Happy Mother's Day + Bruschetta, Rethought

Ooops... let's pretend it's still Sunday... This is late but I want to start this post with a shout out to all mothers in the world.

Happy Mother’s Day to all Mothers out there! You are all beautiful, amazing, wonderful, and all of us wouldn’t have made it through life without you.

Mama, Sally, Nanay Claire, and DFJ's mom, we celebrated you today with a delicious breakfast that we would have made for you if we were all together:

sweet and savory crepes

SWEET: apple+banana+honey+cinnamon+vanilla

SAVORY: butter+tomato+mushroom+alfalfa sprouts

don't forget the basil and No Woman cheese

To my beautiful Mama… we have not seen each other in almost four years and I miss you every day. I wish we lived closer to each other instead of a thousand miles away… Someday, I will manhandle you and drag you on a plane to come stay with me and see what my life is like over here. We will cook together, go to yoga classes together, take long walks, go on hikes, go shopping, and get on each other’s nerves at the end of the day (just kidding, or not!). Ma, there are so many things I want to thank you for… but most of all I thank you for loving me always, always, always (even when I was a very unlovable teenager), for teaching me how to be strong and to stand on my own, and for always reminding me to work hard. I am who I am because of you.

To Sally… thank you for all your love and support through the years. I have known you since I started understanding what my mother was saying to me and you have always been the angel godmother to my family back home. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to start anew in this promising country. I am forever grateful to you and Bill for helping me get to where I am now. Many times I find myself daydreaming of the days I spent living with you… those were very special times in my life that I will always cherish. Thank you for being my family here! 

Fast forward a day... now it's Monday:

Happy Food Matters Project Monday my friends! This week’s recipe, Bruschetta, Rethought, was chosen by Laura of chef laura at home. To see Mark Bittman’s original recipe, visit Chef Laura’s beautiful blog. Thank you for choosing a great, versatile recipe Laura! I definitely had fun coming up with different toppings for my bruschetta. To see other brilliant bruschetta ideas, check out what the other FMP members came up with at our website.  

First of all, I have to admit that I did not closely follow Bittman’s directions for preparing the bruschetta. I cut my bread into thin slices, rubbed raw garlic on both sides, toasted them in the oven at 400 degrees F for a few minutes (just until the bread felt warm ), then dropped teeny droplets of olive oil on one side. Second of all, please pardon me for promising to share my recipes later, I have been sick for the past three days and just started recovering today.

This morning, I made my own Nut Whole Wheat Bread to use for the bruschetta… (recipe will be on the next post).

The first round of bruschetta was on the savory side… Greek Yogurt Lentil Bruschetta (lentil recipe will be posted sometime this week). The flavor combination in this lentil dish was new to me and everything together was refreshing and lovely.     

The second round was on the sweet side… Grape and Goat Cheese Bruschetta. One of my all-time favorite snacks or lunch is a piece of delicious bread with some fruit and cheese. So, it was just natural to put all three of my favorite food ingredients into a bruschetta. It is so simple: mix goat cheese with sliced grapes and put it on top of the toasted bread. Every bite is a delight! (Hey, that’s a rhyme!)    

Do come by again in the next few days to check out my Nut Whole Wheat Bread and Greek Yogurt Lentil recipes. Thank you so much for stopping by and hope you all have a great week!

Once again, to all the mother's out there: Happy Mother's Day to you! This day should be celebrated everyday because you all deserve nothing but the best.