Light Balsamic and Tomato Bruschetta! Snappetizer!

It's a snack, its an appetizer, its a side dish! It's whatever you want it to be... but it is SOOO good! And.. you know the next part... its healthy too!

The only recipe on this blog easier than this one are the 3 ingredient cookies! Here we go, you ready?

Ingredients:

1 baguette of french, sourdough, or whatever else you can find that you prefer 

(Trader Joe's has good options!)

8 roma tomatoes

1 t Olive Oil

1 T Balsamic Vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

3-4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped

1/4 cup shaved or grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Bring a medium sized pot to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and immediately drop tomatoes in the hot water. Let sit for 1 minute, then drain immediately. (This will enable you to peel the skin RIGHT off, but won't cook the actual tomato). In the photo below, you can see the peeled ones compared to the skin-on.

 2.  At this point, you will want to slice each tomato in half, juice and de-seed it, and then finely, and I do mean FINELY chop them up!

3. In a small bowl, combine the tomato, the oil and vinegar, the salt and pepper, cheese and basil, and the garlic. Mix and refrigerate until ready to serve. (Making the topping a day or two ahead of time would only ENHANCE the flavor and taste of this dish!)

4. Next, slice your baguette on a diagonal making each slice about 1/2 inch to 1 inch thick. Spray a baking sheet with oil and lay the bread in a single layer on the pan, then flip them, so the top of each slice is oil side up!

5.  Bake these at 475 for about 1-2 minutes (Or until edges start to brown) and then flip them and back 1-2 additional minutes.

6. You can either top each slice and serve, or you can put the bread in a basket and let your famliy/friends/guests dress their own slices! I topped mine myself!

You'll want to serve them immediately as the warmth of the bread is a beautiful contrast to the coolness of the tomato topping!

I cannot communicate how delightful these were. Everyone enjoyed them when I served them!

Try them! You have nothing to lose, and EVERYTHING to gain! Enjoy :)