Roasted Garlic and Tomato Bruschetta -- Easy!

Hello, everybody! The Fresh Pioneer is back and we've done a lot of cooking, but nothing really fancy. My seven year old is still making bread about every other day. YUM. But I have to reign myself in because I want to simply eat fresh bread and real butter ALL DAY LONG.

 Happy boy with his first loaf.

 He's been working his way through this book. So much fun!

 It's pumpkin bread time!! You can find that recipe here. 

 MMMMMM......

 I was picking tomatoes in the garden and wondering how I would ever find more time to can them with our busy week, when my neighbor called me over and offered a bag of delicious Galas. Yes, Please! I asked her if she wanted tomatoes, and she admitted that she was hoping for a few bags. Even better! So, I made a tarte tatin (recipe here), and some simply apple pies in ramekins.

 I'm terrible at crusts but my second oldest daughter is a natural. *whew*

 I just love our heirloom tomatoes. They make everything more interesting! Oh, and a pumpkin.

 So, I cut some of the bread into slices. This was maybe the fourth batch, and it was a learning experience, as in.... he forgot the salt. I had to laughed because I've done that! The bread looks SO GOOD, the house smells incredible and... yuck. But I hate to waste anything, so we decided to doctor it with some roasted garlic and tomatoes.

 I love these. I'm not sure what they're called but they're purple green stripey.

 So, cut lots of tomatoes and put them on a cookies sheet. Drizzle with oil and add some sea salt and pepper.

 Throw in some garlic, unpeeled.

 At this point my husband came in with some grapes. These are SO delicious, but they make me sad because we usually get about 150 lbs and this year, this was about half our crop. But we're still grateful for what we got and are looking forward to next year!

 About 20 minutes in a 400F oven. Poke the garlic to make sure it's soft.

 Peel and put in a bowl to mash.

 Mash it up a little. Taste to see if it needs more salt. Don't make a paste, just a chunky sort of roasted salsa.

 Mash the garlic.

 We also roasted some fish because I need PROTEIN. I cannot live on tomatoes and bread, as much as I'd love to.

 Oldest's plate: fish with roasted tomatoes, salad, and fresh tomatoes.

 Spread the garlic on the bread (lightly toasted after slicing).

 Doesn't look so pretty and the pics are fuzzy because I steamed the lens and then kept taking pictures. LOL

 MMMM. Bruschetta with roasted garlic and tomatoes.

I drizzled some of the olive oil and sea salt juice on the bread. It was nicely toasted so it held up under the assault of more juice. Then I added a few shreds of fresh basil.

That's all for now and I hope you're enjoying the change into Fall! It's COLD at night and I've had to bring out my little red writing blanket and wooly socks. Be sure to stop by my facebook pages:Mary Jane Hathaway or Virginia Carmichael where I talked about Jane Austen and all these historical. (Okay, and food. I like to talk about food.)

Until next time!

Revisiting Bruschetta

Clear liquid diet.

Each of those words is fine by themselves, but together, they spell TORTURE. Especially when you have a food blog to write.

So we're going to revisit one of my favorites today. One that has me drooling all over my keyboard and I can guarantee I will be making this again very soon.

One way you can tell it's been a while since this original post is that Danielle has now been married to the boyfriend mentioned for three years.

Where does the time go?

* * * *

Saturday night my daughter's boyfriend joined us for dinner. Since Danielle was making her famous lemon chicken pasta, I opted to prepare the appetizer and dessert. But what would be a good appetizer. Something Italian. The mind wandered to my container garden brimming with basil and ripe tomatoes.

A-ha!

Since all of this transpired at the grocery store, I grabbed a loaf of french bread and headed for the checkout line.

Y'all, this was SO good. As in, I-could-make-a-meal-out-of-this good. Ruthy, the carbs were totally worth it.

Here's what you'll need:

• A baguette or loaf of crusty french bread, sliced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, cracked away from the skin
• extra virgin olive oil
• 3 small tomatoes, halved and seeded
• 20 fresh basil leaves
• coarse salt
• ground pepper

I don't have a lot of pictures, because I was so eager to get this made I kept forgetting to take the pix.

Chop seeded tomatoes and place in a small bowl. Pile your basil leaves about ten at a time, roll into a log and thinly slice. Add to tomatoes. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. A pinch of each will generally do.

Set aside.

Preheat broiler to high. You can also grill the bread, if you prefer. Place bread slices on a broiler pan. Toast bread on each side under hot broiler. Be sure you keep an eye on it. It can go from nothing to black in no time if you get distracted.

Remove from oven and drizzle with olive oil. I used my Mr. Misto and misted mine so the coating would be lighter. Then rub toasts with cracked garlic. I didn't think this would do much, but it really added a nice kick of flavor.

Top toasts with tomato/basil mixture.

Don't they look pretty?

This was so easy and so...well, like I said, yummy. It was light and refreshing on a hot Texas eve. I can hardly wait to make it again.

What's growing in your garden and how do you plan to use it?

* * * *

Yep, I definitely see this on the menu later this week.

I CAN'T WAIT!

Bruschetta on Zucchini for a festive 4th

So it's July already!

How did that happen? 

Wasn't it just the other day we were shoveling snow and thinking summer would never come?

Well, now it's July and the 4th is nearly upon us, so what do I have to share with you today? A good old American variation on an Italian recipe.

Zucchini Bruschetta

A prize should go to whoever can pronounce that correctly.   You can test yourself here.


Now, if you're a visual learner, you can skip the first part of my post and just watch the video that comes on after your phonics lesson above.  Or you can go here - bruschetta.


Or you could go back and read Mindy's post from 2012.


But it's 2015 now so I have a healthy twist.

First, I have to say that this recipe is SOSOSOSOSO amazingly good. I woke up wanting it for breakfast then next morning.

As Mindy showed us back then, traditionally bruschetta is served on sliced baguettes or crostini. And it's really really good that way. I even sneaked and had some of this on a baquette.

BUT

I've looking to lower my carbs though so I decided to try it on zucchini slices instead.

Mmmmmm  As my Italian grandma would say (if I had an Italian grandma) Tutto va bene! At least that's what the Italian grandmothers in books say.  Correct me if you know better. This Irish gal promises not to have hurt feelings.

On with the recipe.

Did you read Mindy's post or watch the video?

If not, the recipe is simple. You chop up tomatoes, red onion, basil and garlic and mix with olive oil and vinegar. Most people use balsamic but I had red wine vinegar and I liked that better.

Mix and let marinate.

Isn't it beautiful? Molto bene.

Now usually you're done there. You put it on the crostini and enjoy.

And oh, you will. It's amazing! Did I mention that?

But remember the zucchini? They're going to look a little like the eggplant Missy made last week.
I sliced them (two different ways to see which worked better), brushed with olive oil, and roasted briefly.

I also tried sprinkling them with cheese because in my world cheese makes everything taste better.


When they were done, I did two more variations. I spooned the cold tomato/basil/onion mix on top of the zucchini. Some I left cold and some I slid back under the broiler briefly. Confession: I liked the slightly broiled ones best but the others were awesome too.

  

Sorry, I was so quick to eat them, I didn't think to take a picture of them on the plate.

So, this teacher is on vacation, but you still get a mini science lesson.

Why should you eat the ingredients:

I love this site for health information about food. They put out a giant food preparation book that I have, but the website is great for quick info and healthy recipes. World's Healthiest Foods

Here are links for each of the ingredients if you're looking to feel good about your healthy bruschetta.

zucchini

basil

red onion

tomatoes

garlic

PS - eat them all at once. That idea of eating it the next day didn't work. They got soggy.

Happy Eating,

Cate

Bruschetta with the Texan

Saturday night my daughter's boyfriend joined us for dinner. Since Danielle was making her famous lemon chicken pasta, I opted to prepare the appetizer and dessert. But what would be a good appetizer. Something Italian. The mind wandered to my container garden brimming with basil and ripe tomatoes.

A-ha!

Since all of this transpired at the grocery store, I grabbed a loaf of french bread and headed for the checkout line.

Y'all, this was SO good. As in, I-could-make-a-meal-out-of-this good. Ruthy, the carbs were totally worth it.

Here's what you'll need:

• A baguette or loaf of crusty french bread, sliced
• 2 large cloves of garlic, cracked away from the skin
• extra virgin olive oil
• 3 small tomatoes, halved and seeded
• 20 fresh basil leaves
• coarse salt
• ground pepper

I don't have a lot of pictures, because I was so eager to get this made I kept forgetting to take the pix.

Chop seeded tomatoes and place in a small bowl. Pile your basil leaves about ten at a time, roll into a log and thinly slice. Add to tomatoes. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. A pinch of each will generally do.

Set aside.

Preheat broiler to high. You can also grill the bread, if you prefer. Place bread slices on a broiler pan. Toast bread on each side under hot broiler. Be sure you keep an eye on it. It can go from nothing to black in no time if you get distracted.

Remove from oven and drizzle with olive oil. I used my Mr. Misto and misted mine so the coating would be lighter. Then rub toasts with cracked garlic. I didn't think this would do much, but it really added a nice kick of flavor.

Top toasts with tomato/basil mixture.

Don't they look purty?

This was so easy and so...well, like I said, yummy. It was light and refreshing on a hot Texas eve. I can hardly wait to make it again.

What's growing in your garden and how do you plan to use it?