“…we are already found, already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be.” ~ Anne Lamott
NOTE: I spend my Wednesdays Unplugged from appointments. It’s my day to stay home, enjoy cooking and welcome our kids and grandkids for dinner in the evening. We end our meal with quotes from the Norwegian ‘Quote Cup’ passed on to me from my grandmother. I share a quote and a recipe here each week, and sometimes some photos of family fun. I love trying new recipes…and love getting recipes you would like to share!
We were at Lake Nokomis last weekend, as the triathlon was ending. I loved watching the mama duck above, with her chain of ducklings. What made me smile was watching the little duckling at the end of the chain. They are beautifully lined up here, but that little duckling on the end would take off in another direction, then realize he was alone and scoot back to the group (he must have seen something shiny)… more than once in the short time I was watching them! I think of that duck as a living example of Anne Lamott’s quote above “…we are already truly, entirely, wildly, messily, marvelously who we were born to be.”
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Our family loves homemade croutons and tomatoes… when I saw a recipe at Taste of Home I thought it seemed a perfect fit. Our daughter-in-law said she thought it tasted like a bite of fresh tomato soup! It isn’t really tomato season yet so I used Campari tomatoes and just quartered them. We cubed a loaf of French bread rather than bread slices and made munching croutons with the rest of the loaf, used fresh basil rather than dried. The photo doesn’t do justice to the delicious flavor… I wouldn’t use quite as many croutons next time, more fresh basil and no thyme.
CROUTON TOMATO CASSEROLE
- 8 medium tomatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or package of Campari tomatoes, quartered
- 8 slices bread, crusts removed and cubed or cubed French bread, enough to cover tomatoes
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried basil or 1 tablespoon fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Arrange tomatoes in a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Top with bread cubes. Combine the butter, salt, basil and thyme; drizzle over bread and tomatoes. Sprinkle with cheese.
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 30-35 minutes until tomatoes are tender.
