Serves 8 / Cooking lesson: Let your creativity flow by investing in an inexpensive squeeze bottle with a large hole for the opening. When filled with sauce, the bottle makes it easy to “paint” designs on bread or whole-wheat pizza crust. The bottle can also be used for fruit-purée sauces.
1 16-ounce jar low-sodium marinara sauce
1 8-ounce bag frozen broccoli, thawed
1 4-ounce jar roasted red bell peppers, drained
Whole-grain French bread (1 pound), sliced lengthwise in half, then into individual portions
1 4-ounce jar pesto
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into rings
2 cups shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
1. Preheat oven to 425˚. Place half the marinara sauce, half the broccoli, and the red bell peppers in a food processor; process until smooth. If too thick, add more spaghetti sauce (it needs to be thin enough to squeeze out of the bottle). Pour into squeeze bottle.
2. Place bread slices on a sheet of parchment paper. Using a pastry brush, paint bread pieces with pesto sauce. Squirt red sauce on top; be creative! Top with remaining broccoli and yellow bell pepper rings. Sprinkle with cheese.
3. Place parchment and bread on baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or more, until brown and bubbly.
PER SERVING (with 1 tablespoon pesto, 3 tablespoons marinara mix, 2 bell pepper rings, 5 broccoli florets, and ¼ cup cheese): 312 cal, 35% fat cal, 12g fat, 3g sat fat, 15mg chol, 16g protein, 34g carb, 5g fiber, 658mg sodium
