Tomato lover

If I started a grocery store that only sold tomatoes would it do well?
(It would have chalkboards stating farms of origin in a pretty font. There would be a tomato press in the back and a small kitchen/deli area that served lunch. Everyday the sweet, acidic aroma of tomato concoctions dance in the air and waft out the front door to passersby who would be lured in by the raging firing or their olfactory receptors.)

I've been thinking about tomatoes a lot lately.
And raw food diets. And how the majority of my diet consists of processed foods.

Did you listen to the Michael Pollan piece? I find it fascinating that women didn't want to use cake mixes at first until the marketing teams discovered if they removed the dehydrated egg and asked consumers to add their own eggs so they felt like they were still actually baking. Marketing people are so clever. Soon boxed enriched foods and frozen meals were in vogue and out were the days of hours of toiling in the kitchen. I am leaning more towards the pre-brainwashing thinking that just adding water to something should not be considered cooking.

Real Simple is doing a Take Back Dinnertime Challenge. Each day is a new dinnertime challenge.
+ Take Back Dinnertime

Day 1 was to buy five fruits or vegetables and incorporate them during the week. Lucky me, I passed by a Grocery Outlet and picked up some cheap produce, including yellow cherry tomatoes.

I had my first heirloom tomato a few weeks ago and it was amazing. Thus I am now revoking my lifelong disgust of tomatoes.

They are so beautiful (to me).
Such a variety of colors, shapes and tastes.
How do you not appreciate the diversity of nature?

Don't forget the cheese.
Yesterday, I bought a rather sizable wedge of brie from Costco. By sizable I mean Costco-sized. By Costco-size I mean as big as my head. So creamy it tastes like butter. Yum!

This morning I came up with a yummylicious combination. I assembled a bowl of tomatoes for breakfast. I was eating my cherry tomatoes with brie but something was definitely amiss. I looked out to the compost bin and spotted my housemates basil plant. Plucked a few leaves and voila. Magic.

Perfect for those that wish to phase out all the processed food in your diet but not quite ready to commit to really "cooking". Here is a recipe to "assemble". I think this would be a nice starter to a meal.

Cherry Tomato, Brie and Basil

Ingredients:
handful of washed cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp creamy brie
washed basil leaves

Assembly: Place tomato and glob of brie on leaf of basil.

Similar to the caprese salad but a burst of a flavor every bite and I think it's better without olive oil. I topped the brie with a little bit of dried basil. I'm not sure if this really made a difference.

FYI: The red tomato did not compare to the yellow cherry tomato. Stick with the cherry tomatoes.