Outdoor Summer Dinners Featuring My Tomato Garden

Insalata Caprese

My friend Anna Altomari on the right from Worst Cook in America Season 2.

Lemon Granita with Rasberries

Don't you just love summer dinners outside? I do. I had a few special friends over for dinner the other night. We started with plates of salame, our insalata caprese which consisted of left to right, Early Girls, Heirloom Black Prince, fresh mozzerella, Heirloom Mr. Stripey, German Johnson Heirlooms and more mozzerella, sprinkled with sea salt and drizzled with a nice extra virgin olive oil. We ate that and some greek olive tapenade with grilled slices of french baguette and some grilled zucchini.. It was a wonderful way to start a fun evening of great stories and laughter!

For dessert, I made some lemon granita and mixed in a few smashed rasberries and drizzled a bit of triple sec on the top. It was a hit!

Italian Apple Cake (One Bowl Recipe)

I made this cake over the weekend and it is delicious. Moist cake perfect with coffee, and so easy to do. It reminded me of a cake this family made in Bologna where I stayed many years ago. Make sure your olive oil is light and not heavy in flavor. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees and prepare a 9 x 13 pan by spraying with pam or buttering or using olive oil to grease it.

Here is the recipe.

Cut and slice 3 to 4 apples.. ( any kind you have)
1/2 cup to 1 cup of chopped walnuts

Now in one bowl...

3 eggs

3/4 cup of LIGHT olive oil

1 1/2 of sugar

2 cup flour

pinch of salt

1 t. baking soda

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. vanilla extract

In a large bowl....

Beat the eggs with a fork and add the oil and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Add the apples and walnuts and mix in till coated.

Pour batter into a well sprayed or buttered or oiled 9x13 baking pan and bake at 325 for 1 hour.

You will love this cake. Super easy and gets better as it sits!

Home grown Tomatoes!

Here are some of the tomatoes from my garden so far. I am going to make a fresh tomato and jalapeno pizza tonight..maybe with a little onion and Italian sausage from Papa Cantella.