Bruschetta and Pesto Torellini

I made bruschetta for an appetizer with home-made pesto sauce on Bertolli tortellini and an apple pie.

For the bruschetta I used this recipe I found on allrecipes.com (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/double-tomato-bruschetta/) for tomato bruschetta. It was rated 5 stars by over 17 hundred people... I think it's safe to say it was going to be good! It absolutely was! I have never made bruschetta before and was not entirely sure that I would even like it. It never really made sense to me; toast with tomato on it. Weird. But the movie Julie and Julia inspired me. It looked so delicious when she and her husband are eating it and try (ironically) to decide what to write her blog about. So I thought, "just make it, if nothing else the name is fun to say." I had a revelation! I could eat this all the time!!! The fresh Roma tomatoes with the sun-dried gave it a really rich, deep flavorful tomato flavor and I absolutely love balsamic vinegar. I would put it on bread alone so that was a major selling point. Everything just really worked together to make this flavor that burst in your mouth. Very impressed with the tomatoes on toast! See how yummy they look?!? 

I also made my own Pesto sauce. I used almonds instead of pine nuts to make it, not because I prefer them or anything, but because the store didn't have pine nuts. Apparently they aren't in high enough demand to stock them so I used almonds. It tasted the same though so still delish. Pesto is my mom's favorite so that is the main reason I decided to make it. Also, it is SOOO much cheaper to just make it yourself! And I highly recommend growing your own basil if possible because grocery stores charge upwards of $5 per fresh handful. 

I am a big gardener though so I prefer to use my own produce whenever possible. I'll post pictures of the produce as it becomes ready. Right now my family is growing pumpkins, zucchini, strawberries, and mixed greens... none of which we have tried before. Also we are doing the usual tomatoes, banana peppers, and green bell peppers which always seem to be easy. 

So anyway the pesto was great, I put it on Bertolli's chicken stuffed tortellini because I didn't want noodles and I also didn't have time to make my own pasta. I really love making it myself but its something you need a lot of counter space for which I am lacking in currently.

Looks good yea?

Finally, my dad has been pestering me about making an apple pie lately so I finally agreed that I would. I used Cameo and Granny Smith apples. The Cameos are great because they are tangy and sweet making it a perfect mix. I add the Granny Smith in there just for funzies. I like a little variety in everything. This time I was able to find pie dough. Silly me, I thought it would be with the pie shells and pastry dough but really it's by the biscuits. How ridiculous?! It over flowed quite a bit (good thing I put the cookie sheet under it) but still turned out fabulous with a scoop of ice cream! A la mode anyone?