It's Tomato Time . . .Brew-sketta! :)

Thanks to Darcy's Garden...we had an abundance of tomatoes to create a yummy light dinner! When this late summer heat rolls in, a big dinner is not happening at the Carlson Casa~so hence, Bruschetta!! (pronounced brew-skeeta)

No one was quite sure what I had in mind except Megan, who asked "Is that the tomato stuff we buy from Trader Joe's in the green tub?" ....darn it that kid is smart! We added a special addition of roasted garlic spread because I have a garlic addiction that needed to be fed!!

So off we go . . .with no recipe in hand.

Darcy's Garden Fresh Tomatoes ~about 4 lbs
Fresh Baked Ciabatta Loaf
4 heads of Garlic

Bunch of Organic Basil
Italian Extra-Virgin Olive Oil - about a 1/2 cup

Fresh picked Oregano from the backyard.
Fresh ground Sea Salt & Pepper

We sliced the tops off the 3 of the heads of garlic & threw some fresh picked Oregano and olive oil in an oven proof 8 inch skillet & threw it in the oven at 475 for about an hour until nice and soft.

Meanwhile, Lauren picked the basil leafs off the stems.

Then Meg seeded the tomatoes while Lauren took an ice cream break. Meg was too tired to chop the tomatoes TOO ...ya' know she is in fifth grade now & in Student Counsel AND running for President :) So...she is a too busy making posters for her campaign tonight! ...Mama diced the seeded tomatoes.

I snipped up about half of the bunch of basil with my kitchen shears and added to the bowl of minced tomatoes along with about a 1/4 cup of olive oil, a good pinch of Sea Salt (sssh...don't tell Jim! he thinks it tastes like the Ocean) and about 7 grinds of black pepper & 3 cloves of VERY mined raw garlic.

On my Soap Box: This recipe is cheap...don't pinch pennies on the olive oil - you will be sorry in my opinion. Trader Joes carries an amazing selection of Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oils for around 6-10$. K, done with my rant.

The roasted garlic is finally ready to mash ! Into my mini chopper for a quick blend with the Oregano & then into a mini bowl to serve as our Roasted Garlic Spread. Some recipes call for rubbing raw garlic onto your bread ...but I am a huge fan of the healing capabilities of Garlic. So in my opinion...we can never eat enough garlic! Yep, we are the stinkin' family over on Plymouth Court!

Lauren & Megan "painted" the sliced fresh Ciabatta bread wit a bit of Olive Oil & we popped it into a 400 degree oven for about 5-6 minutes. We like it still a bit soft in the middle.

And then it was ...DINNER! A slice of warm toasted bread, a smear of garlic spread & a heaping spoonful of Brushetta. YUM-O! Nothing like home grown tomatoes & warm bread. Carbs-smarbs...you protein only people don't know what you are missing! Megan added a few slices of fresh Mozzarella to her bread.

Turned out to be a small portion of yummy & fresh dinner that everyone enjoyed. Megan packed up some left over Brushetta for her lunch box :) ...that's how I know it was good!

It's Official!

Mama & Megan Eat from the Farm cookbook is underway!

Mama & Megan are writing a cookbook this year while we shop, savour AND EAT fresh each season from the local farms!

Of course...Meg will illustrate & cook the entire book :) Mama will be the best bossy-butt, over-advice giving author she knows how to be!!

We will keep you posted as we continue to blog this year!

Back in the kitchen!

So Meg & I headed back into the kitchen this month after being side tracked most of last year :)

We agreed to try one of Sam the Cooing Guy's recipes! Love his show & this was such a simple easy dinner. Click here for the original RECIPE ...

On one of his episodes on FitTV he took this same recipe & lightened it up. That's the recipe we followed. And SO glad we did...I was floored to hear that 1 cup of whipping cream has 821 calories AND 88 grams of saturated fat...uh HELLO? Even in a recipe that serves 6...I would be dishing up an extra 136 calories AND 14 grams of saturated fat. Skipped it & didn't miss it :)

This was a quick & easy go to recipe for those busy week nights & it got 2 thumbs up from Jim too!

Spicy-ish Sausage Pasta (the low-fat version!)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 lb. of penne pasta we used dreamfield low carb penne pasta - YUMMY!

1 lb of spicy Italian sausage we opted for regular Italian sausage to make it more kid & heartburn friendly!

4 cloves of garlic we used 6!

3 tablespoons of butter we forgot it & never noticed :)

1 can of fat free evaporated milk

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons of fresh parsley we choose to use 2 cups of fresh baby spinach instead to add some veggie to it!

and 1 teaspoon of Red Chili Pepper Flakes ...more on this later!!

First thing meg did was fill a pot of water & get it on high for our pasta.

She heated the oil in a medium sauce pan & squeezed the sausage out of the casing. Sometimes we can find the Italian sausage ground in a pack w/o the casings...but not tonight! Meg wanted to know what the casing was made out of...I didn't even go there with her..bleck!

While the sausage browned & the pasta was tossed into the SALTED water to boil...I showed Meg (and Lauren!) how to use a garlic peeler and then she minced up the garlic with a FOOD CHOPPER....she's hip to the shortcuts now :)

The garlic got added to the sausage pan & cooked for just a minute our 2. We drained off the grease & returned the sausage garlic mix back to the pan. Added the can of condensed milk, let it come to a boil, added the Parmesan cheese and chili flakes & let it cook off until it was a thick creamy sauce! Took about 10 minutes. Right as it was done, we added the fresh spinach & let it wilt for a minute.

(Meg likes to use kitchen shears instead of a knife for chopping up the spinach!)

Drained the pasta (Mama had to jump in for that!)...and then added the pasta right into our sauce. Stirred and topped with a lil more Parmesan cheese & it was DINNER Time!

This is a keeper & one Meg can totally do on her own! You can see I have an agenda here :)

Meg said she learned that a little chili flakes goes a long way & next time she would cut that amount in half. It was a bit spicy...but SO good!

Until next time...Bon Appetit!

Where did we go?

WOW!! Those New Years Resolutions are HARD to keep! :) We had this lofty goal of year long cooking lessons ....and we did 4, posted 3 and that was it! We are bummed we didn't keep it up...so with the New Year...off we go again in 2011.

Looking forward to some good food! Lauren turned 2 last October, so we have hired her to be part of the team. Meg says we can teach her how to do the dishes first. Hmmmm.

Mama, Meg & Lauren (aka LC)