Tomato Bread Salad

Serves 6

20 cherry tomatoes or 8 roma tomatoes

1 small red onion, diced small

15 fresh basil leaves, julienned

1 clove of garlic, minced

 4 slices of bread

sauce

whisk together:

4 tablespoons of olive oil

1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ teaspoon salt

dash of pepper

optional: 1 tablespoon of capers, coarsely chopped

1.    Preheat the oven to 400. Cut the bread into 3/4 – inch cubes. Bake the bread cubes on a baking sheet about 10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Set aside and cool.

2.    Cut cherry tomatoes in half or if your using roma cut into ½ inch dice.

3.    Dice red onion and garlic into small pieces.

4.    Julienne the basil leaves.

5.    Whisk sauce together and pour over tomatoes, onion, garlic, and basil leaves and lightly toss mixture.

6.    At the last minute before serving add bread cubes and lightly toss. To ensure that the bread cubes do not get soggy you can also just sprinkle them on top.

Potential healing power

            Several studies have shown that tomatoes are rich in antioxidants such as lycopene making them good for cancer protection.

            One study claims that the regular use of onions and garlic can decrease the risk of stomach and colon cancer by 50-60%. Also the thiols in alliums may lower cholesterol levels, decrease blood clotting and combat some antibacterial infections. In 1997 Moriguchi et al. reported that garlic could prevent memory impairment and brain atrophy. Garlic is reported to be an antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal.