Ultimate Blogging Party 2011 #UBP11

I am happy to participate in the Ultimate Blogging Party 2011 this year.   I follow @5minutesformom on Twitter and luckily spotted their tweet this morning and hopped on the party bandwagon!   Looks like a fantastic way to meet some fellow bloggers and there are even some prizes offered.

For those stopping by from the party and this being your first visit here … I am Debbie also known as The Running Garlic. I blog about Gardening, Cooking, Crafts and every day life.   I am participating in the WordPress Challenge and have started a Facebook group to help support all the bloggers who are creating daily or weekly blog posts.   The Challenge has been very rewarding and a wonderful way to connect with others; being Freshly Pressed and receiving 4,500 hits to my blog in 2 days was beyond exciting!

Along with this blog, I also created Garden Dish to share some recipes and Munchie Monday where you can link up and add your own.   Ok….enough about me, I am headed back to the Ultimate Blogging Party to make some new friends!

Facebook page = The Running Garlic Twitter handle = @RunningGarlic

Happy April 1st …. Nice to meet you!

Tomato and Garlic – 3 easy recipes!

Gourmet Garlic Giveaway will be posted 9/7/10!  

Will be posted at this blog and at GreatGiveaways!

This time of year tomatoes are ripening up faster than we can eat them and the garlic is awaiting its chance to liven up our recipes!   Earlier in the week I made up a quick quiche, a tasty salsa and a light pasta dish using plenty of tomatoes and garlic.   I really didn’t measure up I just added as I went along and it all came out fantastic.

The quiche got a little toasty on top but that made it more unique and tasty!   I started with a pre-made crust and added a layer of zucchini which I sauted a bit to soften up.   I added the garlic for a few minutes to the zucchini in the pan before adding both to the crust.   I used the Persian Star garlic and this is the first time I tasted this variety and I love it!   I don’t have any for sale this year but I will be planting for a harvest next year.   It has the right amount of kick and large cloves for easy peeling … a keeper!   I then added egg substitute and a few handfuls of mozzarella cheese along with chopped basil and spoonfuls of ricotta cheese.   The final topping was tomatoes and more cheese.   I baked it in the oven at 350 for about a half hour.

The salsa never lasts long in this house – it’s so fresh tasting … you can’t stop eating it!   I used Cherokee Purple tomatoes so it appears rather dark and I did drain off liquid several times since these tomatoes are very juicy.   I simply chopped the tomatoes, onion, garlic, fresh cilantro and jalapeno pepper and let chill in the refrigerator.

Lastly the pasta dish which is chilling right now and will make a great lunch for me in a few hours!   I boiled up the bow tie pasta, chopped some smaller roma tomatoes and also added some dried tomatoes (they have such a nice sweet flavor), added black olives, garbanzo beans, onion, basil and of course the garlic!   A few shakes of an oil and vinegar dressing and a dash of pepper and it’s all set.

Healthy and Easy …… can’t beat that!!!