Simply yummy bruschetta

OK, I feel I should admit this here and now - I do not want to spend a lot of time preparing meals each day. (Gasp here if you must.) With six very busy boys to feed including two tweens and a teen, I really don't have a lot of time or energy to spare by the time dinner rolls around. 

So as you can imagine, I'm usually looking for meals that are simple, affordable and yummy for the family. Of course, there's always the standby foods which are great, but this week we were all a little tired of those meals and I decided to venture out a bit with the menu by revisiting some meal ideas that we haven't done in quite a while.

I love it when some of the best ideas are the simplest. I am sure that my ideas aren't anything new, likely something in my brain is triggered when I see the ingredients and I put it together in a way that makes sense to me.

Today was one such day, with both a snack and a meal that were each amazing yet so simple to prepare, cook and serve! Keeping it simple is often one of the keys to a mom's sanity when dinner rolls around so I always encourage other moms to make sure and include a few quick prepare meals in their weekly meal plan.

I'm not saying to buy prepared foods (though Stouffer's makes some amazing, preservative-free family dinners if you do need something to just throw in the oven), but there are definitely some simple, affordable ways around long meal prep.

I will be revisiting this topic over the next few weeks with more simple yummy meal ideas and maybe even a recipe or two. I have to share the super quick and amazing appetizer/snack I made this afternoon though. I believe it only took about 15 minutes from the time I started prep to pulling them out of the oven and enjoying!

Mama's Simple Bruschetta

Ingredients:

• 1 Loaf Roasted Garlic Bread
• 1/2 loaf Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
• 2 or 3 Roma Tomatoes
• Several Fresh Basil leaves
• Olive Oil

Instructions:

1. Grab all ingredients, set your oven to broil and get out a cookie sheet.
2. Cover the cooking sheet with a little olive oil (keeps the bread from sticking and the flavor of the olive oil definitely enhances the dish).
3. Slice the bread, tomatoes and cheese.
4. On each slice of bread place a basil leaf, tomato and top with mozzarella.
5. Place the cookie sheet in the oven under the broiler until mozzarella is slightly melted (about 5 minutes). Enjoy

Options:

• Although this tastes best with fresh basil leaves on each serving, if you don't have any you can opt to simply sprinkle dried basil over the top. 
• Also, many people prefer to have cold tomatoes on this dish. Make a few pieces (or all of them if you'd like) without the tomatoes on them during the broiling process. Instead, place the tomato slices on top as you prepare to serve.
• Grill it! Make sure the grill isn't on too high, put a little olive oil on the bottom side of the bread and watch them carefully as they grill. This  is a very tasty option!

Shera is mom to six very active boys (14, 11, 10, 6, 4, 4) and when she's not chasing after them, or in the kitchen cooking for them, you will find her at her blog A Frog In My Soup.