Cheese and Tomato Toasts

Courtesy of Myrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 5 to 6 oz. light cream cheese, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1/8 teaspoon salt 
• 1 loaf (about 8 oz.) Italian bread or wheat baguette
•  1 clove garlic, halved

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. In a small bowl, stir together cream cheese and pepper until thoroughly combined. In a medium bowl, stir together tomatoes, 2 Tbsp. olive oil, salt and parsley.
2. Slice off and discard ends of bread. Slice loaf diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices and place on a baking sheet. Toast in oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Rub 1 side of each toast slice with cut side of garlic.
3. Spread toast slices with cheese mixture and top with tomato mixture. 

I'm always on the look out for easy, tasty appetizers.  With only eight ingredients, most of which you probably already have on hand, this recipe is a great option for dinner parties and drop in guests who need something to munch on. The original recipe calls for mild goat cheese, but light cream cheese serves as a cheaper and lighter option.

This recipe made about 16 toasts, and I topped the remaining toasts I had left over with the cream cheese mixture and a sliced, spicy dill spear. They were a hit! The combination of the creamy cheese and the fresh tomatoes makes a delectable, albeit messy (serve with appetizer plates -- those little tomato bits have a tendency to jump off the toast!), pre-dinner snack.

Ode to the Vodka Tonic

Vodka Tonic

1 ounce vodka

1.5 ounces diet tonic

1/2 lime, cut into wedges

Pour vodka and tonic into a glass with ice. Squeeze lime wedges into drink, then toss in. Stir. 95 calories.

Nothing says Saturday night sitting on the couch watching Dateline like a vodka tonic. Light, refreshing and bubbly, this low calorie drink has it all. Class. Ease. Non-staining if dropped. Quick to the blood stream. It can't be beat.

The vodka tonic combination is quite amazing. Somehow the combination of two terrible tasting items, vodka (ew) and diet tonic water (gross) mixed together become amazing. A little like stray dogs and sweet and sour sauce. I can't explain it. And I don't want to.

And my husband found this out yesterday.

"Can I take a drink of this?" He asked, picking up the bottle of diet tonic water off the counter. "I don't think I've ever had it."

"Um. Sure...but you're not going to like it," I said.

He unscrews the lid, takes a swig, then makes a face as he chokes it down. "That's disgusting!"

"Um, yeah. I told you you wouldn't like it," I told him, chuckling. 

 

He then proceeded to try to wash the taste of his mouth out with scotch. It didn't help. He learned his lesson: Tonic without vodka is like a Lifetime movie without a love triangle between a stalker, an inappropriate masseuse and Eddie Cibrian. It just doesn't work.