Strawberry Shortcake Cookies
from Martha Stewart Living June, 2009

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 7 tablespoons granulated sugar in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter, or rub in with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in strawberry mixture.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing evenly apart. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, and bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool. Cookies are best served immediately, but can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 day.Enjoy!

There are few things in life I like to be “half and half”…

1. My iced tea – half tea, half lemonade.

2. Black and white cookies – half chocolate frosting, half vanilla frosting.

3. Pizza Toppings!  Sometimes it’s just too hard to decide on one pizza topping – the other night we couldn’t decide if wanted to make a ricotta pizza or a chicken fajita pizza (sauteed peppers and onions with chicken), so…we decided on half and half.  It was perfect, I had a slice of each.

So I mentioned we were having some friends over Saturday night for what turned into dinner inside thanks to the torrential downpours around here.  Anyway – we made the most delicious appetizer with some garlic scape pesto we had made a while ago and frozen.  This is a great appetizer idea for a summer gathering!

Bruschetta with Tomato and Basil
from http://www.simplyrecipes.com

6 or 7 ripe plum tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs)
2 cloves garlic, minced (I omitted since we were eating with garlic-y garlic scape pesto)
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
6-8 fresh basil leaves, chopped.
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 baguette French bread or similar Italian bread
Olive oil

Prepare the tomatoes first. Parboil the tomatoes for one minute in boiling water that has just been removed from the burner. Drain. Using a sharp small knife, remove the skins of the tomatoes. (If the tomatoes are too hot, you can protect your finger tips by rubbing them with an ice cube between tomatoes.) Once the tomatoes are peeled, cut them in halves or quarters and remove the seeds and juice from their centers. Also cut out and discard the stem area. Why use plum tomatoes instead of regular tomatoes? The skins are much thicker and there are fewer seeds and less juice.

Chop up the tomatoes finely. Put tomatoes, garlic (again, I omitted the garlic), 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, vinegar in a bowl and mix. Add the chopped basil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cut your bread into 1/2-inch slices, brush with a little olive oil, and toast under the broiler.  While the bread is still warm, spread a thin layer of the garlic scape pesto on the bread, then top with a spoonful of the tomatoes.

Enjoy!