Italian Salsa {bruschetta}

At my house you may pronounce it brusketa or brusheta and I won't mind either way.  Hopefully you'll be too busy devouring this tasty treat to care about what it's called.

INGREDIENTS
2 medium ripe red tomatoes, seeded, cored and finely chopped
8 leaves fresh basil, minced
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp. of your favorite balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
4 turns of the pepper grinder
good pinch kosher salt


1 bakery style baguette (can even be a day or two old)


PROCESS
Mix all ingredients except bread in a medium bowl and set aside while heating  the oven to 400 degrees.
Warm bread for 10 minutes,  
Remove and slice bread.
Top each slice with a heaping spoonful of the salsa and serve.

Go-to Guacamole

The summer of my sophomore year of college I worked as a traveling Bible Camp counselor in Southern California.  Our teams were based out of Manhattan Beach, CA where we stayed on the weekends.  Each week we lived in the church of a different city from Santa Barbara to San Diego and ran their vacation bible school program.  We were responsible for our own meals and this guacamole dip was a regular in our diet.  It is a basic recipe, creamy and a little spicy and chock full of tasty tomatoes and red onion.  Enjoy with chips or in everything from tacos to burgers.

INGREDIENTS
3 ripe avocados
1/2 large red onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced 
1 tsp. diced fresh jalapeño (seeds removed)
1/2 tomato, seeded and chopped
juice of 1/2 lime (or lemon)
1/4 tsp. salt (plus more to taste) 


PROCESS

Peel and mash avocados well in a large bowl.
Add all the rest of the ingredients.  Add more salt to taste.
Serve immediately so it stays bright green.




Joining with Family Friendly Fridays at mommiecooks