Classic Vegetable Melts, Broccoli and Roasted Red Pepper Salad, and Classic Vinaigrette

Bread! Cheese! Veggies! Tuesday night I made CLASSIC VEGETABLE MELTS and BROCCOLI AND ROASTED RED PEPPER SALAD with CLASSIC VINAIGRETTE for Mr. Sexy Veggie and myself.

To make the sandwiches, mushrooms, onion, red bell pepper, and spinach are sautéed until tender, and then seasoned with soy sauce and salt. This mixture is placed on top of thick slices of toasted sourdough bread that has been coated with mayonnaise (yes, I used it), and topped with Monterey jack cheese. These are placed under the broiler for a few seconds, until the cheese is melted. They are served open face, and eaten with a knife and fork.

The salad is quick and easy. Broccoli florets are blanched in boiling water, and then immediately dumped in cold water to help keep their bright green color. Once cool, they are drained on a cotton dish towel, and mixed with chopped roasted red pepper. Toasted pine nuts are stirred in, and the whole salad is drizzled with CLASSIC VINAIGRETTE. The vinaigrette is made by mixing red wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper.

The sandwiches were great. Very hearty, warm, and filling. The salad was ok, the vinaigrette was a little too tangy for the broccoli, but the toasted pine nuts made up for that!!