Weekend + Bruschetta

Good Monday morning to you, friends! I would love to say that my weekend was nice and relaxing, but it was insanely busy and exhausting. Sydney and I were able to get a lot accomplished for her bridal registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond on Friday. As soon as we finished with that, I headed over to help with the Young Life garage sale. When I say help I really mean take charge and organize. One of our guy friends was in charge and even he said that he didn't know how he would have done it if I hadn't come in and basically taken over. I left there after 10pm on Friday night and was back by 6am the next morning. Though it was tiring, I got to spend the day with wonderful friends and the kids raised more than double what they did last year.

Yesterday we slept through our alarm and didn't make it to church. Bryan cooked pancakes and we had a nice late breakfast together. He then talked me into going turkey hunting with him since it was the last day of turkey season. Don't go turkey hunting when it is warm. You worry about snakes, hogs, spiders, mosquitoes and ticks. It was miserable, and my hubby knew I was not pleased.

One of the couples in our small group came home from their honeymoon yesterday. We had been moving vehicles and picking up mail and boxes for them while they were gone. I wanted them to come home to a little something special, so I made a gift basket with a few goodies in it.

I made a batch of fresh bruschetta to go with the wine and bread. I wanted to pick some up at the grocery store, but there was none to be found. It was my first bruschetta to ever make and I thought it turned out quite nicely. The recipe is very easy and would be great to keep on hand in the fridge for a little snack or appetizer.

Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (1.5 lbs.)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp. balsamic vinegar

6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1 baguette French bread

1/4 cup olive oil

1. Prepare the tomatoes first. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. Drain. Using a sharp knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. Once they are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area.

2. Put tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and vinegar in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Slice baguettes on a diagonal about 1/2 inch thick. Brush one side with olive oil and place on a baking sheet, olive oil side down. Toast them in a 450* oven for 5-6 minutes.

4. Place baguettes, olive oil side up, on a serving tray. Either place the tomato topping in a bowl separately with a spoon for people to use individually or place some topping on each slice of bread and serve. If you top each slice with the tomatoes, do it right before serving or the bread will get soggy.

*Due to time, I left the skins of the tomatoes on and chopped them in a food chopper. The tomatoes weren't as pretty or nicely chopped, but it still tasted great.