Category: Events

Roasted Tomato Crostini Recipe

Dax Phillips Leave a comment

We are probably not unique this time of year whereas we are sitting on a bunch of tomatoes. I’ll admit that my wife loves tomatoes a lot more than I do, but when they are hanging from the vine or loaded in a bowl on my counter from a recent harvest, well I’m about to do something about it. That’s when I typically think about harvesting the rest of our basil from outdoors and making a fresh sauce to be used on pizzas or lightly tossed with some pasta, but this time around I decided to take a generous handful of tomatoes and slowly roast them. Why? Well, because I had some great day old bread on the counter, fresh tomatoes, and fresh basil, and that screamed one thing and one thing only. Roasted tomato crostini.

Roasted Tomato Crostini Recipe
Roasted Tomato Crostini Recipe

This is a super simple recipe to make, can feed a crowd, and is really delicious especially with the roasted tomatoes.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 3 whole roma tomatoes, cored, and sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • 1/2 loaf day old French bread, sliced 1/4 inch thick
  • Salt, to taste
  • Cracked black pepper, to taste
  • 1/2 cup fresh basil, lightly torn
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • 1 tbsp olive oil, optional
  • mozzarella balls, optional

Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees. To a parchment lined baking sheet, add the sliced tomatoes. Season the tomatoes with salt and pepper and place into the preheated oven, cooking for about 45 minutes

During this time, slice the bread. Remove the tomatoes, and let them cool.

Roasted Tomato Crostini
Roasted Tomato Crostini

Add the bread to the oven, and cook just until lightly crisped.

Take the bread out and rub each piece of the bread with the garlic clove.

Chop up the cooled tomatoes, and add to a bowl with the freshly torn basil. Add in the olive oil and gently stir.

Lay out your bread onto a serving tray, and spoon on the tomato and basil mixture.

Roasted Tomato Crostini
Roasted Tomato Crostini

Add the mozzarella balls in between some of the crostini for those that want to add a bit of cheese to their bite.

Dig in and enjoy. That lightly toasted garlic bread topped with fresh basil and roasted tomatoes really make this a perfect bite for any occasion. Hope you enjoy!

Dill Pickle Peanuts

Dax Phillips 4 Comments

In the past month we have been harvesting tomatoes, cucumbers, and fresh herbs from the garden. Typically my wife snags a cucumber and handful of tomatoes for lunch, which is a great thing. Me on the other hand, well, think about ways I can make meals using whatever produce we can harvest. As I was walking along the garden, I realized I had a bunch of dill to use. As I typically love buying fresh dill, the reality is it doesn’t last but a day, if that, before it gets limp and unusable. That is if you don’t freeze it, which I recently found out!

So while looking at the dill, that’s when it popped into my head, why not try making some dill flavored peanuts. I’ve been tinkering with mixed nuts this summer, I love dill, my kids love snacking on nuts, and let’s just see what happens. What happened was pretty darn delicious as a snack.

This recipe is super simple.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups of Spanish Peanuts
  • 1 tbsp your favorite seasoning blend (make sure it has some dill in it)
  • 1 tbsp dried onion
  • 2 tbsp canola or olive oil
  • 1 cup of fresh dill fronds, lightly chopped, packed
  • 1 tsp salt, to taste
  • baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Begin by preheating your oven to 325.

To a mixing bowl, add everything but the baking sheet and parchment paper, and give a good toss, incorporating all of the seasoning and oil onto the peanuts.

Dill Pickle Peanuts Recipe
Dill Pickle Peanuts Recipe

Spread the mixture onto the lined baking sheet and place into the preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the peanuts while they are baking and feel free to give them a gentle stir halfway through.

Ingredients for Dill Pickle Peanuts
Ingredients for Dill Pickle Peanuts

Once cooked, remove them from the oven and place them into a serving bowl. Let them cool down before digging in. These are a perfect game day snack, balanced with hints of dill and a seasoning blend. Give these a try if you are looking to use up some dill in the near future! Hope you enjoy!

Thai Peanut Butter Toast

Dax Phillips 1 Comment

I have no idea why I don’t eat peanut butter more often because every time I do I totally love it. My kids probably eat peanut butter once a day. I don’t know if that is due to convenience or the fact that they love it as well. So one early afternoon I decided I wanted to have lunch. I wanted something Thai, but nothing that would take too long, plus my appetite was not all that fierce due to the cancer treatment I have been going through. Looking through the pantry, I noticed some really good and hearty bread that I had bought for my wife, that delicious creamy peanut butter, some Thai infused honey, and then some Thai bird chilies. I knew that I would get the best of everything by creating what I call Thai Peanut Butter Toast. Whoa is this every good.

Thai Peanut Butter Toast Recipe
Thai Peanut Butter Toast Recipe

I could have stopped at just peanut butter toast with a drizzle of that honey but I wanted to go further, and boy was I glad I did.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • 1 slice of your favorite bread, toasted
  • 2 tbsp creamy peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp Thai infused honey
  • 1 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 2 whole Thai bird chilies, chopped (seeds removed is optional)
  • 1 tbsp roasted peanuts
  • 1/2 lime, squeezed

It doesn’t get any easier to make. Take your peanut butter and lather it onto your slice of toast. Sprinkle on the peanuts, Thai chilies, cilantro, and honey, and squeeze the lime juice over the top.

Thai Peanut Butter Toast Ingredients
Thai Peanut Butter Toast Ingredients

Plate and serve.

The result is everything I love about warm toast and creamy peanut butter. You know… when it drips down your hand? Then you get these pops of awesome spice from the chilies, freshness from the lime and cilantro, and that texture from the roasted peanuts.

Thai Peanut Butter Toast Recipe
Thai Peanut Butter Toast Recipe

This is a real winner, especially if you like a bit of spice. Feel free to reduce the chilies to one if you desire, or remove the seeds from them, but the balance of flavor is a tough one to compete with on this awesome snack.

Mayonnaise Grilled Potatoes

Dax Phillips 2 Comments

I know it drives my wife a bit nutty when she opens the refrigerator and sees a couple of shelves of condiments. See I grew up on condiments. My parents were condiment junkies, obsessed with what was new, and what varietal there was with things like mustards, ketchups, and mayonnaise. That’s probably where I got my own issues when it comes to going down a couple of aisles in the grocery store. I ALWAYS stop and look at different barbecue sauces, ketchups, olives, mayonnaises, etc. You get the point. But I have gotten better over the years, and sure, if my wife says to go get a second refrigerator, I’m sure my flood gate would open and that second refrigerator would start to load up on different condiments.

But my narrowing it down, I have came down to three mayonnaises that I truly love and will need no other, other than homemade. Hellmans, Duke’s, and Kewpie.  My wife and kids are not fans of mayonnaise all together, with the exception of including it in things like potato salad, and this particular recipe inspired me to get the awesomeness in mayonnaise embedded into some grilled potatoes without them knowing of course.

Mayonnaise Grilled Potatoes Recipe
Mayonnaise Grilled Potatoes Recipe

I know when you think mayo, and grilling, that you may think ‘grosse’, but trust me on this one, it’s pretty rad. The mayonnaise actually creates not only flavor (and great flavor at that), but great crust and texture. Think of using mayonnaise beyond sandwiches and potato salads, and using it as a marinade for all of your grilling needs.

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

  • Baked potatoes, washed
  • 1/2 cup of mayonnaise per potato
  • salt, to taste
  • sliced scallions, optional

That’s it. Really simple stuff going on here for your grilling needs.

Start slicing your cleaned baked potatoes about 1 inch thick, about 3/4 of the way down. You still want them to remain in tact, but not fall apart. This is much like a hassleback potato, but a thicker slice.

Next, lather the mayonnaise all over, and into the crevices, of the potato. Season with salt.

Now you can do these in the oven if you desire and you can roast these as you normally would, but my grill was going that day and I decided to lay these on the grill for some additional flavor. However you decided to cook them, just cook them until fork tender.

Mayonnaise Crusted Baked Potatoes
Mayonnaise Crusted Baked Potatoes

Once cooked, place these on serving plate and shower with some fresh scallions.

If you are looking for different ways to use mayonnaise, give these mayonnaise crusted baked potatoes a try. I know next time, I will be grilling some up and lathering some mayonnaise onto them once they come off the grill! Hope you enjoy.