Tomato & Feta Bruschetta

In order to save money, eat healthy and eat what’s on my menu plan, I’ve been enjoying lunch at home nearly every day. I enjoy making something nice, sitting down with a magazine and enjoying each bite. You know they all say its the simple things in life that are best? Well how much more simple could you get than tomato and cheese on toast in the form of this Tomato & Feta Bruschetta (has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?).

I’ve also changed the way I shop. No longer do I spend $30 on a box full of fruit and vegies that will most likely get thrown out at the end of the fortnight because I haven’t incorporated it into my weekly meal plan. I’d rather menu plan these days and get 1 or 2 gourmet, vine ripened tomatoes and enjoy the flavour and taste than waste a whole bunch of food. It works out more economical for me and my family.

I’m still on the ‘feta bandwagon’ and am enjoying it in most meals and it doesn’t look like going away anytime soon.

Tomato & Feta Bruschetta

• sour dough bread slices, toasted or grilled
• oil for brushing
• garlic clove or garlic spread
• tomatoes
• feta cheese
• salt & pepper
• dried basil
• italian flat leaf parsley for garnish

1. Spray or brush sour dough slices with oil and grill or toast until brown.
2. Rub with peeled garlic clove or spread with garlic spread. (I have a nice garlic spread and put it on just about everything.)
3. Meanwhile, chop tomatoes and add salt, pepper and dried (or fresh) basil.
4. Add feta cheese to tomato mixture and put onto toasted bread. 
5. Top with parsley to garnish.

Fresh tomato & beef lasagna

I make lasagna often. It’s no big deal. Just a basic bolognese sauce, layered with dried lasagna sheets and topped with bechamel sauce. I always use tinned tomatoes but if I have the excess tomatoes, I’ll make big batches of passata to use in my bolognese and other tomato based pasta sauces.

I was clearing out the fridge one day when I came across way too many tomatoes. They were getting a little soft and maybe not so nice for salads so I decided to incorporate them straight into the ground beef for the lasagna that night. It was way quicker than deseeding them, peeling them, trying to bottle or freeze them.

I roughly chopped them with onion, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper (and a couple tablespoons of sugar) and then mixed them with the browned beef. That was it.

The tomato taste was lovely and fresh and made a nice sauce for the lasagna. I did overcook this one and the top got a little brown. Here’s a link to my Beef and Eggplant Lasagna that will give you quantities and the recipe for bechamel sauce. Never throw those older tomatoes away. Cook them up into a pasta sauce.

Anchovy, Caramelised Onion & Tomato Tart

With the last of the anchovies I had in the fridge, I decided to whip up this easy as pie (or tart in this case) Anchovy, Caramelised Onion & Tomato Tart. I love having puff pastry in the freezer because you can always make these things in a flash.

All I did was fry off some sliced onions in a dash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, topped the pastry, made a ‘noughts and crosses’ type pattern with the anchovy fillets and topped with a half of a Roma tomato. A sprinkle of salt and pepper and bung it in the oven.

I served it with some dressed salad greens and that was lunch. I love anchovies and this was a delicious way to use them up. You can check out some other ways to use them up from my Mystery Ingredient Monday post earlier this week.

Anchovy, Caramelised Onion & Tomato Tart

• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3-4 egg Roma tomatoes, cut in half
• extra virgin olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 175 deg C. Prepare baking try with baking paper and place sheet of puff pastry on baking tray.
2. Fry sliced onions in olive oil with a dash of balsamic vinegar. When soft, allow to cool slightly and then spoon onto puff pastry.
3. Place anchovy fillets onto onions in a ‘noughts and crosses’ pattern.
4. Place half a tomato inside each square.
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and bake until pastry is golden brown.
6. Serve with salad greens.

Avocado, cherry tomato, quinoa & bean salad

If you follow me on Pinterest, you’ll know I pin a lot of recipes. I don’t make a lot of them but every now and again a recipe pops up and that’s all I can think of. I’d been pinning a lot of quinoa recipes but this one just looked so delicious (probably more so than my photo) from thediva-dish.com. I’ve made a few quinoa salads and there really is not much taste to quinoa but with the addition of lemon zest in this recipe, it was really delicious.

There was a large amount so I had it for lunch and dinner. Its one of those ‘throw anything in’ kind of recipes that I love. What made it so delicious was the mix of spinach, coriander, lemon juice, dijon mustard and quinoa that coated each salad ingredient. I’ll be making this one again for sure. Good on its own or as a side.

Avocado, Cherry Tomato, Quinoa & Bean Salad

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1 avocado diced
• 1 block

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  frozen spinach (or fresh which has been steamed and rinsed under cool water

• 1/4 onion, diced
• 2 small cloves garlic, crushed

Dressing:

• Juice and zest of 1 lemon
• 1/2 bunch chopped coriander (or 2 tbs coriander in a tube)
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• dash of salt and pepper

1. Soak the quinoa in a pot in the vegetable stock for about 15 minutes. After that, turn on the heat to medium high and let the quinoa come to a boil. Once it boils, reduce heat to medium/low and let quinoa simmer. Stir every so often, and cook quinoa for about 20-25 minutes just until the liquid absorbs. You don’t want it completely dried out, so when there is just a TINY amount of liquid left in the pot, remove it from heat and put a lid on it. Set it aside, and make the rest of the salad.
2. Combine avocado, cherry tomatoes, cannellini beans, onion, spinach and garlic.
3. Make dressing. Add quinoa to salad and pour over dressing. Mix to combine.
4. Allow to stand before serving to allow flavours to combine.

 

BLT Salad

 

I’ve been going to the gym and trying to eat a lot healthier. That’s one of the reasons there hasn’t been too many baked goods on the blog lately. I’m trying to eat a salad at lunch and dinner with whatever I’m having, just to bulk up. I had all the ingredients for a BLT sandwich the other day but knew I couldn’t possibly fit all the lettuce I usually eat in one sitting on one tiny bit of bread so decided to throw it all in a bowl and make a BLT Salad.

 

 

I didn’t want to make croutons nor have too many carbs so toasted just one slice of bread and chopped that up and tossed through the salad. It was a nice way to eat that BLT combination, which is such a favourite with so many people.

BLT Salad

• bacon, grilled, microwaved or fried
• tomato, chopped
• lettuce leaves, torn
• bread, toasted
• vinaigrette or salad dressing of your choice

1. Toss bacon and salad ingredients into a bowl.
2. Chop toasted bread into squares and toss through salad.
3. Top with chopped, cooked bacon and salad dressing. Toss.
4. More salad ingredients or nuts can also be added like pecans, walnuts, pinenuts.

 

Beef, tomato and basil tart

I love to have puff pastry on hand. It’s such a good thing to have when you want to put together a quick, tasty meal. You could use just about anything you have on hand to make a delicious savoury tart for a quick meal. In this case, it was beef mince (ground beef), tomatoes, onion, garlic and fresh basil leaves.

Beef, tomato and basil tart

1 sheet frozen puff pastry
grated cheese (any sort is fine – I used mozarella)
small quantity of beef mince
1 tbs olive oil
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
salt and pepper
fresh basil leaves to garnish (or dried if you don’t have fresh)

1. Brown onion until softened. Add minced meat and garlic and cooked until just browned. Season with salt and pepper. (Add dried basil at this stage if you don’t have fresh.)
2. Add chopped tomato and remove from heat.
3. Score a line around the perimeter of the pastry sheet about 1-2cm (1/2″). This will become the crust of the tart and give you a defined area to put your topping.
4. Top the tart with grated cheese. Besides making the tart tasty, it will give the rest of the topping something to stick to.
5. Add beef/tomato mixture to top of tart and put in a 180 deg C (380 deg F) until pastry is golden.
6. Top with fresh basil.

You could just about use any ground meat, any vegetable and/or any cheese. Even a selection of roasted vegetables makes a gorgeous tart. No need to worry about making pastry and you’ve got a really delicious meal on the table in less than 30 minutes. A great weekend meal.