Sundried Tomato Tapenade

A couple of weeks ago we stopped by to visit my husband's Nonna's house for dinner. We brought my homemade calzones with us and she put out this amazing sundried tomato tapenade. I honestly could have sat there and ate the entire bowl of it myself, but I refrained from saying so or his Nonna would have actually made me eat the entire thing by myself.... And if that's not an Italian grandmother for you, then I don't know what is!

We asked her what was in this delicious spread and she gave us the list of ingredients, it's a one bowl mixture and easy to whip up in less than 5 minutes. I suggest making it a day ahead and letting it sit overnight to let the flavors meld together a bit, but if you can't it will still taste delicious if you make it and eat it the day of making it.

The recipe calls for toasted almonds which I didn't have on hand so I just tossed my sliced almonds in the toaster oven quickly and got them all nice and toasty. What's nice about this recipe is it seems really fancy and hard to make but in actuality you might have all the ingredients on hand already.

Summer Chicken Bruschetta

Summertime always brings the promise of one of my favorite meals....bruschetta. To some people bruschetta is more of a an appetizer but I prefer it as my actual meal. Whether it be on top of a crusty Italian bread or a breaded chicken cutlet, it's a perfect summer meal to me.

To me bruschetta is perfect as is; tomatoes, basil, a little red onion and some olive oil, but this time I wanted to change it up a bit. My inspiration started by purchasing a fresh out of the oven loaf of bread from Whole Foods. It was a thick crusty Italian bread that was just screaming for me to top it off with some fresh bruschetta. Back at home I realized I had already taken some chicken cutlets out to defrost the night before so I needed to incorporate them into dinner, so I figured why not make a chicken brushetta? It was a major success and got tons of praise from my husband and I can't wait to make it again.

Not Your Typical BLT

The BLT is one of my favorite comfort food sandwiches, well just about any sandwich is, but the BLT is way at the top for me, especially this one. As you may notice in the photo this particular BLT is not quite a BLT...it's more like a BGT. As in bacon, guacamole and tomato...on a fried bagel.

You read that correctly. Bacon, guacamole and tomato on a fried bagel. It is simply divine and paired with a bowl of tomato soup on a rainy day is just perfection after a busy day.

You may be asking why change a good thing? Well my friends, the only answer to that question is to make a good thing even better!