knife works just fine. Roll into balls and then roll into the remaining cup of oat bran.

Place the ball on a greased sheet pan and cook for 15 minutes, then turn them over and cook them for 5 to 10 minutes more.

Serve on top of pasta covered with pasta sauce, or in a hoagie roll covered with tomato sauce and Daiya mozzarella shreds. I'm thinking of some other interesting ways to use the leftovers, so stay tuned!