Mini Bruschetta

One of my favorite weekend mid-day snacks is mini bruschetta. It's so quick to make and only requires a few basic ingredients. I first discovered bruschetta when I was a server in an Italian bistro in my late teens. I had never heard of such a thing, eating a "pizza" with oil & tomatoes?? Whaaat? Oil is for frying, isn't it?? Oh how deprived I was. One taste and I was hooked, and so began my love affair with olive oil. All you need for my mini bruschetta bites is a bag of Italian bread rounds, olive oil, fresh tomatoes, garlic, basil, cilantro, salt and mozzarella cheese.

In a medium bowl combine olive oil, diced tomatoes and seasonings.

Place a heaping spoonful of the mixture on each bread round.

Top each round with a small amount of cheese and bake at 350 for 10 minutes, just long enough to get each mini bruschetta nice and crisp and cheese melted.

Enjoy!! Tasty and satisfying, they are the perfect appetizer or mid-day snack!

Some of my faves

I got caught up in looking over the thousands of photos I have in my computer and wanted to share some of my faves! I really need to get focused and start shooting again.

Quick Cheesy Bread Rolls

I was chatting with fellow food lover at the office this week and she was telling me about a cute little Italian restaurant in town that serves the most amazing little bread balls served with olive oil. They sounded so good that I decided to try to make my own. Now this was my first attempt and they didn't really turn out how I anticipated but I know what I would change, I used crescent roll dough and that was the wrong thing to do, it was much too sweet. Next time I will use a pizza dough, I honestly don't know what I was thinking with the crescent dough, sweet does not go well with olive oil! That being said here is my take on the bread rolls.

*I took dough and rolled it between my hands then placed on foil to spread out

*I then brushed the dough with a garlic butter mix. I only use real butter, none of that almost plastic crap that my kids call "manmade butter". For my butter brush I melt one stick of butter with minced garlic. Don't use the powder junk!

*I added mozzarella cheese in the center and then tucked dough into a ball.

*Lastly, I brushed each roll with an egg wash & then of course more of my garlic butter and baked at 375 for 15 minutes.

I served these with spaghetti with my own homemade pasta sauce, they were very tasty but as I said I will definitely use a different dough next time. It's always fun trying new things and trail and error are all part of the game.

Valentine bliss or bloodbath?

Did you know that February 15th is the day that most people decide to begin an affair? Also, it is the day that divorce attorneys receive the most calls for consultations. I'm also wondering if therapists are as busy?
The reason? Simple, a great deal of people have high expectations on Valentines Day and those people could be in a relationship with a person that just doesn't put much stock in the day.

Think about the couples you know, do you have a female friend that says "we don't celebrate, we don't need a day to show our love." Do you know what I think every time a woman says that to me?  BULLSHIT! That's what women tell themselves when they happen to be involved with someone who can't take the time to do something sweet on the day or this is what women say to prepare themselves for the disappointment of not being treated like the princess they should be! You show me one woman who would not LOVE to be treated special not just on Valentines Day, but every day, any random day!

My point is, we don't need a day to show our love but it's nice. What's so wrong with showing each other a little extra kindness and showering her with sweet trinkets on February
14th? It would be cheaper than divorce attorney.

That being said, how was your Valentines Day, was it bliss or a bloodbath?

Freedom from processed snacks!

As a mother of four I'm constantly hearing "can I have a snack?". Seriously. During my stay at home mom days I actually heard it so much that I resorted to setting a "snack timer". It would go off every three hours and the children knew that was the only time they could get a snack. Lord, you should have seen the stampede to the pantry when that ding went off!

In order to keep up with my children's snack demands I succumbed to societies marketing tricks and kept an endless supply of granola bars, cookies, snack cakes, yogurt packs ect. Once the kids got a little older and I began working again, we somehow switched to the big boxes of individual wrapped snacks. I wanted to give them choices and even let all four of them pick one at the supermarket. For three years the pantry was filled with packs of crackers & cookies. So much so that my youngest crumb snatcher would stand in front of the pantry, her foot just a tapping and she would declare that I REALLY need to get to the store for more snacks.

One day I began to ponder if children really needed an endless supply of empty caloried snacks and this was my conclusion. These snacks should NEVER be a staple in the household, they should be a treat! What have I been thinking! So I informed the children that I would no longer be supplying these salty and sugar filled snacks on a regular basis, that from now on our household snacks would consist of fruits, veggies and cheese. This was of course met with groans and disbelief but mama wasn't wavering. What really took me by surprise was how quickly they adjusted! They fully embraced the plethora of fresh goodness within days, goodbye manufactured snacks! If you're looking for some quick, healthy snacks keep on reading!

Breakfast fruit wrap
*tortilla shell
*yogurt
*sliced bananas & grapes

Coat shell with yogurt, add fruit and fold. Quick breakfast and kids love to make it themselves!

Fruit skewers
*skewers
*pineapple, orange & banana slices
*cherries

Pile on the fruit! Cream cheese dip is a good addition to this snack.

Philly cracker bites
*round butter crackers
*cream cheese
*strawberries

Top em! Perfect mix of creamy & sweet!

Fruit pizza
*tortilla shell
*peanut butter
*strawberries and blueberries

Spread, top and cut in fours. Yummy!

Hummus squares
*wheat pita bread
*hummus
*cucumbers

Spread pita with hummus, top with sliced cucumbers and cut in fours.

And don't forget about the cheese cubes, string cheese & if age appropriate, nuts! Happy snacking!