Finally, something for me!

I finally made something for me! I found this really easy Amy Butler pattern and gave it a shot. Although you can't really see it, I also put my initials on both sides. I love these brown/blue prints. Now on to "Friday Night Aprons"! Woo Hoo!

Paula's Tomato Pie

4 tomatoes, peeled and sliced
10 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onion
1 (9-inch) prebaked deep dish pie shell
1 cup grated mozzarella
1 cup grated cheddar
1 cup mayonnaise
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the tomatoes in a colander in the sink in 1 layer. Sprinkle with salt and allow to drain for 10 minutes.
Layer the tomato slices, basil, and onion in pie shell. Season with salt and pepper. Combine the grated cheeses and mayonnaise together. Spread mixture on top of the tomatoes and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
To serve, cut into slices and serve warm.

This is going to be one of my all time favorites!

My family is not big on onion, so I left that out. I used paper towels to make sure the tomotoes were drained well.

This was great leftover and heated in the microwave.

My Shoes Are Barking

So unlike Abby, I rarely will spend big dollars on shoes no matter how much I like them. I am a huge fan of Clark shoes because I can wear them to work in our very casual atmosphere and really be considered dressed up. I bought these recently in red and coughed up the $80 without much hesitation because they are so cute and comfortable. I wore them to work one day and loved them. Today I wore them to work again and I started noticing something. At first I'm thinking it is my imagination. It sounded like there was a puppy in the background barking. Ok, so really I thought this was my guilty conscious because I would not let Dana bring home the abandoned puppy she found last night at Taco Bell, after all I know God has a sense of humor. After a few trips to the bathroom and to other offices and up and down the stairs at work I finally figure out the source of the barking. My new wonderfully expensive right shoe is making a barking noise everytime my right foot hits the ground and the cushion releases the air from the pressure of each footstep. Now this might not bother some people but it aggrevates me. I have to wonder what the sales rep at Dillard's will have to say when I return them this weekend? What if their return policy states they won't accept worn shoe returns for barking? What then?

You Can't Eat Just One!

But the great news is you get three in a package! Woo Hoo! These are the best 100 calorie snacks that has made it's way to market as far as I'm concerned. The biggest problem is the price. I paid $3.99 for a box of six packages. The second biggest problem is they are hard to find. I had to pick these up at Target. For a chocoholic like me, I'll cough up the $4 and enjoy!

Plastic vs Glass?

I cannot stand to drink out of a plastic cup/container when I drink anything in the liquid form. Glass for me please!

Who is with me? What's your choice?

P.S. Not an exceptionally cultural, newsworthy, intellectual, thought provoking topic but none the less it is something that has become a big discussion at work recently. Results here are mixed! 50 / 50 (with a .005 percent margin of error because we voted for a couple of people without their knowledge).

Care packages are not what they use to be.....

Dana has begun the last week of her first year at college. Finals start in a few days and she moves home next Friday.

Abby and I sent her a care package in the mail. We shopped until we found just the right thing to send to help her get through the rough days and all nighters. One might think, diet cokes, chocolate, cookies, pizzas. One would be wrong.

Our care package included one thing....... a pair of fantastic Nine West Chocolate/Bronze High Heel Shoes.

Bread Pudding

Before I give you the wonderful recipe I have to give you a little background. I never liked bread pudding until about 14 years ago when a wonderful Italian lady I worked with brought some to work. It was the same bread pudding her husband made and sold at his little restaurant in a rural Arkansas town about 30 miles away. After I left that work place I never had the bread pudding again but have tried it many times in different restaurants. Recently a different local Italian lady had her own cookbook published. I am proud to say I have two signed copies. In this book she was allowed to print the original bread pudding recipe.

2 sticks margarine, melted
2 1/2 cups sugar
8 eggs
4 cups milk
1 or 2 T vanilla
Hamburger buns

Mix first 5 ingredients together, adding melted margarine slowly and after it has cooled a little.

Line large pan with approximatley 14-16 large hamburger buns (tops and bottoms) in layers. On top of each layer put the custard listed above and sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture to your liking. We were able to get 3-4 layers in a pan depending on the size pan we used. Pat down each layer until moist.

Bake 350 for 1 1/2 hours.

Sauce:

Beat 2 eggs until foamy. Add 1/2 sugar, 1 cup margarine, melted and 1 teaspoon of burbon or flavoring of choice. Spoon over individual servings when served.

Here are a couple of our tips we learned from making this two times this weekend.... The recipe is fine when divided in half. When we divided it in half we used about 7 buns (top and bottom) and had about 3-4 layers. The pan we used was an oval casserole dish slightly smaller than a 9x13 pan. We cooked it about 35-45 minutes. When removed from the oven it should not be dry or it will be overcooked. We did NOT cut the sauce recipe in half, I remembered how great it was and knew we would manage to use it all. We did. I did not have any bourbon so I used 1 1/2 T vanilla instead.

Even Dana loved it and she is our toughest critic! As Abby says so often........ Enjoy!