Guest Post: Running to the Kitchen

I would like to introduce you to Gina @ Running to the Kitchen.  At one point in time Gina was my boss.  During this time she introduced me to the world of blogs.  I was aware blogs existed but only read a few of close family and friends. Gina though introduced me to the world of food and healthy living blogs.  Not too long after I started my own food blog and was hooked reading more and more blogs.  A few months ago Gina decided to start one of her own. I am so glad I did.  Gina only knows how to do things 110%.  She is a wonderful cook, loves to run, picked up photography in about two days and has hilarious stories about her hubby and adorable dog.  Below is a sample recipe but definitely check out others on her blog.  Thanks for sharing Gina!

Some things just go together, no? 

Peanut butter & jelly.
Milk & cookies.

Chocolate & anything.

I’m going to attempt to convince you bread & salad should be one of these classic combinations too.

This salad is a little bit Greek meets Italian with some southern U.S. charm thrown in.

It’s refreshing, it’s light and it’s a great way to end the summer.

The whole premise of panzanella is a way to use up stale bread. In fact, it’s better with stale bread because the staleness holds the bread together better as you toss it with the dressing. There’s only one problem with stale bread. We never have any in our house.

Seriously, I can’t be the only one who attacks fresh bread usually within a day, leaving no crumb left behind am I?

This little problem of mine just means I kind of defeat the purpose of panzanella and bake my own bread to throw into the salad. By all means, if you’re not an animal like me and actually have stale bread in your house, go ahead and use it. If you are like me and have a hankering for carbs, then I encourage you to whip up some cornbread (this bacon jalapeno oneis pretty darn tasty) while you chop your veggies. 

If you have stale bread, this will take you all of 5-10 minutes depending on how skilled you are at chopping. If you don’t, cornbread only takes about 25 from prep to fully cooked. It’s worth the few extra minutes.

So, here’s to enjoying the last of the fresh summer vegetables in a new, tasty way and hopefully the start of a new combination to love.

Cornbread Panzanella

Salad

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• Cornbread (stale or freshly baked), cubed into 1 inch pieces
• 2 small cucumber, chopped
• 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, slice in half
• 1 large red bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced fresh basil
• 1/4 small red onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup feta cheese, chopped or crumbled
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp sugar
• salt & pepper

Directions:

Cook cornbread or use old bread on hand. Chop/dice veggies & feta and combine in large bowl. Mix dressing (last 6 ingredients) together in small bowl. Add cornbread to veggies and feta. I used about 1/2 a loaf. Pour dressing over cornbread + veggie mixture and gently toss to combine.