Tomato Basil Mozzerella Bruschetta

It's beautiful out today. Took a nice leisurely ride on Trike to the grocery store and bought all kinds of fresh produce and baking supplies. Got a little hungry so I made this real quick. One of my favorites.





Tomato Basil Mozzarella Bruschetta for one

handful baby tomatoes
handful fresh basil
1/3 of a fresh mozzarella round
pinch of salt
healthy drizzle of EV olive oil
crusty bread

1. Cute up the tomatoes and throw them in a little bowl. Stack your basil leaves together, roll it up and slice them thin. Add to tomatoes. Slice thin the mozzarella and add to the tomatoes too. Throw in your pinch of salt and drizzle of olive oil and stir it up.

2. Cut your bread so there is plenty of room for the tomatoes on top. Drizzle with more olive oil and either stick them in the oven or if you have a little horizontal toaster like I do, then use that.

3. Assemble and eat.

So Far Summer

Home-made Pesto

Pesto is delish and it's a prominent feature in lots of veggie sammys and other foods because its so flavorful. I always bought pre-made pesto at the store but now that I have a food processor I thought, shit sonnn, I could make that.

And so I did.




Basil Pesto (Makes about a cup)
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
Handful of spinach leaves (this is not traditional and I got the idea from another blogger and it turned out to be a good tip)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parm or Romano
1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 med. garlic cloves, minced
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Combine the basil, spinach and pine nuts in the blender and pulse a few times. Add the garlic and pulse a few times more.
2. Slowly add olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is running. Stop, scrape down the sides. Add grated cheese, pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and pepper.




I made some awesome fish which I ate before I could photograph. I also made some flatbread to go with a couscous dish I made a few days back.

Musings on a Summer Day

Are you tired of seeing pictures of me yet? I pretty much am, but I have no one else to photograph...volunteers please?


I take life too seriously

I'm starting to change my tune...really

VLOG #2 I wish you were here too Katy, but since you're not you can listen to me babble. Do you have webcam? You should video blog too!

I do things alone now most-a-ly

Thumbprint Cookies

I make the messiest cookies. For real...they are always misshapen and any goo is always running off the sides, but hot damn, these unz are good :)



Thumbprint Cookies (makes 24-36 depending on how big you make them, mine made 24)

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp grated lemon peel
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt (omg..i just realized I forgot to put this in...guess its not too important)
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
6 tbsp fruit preserves or marmalade (I use Mediterranean Organic, veggie friendly)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy. Then add in the egg, lemon peel, lemon juice, and salt (or skip that lol).
2. Stir in 2 cups of flour. Use additional flour if needed to firm up the dough so it holds together well.
3. Form 36 1 inch balls, place on a lined or greased cookie sheet about 1 inch apart. Using your thumb or a deep measuring spoon, make a deep dent in each cookie. Fill each with 1 tsp of preserve.
4. Bake until firm and lightly brown (20 min)




Enjoy!

Trike Time

the light was just pretty on these

I fail

So I've been watching Vanessa's vlogs recently and I thought...you know...I've never made a video. Heh...well this is probably why..because I suck at it.

I even did some test shots first for the light..but duh..the test shots have flash and the video doesn't. Oh boy. I will try again sometime I think, because it seems like it might be a more efficient and exciting way to blog when I don't have pictures to post really.