Tomato Salsa Crostini

I recently received two loaves of bread from Nature's Pride as part of Foodbuzz's Tastemaker program.  One loaf of wheat, one loaf of 12-grain.  What's cool about this bread is that it's supposedly "all nature".*  According to Nature's Pride, their bread is not made with any artificial flavors or colors; no high fructose corn syrup, trans fat, nor artificial preservatives.

Last week I made some sandwiches with leftover prime steak I had grilled indoors using this awesome method.  The sandwiches were delicious!  Of course, the steak was delicious, but the bread was also really good!  The bread has a slight sweetness that makes it sort of addictive.  It's dense, slightly chewy, and tastes really good both in sandwiches and also as plain toast.  I was a bit sad when my first loaf ran out after a week.  Good thing they sent two loaves!

With my second loaf, I decided to try something new.  I had just gone to the Farmer's Market that morning and saw rows and rows of gorgeous tomatoes.  Red ones, yellow ones, green zebra ones!  Huge heirloom ones.  They were so pretty.

I couldn't help myself and I bought a few different colored ones. I think the ones below are "Girl" tomato, "Green Zebra" tomato, and a yellow heirloom tomato.

Because I had such tasty fresh market tomatoes on hand, I decided to make Tomato Salsa Crostini appetizers.

This salsa recipe is adapted from Elise's recipe at Simply Recipes.

Salsa
2-3 medium sized tomatoes (preferably a mixture of different colors)
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 red onion(finely diced)
juice of 1 lime
salt and pepper to taste
optional: 1 finely sliced hot pepper of your choice to taste depending on how spicy you want it!
(e.g., jalapeno, serrano, habanero)

Dice the tomatoes. If you like a less watery salsa, you can core the tomatoes and remove the seeds/juice inside.  I chose to leave everything in - why throw away yummyness + vitamins?

Combine all the ingredients and mix together.  Let it sit for at least an hour for the flavors to meld.

Cut the bread into small rectangles. I cut each slice into four pieces. You can cut off the crust if you want, but I like to keep it (why throw away  . . . you get the point).

Brush each slice with a bit of olive oil and toast the bread in a toaster oven until it is nicely golden brown.

Put a small spoonful of salsa on each piece of bread and serve!  Enjoy!

This appetizer taste healthy, refreshing, and really good!  Slightly addictive, especially if you love the taste of ripe, fresh tomatoes.

Thanks again to both Foodbuzz and Nature's Pride for providing the bread for this post. It was quite yummy, and I have definitely been enjoying it!

* I don't mean to sound negative in any way by putting "all natural" in quotes.  It's just that, as a scientist by training, I get irked by phrases like "no chemicals" and "all natural" because in many ways those terms are meaningless.  In some ways, everything is a chemical compound.  Furthermore, just because something exists in nature does not mean it's not bad for you.  Anyway, small point, and in this case, they define what "all natural" means, so it's totally cool. I don't want to belabor the point, so I'll stop now.  :)  Enjoy the bread!