Meatless meal features roasted veggies

Roasted Vegetable Turnovers can be a savory addition to a meatless menu. Their filling of vegetables and cheese, wrapped in crusty pastry made of flour and wheat germ, delivers both good taste and good nutrition.

A recipe for preparing your own roasted-vegetable filling is included. You may wish to experiment with different combinations of vegetables.

Roasted Vegetable Turnovers

Pastry:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

1/4 teaspoon salt

Pinch sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces

4 ounces cold, low-fat cream cheese, cut into 6 pieces

1 tablespoon cold water

Filling:

2 cups coarsely chopped roasted vegetables (recipe follows)

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

For pastry: Put flour, wheat germ, salt and sugar in bowl of food processor. Pulse 3 or 4 times to mix. Add butter and cream cheese to bowl; pulse in 3- to 4-second bursts, about 10 times. Add water and pulse in 3- to 4-second bursts until dough starts to pull together in large clumps.

Transfer dough to lightly floured surface. Knead dough 2 or 3 times. Divide into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball; flatten into 1/2-inch-thick disk. (If dough gets too soft, refrigerate 5 minutes to firm up.) Wrap each disk with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Working with one piece of dough at a time (keep remainder chilled), roll into 7-inch-diameter circle on sheet of lightly floured waxed paper. Spoon about 1/3 cup roasted vegetables on half of circle, leaving a 3/4-inch border. Spoon a generous tablespoon of cheese on top of the vegetables. Moisten edges of dough; fold uncovered half of dough over vegetables and cheese. Press edges of dough to seal. Roll edge of dough up; crimp with fingers to form decorative edge. Transfer turnover to baking sheet. Repeat to make 5 additional turnovers.

Bake 40 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 main-dish turnovers.

Nutrition information per serving: 400 cal., 24 g total fat, 55 mg chol., 320 mg sodium, 10 g pro., 37 g carbo., 5 g dietary fiber.

Roasted Vegetables

1 small eggplant (about 1 pound), cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 medium zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 small green bell pepper, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 large portobello mushroom, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

4 green onions, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 F.

In a large bowl, thoroughly combine eggplant, zucchini, green pepper, mushroom, tomatoes, onions, olive oil, vinegar, garlic, basil, salt and pepper. Spread in shallow casserole; cover loosely with foil and bake 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake 35 to 45 minutes or until the vegetables are soft and any liquid in the bottom of the casserole has evaporated. Cool before using.

Makes about 2 cups vegetables.

Recipe from Kretschmer Wheat Germ.