Summer Brain

Summer brain has to be an actual medical condition. You have a list of things to do and get completely sidetracked by sunshine and birds and warmth. This happens a lot in my city as we seem to store up our solar energy to get us through our lousy winters.
In the last little while, The Kid and I were at the lake and dealing with more installations and stuff to do with the house. The most common practice though has been playing outside in the sun (both sporting liberal amounts of SPF 60).
We have had an almost equal amount of sunshine and rain this summer giving my first veggie garden an explosion of tomatoes. Every two days I have gone out and plucked off another half dozen ripening tomatoes. So far we have had salsa, bruschetta, toasted tomato sandwiches and the list goes on. One of my favourite things to make with a tomato is what I call:
Baked Inside Out Bruschetta
1 large tomato, sliced "pumpkin style" at the top and core and seeds removed
2 TBSP crumbled feta cheese
1 TBSP basil (fresh is better and chopped finely)
half a dozen croutons crumbled
garlic to taste
black pepper to taste

-chop up the top of the tomato and combine in a bowl all of the other ingredients leaving about half of the feta and mix well.
-spoon mixture into the cored tomato.
-Top with remaining feta.
-Toast in oven or toaster oven (on a cookie sheet or pie plate) for about 15 minutes on 250 or until feta is slightly browned.
-Let cool and dig in!

I would suggest making this as an hors d'ouevres for dinner guests but I don't like to share. A variation on this is to fill the tomato with a mixture of cooked wild rice, chopped fresh basil and chopped mushrooms. Saute the mixture in a frying pan, cool then add to the tomato. Top with a small amount cheese of your choice ( a sharp cheddar works well or fresh mozzarella)or just garnish with a fresh basil leaf.

Another way to prep fresh tomatoes for guests is to put out my version of anti-pasto.
Chop and core 2-3 large tomatoes
Chop 1 cup (combined) red, yellow and green peppers
1/2 cup sliced black olives
1 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 minced garlic clove
1 tbsp chopped fresh basil.
Mix all of the ingredients and let stand in the fridge for at least an hour. Serve with slices of a nice chewy baquette lightly toasted and brushed with olive oil.

Cloudy and rainy day here today so off to the mall with The Boy and The Kid. Sadly, I am thinking of sweaters today.

Be happy.