Party Foods # 3 -

      This posting is the third one in a series. Some of the type of party foods we will feature, are most suitable for deck or Super Bowl parties. Others, when presented right, will even work at 'fancy' parties or wedding receptions.
     Mainly, we will be featuring 'finger food' type of foods.
   
    Today's feature: Party Foods # 3:
       Garden Fresh Bruschetta

       In my recipe box, this particular recipe states that it was made up by myself and my friend Amie Moran.
      Over three years ago now, Amie was getting married and Brian and I had offered to do the food for their reception as our gift to them. They bought the ingredients, we cooked and prepped all of it, went to the site and set everything up, Brian and Kate oversaw the buffet (I was suppose to be being a guest), then we broke everything down and left the place cleaner than when we'd gotten there (cuz that's our motto).
      They wanted to do a 'finger food' reception. They didn't want 'fad' type foods, due to most of their guests being down home type of people. But they didn't want it to seem like the food you'd eat at a graduation open house either. So one day Amie and I actually got together (not an easy task to pull off!) and brain stormed.
      At the time, 'Bruschetta' was just making a big come out in the appetizer's and party foods arena. We decided that we wanted to do some! But neither of us had ever made it before. So I pulled out all of the various recipes for it, that I had clipped and stuck into my 'make some day file'. We went over all of them and ended up coming up with our own version. No, we did not try it out ahead of time. We were just going to be brave with our 'winging it'.
     Were we successful? "My" Kate does NOT like tomatoes. Especially fresh ones. But she kept looking at how pretty the mixture was in the bowl and listening to the comments people made when they came back for seconds, and thirds. She finally decided she was going to try one "no thank-you bite". (A "no thank-you bite" means that you willingly try one small bite of something. If it turns out your right and you don't like the product, you then may then say "no thank-you" to ever having to try it again.)  She came over to where I was sitting and whispered in my ear, "Mom, I got brave and tried "one no-thank-you bite" of the bruschetta, and it was like there was a party going off in my mouth!!! :-D"  Yes, our made-up recipe was a success!  :->

     One more note before I give you the recipe. Yes, this recipe makes a very large amount. That's why it's a good "Party Food". Your welcome to tweak it down to family size if you want.

      6 loafs French Bread (from Sam's Club)
      1 cup (2 sticks) Butter
      1/2 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
   
      1 - 5 lb. package GFS chopped tomatoes
         (or - 5 lbs. fresh Roma Tomatoes, chopped)
          (in the mixture pictured, we had tried using chopped canned tomatoes. The end product wasn't quite as vibrant in color, and missing just a tish of the zestyness, but it was still really good tasting. We also had not pre-treated the bread.)
      3 good sized Red Onions, finely chopped
      3 Tablespoons Thyme leaves (I did not use fresh ones, but you can)
      3 Tablespoons Basil leaves  (ditto)
      1 cup Kraft Greek Vinaigrette dressing
      1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

      Shredded Romano Cheese

     For the Bread:
     Slice French bread into 3/4 inch thick slices. Put butter into microwavable bowl. Top with garlic powder. Melt butter and mix together with garlic powder. Using a pastry brush, spread garlic butter on one side of each piece of French bread. Place bread on slightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes per side, or until LIGHTLY browned. Cool. (Store in bread bags.)

     For the Topping mixture:
     In extra large mixing bowl, combine the tomatoes, onions, basil, thyme, salt, pepper and Greek dressing. Mix well. Refrigerate till serving time.

    To Serve:
     Top pieces of bread with tomato mixture and sprinkle with cheese. Or - put the bread slices in a basket next to the bowl of tomato mixture, with a sprinkle type container of the cheese sitting there as well, and let your guests fix their own pieces.

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You might also like:
- Party Foods # 1 - Bean 'Salsa'

- Party Foods # 2 - 'Polish Roses' and Pickle Wraps

- Deviled Eggs
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You also might be interested in checking out our series on 'Warm Weather Desserts'
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I 'plan' on linking this particular posting up to:
~ "(Foodie Friday's)", are hosted by "Gollum" (aka: Michael), at 'Designs by Gollum' (http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/)
~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", are hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)' (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).
~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", are hosted by Jen, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven' (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
~ "Market Yourself Monday", are hosted by Sumo, at 'Sumo's Sweet Stuff' (http://sumossweetstuff.blogspot.com/)
~ "Tempt My Tummy Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Lisa, at 'Blessed with Grace' (http://blessedwithgrace.blogspot.com).
~ "Tuesdays at the Table", are hosted by Cole, at 'All The Small Stuff' (http://allthesmallstuff-cole.blogspot.com/).
~ "Kitchen Tip Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Tammy, at 'Tammy's Recipes' (http://www.tammysrecipes.com/).
~ "Tasty Tuesday('s)", are hosted by Jennifer, at "Balancing Beauty and Bedlam" (http://www.beautyandbedlam.com/)
~ "Topsy Turvy Tuesday's", are hosted by Ashlee, at 'I'm Topsy Turvy' (http://imtopsyturvy.com/)
~ "Whatever Goes Wednesday('s), hosted by Michelle, at 'Someday Crafts'
(http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com/)
~ "Make it from Scratch", are held at 'Make it from Scratch ... Where creativity and frugality intersect'. (http://makeitfromscratch.blogspot.com/)