Tomato, Basil, and Mozzerella Bruschetta w/Balsamic Vinegar

Sounds fancy doesn't it? Well it's not. The most inept cook could make this and it's delicious. I snagged the recipe from the Galaxy Nutritional Foods website.

I made this and found no changes I wanted to make, so I'm just going to give you their recipe.

Ingredients: serves 2.

6 slices whole wheat or whole grain french bread

2 tomatoes diced

1/4 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves chopped

2 ounces of the mozzerella cheese of your choice

1 t. minced garlic

1 t. olive oil

2 T. balsamic vinegar

kosher salt and black pepper as needed

In a toaster oven or using your broiler, toast the slices of bread. Flip and toast the other side till browned evenly, set aside.

mix all other ingredients except for the cheese and let sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to "marry". Just before serving spoon tomatoe mixture on slices of bread and top with mozzerella, shredded or cubed. Slide back under the broiler just until cheese melts. *note, do not go off and leave these unattended. It only takes a couple of minutes. I like a little grated parmesan on top.

This simple dish is great with any green salad or some fancy olives. Or both!

Dinner in a minute.

Southwestern Tostada-Spinach Salad

Next up in my fast and easy favorites handbook is this salad. Spicy, warm beans and melted cheese over organic tortilla chips, topped with shredded baby spinach, fresh tomatoes and olives. Thats actually the basic recipe but I'll outline it a bit more for the non-cooks among us.

Because this is a fast and easy recipe I start with a can of beans and a bag of store bought tortilla chips. Both are available in organic versions.

Beans:

1 can of Ranch Style Beans.

Heat them in a skillet and smash them up with a fork over low heat till they are creamy and still slightly runny. Add a little water if necessary.

Assembling the salad

First a layer of tortilla chips, Then spoon about half the beans on top. Add some shredded cheese on top of that and microwave for about 30 seconds till the cheese is melted.

Take a handful of fresh baby spinach and roll it up tight on your cutting board. Then simply shred the roll. I put a LOT of it, that salad you see is mostly spinach. But I'm funny that way I love that stuff. You can use less if you want, or you can substitute lettuce. Then top the spinach with chopped tomatoes and sliced black olives. Other good toppings are diced onions, salsa, diced green peppers and even thinly sliced cucumbers.

There you go, dinner in a minute!