Bon Appetit!

After seeing Julie and Julia it totally made me want plead with the Air Force to send us to France so I could go to French Cooking School. Or at least, quit everything else I am doing and plug through a famous cookbook for a year the way that Julie did. I love cooking and I love it even more when I learn new things about cooking and preparing food.

One of the things we saw prepared in the movie was bruschetta. Ben had never heard of it before and now insists on calling it Ambrosia for some reason; probably because he couldn't remember the word bruschetta-- but he commented during the movie that he would love for me to make that sometime.

It was a passing comment, but he usually doesn't make requests unless it has to do with the words "What" and "a burger". So I decided to grab me some french baguettes on my shopping trip this week and try my hand at it.

I kind of did my own spin on Bruschetta, but Ben and I both loved it! So here I am to share this goodness with you. Although it would be hard to make a meal out of this all by itself, we served it with a simple pasta dish with lemon & asparagus in it and our tummy's were both very happy afterward.

Ok so here's the recipe:

Bruschetta

1 loaf of french bread, sliced into 1/2" pieces

3 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced finely

1 bunch of spinach or arugula, chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, cut in half

1/4 cup olive oil (more if necessary)

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese*

preheat oven to 450* F.

While oven is preheating, combine tomato, spinach and mozzarella in a bowl, along with equal amounts of salt and pepper to taste.

Once oven is preheated, place sliced bread on a broiler pan or cookie sheet and put in oven for about 2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown on top. Do not let the bread burn.

Once you have removed the bread from the oven, turn the oven down to 200*F.

After removing bread from oven (while still hot), take the halved garlic cloves and rub them across the top side of each bread slice. Amazingly, the aroma & flavor of the garlic will saturate into the bread just by rubbing it across each bread slice. Throw the cloves away when done. Brush half of olive oil over the top side of the bread slices. Add the tomato/spinach mixture and finally, drizzle remaining olive oil over each top.

Stick the bruschetta in the oven for a minute or two to melt the cheese. serve & enjoy!

* note: you can use smoked mozzarella or cubed mozzarella in this recipe as well. I just use the shredded kind because its cheaper & I usually have it on hand- it still tastes just as yummy!