My tomato plants are in full swing and despite planting 14 plants, we are eating them as fast as they ripen.

I love the days when my husband is able to come home for lunch and we make either BLT’s or bruschetta- depending on our mood and the bread I have on hand.

Here’s how we make my favorite bruschetta.  It doesn’t get any better than fresh from the garden tomatoes and goat cheese.

You can make this bruschetta with any tomato, but I prefer Romas, since they are less juicy.  When I use other tomatoes, I cut them in half and give them a little squeeze over the disposal to juice and seed them.  It works like a charm.

The tomatoes and basil are from my garden.

We don’t really have any great bakeries in my town, but my local grocery store carries La Brea Bakery French baguettes.  They bring them in frozen and partially baked, and finish baking them in store each day.  When I ask, sometimes they sell them to me still frozen, so I can thaw and finish cooking them in my own oven.   Until I learn how to make wonderful homemade French bread, it’s a great option for really fresh bread.

I first make the tomato topping.  If I’m on top of things, I like to make it a few hours before serving.  The ingredients seem to blend and mellow better with a few hours in the frig.

In a mixing bowl add tomatoes.

Finely chop the garlic.  I take it one step further and sprinkle a little Kosher salt over my chopped garlic and crush it with the side of my knife.

The easiest way I’ve found to chop basil is to roll it up and slice it (a chiffonade), then chop it up.

Add the chopped garlic and basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar to the tomatoes.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Give it a quick stir and refrigerate (or serve immediately).

Right before serving, Slice up your bread.  If my bread is a thin baguette,  I slice it on an angle.

Place slices on a cookie sheet and toast it until golden.

While the toast is still warm from the oven, slice a clove of garlic in half and give each piece a rub.  You can butter it too, but I don’t since I don’t need the calories.

Spread each slice with goat cheese.  You can use your favorite spreadable cheese as a substitute.  My son loves Boursin or Alloette.  It doesn’t get any better than goat cheese for me.

Top it with the tomatoes mixture and serve.

It’s a perfect summertime appetizer, but my husband and I love it as lunch.  We often eat it alone, or with a little pasta salad if we have some left over.

Tomato, Garlic and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

1 baguette, sliced on a diagonal, ¾-inch thick
1 cloves garlic sliced in half
2 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped
½ cup fresh basil, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, finely minced
Kosher salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Goat cheese

In a medium mixing bowl, add chopped tomatoes, finely minced garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil together. The longer they sit the better it will be. Add Kosher salt and pepper to taste. Toast baguettes on a cookie sheet just until slightly browned. Rub garlic over the toasted side to infuse bread with flavor.  Spread with goat cheese.  Spoon tomato mixture on top of the bread and serve.

For a printable recipe click here for my Tasty Kitchen Recipe Box.

A few weeks before school started, we took a tour of Historic Moyle Park in our hometown of Alpine.  The park is full of old farming equipment and one room log homes that were moved to the property.  There’s even a fortified tower that the Moyle’s built in case of an Indian attack.  But the highlight of the park is the home built by John Moyle, an early Utah Mormon pioneer and stonemason who worked on the Salt Lake Temple.

Early every Monday morning he walked 22 miles to downtown Salt Lake City to work on the Temple and then walked 22 miles home on Friday after a hard week’s work.  On Saturday he worked all day on his farm.  Then one day he was kicked in the leg while milking a cow.  His leg was badly broken and was amputated.  Once he learned to walk again on the wooden leg he made for himself, he resumed making the 22 mile trek to Salt Lake City each week.  He carved the plaque on the Temple that says, “Holiness to the Lord.”

The Moyle home is a wonderful, sturdy stone home, but what I like best about it is the quilts…  Most of the quilts looked to me to be from 30’s to 50’s but none are labelled so I couldn’t be sure.

This is the quilt on the frame above.  The applique flowers are so sweet.  I love that some of the petals are polka dot fabric.  My guess is this quilt is from the 40’s.

In the same room as the quilt frame is this old treadle Singer sewing machine.  It reminded me of the stories of my great grandmother, who had 17 children.  She would make her kids sit under the machine and push the treadle while she sewed clothes for all of them, since her leg would get so tired.

I loved the way this block has a different colored solid with the prints.  The colors are wonderful.  Does anyone know the name of this block?  Is it ocean waves?

This pansy applique is wonderful. It looks like one strand of black embroidery floss for the applique.  Did she choose that color or did she have to make it do?  Either way it is lovely.  The quilting is fun too.  This looks more 50’s to me…

This quilt was laid over a bench, so I could get a great shot of it.  But again, I love the different solids paired with the prints.  The colors in this quilt are an inspiration.

I swooned over this double wedding ring.  The fabrics look feedsack.  It’s fabulous in the room with white walls and red sheets.

Seeing the old quilts makes me want to do nothing but quilt today.

In my dreams.