Stuffed Grilled Tomatoes

This time of year everybody has some leftover hamburger or hot dog rolls around the kitchen somewhere. Here's a little something to help you get rid of them and lighten up your grill diet.

Is this any way to start up a new food blog? Why not start with ribs or pulled pork? Believe me, we'll get to that. You'll be be the envy of your friends before you know it. But first we lighten it up. After all, this is beautiful Huntingdon Valley and everybody wants to be healthy and happy...

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Hamburger or Hot Dog Rolls
• 4 Firm Round Tomatoes
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Salt
• Onion Powder
• Dried Oregano
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Grated Parmesan Cheese

You no doubt noticed that I left out the amounts for the spices and cheese. That's because you get to season it to your liking. Just remember that you really need to flavor up your croutons to stand up to the tomatoes.

Directions:

*Get your grill started. Heat your coals on one side of your grill or fire up half the burners on your gas grill.

• Cut your rolls into 1/4 to 1/2 inch cubes.
• Pre heat your skillet over medium heat. Then add enough olive oil to coat the pan generously. (remember the Chinese cooking saying, "hot wok, cold oil, food won't stick)
• Add your cubed bread and toss to coat evenly with oil. If you don't think you have enough oil in the pan, drizzle a little more over your bread cubes.
• Toss them over medium heat until evenly browned and crispy.
• Remove from heat and sprinkle with garlic salt, onion powder and oregano.
• Mix them with about a half cup of the shredded mozzarella cheese and some grated Parmesan. If you're like me, you might like even more cheese. 
• Remove the tops or your tomatoes.  Then hollow them out using your knife and a spoon. Make sure you don't poke any holes through the tomatoes.
• Stuff them with your bread and cheese mixture.
• Drizzle with olive oil.
• Top with more mozzarella and grated parmesan.
• Brush the outside of the tomatoes with a little olive oil.
• Place on the grill but not directely over the heat.
• Grill with the lid closed until the skin softens and has a slight char.
• Remove them from the grill using a spatula. Remember, they'll be soft!

Serve these as a side dish or as your main dish.

Experiment with this technique. Just tonight, I stuffed some nice big tomatoes with homemade mac and cheese and topped them with some breadcrumbs. Unbelievable!

*Two notes of importance:

1. You can make this even easier by purchasing flavored croutons at the supermarket.
2. Even more importantly, you can use your flavored bread cubes as croutons on your favorite salads. You will never get store bought croutons again!