Just recently while looking though my "Body and Soul" magazine (which I just love and am a dedicated subscriber to), I came across a few recipes which I intend to try and share here afterwards on my blog. Well I've just tried the Italian bread salad, and It's absolutely delicious. It's definitely worth a try for all you tomato and bread lovers out there.
For this recipe you can use many different colored heirloom tomatoes that may be found at farm markets, if you don't grow your own.
Ingredients;
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tbs of fresh squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 lb mixed heirloom tomatoes, cored and cut into thick wedges
1 cucumber, peeled in strips, halved lengthwise, and sliced
1 small fennel bulb, stalks removed, bulb halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup pitted Kalamata olives, halved
4 half inch thick slices of (whole wheat country bread) or Italian bread
1 garlic clove, halved
1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves
Cubed fresh mozzarella cheese ( Vegans can omit the cheese, as I did)
In a large bowl, whisk together oil and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes fennel, onions, cucumber and olives. Toss well. Refrigerate up to 4 hours.
Heat broiler with rack set 4 inches from heat. On baking sheet, toast both sides until light brown. Remove the bread and rub both sides of the bread with garlic cut side down, then discard the garlic. Cut bread into 2 inch pieces and place into 4 shallow bowls. Top with tomato salad, then scatter basil and cheese over the top.
This salad will go nicely along side of many different main dishes.
Good evening, dear Lydia,
ReplyDeleteyour Italian Bread Salad recipe sounds very good. In fact I just made some tomato salad (but left the bread out).
Wishing you a pleasant Sunday evening,
Eva
Hello Eva,
ReplyDeleteTomato salad is perfect this time of year. With all the fresh tomatoes you must have had a delicious salad. I hope you enjoyed your salad on this late summer Sunday.
Have a great evening,
Lydia
Lydia how are you??
ReplyDeleteHugs hugs! Been some time since I was last here and what a refreshing read.
I love tomatoes and am' planning to grow them in pots once the rainy season ends in my part of the globe. Right now, they are rather expensive, same with bell peppers. Carrots are a plenty though.
However, I am intent on doing this Italian Bread Salad of yours as all the ingredients are easily available here.
This shift we
(Hubz and I) are taking into changing our diet is not that easy. Habits are so hard to break but somehow we are managing.
In relation to this, I have a question if you don't mind. I drink a lot of soy milk and truly prefer it from the usual cow's milk. However, I have read somewhere that it doesn't contain as much calcium as cow's milk and therefor, not as effective. What do you think?
Thanks a lot for sharing this salad recipe. Till next post.
Hello Midsummerprism,
ReplyDeleteHow have you been? I've been doing well. I'm glad you stopped in to visit and read some recipes.
How wonderful that your going to grow tomatoes in pots. They grow very well in pots. I also think it's great that both you and your hubby are going to make some healthy changes. I know you will both love this Italian tomato salad. I'll also be listing a few more vegetarian tomato recipes that you may enjoy.
I too really love the flavor of soy milk. I think it tastes better than cow's milk. It's true that soy milk doesn't have as much calcium in it as milk does, but calcium can come from other sources, so I don't use dairy as a source of calcium in my diet.
I make sure there's calcium in my daily supplements and I also eat a variety of foods that contain a good amout of calcium. If your going to continue to eat some dairy, you can get your calcium from yogurt and lowfat cheese.
I went and did a bit of research on the vegan diet and calcium to help you out a bit, so that I can get a bit more spacific.
These are all great sources of calcium that are not from animal products;
BEANS;Red kidney, pinto,
white, mung, lima, chickpeas, pink, black, adzuki, soy
NUT BUTTERS: peanut butter chunk style, almond butter and seseme butter
SEAWEED; Wakame
GRAINS; Fotified whole grain pastas, oats, and quinoa
DRIED FRUITS; figs, raisons, cranberries, prunes
LEAFY GREENS; mustard greens, spinage, arugula, kale, collard greens, turnup greens, dandolion greens and chard.
Parsley
SEEDS; sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, seseme seeds
Tuf and any other fortified soy product
Tempeh
NUTS; almonds, cashews, walnuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, hazelnuts
Fortified orange Juice
I hope this helps you and your hubby out some.
Wishing you a very pleasant day!
Lydia
Hello Lydia once again your making me very hungry young lady. Have a beautiful day
ReplyDeleteGood afternoon Jamerson, I'm glad my recipes make you hungry.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a warm and cheery wednesday afternoon!
Lydia