Bruschetta, Roasted Tomato Soup, and More Bruschetta

Today I decided to branch out and try some new tomato recipes since my kitchen counter top is full of ripe heirloom tomatoes (lucky me!).

This is my go-to bruschetta recipe that I use every year and I LOVE it.  My kids even asked me to make it again this year because they love it too!

Paula's Traditional Bruschetta

10 Roma Tomatoes

1 cup of basil, chopped
6 cloves of garlic
3 Tablespoons of Worchestire sauce
5 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 loaf of crusty bread

Drizzle the bread with olive oil and broil for about 2 minutes or until brown. After they are cool enough to touch, rub with garlic. Broil the other side of the bread and repeat. Serve at room temperature.

Next, I made this delicious tomato soup.

Roasted Tomato Soup
From Brick House Cafe in Cable, WI 

 5 large garden ripe tomatoes, cut into 3/4" slices
1 onion, cut into 1/2" slices
1/2 jalapeno, cut in half lengthwise, seeded
2 bell peppers, seeded, cut into 4 pieces
olive oil
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

freshly ground black pepper
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese (plus additional cheese for garnishing)
few tablespoons of heavy cream

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Arrange all vegetables on baking sheet. Drizzle olive oil all over. Roast for 20 minutes.
For immersion blender:
Roughly chop all vegetables. Add all vegetables, smoked paprika, garlic powder, salt, pepper, vegetable broth and grated cheese to pot large enough so that when you use your immersion blender, it doesn't splatter all over the place. Blend in pot until you get a nice puree. Bring to simmer, taste and adjust seasoning.
Garnish with additional parmesan cheese, a turn of the pepper mill and serve with crusty bread.

 

Tomatoes Going to Roast - on my Grandma's Pan

Roasted Tomato Soup

 

Bruschetta with Ricotta, Honey and Lemon Zest - DELICIOUS!!!
From Brick House Cafe

1 medium loaf crusty Italian bread, cut into 3/4-inch slices on the diagonal (halve the slices if they're big)
olive oil
clove garlic, peeled and cut in half
2 cups high quality, smooth whole milk ricotta
sea salt or kosher salt
Honey
2 lemons
Turn on your broiler. Brush both sides of each slice with olive oil.  Broil the bread slices about 3 inches from the heating element, flipping them after about a minute and watching them like a hawk. When the bread is charred to your liking, remove it and rub the toasted sides lightly on one side with the garlic clove.

To the side you've rubbed with garlic, add a generous smear of ricotta then drizzle with more olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Drizzle a bit of honey over each, and use a fine microplane grater to grate a good amount of lemon zest over the top. Serve immediately.

Both Bruschetta's on a plate - DELICIOUS!

 

We've been busy knocking out our Summer Bucket List 2012 .  In the last 24 hours we've visited Skyzone Indoor Trampoline, Mall of America and Valleyfair.  The kids LOVED Skyzone - my intention was to wear them out before Mall of America, but it didn't slow them down.  While at Mall of America we ate at the Rainforest Cafe because I have great memories of eating there with my Grandma, Aunt Paula and cousin Erinn, but the kids weren't quite as impressed.  The next day we spent 7 hours at Valleyfair and I got motion sickness from the first ride - the Octopus!

Family Fun - thanks to Michelle and Mackenzie who joined us for part of the day


What's left on your bucket list?

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

 

One Tomato Recipe and My Flowers (Random Post)

My favorite tomato recipe is this simple Caprese Salad that I've been eating every single day for about a month - sometimes I even eat it for breakfast.

Caprese Salad

3 tomatoes or 8 ounces of cherry tomatoes
8 ounces of mozzarella (I make my own, but will blog about that later)
3 tablespoons of basil
3 tablespoons olive oil (give or take)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut tomatoes into bite size pieces, add diced mozzarella, basil, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  Delicious!!!



Caprese Salad in my Grandmother's Bowl

Our flowers this year have been off the charts - just amazing!  When we've had company over they are amazed that we can keep our flowers so vibrant still in mid-August.   What's the secret?  We water all the flowers every. single. day without exception.  Once a week we use miracle grow (but we don't use this in our garden or on our herbs) AND if they look like they might be experiencing some distress, we take them down and put them in "the hospital".   In the hospital they have a few days of shade, some pruning, and some extra love (I got this idea from my mom).  Usually a plant will experience this once a year.  Here's just one of our 6 hanging baskets.

Hanging Basket - 4 feet 3 inches long

Graham had to measure because he didn't believe that it was 4 feet long.

For the longest time I've had an obsession with window boxes.  I used to stop whenever I would see a window box and snap a quick picture.  At one time I had dreams of doing a book of photos of only window boxes - maybe I still will.

Throughout the years we've had all sorts of combinations in the window boxes, but this year I kept it simple with strictly wave petunia.


One of our window boxes - 2012
They are draping down to the ground - about 6 feet


We had the best weekend at my Aunt Paula's and Uncle Rick's and spending time with my cousin Erinn and her family.  I got to try paddle boarding which I absolutely LOVED! 

Paddle Boarding in Manitowish Waters


I LOVE gazpacho soup but I have yet to find a good recipe.  If you have one, please, please, please let me know.

Happy Cooking,

Kristin

My Zucchini Favorites

As I indicated in my last post (Zen and Zucchini), I love zucchini because of the mild taste extreme versatility.  If you are interested, here's 35 ways to cook up zucchini:  35 Zucchini Recipes

Here's my favorite zucchini recipes.  First off, I love this zucchini boat recipe:  Zucchini Boats

Zucchini Boats on my Grandma's Platter

Last year, I entered a baking contest with my zucchini chocolate chip cookies - these are super moist and super delicious!  Yum!!

ZUCCHINI CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

1 egg, beaten

½ cup butter

softened

½ cup brown sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

Combine in large bowl.

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

Combine in a separate, small bowl and blend into liquid mixture

1 cup finely shredded zucchini

12 oz chocolate chips

Stir these into other ingredients, mix well. Drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet, and flatten with the back of a spoon. Bake at 350°, 10 to 15 minutes.

I also love Zucchini Fritters!

Ingredients:

2 small zucchinis, salt, pepper, onions or scallions, parsley and dill, 1 egg, 3/4 cup Parmesan and 1/4 cup flour

Directions

Grate 2 small zucchini into a colander in the sink; toss with 2 teaspoons salt and let sit 10 minutes. Squeeze out the liquid. Mix with 4 minced scallions, 1/4 cup each chopped parsley and dill, 1 beaten egg, 3/4 cup grated Parmesan and 1/4 cup flour. Pan-fry spoonfuls of the mixture in olive oil, flattening with a spatula, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

Zucchini Fritters on my Grandma's Platter

We have been slow on our bucket list because Graham went on a school trip to NYC and Gus and Greta were in the play Oklahoma (cutest.thing.ever).

Greta in the middle with her friend Sophie on the right

And now that the play is done and Graham is back from his trip, we are trying to finish off the last of our Summer Bucket List.    Here we are last night at the Sawyer County Fair (part of the bucket list):

A chilly but fun night at the Sawyer County Fair

I'm fairly certain I'm done blogging about zucchini!!  Thanks for reading!
What do you have left on your summer bucket list?  Time to wrap it up - the fall weather is already here!

Kristin

Zen and Zucchini

I love this time of year when the zucchini are so prolific that the search begins for creative ways to consume this yummy vegetable.  New to me this year is a zucchini taco inspired by a recipe from my CSA (community shared agriculture) farmer. This is a very, very delicious way to eat up your zucchini.

Zucchini Tacos

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 small sweet onion, diced

1 zucchinis, cut lengthwise into quarters, then chopped

into 1/2 inch pieces.

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup grated monteray jack cheese.

3/4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1 pablano pepper, seeded and sliced

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add garlic,

onion, chili pepper (optional), and zucchini, stirring and

cooking until the zucchini begins to soften—about 5 minutes.

Stir in salt, pepper, broth and corn. Cover, reduce heat

to low, and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat

and sprinkle with cheese. Cover again to hold in the

heat and melt the cheese—about 2 to 3 minutes.

Serve immediately wrapped in a tortilla.

Zucchini Taco - Sunflower from my friend Heather Harrington

My favorite summer time treat is zucchini bread.  Wowser, it's so good fresh from the oven.   Here's the recipe I used:  Best Zucchini Bread EVER

Zucchini bread on my Grandma's platter

I just realized that I have so many zucchini recipes that I'm going to have to continue this onto a later blog because I have many, many favorites.

My garden is all about the harvest now and I love it.  Here's a picture of today's partial harvest minus the cucumbers and zucchini.  As for my extra tomatoes, I'm washing, bagging, and freezing until canning day in the not so distant future.

Today's Harvest - veggies on my Grandma's veggie platter

Hey, I'm starting to turn the corner.  Having 10 days of "slow down, breathe, practice gratitude, no rushing" really paid off.   Finally, for the first time in toooooooo long, I enjoyed the sound of the wind through the trees, I watched swarms of hummingbirds enjoying succulents from my flowers, and I simply enjoyed the laughter of my kids.  Over the last 10 days I experienced many moments of zen that I had lost in all my crazy "rushiness".  Yup, lesson learned - I need to slow down once in awhile and focus on the journey, not the destination.  Burning the candle from both ends doesn't make me very bright and I found it easy to completely eliminate the following for a week and a half straight:   working from home, to-do lists, Facebook, blogging, alarm clocks, texting, and Twitter.  I'll be doing that more often!!

What do you eliminate from your day when you are feeling overwhelmed and over committed?

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Electrolyte Replacers

I hadn't had a physical for quite some time, but after 4 years I dragged myself in partly because I've been having both dizzy spells almost daily for 6 months.  Part of me figured it was dehydration or else denial that my eyes are less than 20/20.   Low and behold I discovered I have low blood pressure which is resulting in my dizziness.  In order to change this, my doctor instructed me to drink an electrolyte replacer daily since I'm working out almost daily as I just blogged about here:    summer workout routine.
Even though my doctor recommended G2 (Gatorade with less calories), I'm still resisting.  Yes, I did buy some to try and increase my blood pressure quickly so I can stop the dizziness (it's scary when you are driving).  But, I purchased Nuun which is a tablet that you add to water, zero calories, all natural, tasty and does the job (thank Stacey for the tip). 

And I started making my own electrolyte replacer.

Electrolyte Replacer:

Ingredients
1 liter of water
1/2 tsp of baking soda
2 tbsp of agave nectar
1/2 tbsp of sea salt

Directions
Combine all ingredients in water bottle and sip during workout as needed.

So, lesson learned this week - replace those electrolytes.

What's your favorite electrolyte replacer?

I've been down and out with the shingles again too.  Part of my issue is that I haven't slept well since about January - every time I enter REM sleep a nightmare wakes me up (the same nightmare that I am trapped).  Truth be told this has taken it's toll on my physical health because I can not seem to get myself back even after my third round of antibiotics.  This week I've cut out everything unimportant - you know Facebook, Twitter, my blog, deep cleaning, laundry, t.v. and I've focused only on what's necessary just to function in this world.  I'm hoping by cutting out the extra stress I'll be able to heal myself.    Cross your fingers that it's soon because I'm not very patient.


Kristin