White Bean, Olive, Tomato Bruschetta

We just spent some glorious time in Bend, Oregon visiting my cousins and skiing at Mt. Bachelor!  It was a car trip so I was able to pack bags and bags of things to take with us.  I brought a bag with the Vitamix and all the important things that go into a smoothie like ground flax, chia, Vitamineral Green, bananas, etc.  I packed the cooler with Romaine and chopped kale. We had nuts, peanut butter, bread, crackers, oranges, apples, carrots, hummus, avocado, stuff for vegan tostados, etc.  I think I must have starved in a past life.  We can't even go more than 50 miles in our car without me packing food.  It's a bit of a compulsion!

 

Even though I brought all the basics for us to eat,  my cousins provided amazing food for us!  The house we were staying at made us spinach pasta with homemade pasta sauce and an amazing quinoa bowl dinner where we were able to layer all sorts of yummy vegetables, beans, and salsa into a bowl on top of the quinoa (the thing that impressed me most was a 20 year old made this for us!)

 

Another cousin in Bend fed us a feast of Ratatouille served over brown rice, a beautiful romaine and avocado salad, and the most amazing delicious white bean,olive,tomato, basil bruschetta!  The topping was pretty fabulous on the little bread toasts but really, I could have just spooned the stuff straight into my mouth!  This dinner came after our first day of skiing and we were ready to eat! I have such gratitude for all the effort that went into preparing this meal and all the thought that my cousins put into making us great vegetarian food during our visit!

 

I got home and vowed to make the spread but I lost the little piece of paper that my cousin gave me with the recipe - damn! I did some online research and found a recipe on Epicurious that was close enough and then tweaked it a bit.

 

 

 I used a can of white navy beans, 2 large tomatoes, chopped garlic, chopped olives, chopped basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper.  (If you are one of those "season" police and disagree with me using things like tomatoes and basil in the winter... I am so sorry, really, but this is so delicious I just had to make it!)

White Bean,Olive,Tomato and Basil Bruschetta

 

1 can of white navy beans or 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans

2 large tomatoes (2 or more cups) chopped

1/3 cup chopped olives (Kalamata and some big green olives)

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic

4 tablespoons olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

 

Put it all in a bowl and stir gently.  I let it sit just a bit to "marry" the flavors before serving.

 

I did not spread olive oil on the little sliced baguette pieces and bake them prior to piling the above on the bread. We just sliced a baguette and went to town! This uses a bunch more olive oil and I was really worried about using 4 tablespoons of oil in one recipe as it was!  Oil is over 200 calories per tablespoon and I believe it should be used somewhat sparingly.  I like to eat my fat in nuts, avocado, and seeds.  In fact, I think one could easily use 3 tablespoons or less of the olive oil in the spread.

 

 

 

Here is the bowl of deliciousness!  We spread it on little bread rounds.  I can imagine topping a big Romaine salad with this, having it next to pasta... eating it out of the bowl with a spoon!  You just can't go wrong.  I eat a plant based diet and beans are a really important part of that diet (for me).  I try to eat beans every single day.  This is a really yummy way to do that! We served the bruschetta last night with pasta, roasted tomato sauce, roasted cabbage, and steamed carrots and chard.  It was delicious.

 

I did not include the photo of me holding the little brushcetta before pushing it into my mouth because frankly, my hand looked like crap --- you could see the blood blister and callouses from my efforts to perfect a pull up and it was not appetizing!  You will have to imagine how good this looked on a little round piece of baguette. 

 

And finally.... I have to share with you my Xmas gift from the daughter!  Aren't these darling?  I am almost afraid to use them because they are so cute.  I really needed a new pair. The ones I have been using are in awful shape.  Thanks, Daughter!