Menu and a Recipe

Monday - Parmesan crusted tilapia, creamy scalloped potatoes, cranberry pecan salad

Wednesday - pasta tossed with Italian sausage, roasted Brussels sprouts, and kale, topped with Parmesan and a bit of olive oil

Thursday - gnocchi with rosa sauce

Friday - beans n' rice (Marshall will be gone so I'm sticking with simple)

Saturday - Mexican quinoa (Marshall will still be gone)

Sunday - tomato barley soup and grilled cheese (Marshall will be home : )

In my last menu I had forgotten that I wasn't going to be working Saturday (yesterday), which meant I was making dinner! I decided to whip up this bruschetta-type dish since I had just made a batch of the dutch-oven bread and also had fresh mozzarella waiting to be used. It ended up being very tasty.

Here is what I did:

• 2 pints grape tomatoes, cut in half
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• olive oil (probably about 2 tablespoons), plus more for drizzling on bread
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried marjoram
• salt and pepper
• 4 slices of bread (depending on size)*
• kalamata olives (about 1/4 cup), quartered
• fresh mozzarella cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Place cut tomatoes, chopped garlic, olive oil, oregano, basil, marjoram, salt, and pepper in an oven safe dish with a lid.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, remove lid and bake for 15 more minutes**
4. Lightly drizzle olive oil on four slices of bread and bake for about 10 minutes or until nicely toasted. 
5. Split the tomatoes between the four slices of toast and top with the olives and mozzarella.
6. Broil for about 3 minutes or until cheese is browned.

*The amount you see in the picture accounts for two of the four slices of the bread. They are about 4 inches long and 3 inches wide.

**There will be a decent amount of juice left from the tomatoes. That's fine, just don't put that on the bread. It will make them too soggy. And nobody likes soggy bread (except when eating a big juicy Italian beef sandwich drowning in Au Jus....can you tell I'm venting about being deprived?)

They turned out nice and crispy on the outside and soft and a bit juicy on the inside. I'll definitely make this again! Hopefully you'll make it again too.....ya know, after having tried it the first time : )