Tomato Toast with Chives and Sesame Seeds

I found this recipe last year and intended to post my variation on it then but I never got to it. I made these sandwiches for dinner last night with some fresh garden tomatoes (not from my garden 🙁) that needed to be used. And Ryan and I were both too tired to cook. We had to get up at 5 a.m. to take Adria to a bike race. In the past we have made the sandwiches with yummy artisan bread, but today we just made them with the Dave’s good seed bread we had in the freezer. I’ve made them so often that I don’t even measure the ingredients anymore. I think this make LOTS more mayo than you really need for 4 servings, so I usually cut it down.

1 tsp garlic paste
1/2 cup mayonnaise
Kosher salt
1/2 lemon (or 1 tsp lemon juice and dried lemon peel**)
4 3/4"-thick slices country-style bread, toasted
3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. finely chopped chives
2 tsp. toasted sesame seeds
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Aleppo-style pepper (optional) - we use Penzeys

Extra-virgin olive oil (for drizzling) - I usually skip this part

Zest the lemon and set zest aside. Mix garlic and mayonnaise in a small bowl. Squeeze about 1 tsp. juice from lemon half into bowl. Season with kosher salt if desired. I leave it out.

Spread a generous layer of seasoned mayonnaise over toast; shingle a few tomato slices on top. Sprinkle with chives, sesame seeds, salt, black pepper, and Aleppo-style pepper. Sprinkle with lemon zest or dried lemon and drizzle with some oil.

** I don't usually have fresh lemons around, so we we use bottled lemon juice and I found this dried lemon peel in the spice section at Harmon's. It's great.

Buttermilk Syrup

We ran out of maple syrup at our house a few weeks ago. Of course the only time
we think about it is on weekend mornings when we want to eat pancakes or waffles.
This past Sunday morning I made an apple puff pancake. I liked it but it had raisins
and nuts in it so it wasn't a huge hit with the rest of the family.  They all ate it though
and only Pierce picked out the raisins. Anyway we didn't have maple syrup to serve
with it. So I made some homemade maple pancake syrup. This is not that recipe.
BUT it reminded me how much I liked this pancake syrup. Last month a few days
after Myles got home from his mission, Adria went to a breakfast and swim party for all
the girls on the mountain bike team. I agreed to help out.  The woman that hosted the
party made the best buttermilk pancake syrup. So yesterday I sent her a text and asked
for the recipe and she shared it with me! 

1 stick of butter

1 cup sugar

Melt together in a larger pot than you think you need. (When you add the baking soda
it expands.) Add

 ½ cup buttermilk

½ tsp baking soda

Stir constantly and boil 1 minute. After it's done add ½ tsp vanilla. 

Garden Fresh Salsa with Zucchini, Tomatoes and Peppers

This is another recipe from Mom. She made it last weekend for a Sunday night birthday party for Pierce. She gave us leftovers and I ate salsa for dinner last night. I had to take a picture because I know I wanted to post the recipe. Ryan shares my Google photo drive.  A few minutes after I took the picture he texted me from a stake presidency meeting saying, "don't eat all the salsa! I'm starving!" It's a great fresh salsa and it's a good way to use the extra zucchini. It makes a HUGE recipe! Mom says to cut it in fourths or plan on having lots of extras to share!

10 cups fresh tomatoes (after processing) any variety works!
7 cups fresh zucchini (after processing)
3 green peppers
1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
1 large hot pepper
1 jalapeno
4 cloves of garlic
1 onion
1 bunch of cilantro
¾ cup vinegar
⅓ cup sugar
2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp pepper

Do not peel any of the veggies. You need to use a very large bowl. A food processor is a must for this recipe (a blender would be okay). Put tomatoes into food processor and blend to desired consistency.
Put zucchini in food processor.  DO NOT liquify the zucchini. It should be chucky or grated.  I think Mom always grates hers.
Process the peppers and chop. They can be left a little chucky.  Put the hot pepper, jalapeno and onion in the food processor.  Chop those finely so no one gets a hot chunk.  Chop the cilantro in the food processor. Put everything in a large bowl and stir together. Add the sugar vinegar salt and pepper and mix well. Add extra salt or pepper if needed.

Marinated Cucumber, Onion and Tomato Salad

So it's been a really long time since I posted anything! But life is busy. I looked through
a bunch of my pictures last night and discovered that I have TONS of pictures of food
that I've made but never got around to sharing the recipe. Now I don't even remember
what most of them are. I'm sure they were great and maybe someday I'll make them
again.  Anyway this is a recipe that Mom made and Dad loves it! He liked it so much
that he texted me pictures. So all the photos are his. 

1 cup water (leave it out or reduce it if your tomatoes are juicy) 

½ cup white vinegar

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 tsp salt

Fresh coarse ground pepper to taste (up to 1 Tbsp if you like it really peppery.)

3 cucumbers peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick

3 tomatoes cut into wedges

1 onion sliced and separated into rings

Whisk together water, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper until smooth. Add cucumbers,
tomatoes, and onions and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. 

This is a great fresh salad to eat on its own. Dad put his over a cheese sandwich.
There's lots of liquid leftover when all the veggies are gone and I think I've heard
that Kellie will add more veggies to the liquid and use our more than once.