Monday, January 30, 2012

Baked Prosciutto Breakfast Sandwich

Normally I look through the Martha Stewart books/magazines and think... uh, yeah.  If only I had a whole team to work on that, we'd be done quickly.

I found this recipe on page 93 of one of Martha's magazines (Nov? Dec?)  Anyway... super easy!!

Baked Prosciutto Breakfast Sandwich




Here's my version of how we did this:

Preheat oven to 350.  Slice the top 1/4" off the top of a loaf of a baguette.  (We used narrow French bread in this picture.... the wider Italian loaf worked, but was a little messier since the crust was softer and I poked holes in the crust too easily.)  Save the crusty bread top and cut into 1" pieces.  

Hollow out the bottom.  You will not need the middle bread.  

In a bowl, whisk together 5 eggs, 1t lemon zest, 3T milk, 1T dried parsley (calls for 1/4 cup fresh, but we didn't have the fresh parsley), and 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Stir in a handful of the bread pieces.

Place the hollowed bread onto a baking sheet and pour the egg mixture inside and top with shreds of prosciutto.  (The recipe called for the prosciutto to be on the bottom, but on top, it crisps up nicely.)

Bake at 350 for 30-33 minutes.

Slice into 2" sections and serve.  

Wowza!  YUM-Oh!

We had plenty of leftovers since we made two baguettes worth... and it refrigerated very well.  I just toasted a slice in the toaster oven the next day, and it was still divine.  :)

Enjoy!


Sunday, January 29, 2012

Filling up "The Next Big Thing"

Mike's 40th birthday was on Tuesday.  

To help me celebrate that birthday with him, I collected dozens of cards from friends.  
So, when he came home from work, he was greeted with this.  

We had a nice relaxing night in.  Instead of doing any big party or night-out, we decided to just make pub-food at home (three kinds of wings and cheesy-chili fries).  

It was nice.  
We were able to really fill up the basket on the "Next Big Thing" Board:

Can't even see the new sign.  LOL

Guess I'll have to exchange the cards for hearts soon.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

New Living Room

Over the last few weeks, I've been on a redecorating (aka... finally getting to my decorating-to-do-list) binge.  

Over Christmas Break, with the kiddos and my guy home, I didn't do a lot... I read Hunger Games.  The whole series.  Which is saying something for the books.  Considering the fact that I've been plugging along one chapter at a time in "The Help" for about 4 months now, it seriously means that the series is GOOD if I can finish a book in a few days.  If it's meant for preteens/teens and is a popular series, I'd probably like it.  LOL... that says something about me, huh?  The only other time I've read this much is plowing through Harry Potter and the Twilight series.  :)

But, in January, our schools have two consecutive Mondays off due to Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Teacher-Workday for the nine-week-grading-period end.  The first three-day weekend I painted our master bedroom and bathroom.  I'll post those pics later.  I've been stalling because, in general, the room is not "done".  Rather just cozier with paint.  But as it seems our budget has stalled, and it's going to look like this for awhile.... might as well post the photos.  :)

Over New Year's Eve weekend, we decided to go looking for some new living room furniture.  We used to have this when we first moved in:

These sofas were so comfortable... no denying that.  Plus we'd had them for over five years with hardly any wear-and-tear, despite four kids and two dogs.  (Shout out to La-Z-Boy non-reclining furniture!!)  My problem was that I was just *done* with olive green.  Our whole downstairs is neutral with tans, browns, blacks, off-whites, and a tinge of light green.  The red/olive look in this room was too different.

Back in the summer, I changed out the coffee table for a $10 find that I painted black.  But still... we had the green sofas.

It was a tough thing to replace, but we found the most perfect substitution for the size of our family and family room.  It arrived last week, and we LOOOOOOVE it!

A brown leather sectional from Haverty's... the Radford, if you are interested.

In the store, we had a slight concern of it appearing too red, and this photo shows that slight red-tendency.  But I believe that was the flash... we never see the red in reality.

Here's the view from my fireplace into the kitchen.  See the LARGE GAPING NOTHINGNESS in the middle?  Yeah, that's the breakfast room that isn't.  :)  

One day we'll get a table and chairs.... maybe next New's Year's Eve Weekend during the sales?  For now, it's the "dog crate room".

I bought new end tables too.  We only had one before, and it was a Pottery Barn game board table where you can lift the lid and play chess on the other side.  Cute idea, but that table just couldn't stand up to the wear and tear of the family.  Peeling laminate, stains, wobbling, and literally the top could lift off the bottom if you tried to move it.  So, I found these two tables at World Market.  It's *mostly* solid wood in a mahogany finish, and they are nice and big to hold lots of stuff, whenever I figure out what stuff to put there.  FYI... World Market has great furniture deals at the beginning of January.  We bought our desk there last January and love it.  

Once our old floor lamps have reached the end of their lives (one has already been chewed by our dog and is surviving due to electrical tape... yikes!), I want to move toward table lamps instead.  That should fill up the space.  

Anyway, the room is not complete.  We have two small chairs on order through Overstock, and they should arrive on Monday.  They aren't big and impactful... but they'll give us the extra seating we often need when visitors come.  Our family uses the entire sectional ourselves... :)  We also still have an old Ikea Poang chair (tried to crop that out), which suffices, but still rings of "just graduated from college"... and it's been nearly 18 years since I graduated!!

I still want a rug... we used to have one.  Then we got her:
No, no, no...not the girl.  She doesn't pee all over rugs.  The dog!!

Dear ol' Lucy... love that big crazy dog... but if you put carpeting/rugs in a room with her, she will pee all over them still.  Ugh.  It was quite a disappointing day when I trashed our 8x10 new rug this summer.  (It. Was. Gross.)

We also plan to get some sort of a nice hi-leg recliner at some point... but that may be awhile, too.

At least for now, we have a comfy, cozy, awesome new sectional.  
{sigh}








Flavored Fruity Water!

After Christmas, my cousin posted a picture of this snazzy little pitcher she got for Christmas.  It had a middle holey tube that held fruit chunks.  Then you filled the pitcher with water to get fruit-infused water. 

Seeing as though I got a new Twist-n-Sparkle (by iSi) for Christmas, it seemed like the perfect accompaniment.  

I looked and found it on Amazon:

So now I use it to infuse water, and then sparkle that water with my new iSi.  

Raspberries!

Another way I use my Twist-n-Sparkle is my light Grapefruit juice.  I use the Light Grapefruit Juice and mix it about 40% to 60% water.  Then I fizz it up.  Yummy... and less than 25 calories for a glass.

How do you use your carbonating devices?





Monday, January 16, 2012

"The Next Big Thing" Board

I cannot believe I've been away from blogging for a month.  Yikes!

Here's a fun little project I just completed.  And, as cool as the idea is, I cannot claim that it is mine.  My husband came up with it!

He said to me... we need a big chalkboard RIGHT HERE (kitchen wall) that reads, "The Next Big Thing".  

I didn't want to spend a fortune, so I kept my eyes open for a cheap big chalkboard that had a pretty frame. Alas, after months of looking for one, I didn't find it.  I thought of buying a framed print or a new frame and painting the frame (and a chalkboard-painted base)... but then I saw this neat little guy at Home Goods.

It was a rustic gray framed chalkboard with a metal basket.  I sprayed the frame off-white (since we plan to paint our kitchen walls a color much-too-similar to the gray already there).  And added a Cricut phrase....

I tied a cute harlequin bow to the basket to be a bit black/white-ish for an upcoming BIG birthday.  However, I plan to find a pink ribbon for Valentine's Day, a green one for St. Patrick's Day, etc.  The basket will hold things, like cards or balloons, or decorations (foam hearts, felt shamrocks, plastic Easter eggs, etc.)
Once the wall is painted... someday... I hope it'll stand out a little better, too.  :)

I linked up to: