This summer, our garden grew like crazy! SL and I made a few minor changes from last year when we planted this spring and those changes resulted in an outrageously bountiful garden this summer. We had a hard time keeping up with all of the tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants and peppers this year but it lead me to rediscovering a crazy good flavor combination I forgot I loved.

Pesto and tomato!

I have been using this combo on everything lately so I figured I’d share a few of them. I make my own pesto with the little basil plant I keep in my kitchen window sill but feel free to buy it if you don’t have the ingredients or equipment to make it at home.

I first made my Pesto BLT Pasta Salad in the spring and have made it over and over again any time SL and I have leftover bacon from Sunday breakfast. It is SO easy to whip together and tastes even better as leftovers atop some mixed greens. Check out this post for the recipe.

The night when SL and I ate ALL.THE.VEGGIES, I whipped up a quick but amazingly tasty bruschetta that I thought I would share because of course, it had pesto and tomato.

To make this, all you need is:

• Loaf of french bred
• 2 large tomatoes
• 1 Tbs. Olive Oil
• Seasonings to taste – I used a dash of oregano, onion power and garlic salt
• Optional: 5-6 kalamata olives, pitted
• Pesto

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees. Slice the bread into 1/2 inch to 1 inch slices, depending on how you like it. I cut mine thin because I wanted them to get really crispy. Arrange slices on foil lined baking sheet and put in the oven for 5 minutes. I like to do this to crisp the bread up a little before piling on the toppings. It helps make this snack less soggy.

While the bread is toasting in the oven, make the tomato mix. Chop tomatoes into big chunks and put in food processor or blender. Then add olive oil, seasoning and olives (if desired…I desire!). Pulse until you reach your desired consistency. I usually like mine on the chunkier side but I got a little pulse-happy with my food processor so this batch came out less chunky but still delicious.

When the bread rounds come out of the oven, smear a layer of pesto on each round then add a dollop of the tomato mixture and return them to the over for 10 minutes. These come out of the oven smelling amazing but let them cool before digging in or prepare to burn the top of your mouth off!

Another delicious pesto and tomato combo I have made a few times lately has been on pizza! I am not big on cheese, so when I make pizza at home I hold of on the dairy in favor of TONS of toppings! The last homemade pizza I made had half red sauce with roni, tomato and mushroom and have with pesto instead of red sauce , tomato slices, roni and mushrooms and it was AWESOME!

The combination of pesto and tomato on the freshly baked crust was perfect and if I could have eaten the whole thing with out feeling guilty I would have!

The final pesto and tomato combination I have been making a lot lately comes in sandwich form. I got the idea from a sandwich Heather from Housewife Glamour enjoyed in this post and have had it for breakfast and dinner a few times now.

Super simple – english muffin, one egg, one egg white, one slice of tomato and pesto.

As you can see, pesto and tomato goes with just about everything and is delicious at every meal.