A month after Dusty and I married, we moved to Virginia Beach and lived there for 4 years. I taught Elementary school, and Dusty attended a University there. We were blessed with a precious community of friends. One of whom is my dear friend, Melody. She shares my love of food, and you will hear a lot about her. She and her husband, Andy, lived right around the corner from us, and they quickly became family.
She and I would grocery shop together then divvy everything up to save money since we were both putting our husbands through school, and we cooked together all the time! Being from the Wild West, I learned so much from Mel about hospitality. She is Southern to the core, and when she comes to your home she looks to see what needs to be done and just starts helping. We have made hundreds of meals together… that sounds like an exaggeration, but we cooked together several times a week. Our husbands would often have an evening class, and we would all sit down to dinner and tons of laughter when they got home. I miss them like crazy!!
When I first met Melody, I was a newlywed, and I was just learning how to cook. I learned a lot of great recipes from her. Mel is from Mississippi, and her mom, Miss Margaret, grew up in New Orleans… I have some great Cajun recipes from her that I will share with you in later blogs. Today, however, I am sharing a recipe from her dad, Mr. Mike. He is Italian and grew up in Pennsylvania. Mr. Mike is an amazing chef! Whenever they would come and visit, he would go straight to the grocery store and purchase food to cook us an amazing feast. One of the first things he made for us was his Bruschetta… I am convinced they will serve it in Heaven… it is that good!! Side note: Mel’s brother ended up marrying my husband’s sister, so now we are all related!!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups chopped tomatoes (GBCFC)
- 1 cup olive salad- I bought this in Baton Rouge when I was visiting Melody, but any brand will work. If you can’t find Olive salad, you can chop up green and black olives instead.
- 3 cloves minced garlic (GBCFC)
- 1/8 cup chopped basil (GBCFC)
- 3 Tbls olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Bread (GBCFC)
*Most of these ingredients came from my bounty that I acquired from the Great Basin Community Food Co-op this week.
Instructions:
The instructions are super easy. You just combine everything in a bowl. You can serve it immediately, or you can put it in the refrigerator and serve it later. 🙂
To Serve:
I just slice a sourdough baguette and let people serve themselves… like you would with chips and salsa. You can also put some of the tomato mixture on every piece of bread and serve it on a platter as well… it is a pretty display either way. It is most commonly served with toasted bread. I serve it both ways. It just depends on my mood.
