The Novel Bakers ~ "Gathering in the Garden" ~ Part II

Hello and welcome to the Wednesday installment of The Novel Bakers  where we are featuring the book "Gathering the Garden" written and illustrated  by Shelly Snow and Elaine Husband.




Same old story at my house... 
The summer wildfires made it nearly impossible to capture  garden gathering outdoors this summer,  so I dredged up one from my archives.  
It is from a few years ago. 
Thanks for understanding!






Now, I normally wouldn't serve these three  items together . . . these are just ideas for items you might serve at a gathering in the garden.

First up are Tomato Melts:

Garlic Bread toasted, spread with mayonnaise, a layer of fresh basil, then thinly sliced ripe tomatoes, a generous sprinkling of bacon then a layer of sliced or grated cheese ~ placed on shallow pan and baked in a 450º(F) oven  until the cheese is nice and melty and the  slices are warmed through.
Click here for a printable copy of Tomato Melts.






Next up, Warm Yukon Gold Potato salad:




Though this recipe also calls for bacon, it seems to me that we had  plenty of bacon on the Tomato Cheese Melts, so I substituted sweet red onion to lighten it up a bit (and omitted the mayonnaise.)   I also added a couple of sprigs of fresh tarragon, optional. 






Back to the Tomato Melts ~

Instead of large slices of bread I sliced the bread into narrow diagonal pieces and made them into "boats"





 ~ the basil "sails" are an idea I copied from Mary's inspiring blog:
Home is Where the Boat is
Thank you Mary!! :)






I also made a few  ~



~ Quiche d'Olives and Basil Tomato Tarts ~
Click here for a printable copy of the Quiche d'Olives recipe.

Instead of one large pan of each, I made individual size portions.





I used tiny Nicoise olives in the olive quiche, and cherry/grape tomatoes cut in half for the  Basil Tomato Tarts.
Click here for Basil Tomato Tart.







Using smaller tomatoes and olives worked out perfectly for these small tart pans.

Thank you for stopping by today!


Please come on back on Friday for our "Gathering in the Garden" finale ~




Thank you for any comments you would like to leave ~ they absolutely MAKE my day!  :) :) :)


And please do check out the other Novel Bakers' blogs  to see their creative ideas as interpreted from 'Gathering in the Garden'  :

Home is Where the Boat is
Rattlebridge Farm
A Quiet Life Blog