Tomato and mint salad

I have an abundance of mint in my garden along with many tomato plants. I came up with this salad recipe which tastes lovely.

5 or 6 small tomatoes
a bunch of mint leaves
Chopped cucumber
Chopped red onion
2 tablespoons of wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper

Quarter the tomatoes, put into a serving dish. Add the chopped cucumber and red onion.
Tear the mint leaves and add to the tomatoes. Stir around to mix up.
Whisk olive oil and vinegar and season to taste. Pour over the salad. It tastes even better if you leave it in the fridge for a few hours.

Mushrooms with cheese

Mushrooms with cheese

Large field mushrooms
Cheese

Clean the mushrooms put small chunks of cheese around the stalk. Pop into a baking tin and bake in oven for about 10-15 mins until mushrooms are cooked and cheese is all bubbly and melted. These are great on the barbecue too.

Garlic Monkey Bread

I make this when we have a barbecue because everyone can just dig in. It's also good for informal family meals to accompany chilli, or spaghetti bolognese.

Before


After

For the dough you will need:
4 cups of strong plain flour
1 sachet of easyblend yeast
1 cup of water
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 teaspoons of sugar
2 cloves of garlic crushed

To coat the dough
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1 bunch of parsley chopped finely
6 oz of butter or margarine

To make the dough put the ingredients into a bread maker. Mix on the dough setting. When ready take out. Leave to one side for a few minutes whilst you melt the butter/margarine in a pan along with the garlic and parsley. When melted put to one side to allow to cool a little. You will now need a greased baking tin.

Divide the dough up into lots of little dough balls and roll around in the garlic butter and just place into the tin. Continue with the rest and just pile into the tin. This is a great activity for kids to get involved in. When you have used up all the dough then pour the rest of the garlic butter over the monkey bread. Leave to one side for about 10 mins to rise a little.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes in a preheated oven 180C

For a variation you could sprinkle on some grated cheese and have garlic and cheese monkey bread.