Summer Bruschetta (with recipe)

We love summer!  Fresh fruits and vegetables are available everywhere you look and organic produce is so easy to come by locally!

If you've never made bruschetta ... it's sort of like the Italian version of chips and salsa!  So of course, Jen is a huge fan.  Chips and salsa is a must-have staple in the Brownifer household!

We're still working on using up leftovers from our Cuban Sandwiches so instead of using pita chips for a quick and easy bruschetta fix, we toasted some of our leftover Cuban Hoagies to make this one.  Normal we'll buy a baguette and slice it, but we work with what we've got!  Whatever bread you have, I guarantee it will work.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Heirloom tomatoes - the more colors, the more fun!
• 2/3 Cup chopped fresh basil
• 2/3 Cup chopped onion (as fine as you like)
• 5-6 cloves garlic, minced (however much you like - we go crazy with garlic)
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• Sliced bread for toasting
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder

Directions:

• Mix tomatoes, onion, basil, garlic in a bowl and salt/pepper to taste
• Let mixture sit for 30 minutes or so for flavors to combine, stirring periodically
• Slice bread and place on a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder
• Put bread in the broiler or oven until crisp and browned to your liking
• Spoon tomato mixture onto bread and serve!

Brownie likes to sprinkle his bruschetta with romano or parmesan cheese - I prefer it light and fresh.  You can vary this recipe in so many ways, its a fun one to play with and a simple side to so many summer dishes! 

Stuffed Shells and Bruschetta

I'm definitely the resident STUFFER in this house :-)  I stuff pastas, veggies ... if anything needs stuffed, I get the job!  So I used some of our canned tomatoes tonight and made a delicious sauce with basil from the garden, got some ricotta and mozzarella and ....there's just nothing like these!  Yes, I cook too.  I feel I need to remind the world of this sometimes :-)  Italian is usually left up to me, I'm good at it! :-)  Sauces are also my speciality in our kitchen.

To go with my shells, I made some bruschetta and Brownie toasted the bread because ... I'm just not a fan of the broiler.  I tend to forget about things when they're out-of-sight and that's just ... not good.  I also don't bake my bruschetta like he does.  I tend to see bruschetta as the Italian version of chips and salsa so ... that's how I like to eat it!  With plenty of onion and fresh garlic!  *SLURP!*

Tomatoes Four Ways

I love summer!  I especially love the fresh tomatoes!  I love planting them, growing them, canning them, and eating them!  We are blessed with an abundance from our garden right now with not quite enough to can yet, so ... we're playing with them and having a night of tomato appetizers! 

I'll start with my favorite:  Tomatoes and Cottage Cheese.  I ate this simple pairing my entire childhood and it's still one of my favorite summer comfort foods! If you've never had it:  try it!  You'll love it, I'm sure.  Brownie drizzled balsamic on these but .... I like mine plain.  No salt, no pepper, no drizzle. Just creamy cottage cheese and fresh sliced tomatoes!

Caprese salad is also one of our favorites around here.  My daughter as a chocolate cherry tomato plant that is going insane with fruit!  So I picked up some mozzarella and we made a different version of this delicious salad:  Cherry Tomato Caprese Salad! Delicious!  I think I still prefer the classic, but this was a fun creative way to change things up!

We put two of our other favorites on one plate because we were running out of room :-)  I like to buy Willamette Valley Cheese Co. Creamy Havarti and melt it over fresh sliced heirloom tomatoes .... it's divine!  Again, the drizzle made it too sweet for me but Brownie loved it.

And of course, Heirloom Bruschetta!  Brownie likes to melt cheese over his bruschetta, but it looks like I won today and got nice and fresh!  Tomato heaven!