Bell Pepper Toasty

INGREDIETS:
Whole wheat, multigrain or white bread slices.
1 Red bell pepper
1 Green bell pepper
1 Yellow bell pepper
(all cut into long strips or diced in squares)

Grated mozzarella cheese/parmesan cheese/cheddar cheese/feta cheese or halloumi cheese.
OR
Cheese of your choice.
1 medium sized onion (cut into long strips or diced squares, whichever you prefer)

1 tspn chopped garlic.

1 tspn lemon juice
Few Green or black olives (chopped)
salt
Freshly crushed black pepper
A dash of oregano or basil (whichever you prefer)
Sausages (optional - cut into round circular discs, you can shallow fry them before adding on top of the bread if you prefer).
1 tspn Olive oil for cooking

METHOD:
Heat oil in a saucepan on medium flame.

Once the oil is hot, add onions.

Add the garlic.

Stir for 1-2 minutes. And add the bell peppers.
(If you cut onions lengthwise then cut the bell peppers lengthwise and if you dice the onions into squares then dice the bell peppers as well. Basically cut them in the same way).

Stir on a medium flame for about 3-5 minutes and switch off the gas.

Add Salt.

Some fresh black pepper.

A dash of basil or oregano or a little of both (whichever you prefer).

Squeeze some lemon juice.

Stir well.

Put the slice of bread on a baking tray and top it with the bell peppers.

Add some sausages (this is optional so the vegetarians can skip this step).

Add some chopped olives. (you can also add any or a combination of two or more of the following: jalapenos, pickled cucumber, chopped gherkins, sundried tomatoes in addition to the olives)

I have added some parmesan cheese. As you can see I have used a peeler to get thin shavings of the cheese. I have added little but if you are not worried about the calories go ahead and add some more. I can't afford to although I am a complete cheese lover!

You can see the thin shavings of cheese here:

Preheat your oven for 10 minutes at 170 degrees F. Put the bread slices inside the oven and bake at 170 degree F for about 10 - 15 minutes checking in between till the bread gets crispy and the cheese on top melts.

Serve hot with tabasco, tomato ketchup or green mint and coriander chutney. They taste absolutely great and kids love it too.

You can also top the bread with the spinach that went into the spinach pita pocket (see recipe) and then add your olives and cheese and follow the same steps in this recipe. The difference will be that instead of the bell peppers you will be topping the bread with the spinach used for filling in the Spinach pita pockets.

****For those of you who do not have an oven put the bread in the microwave for about 30 seconds or more till you see the cheese melting. Once it melts remove it from the microwave and keep it on a non stick pan on very low flame till the bread becomes crispy. Of course you have to keep checking in between so the bread does not start to burn from the bottom. Its as good as the ones that come out from the oven. I hope you will enjoy these crispy toasties!



“Our bodies are our gardens – our wills are our gardeners.” ~William Shakespeare