Grilled Eggplant and Tomato

Spring has sprung. Finally. And I'm allowed to walk around the block. Hooray! Even though I am a champion race walker (for my age group anyway), it was kind of refreshing to walk slowly (and I really mean slowly) and take everything in. The neighbor on the corner one street over has an amazing forsythia bush. It's huge and bright yellow. Other neighbors had blooming daffodils and one neighbor was grilling. And my knee didn't start hurting until I was almost all the way home. And that may have been because some guy I didn't know kind of creeped me out and I realized I couldn't really just pick up the pace and walk past him. I tried. That may have been a bad idea.

So today I felt like grilling. Unfortunately, rain looks imminent so I settled for broiling. For a nice healthy side with dinner I made Grilled Eggplant and Tomato out of the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook. I changed it up a bit though. The original recipe called for 3/4 cups of crumbled goat cheese. Walmart does not sell goat cheese. At least not here they don't. And I know what you're thinking, it's Weight Watchers so it's probably "diet" food. (Even though their slogan says they're not a diet, I think of them that way too.) But really this antipasti is pretty darn tasty. The Brain even liked it. I used feta instead of the goat cheese and I think the saltiness of it helps. Also I think next time I will omit the tomatoes. Probably I cooked them too long, but they got mushy.

And now I'm going to attempt walking around the block again. Going slowly. Concentrating on walking without a limp and straightening my leg completely. And trying to avoid uneven pavement. And contain my happiness at being able to mosey around the block.

Grilled Eggplant and Tomato

from Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

1/2 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced

1/4 cup chicken broth (it's what I had, the original recipe calls for vegetable broth)

4 tsp olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 medium eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices

1 tomato, cut into 1/2 inch slices

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

Preheat the grill (or broiler). In the food processor or blender, combine the bell pepper, broth, oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper; puree. Place the eggplant and tomato on a sheet of wax paper and brush both sides with the broth mixture; discard any remaining broth mixture.

Broil (grill) the eggplant until lightly charred, about 4 minutes on each side. Broil (grill) the tomatoes about 2 minutes on each side.

Arrange the vegetables on a platter. Sprinkle with the cheese and basil.

Per Serving (1/4 of platter) from original recipe with goat cheese and vegetable broth: 161 Cal, 11g Fat, 0g Trans Fat, 17mg Chol, 260mg Sod, 11g Carb, 2g Fib, 7g Prot, 124mg Calc.

4 points.