I've apparently started a bad habit of not blogging on the weekends. It's a trend I am trying to quit. I promise. Work in progress...
But for Monday, here we go.
This weekend was a mix of fresh dinners each night with Mike & Laura, card games, work, baking, and hanging out. Pretty basic, but fun weekend for us. Nothing too crazy.
Saturday night we had Mike & Laura over for homemade pizza night and cards/Steelers game watch. We lucked out last week and the game was on a channel we get here, but this weekend we were streaming it from the laptop while hanging out. Pizzas were a success. It was a great chance to chop up the veggies I had left from the Market and whip up some fresh dough and sauce to go with. We each made our own individual pizza and a hefty salad. Easy enough and I didn't have to toss any veggies gone bad this week :)
Sunday night the Kennell's came over again for a VMA watch and a potluck dinner and some more cards. I was making chicken kabobs and we had a ton of chicken to use, so the more the merrier. I am seriously searching for any and all great marinades to use so I can max out our time with the grill here. Once we move, I am pretty certain we will not have the luxury of a great gas line grill on our balcony. So this weekend it was greek marinaded chicken and veggie kabobs. Laura brought over a ratatouille and some cous cous, so a pot luck dinner it turned out to be.
The recipe I wanted to share today we had along with dinner last night. I stumbled upon this recipe- and by stumbled I mean I found it during a marathon food blog reading session that seems to occur daily. Since the tomatoes are so so so good right now, I love finding good/easy recipes to get my fill of the great tasting tomato before I am relegated to a soggy slice on a sandwich lacking flavor.
Here is the tomato recipe from the blog SmittenKitchen.com
Crushed croutons
4 slices hearty white bread (*I used one large multi-grain wheat dinner roll that was crunchy on the outside. It provided tons of croutons by hand tearing. 4 slices may be too much depending on personal pref.)
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press
1/4 teaspoon table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Tomato salad
1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, mixed colors if you can find them
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon mellow red wine vinegar (yours isn’t mellow? use less)
1/8 teaspoon table salt
Pinch of sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
Handful basil leaves, slivered.
Prepare the crushed croutons: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear bread into chunks and pule them in a food processor until coarsely ground (largest chunks can be lima bean sized). No food processor? Keep tearing the bread up until it is in ragged, mixed sized crumbs. Spread crumbs on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and Parmesan until croutons are evenly coated with oil. Bake until golden brown and dry, about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly. (Warm is fine, hot might wilt your tomatoes, boo.)
Assemble salad: Halve each tomato lengthwise and arrange cut side up on a platter. Whisk together vinegar, olive oil, salt, sugar and a few grinds of pepper in a small dish. Drizzle over tomatoes. Sprinkle tomatoes with crushed croutons. Garnish with slivers of basil.
As always, extra garlic and chopped shallots/onions are amazing. Plus, who really only uses 2 T fresh Parmesan cheese. Go crazy.
We all ate this up. It was such a great side with a surprisingly robust taste. Could go great with almost any meal. Trust me on trying this one...you won't regret it.
Aside from lots of great food, friends and cards, there wasn't too much. I had to learn to become a magician/plumber over the weekend. I inadvertently dropped my wedding band down the drain of our kitchen sink while baking yesterday. So that was a fun/stressful experience. Good news, the building handyman was able to retrieve the ring this morning, find a leak in the pipe, and show me how to fix it once I got a new pipe. Not as difficult as it seemed, now that its all complete. But after not being able to use my kitchen sink or dishwasher for half of the day yesterday while preparing dinner for company, I would have done basically anything to get water back this am. Clean kitchens are a necessity for me :)
Other than that, nothing to write home about. We are busy preparing for our first American visitors this weekend- Sweet Lou & Karen (Momo) Myers. It should be a great US holiday weekend showing them the sights of Toronto. Dan is busy at work and I am menuing.
Don't forget the Bachelor Pad is on tonight. Who goes home- Kasey or Jake? WWVD? (What Will Vienna Do) Ok, that may be a new all-time low for me. Enjoy the episode regardless.
Until tomorrow...xo
But for Monday, here we go.
This weekend was a mix of fresh dinners each night with Mike & Laura, card games, work, baking, and hanging out. Pretty basic, but fun weekend for us. Nothing too crazy.
Saturday night we had Mike & Laura over for homemade pizza night and cards/Steelers game watch. We lucked out last week and the game was on a channel we get here, but this weekend we were streaming it from the laptop while hanging out. Pizzas were a success. It was a great chance to chop up the veggies I had left from the Market and whip up some fresh dough and sauce to go with. We each made our own individual pizza and a hefty salad. Easy enough and I didn't have to toss any veggies gone bad this week :)
Sunday night the Kennell's came over again for a VMA watch and a potluck dinner and some more cards. I was making chicken kabobs and we had a ton of chicken to use, so the more the merrier. I am seriously searching for any and all great marinades to use so I can max out our time with the grill here. Once we move, I am pretty certain we will not have the luxury of a great gas line grill on our balcony. So this weekend it was greek marinaded chicken and veggie kabobs. Laura brought over a ratatouille and some cous cous, so a pot luck dinner it turned out to be.
The recipe I wanted to share today we had along with dinner last night. I stumbled upon this recipe- and by stumbled I mean I found it during a marathon food blog reading session that seems to occur daily. Since the tomatoes are so so so good right now, I love finding good/easy recipes to get my fill of the great tasting tomato before I am relegated to a soggy slice on a sandwich lacking flavor.
Here is the tomato recipe from the blog SmittenKitchen.com
 |
| Tomato Salad with Crushed Croutons |
4 slices hearty white bread (*I used one large multi-grain wheat dinner roll that was crunchy on the outside. It provided tons of croutons by hand tearing. 4 slices may be too much depending on personal pref.)
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press
1/4 teaspoon table salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Tomato salad
1 pound cherry or grape tomatoes, mixed colors if you can find them
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 tablespoon mellow red wine vinegar (yours isn’t mellow? use less)
1/8 teaspoon table salt
Pinch of sugar
Freshly ground black pepper
Handful basil leaves, slivered.
Prepare the crushed croutons: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Tear bread into chunks and pule them in a food processor until coarsely ground (largest chunks can be lima bean sized). No food processor? Keep tearing the bread up until it is in ragged, mixed sized crumbs. Spread crumbs on a rimmed baking sheet and toss with shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and Parmesan until croutons are evenly coated with oil. Bake until golden brown and dry, about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly. (Warm is fine, hot might wilt your tomatoes, boo.)
Assemble salad: Halve each tomato lengthwise and arrange cut side up on a platter. Whisk together vinegar, olive oil, salt, sugar and a few grinds of pepper in a small dish. Drizzle over tomatoes. Sprinkle tomatoes with crushed croutons. Garnish with slivers of basil.
As always, extra garlic and chopped shallots/onions are amazing. Plus, who really only uses 2 T fresh Parmesan cheese. Go crazy.
We all ate this up. It was such a great side with a surprisingly robust taste. Could go great with almost any meal. Trust me on trying this one...you won't regret it.
Aside from lots of great food, friends and cards, there wasn't too much. I had to learn to become a magician/plumber over the weekend. I inadvertently dropped my wedding band down the drain of our kitchen sink while baking yesterday. So that was a fun/stressful experience. Good news, the building handyman was able to retrieve the ring this morning, find a leak in the pipe, and show me how to fix it once I got a new pipe. Not as difficult as it seemed, now that its all complete. But after not being able to use my kitchen sink or dishwasher for half of the day yesterday while preparing dinner for company, I would have done basically anything to get water back this am. Clean kitchens are a necessity for me :)
Other than that, nothing to write home about. We are busy preparing for our first American visitors this weekend- Sweet Lou & Karen (Momo) Myers. It should be a great US holiday weekend showing them the sights of Toronto. Dan is busy at work and I am menuing.
Don't forget the Bachelor Pad is on tonight. Who goes home- Kasey or Jake? WWVD? (What Will Vienna Do) Ok, that may be a new all-time low for me. Enjoy the episode regardless.
Until tomorrow...xo
another great tomato recipe: http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2011/08/tomato-cobbler/
ReplyDeletexo claire