Unstuffed Tomatoes

This is one of the first meatless recipes I made and my family loves it! 

It takes about 30 minutes and has minimal mess. Great with fresh in season tomatoes!

Here's what you'll need: (all veggies are washed and chopped)

HOT LAYER:

1 TBS Olive oil (basil infused if you have it)

1/2 chopped sweet onion

1 clove garlic minced

3 or 4 celery stalks 

2 or 3 carrots peeled 

1 med. sized zucchini (I like to leave the peel on for color)

1 med. sized yellow squash

6-8 mushrooms 

1 med red bell pepper 

sugar snap peas 

2 tsp season salt

1 cup uncooked orzo pasta (can use rice or couscous but the pasta is the best)

 - feel free to substitute as needed

FRESH LAYER

4-6 fresh tomatoes

1 TBS garlic salt

Fresh basil leaves

TOPPING

2 slices of dry or toasted bread  (Dave's killer bread with seeds or any will do)

1 TBS nutritional yeast

2 tsp jacks garlic seasoning

2 tsp coconut oil (basil infused olive oil is also really yummy)

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

COOK PASTA: In a Med sauce pan add some salt to water and bring to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to directions. Drain but do not rinse.

PREPARE HOT LAYER:Chop veggies. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over hi to med hi heat.  When it's hot add chopped veggies and season salt. Don't be afraid to get a char on the veggies. Stir until tender.                           

While veggies and pasta are cooking add the TOPPING ingredients to a food processor until the bread is mostly chopped. Add the pistachios and chop until the bread is in fine crumbs but there are bigger chunks of pistachios remaining. 

When the veggies and pasta are done, combine them in the fry pan and set aside with a lid to keep warm.

Wash and slice the tomatoes, (*edited* it's best to cut them in bite sized pieces)and place into a colander with the salt. Allow the excess moisture to drain from the tomatoes for 10 minutes or so before adding the basil and transferring to a serving dish. Chop the basil while the tomatoes are draining.

 

 Put the vegetable/pasta mixture on the tomatoes and top with the bread crumbs. (My crumbs got more brown than golden.) Serve!

* I have recently been putting the hot mixture on the bottom, then added the tomatoes and then the breadcrumb topping on top.

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