In an attempt to use my garden harvest fast enough, I have been trying some variations on tomato-and-herb recipes, and getting way too excited about one vegan recipe in particular that I found on the internet, so much so that I have made it previously but haven’t been able to take pictures before devouring it.

Tomatoes+Pesto on Focaccia Bread

Scored some free bread from my neighbor, on the very day I didn’t have many lunch ingredients in the fridge.

Caprese Salad, sort of

Caprese salad is basically mozzarella, tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and salt and pepper. I, instead, made it by chopping up 20 grape tomatoes, 10 mini balls of mozzarella, adding about 1/4 cup homemade pesto and 1 1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar. I like the tang of the vinegar.

Caramelized Tofu with Pecans and Brussels Sprouts

You can find this recipe on the 101 Cookbooks site, a great resource for vegetarian recipes, stunning food photography with a healthy dose of stories thrown in. Five years ago, I don’t think I could have predicted that I’d be shouting from the rooftops about a tofu and brussels sprouts recipe, BUT, I am. This is one of my new favorites, like a healthy take on crunch n’ munch almost. And as the neighbor downstairs said about it, “It’s like candy to me. I can’t stop eating it!”

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks

Recently I made a list of New York places I have yet to get around to going to for one reason or another. I’m pretending that I’m leaving New York, and therefore must see these places. One such place was Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, a hole-in-the-wall cookbook shop in the West Village. It’s tiny and packed to the brim with cookbooks, old and new, some vintage kitchenware, old cooking magazines and lots of treasures waiting to be discovered…and then treasured. 🙂

I found the above cookbook, called Metropolitan Cookbook, put out by a Life Insurance Company in the 1960s. All of the food illustrations have faces, and sometimes act out fun little scenes. In other words, a cookbook after my own heart. Isn’t the above great? Those yeast breads rose too much and therefore have frowns! They remind me of how I personify my little crochet foods. It has been fun to indulge in my since-high-school habit of reading cookbooks and really looking at the pictures.