Healthy(ish) Recipe

I had to add the "ish" to the recipe for this Mediterranean Melt because it does include pesto (hello, fat!) and ciabatta bread (I'm typically part of the semi-low carb school of thought).  However, you do get a great big helping of veggies- and that's got to make up for it a little bit, right?  

Ingredients:
1 loaf of fresh ciabatta bread (mine was a huge square loaf so I just cut it into what seemed like a reasonable size)
1 zucchini
1 small yellow squash
1/2 yellow onion
1 package of baby bellas (mushrooms)
1 red bell pepper
Sliced mozzarella cheese
Pesto
Extra virgin olive oil

*First slice all veggies.
*Next sautee baby bellas and onions in a sauce pan with olive oil and a dash of sea salt (until onions become translucent) 

*Then mist the sliced squash, zucchini and red bell peppers with olive oil and grill until they are tender- I used my baby George Forman and it worked great.

Then spread a little bit of pesto on one side of your ciabatta bread (don't go too crazy- a little bit goes a long way, and as I mentioned, pesto has a pretty sizable fat content) and place a slice of mozzarella cheese on the other side.

*Next place your grilled veggies on top of the bread and bake in the oven (open-faced) for about 10 mins at 275 degrees just to melt the cheese and get the bread a little bit crispy

Then enjoy!  If you are watching what you're eating most or all of the time it's really nice to have some dinners every once in a while that feel a little bit like cheating.  The bread, cheese and pesto totally give this sandwich a forbidden feeling, but where you're cooking at home and know exactly how much olive oil, pesto, etc is going in to your food you're always ahead of the eating-out curve.  So if you're low-carb savor the bread, and if you're low-fat relish the pesto and enjoy!