The Lady who Lunches

So, yesterday P.B. (pre-blog) I posted on Facebook and Twitter about the fact that I made some oven-roasted tomatoes (and some unexpectedly candied bacon, but that doesn't figure into this blog). They did not come out looking as uniformly beautiful as Ina Garten's did (nor did they seem to dejuicify as much as hers did, but I was kind of lazy about taking the seeds out...and hello? I don't have a gazillion assistants and a house on the Hamptons and the world's most successful catering business and a really sweet husband who lives just to praise my food...er, where was I?). However, they taste pretty yummy, albeit a bit sweet.
Today, I put them on one of my useful-but-fairly tasteless Pepperidge Farm Deli Flats, added a couple ounces of fresh mozzarella, and a few leaves of basil - essentially Ina's Roasted Tomato Caprese (recipe below) offended by its bready base (my kingdom for low-cal ciabatta)!
I then FINALLY got around to making some low-cal cole slaw, a food which I crave in summer the same way I crave tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, grilled corn, (barely) grilled tuna and kisses from James Franco (hey, a girl can dream). Didn't follow any recipe, just winged it... and had I not tried to get cute, it would have been awesome. By "get cute" I mean, "Add black sea salt because those little flecks of black will look so great in between the pale green cabbage and vibrant orange carrots and creamy white dressing." Kids, do you know how black sea salt GETS black? They *dye* it black. And do you know what happens when you mix black dye with creamy white dressing? (there WILL be a quiz later, so pay attention) You get something that looks very much like New York City gutter runoff. Not so great-looking mixed in with the pretty cabbage-n-carrot mix. Sigh... ANYWAY, added a few tablespoons of peanuts because I used to love when my mom did that when I was little, and I have a very unattractive but nevertheless tasty and healthy cole slaw to pick at for the week. Recipe below.
Oh, and just kidding about the quiz. ;)

Ina Garten's Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad - serves 6ish
12 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, seeds but not cores removed
1/4 c. virgin olive oil + some extra for drizzling
1 1/2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 large cloves garlic *Note* - I used like 3x this much. :)
2 tsp. sugar
Salt and pepper
1 lb. fresh mozzarella
12 fresh basil leaves chiffonade'd

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (yes, that low. It's not a typo).
Arrange the tomatoes cut side up and not touching each other. Drizzle the olive oil and balsamico evenly over the tomatoes, and sprinkle with the salt, pepper, garlic, and sugar. Roast for 2 hours (yes, that's long. It's still not a typo) until the tomatoes shrink down and caramelize. Allow them to cool completely before using.
Cut the mozzarella balls into slices/half slices (*Note*: Ovoline are about the size of a baby's fist and often come in containers with 2 4-oz balls, so two of these containers would work great if each ball were sliced into thirds and then those slices halved). On a platter, alternate slices of mozzarella with the tomatoes and scatter the basil chiffonade over the top. Drizzle with a little more olive oil (if you think it needs it), salt and pepper.


Wendy's Cole Slaw - serves 12ish
1 package (~10 oz) sliced cabbage (mix of green and purple looks best)
1 package (~8 oz) grated carrots
1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c mayonnaise (I recommend canola or olive oil-based)
1/2 c non-fat Greek-style yogurt
White vinegar
salt (NOT BLACK) and pepper to taste
1/4 c roasted peanuts (optional)

Mix veggies in a big bowl. In a smaller, separate bowl thoroughly mix the mayo and the yogurt. Drizzle in a little (less than a 1/4 c) white vinegar until the mixture takes on a dressing-like consistency. Add the dressing to the veggies and mix thoroughly. Add salt and pepper to taste and, if you like, throw those goobers in the mix! Alternately, save the peanuts for topping your slaw when you serve it; they'll be less well-integrated, but they'll retain more of their crunch.

If you try either of these, I'd love to hear how they turned out! Enjoy!