Saturday December 16.
Monday 12-11.
Awhile ago I posted about a new favorite food around here: Bruschetta. I'd had it a couple times at restaurants and really liked it. When we had an abundance of cherry tomatoes this summer, I came up with my own recipe after scouring the internet and not finding one I liked. This one fits the bill and satisfies the craving.... even if I have to buy cherry tomatoes to make it. My last post about bruschetta didn't really have a recipe which is fine - kinda - because it's hard to mess it up - but so I have something a little more repeat-able, I wrote down what I did. Here it is.
Bruschetta
1 loaf garlic bread
1 recipe AJill's Garlic Butter
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in halves or fourths
1 tablespoon garlic (optional: brown in garlic butter)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
8 basil leaves, crushed (about 2 teaspoons basil (?))
1/4 teaspoon salt
few shakes pepper
shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese
Butter both sides of a slice of French bread with AJill's Garlic Butter. Toast in skillet until crispy and golden. In a small bowl, combine all other ingredients except cheese. Top toasted bread with tomato mixture, then top with cheese. Technically this should all be drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar or Glaze but I don't really care for it so haven't used it.
*This amount of tomatoes makes about half a loaf worth of bruschetta; it's hard to judge bc some ppl like less or more of the tomato mixture.
AJill's Garlic Bread
1 loaf French bread, sliced
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon dill weed
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Add spices to butter and mix well. Butter one side of each slice of bread, keeping all slices together as a loaf. Wrap loaf in foil. Bake @ 350 for 15 minutes or until bread is hot and butter is melted.
Enjoy!
It's been a good fall and a mild winter so far. We didn't have apples from our trees so haven't been drying them and saucing them and cidering them like last year. Life should be a little slower, right? Not. Time marches on and days are full and blessed and that's all good. Tim's jobs with 360YC and CIT keep him adequately challenged. Sarah and Jewel have finished their ICC semesters and are enjoying a little free time in between their jobs and helping me. Sarah started working at the Pekin Memorial Ice Rink as a skate guard which means she's there even more than before (she skates for free) and often somehow manages to get her friends/siblings there too (they don't). It's a good gig and she enjoys it. She also has random babysitting jobs so keeps busy. Jewel still works at 360 in accounting; she's there 25-30 hours a week and seems to enjoy it. After work she manages to find time for her horses and piano. Josh has a few days left of school before Christmas break and he is ready. He's had an excellent semester academic-wise; he's also spent quite a few days working for various employers. URandy appreciates his help cleaning hog buildings and moving hogs, as does URandy's cousin Brett. Also Lucas Baer is a local farmer who also runs a tiling business; Josh has occasionally been helping Lucas with tiling. On the weeks when he is working, Josh crams all his school into his not-working days; he's doing great at all jobs and is learning valuable time management skills as well. Christmas gifts are all wrapped (!!wow!!), cards are out the door (finally), and we enjoyed Kaiser Christmas a few weeks ago and Steiner Christmas this past weekend. This weekend is our family Christmas and then BLINK it's almost 2024😳. Not much is new with other kids. Some have had travels; most haven't. We learned today that Baby Kaiser is a girl which is very exciting for her oldest cousin Kiowa. So as I work on my latest comforter, I now know who it's for😍.
And that's about enough for this time around.
Monday 12-4
