Tom Turkey and the Best Bruschetta

Hi and happy Sunday.  It is a particularly happy Sunday for me because I have tomorrow off!  Happy Veteran's Day to everyone who has and does fight for all of us to enjoy our freedoms.

I wanted to share my "Tom pillow" I made this week.  I enjoyed my "Jack" Halloween pillow so much, I came up with my own design for Thanksgiving with a turkey.  I drew the pattern myself and made up the freezer paper stencils.  He looks homemade but I kind of like that.  My oldest son suggested I do different pillows for different holidays and I liked his idea.  I think I may do one for Christmas, a snowman and one for Easter. 

I am a huge bruschetta fan.  A friend and I go on a little trip every Summer to a wonderful craft shop that is about an hour and a half away and we visit this wonderful family-owned Italian restaurant for lunch after we shop.  There I was introduced to the best bruschetta I ever had in my life.  I finally succeeded in reproducing it.  It is so simple and so good.  Just put a few tablespoons of olive oil in a small skillet.  Mince about 4 cloves of garlic into the pan and cook for about a minute, being careful not to burn the garlic.  Take it off the heat and put the garlic and oil in a large bowl.  Take about one pint of cherry tomatoes(I mixed yellow and red ones) and chop them into small pieces.  Add them to the garlic and toss.  Add a couple of tablespoons of good balsamic vinegar.  Toss to coat and add salt and pepper to taste.  Put this in the fridge to marry the flavors.  When you are ready to serve, cut up a small bagette into diagonally cut slices.  I like to broil them with a litle butter on them so they don't get soggy when you top them with the tomato mixture.  Keep thet broiler on because you have to put shredded mozzarella on top of the tomato mixture and broil until bubbly.  Enjoy!

I am presently working on my gift for The Craftaholics Annonymous Christmas swap.  I love participating in that.  This is my third year.  I am not loving Elfster, however.  I know I am probably the only one but I am having a hard time connecting with my swap partner.  what happened to the good old days where you just emailed each other?  She asked me a question and when I clicked on the reply button, it looked like a facebook entry.  So I emailed her and I haven't heard back yet.  I don't even know if she got my reply.  I know who my swap partner is and yet, somehow there are people annonymously asking questions.  What is that all about?  Oh well, this may be my last year to participate unless this swap ends successfully!

 Have a wonderful week and take care.   Nancy