Glamour on a budget - Mattie Roberts

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Diet Grilled Cheese
July 20, 2006

This time of year the tomatoes are just divine, basil is off the charts and I try to get my fill of both because I know that in six months we will lament the sad state of the produce aisle. (How do they get away with calling those tasteless little spheres tomatoes, anyway?)

One way that I have been using summer’s bounty is with a tomato, basil grilled cheese sandwich…the low fat version. There are only 150 calories in each one, but the fresh produce brings so much flavor to it that you don’t miss the fat!

Start with a medium-sized ripe, fabulous tomato, slice it thinly and lay the slices on a paper towel to drain a bit.

Take two pieces of Pepperidge Farm Very Thin bread. Put a tiny bit of butter in a non-stick pan -- and I mean tiny -- about half a teaspoon. Use good butter (I like the imported Irish butter) and make two little puddles with it.

Lay the slices of bread in the butter and smoosh them around so they get coated. Then take Kraft Fat Free slices (2) and tear them into little pieces and place them all over the bread. On their own they are too big and will droop off the edges.

They will melt pretty quickly.

When the cheese starts to bubble and the bread is crunchy, transfer the two pieces to a plate. Lay the tomato slices, some arugula and basil on each of the halves and slap the two halves together.

The whole thing has about 150 calories. I had two for breakfast this morning! Try adding sliced turkey, lean ham and any very fresh ingredients you come across. The key to using diet foods is to mix in the very freshest produce you can find…it fills in where the diet flavors leave off.