My daughter helped me with my meal planning this week. She picked this recipe simply for the name of the recipe. She wanted to know why it was “Man Style.”
I believe it was named such because it is a lot of food. While there is no meat, you will definitely feel full at the end of the meal.
I used tomatoes from the garden. I love fresh tomatoes, and these were picked mere minutes before making the dish. I do think they should have been cooked a little less. Twenty minutes gave the tomatoes a very soft texture. I think fifteen minutes would have been better.
I used the Basic White Bread I made last week for the garlic bread. The technique of cutting almost all the way through gave it a pull apart bread feel. The outside edges get very crisp, which was great. The garlic butter permeates all the surfaces very well.
For the macaroni and cheese I used a box of Kraft Dinner. Obviously a simple thing to make. And it’s Kraft dinner - it always tastes like my childhood.
For the diced cheese I used a smoked cheddar. I really like the depth that was added from the smoky flavor.
The tomatoes stuffed with the Mac and cheese were very cheesy. Honestly they were delicious.
The bread crumbs and cheese on top melt nicely together to give the tops of the tomatoes a little crunchy crust.
For the vegetables I changed it up a bit. I did use the zucchini and the carrots. The carrots were from the garden. Unfortunately my zucchini plant stopped producing already.
Instead of using corn, I used the Japanese eggplant from the garden. We are having a late surge of eggplant. My husband harvested ten over the weekend. I am making a lot of eggplant!
So yes, a little change, but I think a good one. Zucchini and eggplant go very nicely together. Zucchini is a little sweet, eggplant a little bitter. They are a nice compliment.
So there are a lot of components to this meal. But these all work nicely. It is certainly a lovely vegetarian meal and you don’t really miss the meat at all!
VEGETABLE DINNER MAN STYLE
1 Day Old Loaf Unsliced Bread
1/3 Cup Butter
1/4 Teaspoon Garlic Salt
8 Large Tomatoes
1 Package Macaroni and Cheese Dinner
Salt
1/2 Cup Diced Sharp Cheese
1/2 Cup Buttered Crumbs
1/4 Cup Grated Sharp Cheese
1 Bunch Small Carrots, Scrapped
1 1/2 Pounds Wash, Sliced Zucchini
1 Ear Corn, Cooked
1/4 Cup Butter
Fresh Dill, Chives or Parsley
Trim crusts from bread. Cut loaf partway through into 1 1/2” crosswise slices, then lengthwise through the middle. Cream 1/3 cup butter with garlic salt. Spread over cut bread surfaces, top and sides of loaf. Cut 1/4 inch slice from top of each tomato, scoop out pulp. Invert tomatoes and refrigerate. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Cook macaroni dinner according to package directions. Sprinkle inside of tomatoes with salt. Fill with alternating layers of macaroni dinner and diced cheese. Sprinkle crumbs, then grated cheese on top. Bake tomatoes in a shallow pan with the bread loaf for 20 minutes. Cook carrots in boiling water with salt, covered for 20 to 30 minutes. Cook zucchini in boiling salted water for 15 minutes. Cut corn from the cob and toss with zucchini and carrots. Add butter to vegetables, toss to coat. Arrange vegetables, tomatoes and bread on a plate. Sprinkle fresh dill over top.
Comments