Garden Fresh Bruschetta

What do you do with all the wonderfully delicious summer tomatoes?  Make bruschetta!  This is not my recipe.  It was created by Holly at SpendWithPennies.com.  It's easy and DELICIOUS!

20-24 oz. fresh tomatoes (4-5 roma tomatoes or 3-4 regular tomatoes), diced small

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh basil chopped fine

2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar (I used cider vinegar)

1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper (or to taste)

1 baguette

Olive oil & fresh garlic for toasting

1.  Mix all ingredients and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours.

2.  Slice the baguette, brush with olive oil and lightly toast.  Rub each toasted slice baguette with a clove of garlic.

3.  Top with Brushetta

Baked Potato Salad

Do you ever get tired of the same recipe?  Sometimes I just want a change.  Several years ago I tried baking the potatoes before making my potato salad.  I had a lot of compliments.  If you like a creamy potato salad, this is not the recipe for you, but if you like firm potatoes, you'll love this change.

Simply cut your potatoes and put on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam.  Salt and pepper as desired.  Bake at 350 degrees until done.

Add your regular ingredients.  I like sweet pickle relish (with some added Bread & Butter Pickles), chopped onion, boiled eggs, mayo, green olives, and a touch of sour cream.

Serve alongside your favorite Independence Day meat--pulled pork, ribs, or hamburgers.

Red Cinnamon Cucumber Pickles



We've had a seemingly wetter summer than normal, so there are a lot of overgrown cucumbers in everyone's gardens.  You can't really make pickles and most people don't like them in their salads, so everyone scrambles to figure out what to do with them.  Mom decided she would make some Red Cinnamon Cucumber Rings and boy are they are delicious!  It takes several days, so it is a true labor of love, but they are WELL WORTH IT. 

Red Cinnamon Cucumber Pickles

Large, over-ripe cucumbers

1 cup pickling lime

1 gallon + 1 pint (18 cups) water

Peel and de-seed cucumbers and slice into 1/2-inch rings (approx. 1 gallon).  Mix together pickling lime and water.  Pour over cucumbers and let stand for 24 hours.  DO NOT USE AN ALUMINUM PAN because the lime will cause it to pit.  Drain and discard pickling lime mixture and rinse and soak cucumbers several times in water to remove lime.  Let stand in cold water for 3 hours and drain.

1 cup white vinegar

1 tablespoon alum

1/2 bottle red food coloring

Place cucumbers in a large pot.  Mix vinegar, alum, and food coloring and pour over cucumbers.  Add enough water to cover.  Simmer for 3 hours.  When cool enough, drain and discard liquid.

1-1/2 cups white vinegar

15 ounces red hot candies

1-1/2 cups water

6 sticks cinnamon

7-1/2 cups sugar

Combine ingredients in sauce pan and heat until candy is melted.  Bring to a boil.  Pour mixture over cucumbers and let stand 24 hours.  Do this every day for three days:  drain and retain the syrup; reheat and bring syrup to a boil; pour back over cucumbers; let stand 24 hours.

On the 4th day, sterilize canning jars.  Drain the syrup and reheat.  Place the cucumber slices in pint-size jars.  Once the syrup is reheated, pour into jars, being careful not to get any liquid on the rim.  Cap with sterilized canning lids and rings.  Process jars of cucumber slices for 15 minutes in a boiling water bath unless the lids are self-sealing.  If they are self-sealing, leave on counter overnight to seal. 

Garden Vegetable Soup

I stopped by a fruit stand earlier this week to check out the strawberries.  I walked out with a cart load of fresh fruit and vegetables -- mangoes, avocados, squash, zucchini, corn, onions, and tomatoes.  I'm so ready for summer.  The mangoes have been great for breakfast and the tomatoes are fantastic with a little salt and pepper, but what to do with the other veggies.  After the long week centered around the events in Boston, I needed some comfort food -- soup.  I created this recipe several years ago when we had a garden, so I pulled it out, made a few changes, and the rest is history.

I like easy and this is.  It's made in layers and from the moment the carrots and celery go in, there is a wonderful aroma that permeates the kitchen.

Garden Vegetable Soup

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp. minced garlic

3 stalks of celery, sliced (including leaves)

3 carrots, sliced

1 large onion, sliced

2-3 sweet peppers (I used several sweet salad peppers)

2 zucchini, sliced

3 yellow squash, sliced

3 tomatoes, diced

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. oregano

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. white pepper

1 tsp. sweet basil

4 c. vegetable broth (or whatever broth you prefer)

Begin by heating the olive oil and garlic in a 5-6 quart pot over low heat.  Spread carrots and celery over the bottom,  Add a layer of onion, then peppers, then zucchini, then squash, and finally tomatoes.  (Of course you can add whatever else you'd like.  I had some leftover corn and beans, so they went in too.)  Sprinkle veggies with seasonings and cover.    Do not stir.  Cook covered, over low to medium heat for 20 minutes or until the vegetables start releasing their liquid.  Do not remove the cover for at least 10 minutes.  After 20 minutes, add vegetable broth and return to a low boil, stirring as needed.  Cook until tender, not mushy.

Olive oil and garlic

Celery and carrots

Onions

Sweet peppers

Squash and zucchini

Tomatoes

Mmmmm ... good.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and enjoy.