At our house,
the windows and doors are flung as far open as possible
as we are enjoying cooler than normal temperatures
accompanied by less humidity.
Fresh air--
my favorite fragrance!I am so much more industrious when it is cooler out
so we have had some delicious dinners.
This is a super quick, easy, dinner--

roasted salmon and asparagus with
lemon caper sauce.
After cleaning and snapping off the woody part of asparagus,
spread them on your favorite baking sheet
drizzling the spears with olive oil
and grinding sea salt on top.

Set two pieces of salmon directly on top of the asparagus spears, once again
drizzling olive oil and grinding sea salt and pepper, to your taste, onto the salmon.
Pop the pan into your oven and
bake at 425 degrees for a mere 15 minutes!

Meanwhile, mix:

2 T minced red onion,

2 T fresh lemon juice,
1 t chopped fresh thyme,

1 T drained capers, chopped and

1 T olive oil
together in a small bowl and set aside.Plate the roasted asparagus and salmon onto a platter and
top the salmon with the lemon caper sauce.
Heavenly!

As we have a plethora of garden fresh cherry tomatoes,

the other evening,
I decided to make some bruschetta.

1 pint of cherry tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
5 sprigs of thyme
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper
1 baguette

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Place the tomatoes, thyme, and garlic into baking dish. Season with salt and pepper, then add the oil. Place the baking dish onto center rack of oven for approximately an hour. Tomatoes will explode, releasing juices that will evaporate before they emerge. Once the thyme and garlic is picked out, only intense, sweet tomato flavor shall remain.

Slice bread on an angle to maximize surface area. Lay on a baking sheet, drizzle with tomato oil from baking dish, salt and pepper. Broil until golden brown on edges yet moist inside.

To serve, lay toasted baguette slices on a plate and then pile as many tomatoes as possible on top of each.
Yum!

Then, last night,
Mr R called and said he was going to be home
in twenty minutes. I wanted
dinner served on the table when he walked in the door.
{Please note when it is hot out, sadly, this does not happen.}
I asked myself what I could do
with the leftover roasted tomatoes.
I put the tomatoes, garlic and thyme in a blender,

with some fresh basil I quickly retrieved from the garden,

{along with a handful of cherry tomatoes

for a spinach salad}

warmed it up on the stove

alongside a pot of boiling water for the pasta,

gently added some creamand we had a delicious pasta sauce!
This is what we have been making and sharing
together in our home these past few cool evenings.

I hope they are way good days for your family, too!

{click on links for original recipes}
[photo one by flickr Stina Magga]