Roasted Tomato Sandwich

Truly a favorite sandwich at our house! This is the fancy sandwich that I wrote about in the post, Simply Roasted Tomatoes. We ate these sandwiches for a couple of our camping meals, the kids thought it was very cool (and yummy)! The basic ingredients are roasted tomatoes, cheese and bread but here are some of the variations I use for this sandwich.
Fancy Sandwich:

• Toasted bread:  Start with your bread, here are some great ideas, English muffins, English muffin bread, ciabatta, French, Italian, white bread, buns, gluten-free, etc., you get the picture right? Any bread you like. For ours, I used ciabatta rolls and toasted them in the toaster.
• Mayonnaise: I mixed about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning in about 1/4 cup mayo. (I made 5 sandwiches). Spread mayo on your toasted bread.
• Cheese: I almost always use fresh mozzarella but I have on occasion used provolone. Place a slice or slices of cheese over the mayo.
• Place roasted tomatoes over the cheese. I like to heat my tomatoes slightly before I do this.
• The kids like another layer of cheese over the tomatoes but I will leave that one up to you!
• Place a layer of spinach (I don't always do this) on the top.
• Cover the sandwich with the toasted top of the bun or bread, whichever you used.
• Wrap the sandwich and heat them for about 2 minutes on the grill if you're camping or microwave them if you want, just enough to melt the cheese.

Enjoy your fancy sandwich!

Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Finally a few minutes alone with my computer! It is a beautiful fall day in the Midwest and I am still feeling blessed to have fresh produce from my garden! I am still harvesting peppers and tomatoes. Today my plan to can some salsa but I have been busy roasting tomatoes. This is a great plan if you are short on time or you don't own any canning equipment. When we were camping a couple of weeks ago, I brought some roasted tomatoes and we had the fanciest sandwiches ever, well the children thought so! I'll share our fancy sandwich recipe in a few days.
I absolutely love to freeze the roasted tomatoes to make sauces at a later date or use them during our cold winter months for pasta sauce, chili, soup, tomato sauce, pizza sauce, ketchup and tomato soup. I like to season mine slightly but you don't have to. The key is to roast them on a low heat in the oven.
Steps to roast tomatoes:

1. Wash and rinse tomatoes (as many or as few as you like).
2. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and brush olive oil over the top of the paper.
3. Preheat oven to 275F.
4. Cut the tomatoes in half or chunks. I use different varieties and sizes of tomatoes.
5. Place tomatoes on the baking sheet.
6. Sprinkle some of your favorite seasonings or herbs over the tomatoes. I use Italian Seasoning or fresh thyme, fresh basil, rosemary, kosher salt and pepper.
7. Using a Misto, I spray olive oil over the seasoned tomatoes or just drizzle the oil over the top.
8. Bake 1 hour at 275F then turn tomatoes with a spoon or spatula.
9. Return to the oven and bake another hour.
10. Remove from oven and place pan on cooling rack for about 30 minutes or until cool.
11. If you are freezing the tomatoes, place them in a Ball jar or freezer baggies.

I hope you try this process and like it as much as I do, it's also the least messy!
 
Love and peace,
~ Simply Tammi

Re-Purposing an Old Cabinet

This old cabinet has been passed around our family for YEARS! Everyone has had it, grandparents, parents, my sister, even my niece. We all used it for different things and then when one of us was tired of it, or didn't have room, someone else would take it. So I now have it and have finally decided to give it a new look. I use it for my canning and preserves cupboard. It took my 3 coats of paint and a whole day but I got it done! It's amazing what a coat...or 3 of paint and a little sandpaper can do!

Before

After

         
~Simply Angie

Pecan Muffins

If you are looking for a tasty little treat, or an easy little breakfast idea, you will love these little muffins! They are super quick to make and you probably have the ingredients already. I got this recipe from my mom, who hardly every watches the food network, but saw this on Trisha's Southern Kitchen show. They are like mini pecan pies but in the form of a muffin.
Here's what you need:

• 1/3 c butter, softened and set aside
• 2 eggs, beat into the butter
• 1/2 c flour
• 1 c brown sugar
• 1 c chopped pecans

This recipe makes about 9 muffins depending on how big you make them, but I'm going to warn you, you might want to double it because they are going to be GONE fast!
Mix the 2 eggs with the softened butter then add the dry mixture of flour, brown sugar, and pecans, stir together.
Grease your muffin pan, papers, really well...they are sticky little buggers.
Bake 350 degrees about 22 minutes.
They don't really rise much so don't be alarmed. (I panicked and called my mom) They are goey in the middle and a little sticky and chewy on the outside.
Enjoy!
~Simply Angie