Easy, Affordable & Quick Recipes : Bruschetta With Mozzarella and Tomatoes (*this recipe is suitable for vegetarians)

Hi darlings! I decided to start a new regular feature on my blog. This feature will be focused on easy and quick recipes. I'm a foodie. I think I've always been one. A typical Taurus lady, you could say. I love to cook and bake. I don't need to mention that I love to eat, I think you can all see that, wink wink. Cooking is one of those things I can never get tired of. I do enjoy trying out new recipes and preparing food. However, like everyone else on this planet, I don't always have all the time I want or need for cooking on my disposal. Just like everyone else, sometimes I have to make do with a limited amount of time.

When things get a little hectic or when I'm simply tired, sick or occupied with something, I like to rely on easy & quick recipes. Today I was on a phone with a friend and I mentioned how much I love to prepare Italian food. I'm a  big fan of Italian cuisine. Not just because it's delicious, but because most Italian dishes don't take that much time to make. I mean you can prepare spaghetti or lasagna in half an hour. Not that there aren't Italian dishes out there that are more complicated than that, but I'm generalizing things a bit here.  So, generally speaking, I often opt for Italian cuisine when I want to save time. Besides Italian, I often rely Dalmatian (a region in Croatia) and Mediterranean traditional recipes. However, I won't limit this feature to any particular cuisine. The idea is to share my 'go to' recipes with you. That's what I plan to do. As simple as that. 

 

When it comes to Italian food, 'bruschette' of any kind are probably the easiest thing to make. You basically bake a slice of bread in an oven. Yeah, not very complicated. I figured we could start with something really simple. One of the reasons why I'm a fan of this dish is because it allows us to use old bread. I hate to be wasteful and I especially hate to be wasteful when it comes to food. I always try to find ways to avoid piling of food or throwing away food in the garbage. Now, that I think of it, I could start a series of posts focusing on that. Long story short, I try to buy the proper amount of food (not too much!) and always keep an eye of the fridge. I dislike wastefulness on principles, so I always try to plan my cooking ahead, making sure I make the most sustainable choices when it comes to my food purchases. But back to the topic of this post and that is simply sharing a recipe. Bruschette with mozzarella and tomatoes recipe is a great choice for vegetarians, but it is not suitable for vegans. If you are a vegan, you can still prepare it but leave the mozzarella out. So, if you want the vegan version, leave out the mozzarella. As long as I'm on the subject, don't buy imitation cheeses. Those things are terribly unhealthy, just read the ingredient list and you'll see what I mean. A lot of vegans buy 'vegan' cheeses but these are always made from refined oils and other unhealthy stuff. If you are a vegan and want to get some fat into your system (since fat needs to be a part of everyone's diet) you better just increase your intake of cold pressed oils. Olive and coconut oil are easily available and affordable options.

My recipe for bruschette with mozzarella and tomatoes

Ingredients:

(for 2 people, if you serving for 4 double the portion):

- 10 to 12 slices of bread                                 

- 5 cherry tomatoes or one big tomato           

-  1 small package of mozzarella                 

-  two spoons of olive oil                                

Preparation in 3 easy & quick steps:

1. Place ten slices of bread on a baking plate. Unless you are  using a ceramic or a glass baking plate, you'll need to put a bit of olive oil on the to avoid the bread sticking to it. 

2. Chop the mozzarella and the cherry tomatoes and mix them together. Add spices according to your taste. I use salt, rosemary and parsley but you can use whatever you want. Or don't use anything at all. It's up to you. Once you're done with spicing, place the mozzarella and cherry tomatoes (or one normal sized tomato). Use a spoon if you want to avoid your hands getting dirty.

3.  Bake the bruschette in an over set at 170 degrees for 10 minutes. Depending on your oven, it might take a few minutes less or more, but that's about it. If the oven has been preheated, it should take less time. If you're not sure when they're done, check periodically. If sometimes starts to burn, you'll know it's time to take it out, right? 

Preparation in 3 steps: Bruschetta with mozzarella and tomatoes

This is how they should look when you get them out of the oven. Once they're done, wait for them to cool down. Then you can place them on a plate and pour two spoons of olive oil over them. You may avoid this last step if you don't like olive oil, but since I'm a Mediterranean lady I can't eat anything that I didn't pour olive oil over. For us Mediterraneans, olive oil is like water. You can also decorate this dish a bit if you like and/or serve it with a nice salad. This is a very light meal, so I understand that it might not enough for anyone. For most people, this will serve as an appetizer. However, if you serve it with something else, for example a nice home made soup soup, it can make for a satisfying meal. I think this dish is a great choice when you're on the go. Recipes like this one are perfect if want to avoid eating processed and unhealthy food, but don't have a lot of time on your hands. Bruschette with mozzarella and tomatoes is a dish that also looks lovely served. So, what do you think? Would you be willing to give it a try? Have you tried it already?

Wondering about how many calories this recipe has? Let me break it down for you:

 -10 to 12 slices of bread                                 (approximately 200 calories)

- 5 cherry tomatoes or one big tomato           (approximately 20 calories)

-  1 small package of mozzarella                    (approximately 280 calories)

-  two spoons of olive oil                                 (approximately 240 calories)

Total calorie count: 740 calories  

*Calorie count can vary a bit, as it can depend on the bread type and or mozzarella type, but generally speaking this is a medium to low calorie recipe. I didn't calculate the spices in, because they are an optional part of this recipe.To calculate the calories I used the information on the Internet that I consider accurate, but I'm by no means an expert when it comes calculating the calories. I do think that my estimation is close enough. If you are dieting, you can leave the olive oil out of the recipe and you'll end up with an even lower calorie intake.  Nevertheless, keep in mind that normal fat intake is an important part of maintaining a healthy diet. 

This isn't my first time sharing a recipe on my blog, but it's been a while since I've done it, so I feel a bit nervous. I hope I managed to do a decent job. I hope that the photographs and the instructions make sense. Hopefully, I'll get more confident about sharing my cooking in the future. Let me know what you think about this recipe. Would you like for me to share more of my cooking? For now I plan to continue with this feature, but in the future (if I summon the guts) I might share my cooking regularly. That would be all, folks. As always thank you for reading. I'm truly grateful for every comment and visit.

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