Caprese Pasta

You are going to learn quickly that I love Italian type foods, especially with tomatoes and basil in them. This is a dish that I got from my best friend. Another great dish to bring to potlucks. Makes a great side or entree. Goes great with garlic bread. My picky eater loves it, as long as I throw in diced up tomatoes instead of cherub tomatoes. I personally prefer the cherub tomatoes. It's sweet and tangy, and pretty healthy if you look past the pasta. 

Ingredients

1 box of penne pasta

2 cartons of chreub tomatoes, or 2 tomatoes diced up

Julienned basil

1 big block of fresh mozerella cheese, diced up

brown sugar to taste

garlic powder to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil and Basalmic Vinegar to taste

Directions

Very easy recipe. Basically cook your pasta according to directions on box. Once finished cooking, add your olive oil and vinegar, and toss with tomatoes, basil, and cheese. Add the sugar and seasonings to taste. I know some people that prefer to eat this cold, and some people like to eat it hot. I actually prefer it at room temperature. Anyway.. you can't lose!

Tomato Basil Soup

Here's a special treat.. a recipe of my own creation.. or adapted from a recipe that I improved upon. ;)

This is my go to dinner when I want to make things easy, and it's yet another food that my picky eater really enjoys. It goes great with tomato/basil grilled cheese sandwiches.. and lucky you will get a recipe for that too.

Tomato Basil Soup

Ingredients

3 cans of diced tomatoes

1/2 C heavy cream

1/2 C butter

Julienned basil to taste.. I use a lot

Salt and pepper to taste 

Directions

Throw the diced tomatoes in a blender and puree until smooth. Pour into large soup pot. Add heavy cream, butter, basil, and salt and pepper. Cook until butter is melted and soup is bubbly.

Easy huh?

Tomato Basil Sandwiches

For 1 sandwich:

2 slices of bread

2 or 3 slices of tomato

3 basil leaves, or 2 if they're big

2 slices of mozzarella cheese

butter to spread on bread, or Pam to grease griddle (I prefer butter)

You know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich, right? Just butter 1 side of each  slice of bread, or spray Pam on a hot griddle. Lay bread down with a slice of cheese on each piece, and tomatoes and basil on 1 slice, put the 2 slices together, and cook until cheese is melted. I also add salt and pepper to the tomatoes, your choice of course!

These go great together, or by themselves. Be careful you don't eat the whole pot of soup yourself, there's a lot of calories in that butter and heavy cream. ;)