I hope you are all healthy and well 😃

Healthy ready-to-eat foods available around the clock are a practical solution for eating homemade meals without spending all day in the kitchen. Homemade vegetables spreads are a good example.

Personally, I like to see a lot of colors and feel different flavors and textures at breakfast; usually, I get half my body in the fridge and pantry and start rummaging in every corner; then I assemble a menu that only I understand, ha, ha, ha, ha. But we love it that way. Since the week is hectic, this I can usually only do on Sundays, but I'm on vacation....

...So yesterday I made coconut milk and prepared two spreads that my husband and I really like: the one on the left is a mix of sauteed vegetables and fruits: (eggplant), zucchini, green bell pepper, garlic, tomato, and coconut milk**; while the one on the right is made of roasted eggplants and fresh garlic. One good thing about these spreads is that they keep so fresh for up to a month in the fridge, that you can turn an arepa or some toast with coffee into a more nutritious breakfast and with more charm.

The recipe for the red spread always varies a little, and it's one of those wonderful things that happen by accident; once, like ten years ago, I sautéed some vegetables to fill a loaf of bread, and I was supposed to let them crush just a little in the blender, but instead, I let the blender puree them.

I liked the result so much, that I decided to keep it in a jar in the fridge, and this was our spread for a couple of weeks.

Over time, I learned to incorporate the albumen coat, the part we remove from the pulp to make coconut milk; ; it gives it a smoky flavor, since we roast the coconuts a little over the stove to shell them more easily....

I usually eat this albumen coat if I'm not using it in some other preparation, as it's rich in fiber and always comes with some of the coconut pulp.

The recipe for this eggplant spread is from my late mother. How she hated to cook! And yet, the few recipes that I can take from her cooking are the ones that have stayed with me forever; one of them is her eggplant spread; she used to spread it on crispy cassava cakes (cassava toasts).

This spread is definitely one of my favorites in the world--it's similar to baba ganoush in texture.

Today I served the spreads inside avocado halves; I put them in the big hole that was left after removing the seed. And of course I served cassava toasts at the table; as good cumaneses, we love it.

This is really delicious; if you're interested in the recipes, I'm so happy to tell you; just keep reading, please 😊

We'll start with the eggplant spread,

since we are going to process the red spread in the bullet blender, which will still have remains of the one.

• 4 medium size eggplants (700 gr approx)
• 1 tablespoon freshly crushed garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Wash the eggplants and roast them directly over the stove fire (medium-high heat) until they look totally black and feel really soft.

These eggplants were medium and I roasted them for about 5 minutes on each side.

Let them cool and peel them. Then open them lengthwise to check everything looks nice inside the eggplants.

Pour all the ingredients into the glass and blend well.

I used an old Hellman's mayonnaise jar which happens to fit perfectly. This was my husband's discovery some years ago 😁

Now let's Make the Red Spread,

which we also call "the red zucchini and tomato and coconut thing" at home 😂

• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/2 cups chopped green bell pepper
• 1/2 cups chopped tomato
• 1 shot apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cane sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 bay leave
• Coconut albumen coat shaves (1/2 cups approx.)
• 1/3 cups cocnut milk
  &
• a little olive oil to sauté vegetables
• freshly ground black pepper
• Himalayan pink salt to taste for serving at the table

Easy. Sautee all the vegetables in olive oil x 2 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and let it cook over low fire x 2 more minutes.

Let it cool and mix well in a blender. I used the same jar where I processed the eggplant spread. No need to wash it first.

A nutritionist friend of mine, whom I respect very much, recommended that I use very little salt when cooking and then add Himalayan pink salt at the table--without overdoing it. So I bought this one, from Fumage. I paid $6.7 for this 453 gram jar, with grinder. Supposedly this salt is much healthier to have on the table; I hope it is, since it costs so much more than our regular salt, which is so cheap I don't even know how much it costs (maybe 15 cents a pound).

I served the spreads with avocado, sunflower seeds (raw), and a little ciboulette from our garden.

I complemented our plantbased breakfast with ripe plantains cooked in cane sugar syrup, margarine and cinnamon, cassava toasts, homemade pickles, coffee and some fruit (plums and oranges).

Tip:The red spread tastes really good with pickles.

You can keep it in a tightly closed glass jar in the refrigerator and it will last up to a month in excellent condition. The eggplant spread can last up to a month if you keep it in a tightly closed glass jar and make sure that the surface is always covered with oil. For preserving these spreads in such a way that they retain their original flavor and freshness, it is important that you only use clean and dry serving utensils.

These delicious spreads, much lower in saturated fat than mayonnaise, butter or cheese spreads, are also a good source of fiber and vitamins. They contain a good amount of fresh garlic, which is so good for boosting our body's immune system; since they go with fresh avocado, which is high in monounsaturated fats, we are also doing our heart good. In addition, I've added pickles for beta-carotene and to counteract the sugar that I always consume more than I should, as in the case of the delicious plantains, which while high in fiber and vitamins, are also sweet, sweet, sweet. The red onions I pickled along with the baby cucumbers contain B9, which is excellent for the heart. Cassava toasts for energy; they might not be healthier than regular toasts, but they're gluten free, which is better for me. Little by little, we're trying to eat better 🙂

Bon appetit!

Thank you so much for your visit :)

All text and images are my own. I have taken the pictures with my Redmi 9T cell phone. And if any GIFs here, I've used GIPHY(https://giphy.com/create/gifmaker) for all them.