chopped, episode one

Tonight I decided to play CHOPPED. I had some things in my kitchen that needed to be used up so I got creative.  I love tomatoes so that was the base of my recipe. They were medium sized so I just cut the top off, but it you had larger ones I am sure you could cut them in half and get two for one! I cleaned out the guts inside, can you tell where this is going….? I then made a simple vinaigrette in bowl with oil, vinegar, sugar and basil (from my little herb garden!).  I whisked that together then added some chopped up spinach, about 2 cups, loosely packed.  I had about half a jar of marinated artichoke hearts that I chopped up and added as well.  I mixed it altogether and then stuffed it into my tomatoes.

Oh, I was trying to figure out a way to get the little darlin’s to stay up and thought to put them in my muffin tin – perfection!  And what is a stuffed anything without cheese? I just used parmesan. 

 I had preheated my little toaster oven – can I go off on a tangent for a moment to how much I L.O.V.E  my little toaster oven? I use it so much more than my regular oven, which I think gets used pretty much when I do cakes or cookies and that’s it. My little oven works great for the meal sizes I make. I hate heating up that huge oven to make a small pan. Anyway…..I had preheated my little oven to 400 degrees. I cooked the stuffed tomatoes for about 15 minutes. Don’t they look great!

I think that a side of wild rice would go so well with these little tomatoes. Maybe next time! So this was a super easy and lite meal to make.  I don’t think I will play CHOPPED too often; my family might get a nice surprise of cheetos and chocolate cupcakes! But it was fun tonight and it came out great! 

For three medium sized tomatoes:

Preheat oven 400 degrees

Wash tomatoes, cut off tops and remove the guts

In medium bowl mix together:

1 TBS oil

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1/8 cup sugar

Pinch of basil

About 2 cups loosely packed spinach, rinsed and chopped

1/2 jar marinated artichoke hearts, chopped, do not rinse

Add to vinaigrette and mix well. Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray and place tomatoes in muffin cups. Stuff with mixture and sprinkle with shredded (the good stuff!) parmesan cheese. Bake for about 15 minutes.

ENJOY!!