When the Garden Gives You Tomatoes, Make The Getskow version of Brucshetta

I love bringing things to Sunday dinners. This Sunday I was determined to use ingredients fresh out of my parents garden to make an appetizer. One main thing found in the garden are tomatoes. We have cherry tomatoes and larger round ones, not sure of their official name. Another, vegetable found in the garden are bell peppers and they planted three colors. The final ingredient I yanked from the earth were two red onions.

The Getskow Garden Brucshetta

4-5 large garden fresh tomatoes
2 small garden fresh red onions
2 garden fresh purple bell peppers (YES, purple)
2 garden fresh green bell peppers
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp garlic powder or the equivalent in minced garlic

One store bought baguette

Wash and trim all garden fresh produce. Chop all garden fresh items into small pieces. Combine in a bowl. Add seasonings and Olive oil and vinegar. Cover and place in the refrigerator.

Just before serving time prepare your baguette. Slice up the baguette into thin slices. Spray slices with olive oil and toast them in the oven. 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Serve toasted baguette alongside the bowl of brucshetta. Unless, you are serving your guests from a tray. Spoon a tablespoon on top of the toasted slice and serve immediately.

When the Garden Gives You Zucchini, Make Muffins

My Mom lovingly tends to the garden each summer when my Dad's leaves for the Midwest. Tending to the garden is a time consuming and sometimes difficult job, especially when the temperature has been over 100 degrees many a day, and humid too!

Tomatoes, 3 colors of bell pepper, strawberries, lemons, onions and zucchini grow in this garden. The zucchini grow fast and big. I picked some zucchini yesterday. Gave a couple to a friend and brought a couple home.

I have decided to make MUFFINS! I am not a fan of zucchini bread. It weird, really. Put a zucchini in something sweet? I am used to eating grilled zucchini, not sweet zucchini. I found a basic recipe for Zucchini Muffins on the Internet. This site has just about every muffin you could imagine on it. http://www.muffinrecipes.net/. I modeled my recipe after one I read, but spiced mine up a bit.

Garden Fresh Zucchini Muffins

1 cup sugar
2 eggs (white thingies removed)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup shredded garden fresh zucchini
2 cups unbleached flour
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Mix the first four ingredients together. Add the zucchini, and dry ingredients and mix well. If you would like some of your muffins to be pecan free, stop here and fill muffins cups 2/3 full. Add the chopped pecans to the remainder of the batter and mix. Fill the remaining cups. You should have enough batter for 12 muffins and one mini loaf or 4 more muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Serve warm with butter, or cooled with nothing.

Quick and Easy Appetizers

Robby's Mommer is one amazing lady. She can do anything. Yep, anything. One of her greatest qualities is hospitality. She is the Queen of Hospitality. She always has something for everyone at her house. She can put together just about anything in the kitchen at a moments notice and whatever it is, it is always Fantastic. These appetizers are easy and most items can be stored in your refrigerator. They are Mommer inspired and Just about anyone could look at the appetizer plate and find something they like. Here goes.

Quick and Easy Appetizers

Cheddar Cheese cubed
Monterey Jack or Pepper Jack cheese cubed
Gallo Salami sliced or cubed
Jalapeno Stuffed Olives
Mini Dill Pickles

Using a cute divided relish tray, arrange your snack foods in the little compartments. Make sure to put a little cup with toothpicks beside the plate. Serve and watch the snacks disappear. They will and be ready with more snacks to refill!

Chocolate Crescent Pockets

I had a special guest in my kitchen today. Her name is Katie and she is visiting her Grandpa, our friend Juan for the next couple of weeks. I thought she might like to hang out and do some girlie stuff, so I asked Juan if she could hang out with me. She came to my house at 6 am. I had made her a little bed on the couch, I left her to slumber and I lumbered back upstairs. Beauty sleep was our first girlie thing to do.

Our second girlie thing was to bake up a yummy breakfast. Yes a breakfast that included chocolate. When I told her what we were going to make she didn't even look at me like I was crazy. We washed our hands and then prepared a "very rich" breakfast as Katie put it.

Chocolate Crescent Pockets (will make 8, or 16 small ones if you feel like cutting the 8 triangles in half)

one roll Pillsbury Crescent rolls
1-2 tablespoons butter
Cinnamon sugar
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Unroll Crescents and place on baking pan. Spread a little butter on the larger end of triangle. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of the butter. Place 12-15 chocolate chips on top of that. Fold the the two larger ends of triangle together and press with fingertips to seam the sides. Pull the skinny pointed end up and press the new sides together forming a pocket. Style the remaining dough from pointed end over the top of fold it, as long as pocket is formed. Spread a tiny bit of butter on top of that and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Repeat until all of your rolls have been transformed into chocolate pockets.

Bake for 13 - 15 minutes. Allow to cool just a bit. Serve and enjoy the chocolaty flaky warm goodness.

After we had breakfast we painted her toenails and fingernails in a Patriotic Zebra Pattern. Then swam all day long, had lunch, Swam more, came home and watched Hairspray. She had a great day and said her breakfast was the best one she had ever had and she would like to make them for her Grandpa.

Variety Brownies In One Pan

Make them think you slaved for hours in your kitchen. Really you only use one large brownie mix or 2-3 smaller bagged ones, one bowl and one Jelly roll type pan and you have 3 different types of brownies. Quite genius I think and when you taste the variety you will go out of your mind.

Mix your favorite Brownie mix (sometimes I replace the water the recipe calls for with milk or flavored alcohol) and spread batter into the greased jelly roll pan.

Coconut Brownies
Sprinkle coconut on one third of the batter in the pan. The coconut will toast up so nicely and add such a great taste and texture to your brownie!

Chocolate Heath Bar Brownie
Take 2-3 Heath bars and crack them up. Place toffee pieces on brownie batter on the next third of the pan. Sprinkle a handful or two of semi-sweet chocolate chips on top of toffee.

Smore Brownies
Cut large marshmallows in half or use 1-2 cups mini marshmallows, a dozen Unwrapped Hershey Kisses, and a handful of walnuts. Pull brownies from oven when they are 3-5 minutes from being done. Sprinkle the marshmallows on brownies. Pop them back in the oven and bake the last few minutes. Once they have plumped, pull the brownies out and top your marshmallow with the kisses and nuts.

Re-Inventing Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are awesome. Imagine just adding one or two ingredients and have a new yummy tasting cookie. The buttery chocolaty goodness with ? ? ? ?

Basically, take your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and add some other good stuff.

Cinnamon Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
I add cinnamon and a packet or two of Maple and Brown sugar oatmeal to mine. They are delish!

Red, White and Blue Cookies
Omit chocolate chip and add a handful of dried cranberries, add 1 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips, and a handful of dried blueberries. That's it and you will have the best Patriotic White Chocolate Chip cookie ever!

Toasted Coconut and Pecan Cookies
Keep the chocolate chips and add 1/2 cup toasted coconut and 1/2 cup pecans. YUMMY!

Caramel Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies
Add 1-2 packets of Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal, keep the chocolate chips in your recipe and then cut 10 or 12 caramels into 4's and mix into your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Add a cup of Peanut Butter chips to your favorite cookie dough or chop up some Reece's Peanut butter cups. OH YEAH!!!

Experiment. Make some unique cookies right now and then share your idea in the comment section. (:

Fantastic Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad! Oh, am I a fan. I love Pasta Salad with Italian Dressing. (NO, mayo on my pasta, please!) It has been my favorite for years.

Jamie's Fantastic Pasta Salad

1 16 oz box any type of Pasta (I used Disney's Pirate Pasta with cool shapes, a skull, treasure chest, pirates...)

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 tbs. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. coarse ground pepper
1/4 tsp. regular salt
1/2 tbs. McCormick's Italian Pepper and Onion Seasoning blend
2 Tbs. Italian Seasonings

1/2 cup cubed Gallo Salami
1/2 cup chopped reduced fat string cheese
1/2 cup cubed Pepper Jack Cheese (you can use any types of cheese you want)
1/4 cup chopped peperoncini rings
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 small can sliced black olives (optional)

Boil your pasta with a little salt. Once cooked according to directions on the box. Drain and rinse and set aside. Mix the Italian Dressing Ingredients and set aside.

Once the pasta has cooled toss it in a bowl or gallon size Ziploc bag. Pour Italian Dressing over pasta and toss. Add remaining ingredients and stir or shake bag after each addition. Put your Fantastic Pasta Salad in the refrigerator for an hour or two so the flavors can blend. Serve with a Sandwich (Mmm Monte Cristo) or Marinated Tri tip or whatever your little heart desires.

You can tame down the spiciness of the Fantastic Pasta Salad by omitting the Pepper Jack, peperoncinis, and adjust the seasonings.