Braciole with Fresh Stewed Vegetables over Rice

After receiving a message from one of my readers requesting veggie recipes for people that hate veggies, I started to think about how many adults actually hate eating veggies!  Many adults end up eating them or cooking them just to set an example for their kids, or just because we feel obligated to eat our greens.  So, with that being said, I decided to take a week long look at how to make vegetables more appealing or appetizing, and also how to incorporate them into easy to make meals!  Tonight's recipe looks at a tomato technique that removes the skins and seeds (which are the parts that most people hate), and can even be used as a vegetarian recipe (if you don't add the meat, of course)!  One of the reasons this recipe is great for people that hate veggies is because some of the heavier flavors (the meat, onions, garlic, salt, and pepper) mask the flavor of the other vegetables that many of us think of as less "appealing".  Once it all stews down, the tomatoes also help make a light sauce, too! 

Braciole with Fresh Stewed Vegetables over Rice
Yields 4 generous servings

To Prepare
1. Start to heat 3 - 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over low heat. 
2. Cut 1 large onion into rings, and then slice the rings in half, and begin to saute them in the oil over medium heat.

3. While the onions are cooking, dice 4 garlic cloves.  If you are going to dice them by hand, you will need to take their thick skins off of them.  The easiest way to do this is to put a wide blade knife over top of the clove and pressing down on the blade with your fist.  Do this carefully so you do not end up with bloody garlic and stitches!  When you lift up the knife, the skins of the garlic will have started separating from the cloves, and can be easily peeled off in 1 or 2 pieces by hand.  If you are going to use pre-diced garlic (usually found in the produce aisle or with the Italian products at your grocery store), use 1 tablespoon.

4. Once your onions have started to brown, add the garlic.  If you add the garlic before the onions have started to brown, the garlic will burn!

5. While the onions and garlic are cooking, start cutting your meat into strips, and then add it to the pan.  You don't have to use braciole...feel free to use chicken, tofu, no meat, ground meet, pork...what ever suits your taste!   

6. Slice a large zucchini into thin rounds, and then add it to the pan.

7. Slice a large green pepper into thin strips, and then add it to the pan.

8. While everything is cooking, put a large pot of water on to boil.  You will also need to make a large bowl of ice water.  (Remember to keep stirring your veggies and meat while you are doing this so they don't burn!) 
9. When the water comes to a rapid boil, put 5 whole tomatoes into the water for no more than 20 seconds.  After the 20 seconds are up, more the tomatoes over to the ice water.

Boiling

Chilling

10. Take a tomato out of the ice water and start peeling the skin off of it.  The boiling and then icing will make this process EXTREMELY easy!  Usually you will be able to find a place in the skin where it has started to peel, which will give you a nice and easy start!  Do this to all 5 of the tomatoes!

This tomato is so naked, that it even was stripped of its birthday suit!

11. Cut all of the tomatoes in half.  The direction to cut them will be like you were going to cut them into rounds!

12. Pick up half of a tomato with the cut end facing down and gently squeeze.  This will remove all of the seeds and mushy stuff that many people do not like!  You may have to use a finger to help it along!

No more seeds!

If you don't want to deal with this whole process, you can use tomato sauce to bring it all together! 
13. Cut all of the tomato halves into quarters and add them to the pan.

14. Add 1/2 a tablespoon of both salt and pepper, and cook down all of the ingredients while you make rice.
15. Serve over rice! 

These veggies tend to be my favorites for this recipe, but you can change them out for what you like (green beans, broccoli, snow peas, etc)!  If you want to make this vegetarian, but still want to use a protein, you can also add scrambled eggs right before you finish cooking it!