Scalloped Tomatoes

Scalloped Tomatoes was chosen by Jose at Pink Parsley Catering for this month's dish at the Barefoot Bloggers. This was from Ina's Farm Stand Food episode, I missed the show, but will look for a repeat of it. How does Ina do it? This is another great recipe! I am still tasting it (and loving it) and I finished dinner 2 hours ago. I was able to use basil from my garden, but my tomatoes are not ready to pick yet.


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large (12 inch) saute pan over medium heat. Add the bread cubes and stir to coat with the oil. Cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring often, until the cubes are evenly browned.


Meawhile, combine the tomatoe, garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. When the bread cubes are done, add the tomato mixture and continue to cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the basil.

Pour the tomato mixture into a shallow (6 to 8 cup) baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with the Parmesan cheese and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Bake for 3 to 40 minutes until the top is browned and the tomatoes are bubbly. Serve hot or warm.

Ingredients

• olive oil
• 2 cups (1/2 inch diced) bread from a french boule, crusts removed
• 16 plum tomaotes, cut 1/2 inch dice (about 2 1/2 pounds)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 cloves)
• 2 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tasponns kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup julienned basil leaves. lightly packed
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Tomato Tarts

What do you eat on a hot summer night...

Tomato Tarts with Goat Cheese and Basil

This recipe is out of the new issue of Cuisine at home. I love this magazine! The recipes always turn out delicious. I just loved the way these look, and they tasted even better. I served these with a garden salad with baby lettuce, fresh herbs, cucumber, and red onion-only on mine-DH does not like red onions! These were so easy to make, I will be making them again soon!!

Makes 4 tarts.

Ingredients:

2 sheets frozen puff pastry (17.3 oz. box)

1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 Tbsp. water

2 oz. herb-flavored goat cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. milk

8 each red and yellow cherry tomatoes, halved (I used all red)

Salt and Black pepper to taste

2 Tbsp. minced fresh basil

Thaw puff pastry according to package directions. Preheat oven to 400.

Cut one pastry sheet into 4 even squares. Place squares on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cut remaining sheet into 8 strips, each 3/4 inch wide. (you will have approximately 1/3 of the sheet remining after strips are cut. Use it to make a smaller tart or refreeze or another use.) Cut the 8 strips in half crosswise to make 16 strips, 4 to 5 inches each.

Place four strips around the edge of each pastry square, overlapping corners. Lightly brush pastry edges and corners with egg wash; bake until puffed and brown, 22-24 minutes.

Whisk together goat cheese and milk. Dvide cheese mixture among centers of baked tarts, spreading it with a spatula and pressing lightly to gently deflate centers. Top cheese mixture with tomatoes; season with salt and pepper.

Bake tarts 5 minutes more. Remove from oven and garnish with basil; serve warm or at room temperature.

Making Perfect Iced Tea and a Giveaway!

This is my 100th Post! I have had so much fun with this blog. I started blogging after my daughter started a blog and I thought I need to try this... It was so easy to start the blog..click, click and within minutes I had one!! :) I wish I would have thought more about the name of my blog, there are so many clever and fun names out there! But like I said, click, click and I was up and running. My thought was to share information, pictures, and recipes with my family members who all live up North (I am in North Carolina), but blogging has brought me new friends and lots of great recipes and ideas for entertaining, sewing, reading, etc. Thank you all for making this so much fun!

For those of you have been following you know I own a gift shop with a small tearoom. Lately with the weather being so hot I have been getting a lot of questions on how to make ICED TEA! I prefer making my tea from loose-leaf tea because I think the flavor is better and the choices are numerous. I have three different ways to share:

To brew one gallon of Iced Tea with loose-leaf tea:

1. Use fresh cold water from the tap. Never reuse water that has already boiled -- the oxygen will have evaporated from it, this affects the taste of the tea.
2. Measure 1/3 cup tea leaves. Place them directly into the teapot or use a tea infuser or t-sac that is large enough to allow the leaves room to expand and steep properly.
3. Heat the water until it reaches the correct temperature: 160 to 180 degrees for green and white teas; 190 to 200 degrees for oolong teas; and a full boil for black teas, herbal infusions, and fruit blends. A six-cup teapot is a good size to use. Pour water over the leaves immediately and cover the teapot.
4. Steep the tea for the correct amount of time: 3 to 5 minutes for black teas, 3 to 5 minutes for oolong; 1 to 3 minutes for green and white teas; and 5 to 10 minute for herbal infusions. Don't steep too long, that can give your tea a bitter taste.
5. Immediately after steeping, remove the tea leave by straining the loose tea leaves from the teapot as you pour the tea into a pitcher or by removing the tea infuser or t-sac.
6. Transfer the tea to a pitcher and sweeten it if desired. Then add enough cold tap water to make one gallon.

Cold Brew Method

Put loose leaf tea or teabags into pitcher, fill with COLD water, put into refrigerator overnight. The next morning you will have perfect iced tea that never gets cloudy or old tasting!

Flash Chill Method (Using the Tea Forte Brewing Pitchers)

Brew Hot: Place one Tea Forte Tea-Over-Ice infuser, teabags, or t-sac filled with tea in pitcher, fill with 24 oz. of boiling water, steep 5 minutes.

Fill With Ice: Fill the bottom pitcher with ice.

Flash Chill: Pour tea over the ice.

Enjoy immediately!

Any of these methods will give you a delicious glass of "Iced Tea"....enjoy!

Now, for the giveaway:

The winner will receive a Teaforte Iced tea brewing pitcher and their Nantucket Sampler Collection of luscious white, black and Herbal, Iced Teas!

You have three chances to enter your name into the pot. Here it goes....
1st: Leave a comment here.
2nd: Tell me that you are a follower, if you are not one then become one if you like.
3rd: Post this giveaway on your blog and let me know that you posted it.

Good luck and thank you all so much for making this blog so much fun!! I will announce the winner next Thursday June 24th at 7:00 p.m.

Thanks again to Michael at http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ for hosting FOODIE FRIDAY, make sure to visit her to see what everyone else is cooking up this week:)

Twice-baked Potatoes

We love twice-baked potatoes! I usually make a whole recipe 6 whole potatoes (12 halves) and freeze what I have left. They freeze great, and are just as good when reheated. To bake from frozen I usually stick them in a 400 degree oven and bake for about 45 minutes. But if you are baking something at 350 they will do fine at that temperature too, just bake them a little longer!

What you will need...

6 large baking potatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons milk

3 tablespoons butter

1 cup sour cream

10 ounces grated sharp Cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon garlic salt

Salt and Pepper

6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 cup finely chopped green onion

Directions:

Wash the potatoes and pierce them with a fork. Rub the potatoes with the olive oil and place them on a jellyroll pan or a large cookie sheet with a rim. Bake the potatoes for 45 minutes in a 400 degree oven, or until done. Remove the potatoes from the oven and cut them in half lengthwise.

Scoop out the potato flesh, leave a nice rim around the skin of the potato. In a mixing bowl add the potatoes, milk, butter, sour cream, cheese (save some cheese to sprinkle on top of each potato) garlic salt, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix with electric mixer until creamy. Divide the mixture evenly and spoon it back into the potato shells. Sprinkle with leftover cheese, bacon, and green onions.

Return to 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

I am joining Michael at http://designsbygollum.blogspot for another great FOODIE FRIDAY. Make sure to stop by and see what all the other Foodie's are cooking this week!

Homemade Salsa

Making salsa is so easy, it only takes a couple of minutes! I love my salsa with lots of cilantro!

Ingredients:

• 1 can (28 ounce) Whole Tomatoes with juice
• 2 cans (10 ounce) Rotel diced tomatoes and green chilies (drained)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 whole Jalapeno, sliced thin (or to taste)
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 cup Cilantro
• 1/2 whole lime, juiced

Directions:

Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel tomatoes (drained) onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro into a food processor. Pulse about 10 pulses. That's it... Chill for at least one hour.

Happy Foodie Friday!! Make sure to visit http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ for more great recipes!!