Tomato Basil Bruschetta

This was made for my haircutting sister. Caitlyn does my hair and I like to compensate her in food. Like chocolate cookies and bruschetta. She did my hair last week and I do have to say it is pretty rad. I keep my locks long and dark brown. Ethan likes it that way. But because I felt the sudden need to bust out of the mother-of-two mold, I had Caitlyn add midnight blue streaks through out my hair. They are subtle and you can't see them on top, only underneath. So it's a little "Hey, I am a mom, but would like to think I am living on the edge" type of color job. I just needed something that wasn't an A-line and that wasn't what Sister So-And-So was going to have at church. And sure enough, I get all sorts of feisty looks from people. But Son One LOVES it and so does my husband and that is all that matters.


It took us three tries to get the right blue. The first two were at the salon and the third was at home. To wash the third blue out, I just took a shower. And wow, what a number that did. I was blue and so was my shower. I yelled for Ethan to come see and he said, as blue dripped down my bosoms, "You look like you murdered a smurf". And boy did I.


This is an essential bruschetta recipe. This is a lot like the guacamole in that is it very simple, fresh foods producing great flavor.



1 loaf French bread or baguette
6 medium tomatoes, chopped
20 basil leaves, minced
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp good olive oil, plus more for brushing on bread (by good I mean the nicest extra virgin olive oil your store has. And make sure it's extra virgin. We don't want any slutty olive oil around here.)

Turn on the broiler. Slice the bread into 15-20 slices, on an angle. Set the bread slices on a baking sheet. Pour a small amount of olive oil in a bowl and brush oil onto the bread slices with a basting brush. Put under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the tomatoes, basil, kosher salt, balsamic vinegar, garlic and 2 Tbsp olive oil. Stir gently until combined.

Spoon mixture onto bread slices. Finish with a light sprinkling of kosher salt.

Served with this: This was lunch. We wolfed it down without a thought as to adding something else to our meal. But it could be an appetizer or a side dish.