New Life

The tomatoes are still going strong at my house! I keep thinking it's going to freeze on me and I will have loads of green tomatoes to deal with, but not yet. Two more Lemon Boys got harvested yesterday. I'm waiting on a bunch of Better Boys (the red ones) and strangely, I think the Yellow Pear is finally producing. After a summer of nothingness, there's tiny little tomatoes growing all over it. Good thing I never ripped it out!

I don't keep a lot of food in the house. I plan for the week, go to the store, and that's that. So, I have to get creative once in awhile if I want something other than rice chex for a snack at night. But believe me, you can do lots and lots with rice chex and the odds and ends sitting around. Think of them topped with melted peanut butter and leftover Christmas of 2009 chocolates, or sprayed with olive oil, dusted with garlic powder and toasted. Softened cream cheese and salsa with the chex stirred in. I don't keep milk in the house, so it's never just cereal.

Rice chex aside, I wanted to eat the tomatoes, so I sliced them and marinated them in balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. I'm out of olive oil at the moment. I'm out of everything at the moment. Then I took some sad, almost over the hill pita bread, sprayed it with Pam, sprinkled it with rosemary and red pepper flakes then toasted it. And then I pulled out this mysterious cheese. Remember when I went to that Harvest Dinner? Well, we had a bread and veggie course that starred a toasted garlic bread, herbed cream cheese and roasted peppers and onions that you were to stack on your own. Both Symphony Date and I declared it the best course of the night. I have tried to re-create the cheese and been unsuccessful so far. When I found Chef Dominique's herbed cream cheese at the store, I snatched it up. It's not the same, but it is quite herby. Too much garlic if you ask me, but don't tell him. Holy. But perfect for my evening purposes. The finished product. Was delicious! And perfect for an evening snack.