What’s New For Dinner?: Strawberry Goat Cheese Bruschetta and Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad

Welcome to my series called “What’s New For Dinner?” This is going to be a weekly posting sharing a new recipe that I have tried throughout the week. This is my way of keeping our meals from getting boring and attempting to try new foods. I’m doing this fun challenge with my friend, Jenn from Super Jenn.

I didn’t post what I made a few weeks ago because I still haven’t decided if I truly liked the recipes. It was a Blueberry Mango Swiss Chard Smoothie along with some Kale Chips that we had for a snack one day. I found them in the last issue of Natural Health Magazine. My hubby said the smoothie was OK, which is saying a lot since there was Swiss Chard in it and he typically doesn’t like “greens.” Both recipes were just so-so and things I’d probably never make again but I didn’t want you to think I skipped out on trying something new that week.

But last week, we tried two new recipes that turned out very well. One was a Strawberry Caprese Pasta Salad and the other was Strawberry Goat Cheese Bruschetta. If both of those titles made you do a double take…then you did exactly what I did when I saw them.  Driscoll’s sent them to me and I was totally intrigued by the idea of adding berries to an otherwise typical recipe. And here’s just one of the reasons why–my hubby hates tomatoes. So I rarely make bruschetta. This is a little sad for me as I am a big tomato-eater. But with strawberries…what a neat concept! And the kids thought Mom was just a genius for putting strawberries in their pasta–two great things in one!

And the best part was—both of these recipes were really simple to make. I got the biggest kick out of the kids saying, “Goat cheese?” when they asked what was on their bread. LOL. I had never tried it before either so it was another fun addition to our adventure that week.

VERDICT: These will both make it into our meal plan, especially when berries are in season. I didn’t care for the mozzarella balls in the pasta salad and since they were expensive, I’ll probably just use shredded cheese next time. I also didn’t have any fresh basil at home and the store was out so I just used dried basil and it worked out OK. When I was picking up my ingredients, I didn’t see any baguette slices at my Jewel but a sweet bakery worker was able to quickly cut up some of their loaf bread for me. So if your store doesn’t have them, you might want to ask if they offer the same service. Goat cheese can be a little pricey, as well, and next time I might try to make them with some cream cheese, instead. Here are some pictures of our meal:

The kids helped me assemble the bread–spreading on the cheese and topping each with a strawberry.

I had all the ingredients ready and the kids helped me make the pasta salad, too.

And this was our final meal shot. It made for a nice light lunch.

Well, that was our adventure last week. It was fun trying out some new ingredients, along with the new recipes. Did any of you try to make anything new recently? I’d love to hear about it!