Friday Flip off’s 8/26/11

 Um.. it's been an interesting week to say the least here: 
 My bestie’s back in Africa, we had an earthquake on Tuesday and we’re in for a hurricane this weekend.

And WTF?  This is the LAST Friday of August.  Frak.

 I’m not ready for school to start.. (and to be honest, I don’t even know when school starts exactly.. I guess I’d better go find out)  My kid is going into 10th grade.. TENTH GRADE.  I'm not ready for this.  Next year it's gonna be all about finding a college and preparing for a career.... AHH!!

(Ok.. just checked and obviously whoever is supposed to be in charge of the school's website is slacking off because it has't been updated since the end of the school year)

Summer’s almost over and I made it to the beach once.

Flip off August.. My summer went way too damn fast.

 I have big plans this weekend... to rearrange my room and cook.  Yeah.. Big plans.  I suspect with the way they’re saying the weather is gonna be, most of Saturday and all of Sunday will be spent in pajamas with at least one thing cooking for a good portion of the day.  And God help me if I don’t make something sweet.. That will then be brought to work on Monday so it’s not sitting around for me to eat.

I had Really good intentions of doing a recipe of the week this week.. Until Blogpolls decided to die leaving me with no poll on my blog... so.. Yeah.  Sorry about that guys. =/ I guess next week I’ll just stick a standard poll over in the sidebar since I can’t find a reliable one within the post.

So.. Flip off Blogpolls.com for sucking and messing with my weekly poll.

This week has been riddled with insomnia filled nights.  I’m either up for hours in the middle of the night or I’m up as soon as I see daylight breaking.  It’s the most annoying thing ever.  Usually I can deal with a night or 2 of it.. But this has been all week so flip off Insomnia.. This chick needs some sleep, dark circles under my eyes are so not sexy.

Recipe of the week.. Poll What are we cooking this week?

Sorry about the Hiatus last week.. it was totally unplanned and totally uncalled for, lol. Damn stove. But, I've got a shiny new stove so I'm ready to get cookin' This week's poll runs until Thursday when I'll take the winner and make up a list and we'll get cooking on Friday night :)

I rent from the nicest people

So my stove decided to start playing the ticking game again on Thursday and I unplugged it.. and it was unplugged from then until about an hour ago... when my Landlord's son came over.


WITH A BRAND NEW STOVE!!!

He called me this afternoon and said that instead of spending $150 every time to have the guy come over to try and figure out WTF was wrong with that other stove he just bought a new one.  Totally made sense considering that the repairman was here 3 times and could never really get to the root of the problem.

I really really got lucky this time with the people that I rent from.  I ♥ the whole family.

Cooking will commence tomorrow night... Thankfully!  Last night the kid had a sandwich from the supermarket and I had a bowl of cereal for dinner. =/  Not exactly a fulfilling dinner.

I have some recipes to go through for the recipe of the week and I'll get the poll up tomorrow morning so we can get cooking once again.

Six word Sunday

Sleep eludes me constantly.
Insomnia Sucks.

Friday Flip off’s 8/19/11

To follow up on yesterday's post.. Actually.. it is the stove.


My stove is still broken...  I came home last night to a ticking stove. (like when you're just lighting a gas stove.. tick tick tick...)

Yeah.

No clue what the problem is.  I didn’t cook anything yesterday morning.. God only knows how long it was ticking for too since I was gone all day too, so I unplugged it and called my LL’s son.. Who didn’t call me back until this morning (he didn’t recognize the # so I’ll let it go this time).  He said he was going to make a phone call.. I’m still waiting to hear back from him.

I’m supposed to cook something to bring to my cousin’s party tomorrow.. So far, this ain’t happening.  This has been all.damn.week.

So.. Flip off you stupid stove for being a POS

My bestie, she’s leaving today.. Back to Mozambique (really, not everyone gets to say that, so in theory it’s cool, but Damn!) I won’t see her, in the flesh until next summer :(  but in between I’m thankful for Skype.  I didn’t spend nearly as much time with her as I hoped. But I’m still thankful for the time we did get to spend while she was “on vacation back home” My kid tries to put things in perspective for me “well mom, it’s not like you’re NEVER going to see her again.. She will be back next year and you have skype” He just doesn’t get it.  But I do admire him for trying to soothe my craziness.

I had to make a Target run before work this morning.. My cousin is having a 1st birthday party for her son tomorrow and in the craziness that’s been my life I hadn’t gotten him a gift yet... Now, I love target first thing in the morning because I love shopping when there’s nobody else there, I was in and out in 10 minutes but the jackass that decided it would be a good idea to repaint the lines on the highway the normally 5 minute drive back to my office from target took me almost 15 minutes.  I walked into my office at 9:00 on the dot.

The rain.. this crazy ass wicked lightning filled storm that came around last night scared the freaking Hell out of me... Thunderstorms I can deal with.. I actually like them and find them soothing.  But this storm that hit last night was pretty scary.. and as I'm looking out the window now it looks like we're in for more today.  yay  I'm fine with it.. but just as long as the bestie & her son get to Newark ok I'll be alright Less crazed stressed.  yeah.. a little less stressed.. at least until her plane lands in Portugal (for 4 days) then on to Mozambique.

So it wasn't the stove after all

I had the repairman to my house last night to figure out exactly what was wrong with my stove, but it was a faulty outlet where the stove was plugged in... yeah.  pretty damn scary when you think about it.  Luckily son #1 (which is the last one for me to meet) came to oversee the repairs and along with the repairman helped get to the bottom of the issue and the outlet was changed and now it's all good.

Yay.

So now I have a working stove with no worries of it starting to click in the middle of the night or other strange intervals.

My stove is broken

Remember last Sunday when I mentioned that my stove was being weird?  If not read on here.

Well just this past Sunday hours after I cooked dinner the damn stove started ticking again.  I waited 5 minutes to see if it would shut off by itself and when it didn't I just went and unplugged the stove like the LL did last week. I knew my LL's son would be over yesterday to pick up his mail & stuff (they're away on vacation for the next 2 weeks) I figured I'd just wait until he got to the house instead of calling him at 9:30 PM and disturbing him.  I knew there was no gas coming from the stove.. it just seems to be an ignition problem.

LL's so gets to the house around 8pm and I tell him what's going on we plug it back in and still tick tick tick and he's like "I absolutely have no idea what the problem could be, but my dad's going to call me tomorrow and I'll let him know so he can tell me who to call and what to do." So we just unplugged it again and left it at that.

I was very thankful that there were leftovers so we made sandwiches with the leftover pork and I guess if I can't get it fixed today we'll be having pizza for dinner, lol.

Very frustrating since I Need to cook and even more frustrating because my LL is away when this crap has to go and happen.  I'm confident it'll be fixed soon though.

As for right now the recipe of the week is on hold until I know what's going on with my stove... but I'll keep y'all posted.

**Repairman is coming tonight so we'll take it from there, but as of right now it doesn't look like a recipe of the week will be done this week. **

Chimichurri stuffed pork tenderloin

I bought this tenderloin with a completely different recipe in mind... but I'm missing 2 key ingredients and it's pouring rain and stormy here in NY so I decided I'll just make another recipe and just stay in my jammies instead today.  Hey it's Sunday, it's stormy.. why not be lazy?

Chimichurri stuffed pork tenderloin

2-1/2- to 3-lb. boneless pork loin roast
1 cup loosely-packed fresh Italian parsley leaves chopped
1 Tbsp. finely grated lime peel
3 Tbsp. olive oil
3 large cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°

In small bowl combine herbs with 1/2 teaspoon of the lime peel, 1 tablespoon of the oil and 1/3 of the garlic and set aside.

In a small bowl combine the remaining garlic, pepper, parsley,  lime peel and oil..

Butterfly pork loin (for directions click here)

Spread the parsley garlic mixture evenly on the meat.

Roll roast to original shape and Tie at 2-inch intervals with kitchen string.

  

Spread reserved parsley garlic mixture over outside of roast. Sprinkle with black pepper.

Roast for 40-60 minutes.

Remove roast from oven, cover with foil and let rest for 10 minutes.

 It was Really good.  I served it with rosemary smashed potatoes and salad.

Six word Sunday

Stormy,

Sunday,

Jammies,

Life

Is

Good

Recipe of the week: Grilled Chicken with Chermoula sauce and chili lime corn Part 2, lets cook

If I my head wasn't in the clouds today I would have posted this all earlier.. but as I was in the grocery store picking up the necessary ingredients after work I realized *facepalm* that I forgot to post the recipe earlier...

Oy.

Sorry guys.

Ok so here's the plan.

First we're going to whip up the chermoula sauce, because it's best after it's had a chance to hang around for a little while and let all the ingredients meld together

Garlic Chermoula sauce
1/2 cup plain Greek style yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (Or Parsley if you don't like Cilantro like me)

In a food processor or blender mix together the garlic, cumin, paprika, cayenne, lemon juice & cilantro until smooth.  Add in the yogurt and set aside.

Chicken:

In a bowl, mix together the paprika, brown sugar, lemon peel, salt and pepper. Rub into chicken on both sides.

Brush chicken with olive oil. Grill chicken for about 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until just cooked through.

Roasted Corn with Chili Lime Butter

6 ears fresh corn, unhusked
1/4 pound butter (1 stick), room temperature
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 lime, zested
1 lime, cut into wedges

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the corn in its husks directly on the oven rack and roast until the corn is soft when you press on it, 30 to 40 minutes.

While the corn is roasting, combine the butter with the chili powder and lime zest.

Rub the corn with soft butter mixture, and garnish with a lime wedge.

 

Recipe of the week: Grilled Chicken with Chermoula sauce and chili lime corn Part 1: Ingredients

For our first installment of Cooking with Ashley we’re making Grilled Chicken with Chermoula sauce and roasted chili lime corn.

Back in my restaurant days I worked at a place that made the most fantastic chermoula sauce, they’ve been closed for a few years now and since the recipe that I had from there is long since gone it’s taken me a while and a few trials to get it just right.. Here we have it.. (in my eyes) the perfect garlic chermoula sauce.

Garlic Chermoula sauce

1/2 cup plain Greek style yogurt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (Or Parsley which is what I’m using since I HATE cilantro)

                                                                                                                                                                     

Chicken
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts about 1 ½ pounds
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper            

The corn recipe is by Tyler Florence (who is my #1 favorite Italian TV chef  *swoon*)

Roasted Corn with Chili Lime Butter

6 ears fresh corn, unhusked
1/4 pound butter (1 stick), room temperature
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 lime, zested
1 lime, cut into wedges                        

                                                                                   
So here’s the list of what y’all are going to need and tomorrow, we cook.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Heelys

I got a pair of heelys courtesy of Business 2 Blogger

This may or may not mean I will be busting my ass in the near future.

A video may be on here.. Maybe.. if I can manage to at least skate down the driveway without getting a concussion.. or worse.  In a strange turn of events my kid will be supervising me in this little adventure... for the main fact that they Don't make Heelys larger than a men's size 12 and Sasquatch here is a men's size 14.

They're really cute sneakers though.. I got these

I"ll be trying them out soon.. so.. keep on the lookout for some silly shenanigans here with the Heelys

Poll: Recipe of the week

I figured if I'm gonna be doing a recipe of the week the least I could do is give you guys a choice of what you want to cook along with me.   I'll run the poll for 3 days hopefully by then I have a working stove.



Recipe of the week. What are we cooking?

• Grilled chicken with chermoula sauce and chili lime corn
• Chicken with Mushrooms and White Wine
• Chicken Breasts with Tomato-Herb Pan Sauce

View Results
Create a Blog Poll

Ögonlaser & Acepolls

Just let me know what y'all want to cook and we'll take it from there.  If anyone has any questions please feel free to let me know in the comments and I'll get back to you asap.

***Update***
The stove is all fixed so I'm gonna run the poll until Wednesday, Thursday I'll make a shopping list and Friday we'll cook. :)

Ya know what sucks?

I had the perfect meal planned out in my head.  I was going to brine the pork chops I bought the other night and then sear them in a pan with onions and serve with a really nice bowl of fresh corn with lime and chile and a nice salad.

But instead, about 5 minutes after I got the brine boiled up and sitting on the stove to cool down.. my oven started ticking like someone turned it on and was trying to get the burner lit.  But I was standing in the bathroom putting on some makeup and the kid was in the living room playing Wii.... sooooooo I first turned on every burner and they all worked, then off again.. still ticking.

So, clad in my jammies and no makeup I went and rang my landlord's doorbell.  I told him what was up and he came right away.  After much fiddling, unplugging and plugging the stove back in it was still happening.  Tick tick tick.. Fark!  My landlord is a genuinely nice guy so he said that tomorrow he's gonna have someone look at it and repair it... if it can't be repaired he'll have to get a new stove.

So now.. I have a non working stove in my kitchen and I'm really hoping this doesn't last more than a few days... because if I can't cook I will panic.   We're having sandwiches for dinner tonight and since the chops were gonna go bad if I didn't cook them and I didn't want to freeze them they're sitting in the fridge in the brine that I lovingly made for them this morning and I'll cook them in the crock pot with potatoes overnight and we'll have that tomorrow for dinner.

If my brine is as delicious as I hope.. I will post the recipe.   This is the first time I'm attempting to brine anything so, well... ya know.

Stay tuned this week because I'm going to start doing a recipe of the week.. hopefully starting tomorrow and I'll make up a grocery list and on Thursdays we'll all cook together.  

Funnel Cakes!!

Last weekend was the big feast at my church and The Kid and I finally made it over there on Sunday.  I saw all the concession stands but what I really wanted was a funnel cake.. I saw so many people walking by with them it  had me craving one like crazy.  Until I got to the stand that was selling the most and realized that not only was the funnel cake $5, but in teeny print to the right it said that it was $2 extra for topping.. for powdered sugar that's like $1/lb.  Ha!  Like that was gonna happen.  I got a few Zeppoles instead @6/$3 to hold me over on my fried dough craving until I could get around to making them myself.  I went and bought a squeeze bottle at the $1 store to make this a little less messy and it worked perfectly.

I finally got around to making them today... a week later.

Totally worth the wait.

Funnel Cakes


Ingredients

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1-2 cups oil for frying
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
confectioners' sugar for dusting


Directions
In a mixing bowl, beat together egg and milk. Beat in flour, salt, baking soda, cream of tartar, and sugar until smooth.

Heat about 1 inch cooking oil in frying pan to 375° F 

Pour 1/2 cup batter through funnel into oil with a circular motion to form a spiral (I didn't have the right size funnel so I went and bought a squeeze bottle from the $1 store which makes it Much easier to do this without a huge mess).

 Fry until lightly brown; turn over to brown the other side. Cook to golden brown, and remove to drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar while still warm.

You can’t come unless you bring cookies

These are the words uttered by the bestie’s nephew last Saturday.. “Ashley can’t come over unless she brings cookies” Well... had I have been properly prepared, it wasn't 110° in the shade and had I not just moved I would have.. But now I will bake a special batch just for him.. Ya know, because I’m cool like that.

I can’t just make any cookies though.. I have to make Chocolate-Caramel Bars.  These have been highly coveted cookies since the first time I baked them with the bestie.  I make them for every special occasion and holiday now. No cookie tray goes without them, because they really are that good (So good that I've never brought them into the office to share).  The last time I made them instead of using prepackaged caramels I used caramel sauce that I made and OMG they were So incredibly amazing.

Just for kicks I might make a batch of Whoopie pies too for the main fact that you can’t help but smile when you say the name and they’re unbelievably good too.

The bestie's only here for 2 more weeks.. I must break in my new oven and share the goods before she goes back to Africa.  Plus.. what's better for the soul than some home baked goodies?

Friday Flip Off's 8/5/11

ok y'all.. it's Friday and it's time for some Flip Off's.. and I've got a few this week.. and for the first time Ever you'll see what I look like.. sorta.

I color my hair. I'm not gonna lie about it.  I was born blonde, I was blonde into my teens when I decided I didn't want to be blonde anymore... and I dyed my hair jet black.... like Elvira (or Wednesday Aadams depending on the day, lol).  It was great.. until this little blonde baby came along.. and then I looked like the babysitter or something, so I changed it up and went red.  I've been various shades of red over the past 15 years.. most great, some horrible.  

That being said My first flip goes to Clairol. I went ahead last Sunday to redo my color.. yea, I'm still under 35 but I get a few whites and I don't like 'em not to mention the blonde-ish roots that grow in.  Armed with 2 boxes of Nice 'n Easy foam (my hair is thick and long) in Medium Reddish brown (a color that I've used before) I went about the ritual and did my hair.. and it was all fine... until it was time to dry it...and my hair was the same color dry as it was wet. Dark.  Really, really dark.  It's like a really deep mahogany... and not at all what I wanted.

This is what I'm used to

This is what I've got now

Yeah, Not happy at all.. so I called Clairol on Monday morning and asked for some help... so after a game of 20 questions with one of their "Color Experts"  I get "Well Miss, I'm sorry but you're going to have to go to a salon to get the color corrected"  So my response was "well Miss, if I could afford to go to a salon I wouldn't be buying the $10 stuff from CVS now would I?"  Thanks a lot for Nothing.  so... Flip off Clairol for Not being able to help me with this dilemma.  Now I'm adding baking soda to my shampoo to help strip the color and it's gradually becoming redder and less black.. unfortunately I'm probably going to have to eventually make a call to the salon I go to get my hair cut if I can't fix it good enough. *sigh*

I am OFFICIALLY all moved into the new place and yesterday afternoon the Ex-Landlord called my cell saying I owe him $150 because the deposit was short.  HA HA HA!! Seriously this guy must be on some serious Colombian drugs if he thinks I owe him anything.. besides it was $75 short if anything, but regardless I haven't been living there since the 16th of July and really he owes me half my deposit back.  I wasn't going to call him back and when he kept calling I got technology on my side, so now when he calls me he gets the standard "this number has been disconnected" message. Fucktard.  Flip the hell off and leave me the hell alone.

The bestie is here for another 2 weeks which totally sucks.. time flies =( She won't be back until next summer which totally sucks, but I'm very thankful for Skype when she's a million miles away in Mozambique.  Flip off time for going bye too fast when I just need a little more time.  I swear when I win the lottery I'm bringing this girl home for good.

My Cupboards are bare

Seriously people.. yeah yeah, I moved in 2 weeks ago.. but I'm Officially All.Moved.In.  Now it's time to get to business and get these shelves stocked.. especially since now I know I can do it right and I have Lots of space to put my stuff.. not just one cabinet to stash all the goods.  I've got one shelf of a kitchen cabinet just for spices! Yikes.. yea, I really need to work on that.... or get a spice rack or something..  but I'm working on that.

Lets talk about a well stocked Pantry because, I've actually Got a pantry.. sweet :)  My mom's mom had a pantry in her kitchen and my dad's mom's version of a pantry was shelves in her basement where she kept the canned goods that never ran out.  I've got a pantry in the kitchen.. and so far it's pretty bare with the exception of a few boxes of pasta, some tomatoes and all my cooking paraphernalia that needs to be stored away (the stand mixer, mini prep, popcorn popper, crock pot, etc.

I've been searching online for the best list for a well stocked pantry and it hasn't been easy.  Many lists are full of non essential stuff and it's a pain in the ass to go through all the lists just to weed out what I really need.. until I found this list over @ Mommy Matters and it's just right.


 The Essentials for a well-stocked pantry


Baking Powder
All-Purpose Flour
Baking Soda
Sugar (granulated)
Confectioners' Sugar
Brown Sugar
Chocolate Chips
Cocoa
Cornstarch
Yeast


Dry Cereal
Oatmeal


Bread (sandwich, pita, hot dog, hamburger)
Rice
Pasta
Popcorn
Worcestershire Sauce
White vinegar
Red Wine vinegar
Vegetable Oil
Olive Oil
Maple syrup
Non-stick cooking spray


Chicken broth
Vegetable Broth
Beef Broth

Ketchup
Mayonnaise
Mustard
Nut Butter (Peanut, almond, coconut, Sunflower butter)
Jelly/Jam

Tomato sauce
Canned Tomatoes
Tomato Paste
Canned Beans (Or dried if you prefer)
Canned Tuna
Salad Dressing

Basil
Bay Leaves
Cinnamon
Garlic Powder
Nutmeg
Onion powder or flakes
Oregano
Paprika
Black Pepper
Sea Salt
Sage
Rosemary
Thyme
Vanilla Extract

Coffee
Tea

Additional tips for creating your own Well-Stocked Pantry:

1 Determine what your favorite 5 family meals are and try to have those ingredients on hand at all times.

2 Look over your grocery lists for the past month. Do you see any repeating patterns? Consider those items for your own well-stocked pantry list.

3 Always arrange your pantry shelves so that the newly purchased items are in the back.

You can add and omit things as you wish.. but this is a good basic list to start with.

Chickpea burgers

Ever have one of those days when you open your fridge and realize that you have absolutely nothing to feed your starving 15 year old? No?  OK.. well, that might just be me, but really.. This is one of those weeks when I think.. Did I really go grocery shopping on Friday? WTF did I buy?

Luckily I had a can of chickpeas in the pantry and instead of making a salad with them I decided I'd get a little crazy and make some burgers with them.. so I did a little research online... Ugh.. every recipe I found had stuff I didn't have.. rice.. nope, tofu.. nope.. Quinoa?  nope, none of that either... so I decided to just wing it and go with what I had.

1 14oz can chickpeas
1/4 sweet onion chopped
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
pinch of sea salt
1/4 tsp ground coriander
about 2 Tbs olive oil

In a food processor add the onion and process it until it's finely chopped.  Add the chickpeas and pulse 2/3 times until fully incorporated with the onion.  Pour this mixture into a bowl and mix in the breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, salt and coriander.  Pour in the olive oil and stir well to combine.

Heat a frying pan over medium heat while you make the patties.

Cook the patties over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side.

I served mine with mayo and a dash of Tabasco on whole wheat bread, lettuce and  a cucumber tomato salad on the side.

This dinner was less than $2 to throw together.

W00t!

Coffee Coffee Coffee ... Keurig

Now that this move is over I can finally sit down and relax.. Now that (for the most part) I have my shit together.

I was supposed to do a blog post last week, but in the craziness that’s been my life it just hasn’t happened.  Blogging hasn’t happened.. I’m surprised that cooking has even been done, but ya know.. The kid’s gotta eat.  One night I was so frazzled that I stood and ate my food while the rest was cooking.. Horrible mommy move there, but I was Starving and just couldn’t wait.

I promised Sara@ One Cup Connection  that I would do a post about Keurig.  I don’t have one.. Bestie’s sister has one and brewed some really yummy smelling coffee the other night ( I don't drink coffee after 2pm or I'll be up all night O_o ) and I also  know that MommaKiss does too and she loves it... and her snickerdoodle coffee.

I love coffee regardless.  I’ve become a latté drinker within the past years that I’ve been working in this particular office.. I guess it all started with dunkin donuts lattés but that stopped when I realized how much sugar was in those things... and I started making them myself.  Right now I have a grind & brew machine and so it’s 2/3 cup of whole beans to 6 ounces of water and I get 2 good lattés out of it. One of these days I’ll get around to getting my own Keurig, but until then I will share the love of coffee and the amazing goods they’ve got over @ OneCupConnection..Check out the K-Cups page and tell me what one is your favorite!

Fresh Tomato & cucumber salad

The other night when I came home my landlord's wife came out of the garden and asked me if I wanted some Tomatoes so of course I said yes, I love fresh tomatoes.  They were a little under ripe so I left them on the windowsill by the kitchen sink until they were just right.  Last night I made the most amazing salad and really.. sometimes it's just the simplest things made with the freshest ingredients makes the best meal.

If you make this at least 30 minutes before serving, by the time you get around to eating it it's good and juicy :) Yum.. so you can dip your bread into it.

1 tomato cut it up into chunks
1 cucumber, cut into chunks
5-6 fresh basil leaves, torn up
1 clove garlic, minced
salt to taste
Drizzle of good olive oil

Toss the tomato and cucumber into a large bowl, add salt and basil and toss well.  Add basil, garlic and olive oil and toss it all together.

Let sit for at least 30 minutes before serving.