Rosemary Pita Chips With Spicy White Bean Dip

As much as I love food, I have the tendency to be a very boring eater. I tend to come across something that I love, and can then eat that very thing for the next month, or two, or twelve. In high school, I ate couscous at least once a day without fail. And not even interesting home-made couscous, it was just the five minute instant variety.

In college, i gave up my couscous craze and replaced it with smoothies. I then had a brief stint with black beans. And the past year or so, I have had a intense adoration for green salads -- having one a day, sometimes two! 

Red Basil, Red Tomato Brushetta

Bruschetta is one of those foods that taste so good, and is so easy to throw together, yet for one reason or another I just never make it. And it is a real shame too; I order it at restaurants and repeatedly read over new recipes  and versions of it in cookbooks. And even though all it takes is a little chopping, toasting and tossing, it just does not happen in my  kitchen.

But, when walking through the farmers market this weekend, I came across red basil. I had never seen or heard of red basil before this, and I was mesmerized. A beautiful bouquet of red basil selling right alongside ripe new jersey tomatoes. It was a no brainer. These two items were going to become my first red basil, red tomato bruschetta. 

Big Pod, Little Bean, Big Flavor

During my twenty-eight years of eating, i have never once been tempted by those overgrown, bulbous bean pods that occasionally pop up at the grocery store. No way. If I couldn't see the big picture, the possibly meal, by looking at the prospective fruit or vegetable, I was moving on. I have become more adventurous as my relationship with food has developed. 


It is a natural growth we all go through. As our tasted buds fade away, we can enjoy bolder tastes. I see it with my nine year old niece. Her diet consists of pasta with no butter, white bread with no crust, and chicken with no spices. She has recently started fanning out. She plays around with eating greens, she tasted a falafel, she is on her way to discovering a whole world of exciting flavors and textures.