Bread salad . . . sort of

I don't often eat white bread, but Gary brought home a beautiful hand-crafted stone-baked gourmet artisan loaf the other day. It was acalled "simple focaccia," a traditional light, airy Italian bread with olive oil and thyme. This bread has a wonderful crispy crust and a soft interior. OMGosh, it is SO good!

 

I started out by eating a slice with some of my Lemon Boy tomatoes, a shake of garlic powder and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil on it. It was heavenly.

 

As the loaf got smaller, I decided to dice the bread, add some diced yellow tomato, sliced sweet onion, garlic powder, pitted and coarsely chopped calamata olives, and extra virgin olive oil—all tossed together.

 

I've since tried the same combination with the addition of diced fresh Black Beauty zucchini from our garden and a shake of McCormick's Spicy Italian Pizza seasoning to give it a little zip.

 

I could eat this every day for a snack or side dish. (And I'd be big as a house from the bread! Right?) It's so delicious.

 

I'd heard of "bread salad" before and had even seen recipes for it but discounted it as something that I wouldn't want to try. If bread salads are anything like what I concocted for myself I'm definitely going to go back and check them out.

Done