Sophistimom Tartines

I saw these on Sophistimom's blog a few years ago and made them not too long after that.  They are so delicious!

Granny Smith Tartines with Black Forest Ham and Brie

french bread
1 Granny Smith apple
6 oz Brie cheese
4 or 5 slices of Black Forest Ham

Preheat the oven to 400.  Then start slicing, first the bread.

And give the bread a nice little toast in the oven.

Now, the apple and cheese.

Now, you're ready to build.

Place them in the oven for 8-10 minutes.  And have a snack while you wait...with the dog looking longingly at your food.

When done, the cheese will be all melty and yummy-looking.

Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Pizza

Last week I made homemade pizza for my family and me.  We had BBQ Chicken and Pepperoni.  It was so good.  And I had some pizza sauce and pepperoni left over, so the other day for lunch I made myself some "pizzas."  I came up with this...

Easy Peasy Pizza

2 tbsp. pizza sauce
10 slices pepperoni
2 slices of cheese (I used colby jack, but you can use whatever)
2 slices of bread
olive oil

 Turn on your broiler.  Ours has a high and low setting and I did this on high.

 Lay your bread in a pan and drizzle with a little olive oil just to help it crisp and give it some flavor.

 Toast for about 2 mins.

Spread sauce on each piece of bread.

 Layer on the pepperoni.

 Then add on the cheese.

 Then broil for another 2 mins or just until cheese is melted.

Deliciously paired with a Clementine Izze.  Mmm-mmm!

Maxine's Baby Shower

Max, my co-worker, asked me to help out with her baby shower and I was so excited.  I LOVE showers.  Baby or Wedding.

Max is having a baby boy, Dean Harold.  She's due December 15th.  She's getting along really well.  I am so excited to meet little Dean pretty soon.

For the shower I made Cocktail Meatballs and cupcakes.  And Jessica made pasta salad.

I didn't really take many pictures like I usually, but I took some good pictures at the shower.

Max did the little bags of M&Ms and she came up with the bowl of water with stones in the bottom and then cut the daisies and had them float in the water.  And there's confetti on the table that says "it's a boy."

We played a game where we took some crepe paper, and then measured it around her to see who was correct.  The first person to measure was right on.

Everybody had to try, though.

The next game we did was a game where we paired people off and gave them Play-Do and they had to sculp a baby in 30 seconds.  It was hilarious.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.  Someone made a little boy that was anatomically correct.  The winners made a cute little baby that really looked like one.

We also played a game where we gave everyone beaded necklaces and they couldn't say "cute."

Time to feel the baby move.  Dean is kind of stubborn though, he doesn't like to move for people

First gift: money.  This is the typical Max face.

Max's husband, Shaun, showing off the shoes I bought for Dean.

Cupcakes!  Jessica bought me this book called "Beautiful Cakes" by Peggy Porschen and it's great for decorating tips, especially piping.  There are great cake recipes.  I used a Victorian Sponge Cake recipe for the vanilla and the Dark Chocolate cake for the others.  I used her recipe for the butter cream that I dyed green.  Then unfortunately, I had to buy a can of chocolate frosting.  I tried to make some and it just did not turn out right.  So, to the store I went.

Max had the monkey ribbon, so I thought it would look cute on the top of the tiered rack.

So, the shower was really fun!  And definitely a hit, from the decorations to the food to the games.