Fresh Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Love the look of cut up fresh vegetables. 

So an interesting thing happened the other day at my Moms. She was having a gathering with some friends. Their was your typical mix of foods at the event. There were jello salads, broccoli salad,  coleslaw, potato salad etc...  You get the picture. The thing that was interesting was someone just brought a salad like I posted today. That was the one that got eaten the fastest. Their was hardly anything left of it. It made me so happy that people were drawn to the healthier option. It made me so happy. We can make the world a healthier place one recipe at a time. 

This is a super easy recipe and looks so pretty and fresh. This is a great to use some of my tomatoes from my garden. 

Ingredients

English cucumber sliced thin
6-7 Roma tomatoes sliced thin
1/4 C olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1 tsp thyme or fresh if you have it
handful of basil leaves chopped thin
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Place cucumbers and tomatoes in the serving bowl.
2. In a small bowl mix together oil, garlic, and thyme until all combined.
3. Pour on to the vegetables and toss until all the vegetables are covered.
4. Toss in the fresh basil. (You can substitute dry 1 to 2 T dry basil if you don't have fresh)
5. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve at once for best results or cover with plastic and store in fridge until ready to serve.

Caprese Salad

We have a lot to be grateful for. One of the things was my daughter fell off of an ATV this weekend and got a concussion. We are so grateful for prayers and that she is doing well. She is sore but doing well.  We heard of a not so good outcome of someone else this weekend in an ATV crash. Life is so fragile. You need to love those around you every day.

 The garden has been very good to us this year. We always seem to be able to grow tomatoes the best. This year we have a bumper crop. I need to make some yummy spaghetti sauce with them. We have been enjoying salsa with them too. One of our favorite things to eat. I have always thought Caprese salads looked so pretty. I thought it would be a perfect time to make it with all the tomatoes. We really enjoyed eating it yesterday. It is so easy it also makes me feel European.  Some day I will go there. :)

Ingredients

5-6 sliced roma tomatoes
1 lb roll of mozzarella cheese sliced
handful of basil leaves
1/2 C balsamic vinegar
1 tsp honey
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.

Directions  serves 8

1. Arrange the sliced tomatoes, cheese and basil on the plate.
2. In a small saucepan pour in the vinegar and stir in honey. Place on medium low heat.
3. Stir and let it reduce and thicken for a couple minutes.
4. Drizzle vinegar mixture over the salad.
5. Then drizzle over the oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
6. Enjoy!

Tomato Basil Zucchini Soup

We have a very large amount of Roma tomatoes this year. Tomatoes are what grow best for us. It sounded really good to make some soup on Sat. It had been rainy in the morning. I loved this soup. It had such a wonderful flavor. Yum! I even had some cold yesterday. 

Ingredients Serves about 8.
3 lbs Roma tomatoes (Little less or little more works too)
1/4 C olive oil = 4 T olive oil
2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
2 T olive oil
1/2 yellow onion chopped (I just chopped in the blender)
1/4 purple onion chopped up
3 garlic cloves pressed
1/2 a zucchini sliced up
1/2 red pepper chopped
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 fresh basil leaves (if you have them)
1 T dried rosemary
3 to 5 T dried basil leaves
4 C water (add more if it is too thick)
Directions
1. Heat oven to 400. Toss tomatoes that have been sliced in 1/4 pieces, into a bowl with olive oil 1 T basil and a little salt and pepper. Spread on cookie sheet. Roast 45 min. Don't let them burn.

2. In a large pot heat on medium heat onions, garlic with and oil,  and red pepper flakes until golden brown. Add zucchini, red pepper, and spices, and let cook a couple minutes. Then add the water. Then add the oven roasted tomatoes too. Bring to boil and then simmer about 35 minutes or until thickened. The flavor gets better as it cooks. I put the large chunks of vegetables and some liquid, into a blender and pulse for a few seconds.

3. You can add more spice if you prefer. It is wonderful to have extra! I love this soup and it freezes well for lunches! =)

Parmesan Basil Popcorn is on Buzzfeed

Grain Crazy shared a link.

Posted by Britney Schetselaar Rule · 5 hours ago

We were featured on Buzzfeed this morning! Proud our Parmesan Basil Popcorn could be shared. It is delicious!

Community Post: 13 Crazy-Awesome Popcorn Recipes For Netflix Marathons

www.buzzfeed.com

These impressive recipes would make Olivia Pope proud. Start chomping while re-watching Season 3. Or OITNB . Or anything.

Bruschetta on Whole Grain Bread

Whole Grain Bruschetta

tomatoes

Sliced  bread

This was a yummy snack this afternoon. I loved the color of the tomatoes. Even after cooking them they kept the bright color to them. It is a fancy-looking snack or appetizer to serve your family and friends that doesn't take too long to make.

Ingredients
1 whole grain French bread or baguette
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 C grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 C golden snacking tomatoes, cut in half
3 T olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
8 basil leaves, cut in small strips
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
3 T olive oil
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced
fresh grated Parmesan cheese

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Slice bread in 1 1/2" diagonal slices. Place on cookie sheet and place in the oven and cook on one side until light brown. Then flip them over and toast them on the other side.
2. While they are toasting mix the tomatoes, oil, vinegar, basil and salt and pepper together. Set aside.
3. Then mix in a small bowl 3 T olive oil and garlic. Brush on to the toasted bread when you take it out of the oven with a pastry brush on one side.
4. Place back in the oven 2 to 3 minutes to let the oil get absorbed into the bread. Take out of the oven.
5. Scoop some tomato mixture on to each piece of bread. Place back in the oven and let it cook 5 to 10 minutes to your desired prefrence. Take out of the oven.
6. Grate cheese on top of each piece of bread. Don't prepare too far in advance or the bread may get soggy. Enjoy!
     

Strawberry Banana Basil Smoothie (Green Smoothie)

Strawberry Banana Basil Smoothie

My wonderful family!

Sometimes life  feels like a dream. Today I was thinking about this past weekend, and it felt like it was all a dream. Life moves at a quick pace and if you aren't careful you will miss it.

This past weekend was a sweet one. My son and daughter in law surprised us with a quick weekend visit. :) The squeal my grandson made when he saw them was priceless. It was a wonderful treat to all be together. We had a weekend of enjoying a beautiful day on the lake. (Why can't summer last forever?) Then we enjoyed a wonderful out door concert.. We enjoyed yummy food, homemade ice cream, that my son made. It was divine. Lots of laughter. Good times!

I looked at this picture today, that we took together last night and I couldn't get the smile off my face. They are what is important in my life. They make each day a little sweeter. Life doesn't get much better than this.

I made this wonderful smoothie tonight. I got the idea from a friend to add basil to the smoothie. I really liked it. The other sweet thing was the only sweetener was the fruit. I liked that too. It was very creamy yum!

Ingredients: 4 servings
1/2 C plain coconut yogurt or regular yogurt
6-14 basil leaves ( I used 14 mine were small)
2 C frozen strawberries
1 1/2 frozen bananas
1 C water

Directions: 
1. Put all the ingredients in the blender. Blend until creamy.  Serve in cups!

 

Zucchini and Tomatoes with Brown Rice and Parmesan Cheese

This was another way to use vegetables that are a good price right now, or better yet in your garden. The combination of the flavors was fantastic. The trick was to cook it enough that it was tender, but not mushy. I love being able to keep the colors bright too. It makes the food so much more appealing. It was a nice healthy meal.

Ingredients:

1/4 C olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
1/2 onion chopped up small pieces
3 C chopped zucchini
6 ripe Roma tomatoes chopped in small pieces
1/2 to 1 green pepper diced in small pieces
6 basil leaves torn in small pieces
1 tsp sea salt w/ iodine
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
herbs of your choice 1/2 tsp of each oregano, rosemary and more dried basil (if you want)
2 1/2 C cooked brown rice
1/8 C water
fresh grated Parmesan *Optional

Directions:

1. In a skillet heat up olive oil and then add garlic and onions. Saute about 3 min.

2. Then throw in the zucchini, peppers, Saute another 3 min. Then throw in the remaining ingredients except for the Parmesan. Continue to stir the mixture for another 5 min. Then pour in a little water. Put on the lid and let cook on med. heat for 3-5 min.

3. Take off the lid and let dry out and cook to desired tenderness. I like it still slightly firm and still colorful.

4. Serve on individual plates and grate on the cheese if desired. Serve warm.

Whole Grain Baguettes and Bruschetta

Several years back a friend came to my house with homemade Bruschetta. It tasted so wonderful. I have thought it would be wonderful to give it a try sometime, and so I finally did.

I enjoyed creating a new recipe I hadn't tried before. I thought it would be fun to make whole grain baguettes. The recipes I looked up all had white with the wheat. It is not a problem to have the combo, but my preference is to stick with the whole grain when I can. The baguettes turned out well. My daughter had given me a baguette pan that worked perfect. It helps to not have it spread when it rises and bakes. I also loved the texture it gave to the bottom of the bread.

It was then fun to make the baguettes into brushetta. It was a crowd pleaser. My son thought it was liking eating little pizzas (and he doesn't usually like tomatoes!). I look forward to making it again. You could buy the baguettes if you don't have time to go to the extra work. :) It would make a great addition to the 4Th of July weekend.

Ingredients: Makes 2 Baguettes

Baguette
5 1/2 to 6 C whole grain flour*
2 T flax seed ground
2 C Warm water
2 T yeast
1 T honey
1/4 C kefir or plain yogurt (helps with the rising.)
1 tsp salt
4 T olive oil

Directions:
1. In bread mixer pour in 2 C flour, warm water, ground flax, honey, and yeast. Let sit about 10 minutes till it starts to bubble and foam. If it doesn't bubble and foam, your yeast is dead.

2. Then add the kefir, salt, oil and flour 1 C at a time. You want the dough to be slightly sticky still, and the dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl. Knead about 5 minutes. If you are using spelt. If you are using wheat and white flour you could knead a little longer. Let the dough rest 5 minutes in the bowl.

3. Then take the dough out of the bowl, and rub oil all over the dough. Cover and leave in a warm place on the counter. Let it double. (about 45 minutes to an hour)

4. Then form into 2 long loaves, and place on greased baking sheet or greased baguette pan. They should be about 2 inches thick approx. Then make small cuts across the top diagonally. Then brush olive oil on top. Let rise again about 20 minutes. Bake at 400 15 to 20 min.


*Whole grains ground into flour; about 5C spelt, 3C kamut, 1/2 C each: brown rice, oats, buckwheat. I have extra and store it in the fridge till next time I need it. You can use your own combo.

Bruschetta:

Ingredients:
5-6 ripe tomatoes Roma or vine ripened cut into small pieces
4 cloves minced garlic
1/3 C olive oil
2 T balsamic vinegar
3 T dried bail or 1/4 C fresh basil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 baguette
1 C cheese mozzarella or fresh grated Parmesan

Directions:

1. Turn oven on to broiler setting.

2. Combine the first 7 ingredients in a bowl. Then let sit for 5 to 10 minutes to let the flavors combine.

3. In the mean time cut up the baguette into small angled slices about 3/4 " thick approx. Place on cookie sheet. Brush top side with olive oil and broil 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly golden.

4. Then take out of the oven, and put a scoop of tomato mixture on each baguette. Then top with small amount of cheese. Place back in the oven 3-5 minutes. Watch so they don't over bake.

Enjoy!

Whole Grain Tomato Basil Wraps

Today I had fun making some wraps, this time I tried them adding tomatoes. You can try this past recipe for wraps too. I loved smelling the garlic in them while they cooked. Yum! You could add some more herbs to them as well. There are lots of fun things you can put in them. (Meat. Cheese, egg, vegetables)
I rolled one up quick for my son with pepper jack cheese, turkey, spinach and some mustard. He really liked it. He thought they were store bought. (Mission accomplished! :)
This is what the mixture looked like prior to adding the flour. It was bright red before I added the leek. The red and green combo, made it more brown.
This was the about the size I rolled them into. I made some big and some smaller. It made about 12 wraps.
Ingredients:

1 1/2 C Roma tomatoes pureed (about 4 to 5 tomatoes
2 T fresh basil
1 T marjoram (optional)
1 leek chopped small pieces
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4  C olive oil
3 C whole grain flour ( I used this combination. 1 C spelt, 1/2 C brown rice, 1/2 C quinoa, 1/2 C kamut, 1/4 C buckwheat )
*olive oil for your hands when you roll them into balls

Directions:

1. Put the tomatoes in the blender, and puree for a couple minutes. (It should equal to 1 1/2 C) Then add herbs, leek, garlic, salt and oil, pulse.another couple minutes.
2. Pour the mixture into the bread mixer. Then knead adding 1 cup of flour at a time. The dough will be sticky. (Moist is better)
3. Put oil on your hands, and roll the dough into balls. Let sit while heating up the tortilla maker. ( I have a chef pro)
4. Then cook on tortilla maker according to manufactures directions. (I found with my tortilla maker, not putting too much pressure on it works the best.)