Tomato Pie

* Disclaimer: I am not a food blogger. I started making this and thought "Hey, people might want to make this amazing dish... take some pics!"

So to begin with this is our GF version. 

For years we bought a frozen pie crust and it was great. 

But now we use this amazing and reasonably priced pie crust mix. 

We first used their Bundt cake mix and Oh.My.Goodness. It's the best ever. And they have a zillion variations to make. And they are the nicest people ever!  

So, make the pie crust according to directions. I am using a disposable pie pan because, well, we do't know what happened to our pie pan.

 Do your pie pans just disappear?? Well, ours did.

Then we sliced up the amazing, juicy, ripe tomatoes our 91 year old friend, Mr. Buman, grows in his enormous garden. 

I slice them and place them on paper towels or in a colander

 and let them "weep" for at least 20 minutes.

Your pie is going to be juicy even when you do this but if you don't it's a gloppy mess.

Then mix about 3 cups of Swiss or Monterey Jack Cheese with a few spoonfuls of mayo. 

We are deeply, unapologetically Southern so we prefer Duke's Mayo. Use whatever you like but remember we shared our secret mayo weapon. But do not use light or diet mayo. The consistency is not the same. You just need enough to bind the cheese together.

So, go ahead, use the good stuff.

Then you can chop a few green onions and sprinkle on the bottom of the pie crust if you wish. Next you  just layer the sliced tomatoes to fill the pie crust. Thin slices work best because they cook more evenly and they don't have to be perfect because they are cooking in a pie.

I forgot to take a picture of the pie before we sliced into it but bake it in a 350 degree oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. It should be browned and the cheese firm on top. It's a bit gooey so it doesn't slice into perfect pie slices. You can let it cool a bit and that helps or if you are entertaining and want true slices, make it the day before or the morning of, refrigerate and then slice. You can warm it in the microwave as well.

We just eat it warm and gooey from the oven in imperfect but delicious slices.

Just remember the better the tomatoes, the better the pie.

So now is the time for this delicious pie.

(I was going to say the time is ripe!!!)

It makes a great meal with a salad or serve it as a side with a beautiful steak or smoked chicken.

from my iphone

I'm obsessed with this "bamboo" monogram font.

 And there's a pineapple monogram out there, too.

#frivilousbutwant

I went with my parents on a long weekend to Charleston and we went to the church my family went to (and still attends) and where my parents were married, we were all baptized including Mollie, and where I went to church during my childhood Summers.

They don't build them like this anymore.

 And a fountain downtown in a secluded little park. 

Charleston is charming at every turn.

I finally picked out a color for this thrifted find.

 It's dingy, messy yellow-ish cream right now. 

I'm pretty sure I've made a final decision...

It was a major thrifting score!

Mollie kept going to the beach with friends and sending me pictures like this:

My husband found this amazing wicker couch for me.

It is the reason that we are now rearranging the entire screened porch. 

#worthit

However, storm damage to the roof has put a halt to too much zhushing.

#repairthendecorate

(It's huge. Like stretch out and nap huge. It has cushions but they need recovering.

Oh, and he paid less than $38.00 for the whole thing. In perfect condition - except for the cushion fabric.

I love it so much!)

I went on another mission trip. In July. It was 100 degrees. For real.

We painted Miss Betty's house. 

She let the girls choose her front door color :) So sweet. And we bought a chair for her front porch at Goodwill and painted it to match her front door.

It was so cute when we finished!!

Fixer Upper got nothing on us!!

I painted some bamboo furniture white ( of course!!)

And then finally....

The Keys!!!

Paradise!!!

We kayaked and swam and floated and ate a lot of good seafood 

and did a day in Key West and found the best Mojitos.

It was  amazing!!

And now it is almost August!!

And in Georgia that means the kiddos go back to school on August 1.

Crazy. 

Let The Games Begin....

... or in this case, Let the Boules begin!

A year and a half ago my parents rented a cottage on Omaha Beach, Normandie, France and took all of us on an amazing vacation. 

The cottage was a converted gatekeeper's cottage from an old, large estate! 
We toured the D-Day beaches by day, visited the local markets for delicious food to have at "home" in the evenings and had so much fun playing on the Boules court in the backyard of our cottage.

From this viewpoint ( picture above) you look through the fence and over the rolling hill to hedgerows that are still thick and standing. If you remember WWII history the hedgerows in France helped to stop German tanks. It really was an amazing place to visit. So many stories came to life ... all the history class lessons and movies and books through the years. My family lives in Bedford, VA which is home to the DDay Memorial. The "Bedford Boys" are a very famous part of the story of DDay and the liberation of France. My brother in law grew up in Bedford with some of the Bedford Boys who survived DDay.

We had such a great time drinking delicious French wine and eating fruit and cheese from the markets that we wanted to replicate the fun at home!

So last Fall we began our Boules Court believing that it would be ready for Winter fun.
We have a sunken firepit off of our porch and we thought wine, cheese, firepit fun and Boules sounded perfect.

But like all outdoor projects in Georgia, it begins with leveling the rolling ground :)
Last fall. Dreary and gray weather.

It gets ugly before it gets better!

We had most of the timbers and we had to transplant a few things to make space.

And  we  my husband dug and dug. 
And then we seemed to be responsible for causing the rainiest Fall
 in recent Georgia weather history.
We couldn't get a dry day or the ground dried out to dig.
So the project just sat in it's half finished state through the Winter.
It happens. #unfinished projects!

And then it warmed up and we got productive in the Springy weather!
We just do better when it's warm and sunny.

So we started digging and leveling and hauling stuff around.
The Mother's Day crab boil with friends became the new deadline.
And we made it!! Barely.

I mean barely!

It's a construction zone!

If you look closely you can see saw horses

and ladders leaning where we worked on the small pavilion

 that has Adirondack seating on it.

Propped up lattice and the "burn" pile from pruning around the court..
Generally a mess!

.

The only thing we really had to purchase was a truckload of finely ground granite.

In this picture it is newly laid and leveled and still not compacted.

It has become very firm over time and we have a bin of loose granite that we can sprinkle and level the court with as needed.

( Wheelbarrow and dirt pile still at the end of the court on Mother's Day.)

The construction mess did not keep us from having a ton of fun playing Boules

 (Bocci, Lawn Bowling - choose your country!)

Our court is not the regulation 91 feet. 
The one we played on in France wasn't regulation either and we had a ton of fun. 
We made ours as long as we had space for, added some seating and in just the few weeks we've had it we have had a ton of laughs out back!
We still want to add some lights and a holder for the balls and a sign with the rules.
Maybe I'll have pretty, blogworthy pics by Summers' end.

But we haven't let that or the lovely dirt pile and unfinished landscaping keep us from enjoying our Boules court with family and friends!

Having a boules court in the backyard?
C'est magnifique!



Linking up:
Savvy Southern Style

from my iphone...

I have not compiled one of these "from my iphone" lists in quite some time.

So here goes, in no particular randomness...  

(And most of these are images saved from IG)

Planning to get a Lily Planner is still one of Mollie's favorite things to do. I can't wait to use one someday.
 I have to use one provided by my workplace. 
Maintaining two would be too confusing. 

I need to go here. 

NOW. 

I am a big fan of porches. 
Especially this one. 
I have a blue ceiling on my porch.
 I think it's a given. Porch ceilings should be blue. #itsasouthernthing

Makes me want to paint something "serious" 
a bright, fun orange! 

Mollie and friends took my phone on the flight from Honduras and gifted me with 38 selfies while I was talking to someone. 
They had it maybe two minutes. 
Mollie says #yourewelcome

I love this feed cause I love Charleston. 

I want to line my steps with hostas. 
This is a fabulous gardening inspiration IG feed. 

Obsessed with this room. 
I'm freshening up the Master with things I have already and this is my kind of "look".
 I love the OKL feed! I save images all. the. time. 

I'm still obsessed with my hydrangeas this Summer. 

Again with OKL.
 I have the flamingo print in my downstairs powder room. I'm planning a gallery wall in the Master Bath. I have everything ready.
 The planning part of this is that I just need to do it! 
And I'm late to the gallery wall thing. 
It's probably "out" but I have extra stuff and I've chosen a big blank wall in the Master Bath. 
It's the only big blank wall I have. 

I do not need any more chairs. 
Repeat. 

I do not need anymore chairs. 

#iliketobuychairs 

#noideawhy 

#chairhoardingisathing

 So that's my fair share of random things for today!

Hola! I've Been In Honduras!

If you follow me on Instagram

then you know I have been on my yearly trip to a remote village in Honduras.

This was our 3rd year in a row to go to the same area.

It is one of my favorite weeks of the year.

Mollie and I go together.

Our team does VBS and work projects that are designed to improve the living conditions and overall health of the children who reside in the remote villages.

Mollie and I oversee "Biblia" - Bible School.

Kimberly was a fave!!

Yes, we checked Mollie's bags for small children before we left the country!!

Her bags did not conceal small children (luckily)

 but we did by some wares from the local basket makers.

They are works of art.

They charge so little for something that takes such time and is perfectly crafted.

We can't bring ourselves to bargain.

I'll be showing you some more pictures from our trip and you may notice the casts

 so this is my disclaimer:

These two came pre-injured. This did not happen in Honduras!

Who's Been Good To Me?

Goodwill's been good to me.

And a few other thrift shops and consignment shops, too.

( A very, very good day at one single Goodwill!!

The most expensive item was the Bombay platter at $6.96. I know!!)

I like Craigslist and Offer Up.
( I can scroll through in a very few minutes)

(Listed on Offer Up for $50.00. Seriously?? Must pick up that same day! I'm on it!)

(A Craigslist find. It cost more in gas to go get it than the shelf was priced at. Such a deal!!)

I'm all about recycling and re-purposing, so thrifting works for me.

(Adorable bamboo table with flip up shelf. So many uses.

 And a perfectly styled shot! LOL #nicevacuumcleanerlady )

I have had a lot of nice comments on social media about all the goodies

 in my last two One Room Challenges, the Black Is Back Library and the #motherdaughterorc Chinoiserie Meets Boho Chic bathroom. 

(There's more "stuff" in this room that any other in my house

. But it seems cozy to have all these fun things in a Library.)

The large bamboo china cabinet replaced a simpler one-

 that I bought at a thrift store years ago-

 which I sold at a consignment shop for more than this beauty

 I found at the Salvation Army Store.

The bamboo coffee table cost $5.00 at a yard sale- glass and all.

 The bench in the foreground came from Goodwill.

The ORC library chairs - before. Goodwill. $14.91 with ottomans 

which they mistakenly resold before I came back to pick them up. 

So they gave me $14.91 back. Two chairs for $14.91. 

But I'm sad about the ottomans.)

Someone asked if I spend hours thrifting everyday.

I wish I had time like that, but not so much.

(Only thing that didn't come via thrifting is the limes!)

I have a pretty crazy schedule everyday, I live in a metropolitan area where it can take an hour to go 10 miles in the middle of the day (not even rush hour), and I don't actually like to shop. And I am a complete failure at returning stuff.

(This one barely fit in the car! But it was half price furniture day at the Salvation Army!!

Which I totally didn't know before I got there.)

However, and this is the biggie, I can be in and out of a Goodwill in 10 minutes including checking out.

I live near quite a few thrift stores  Goodwill, Salvation Army, and a variety of thrift stores.

This helps. And a lot of people donate what I think is really good stuff :)

One man's trash is another man's treasure and all that.

(Check this guy out after a little gold spray paint!)

So this is how I go about finding the "good stuff!"
(And please know that I can visit 10 times and find nothing and then...  yowza!
Something amazing is sitting there just waiting for me!!)

I grab a cart on my way in.

I know I'm "supposed" to check the 50% off color at Goodwill
 but that doesn't really matter to me.
 I don't base purchases on that and what I want never seems to be the color anyway!

Then I head directly back to the furniture, where ever that is in the particular store.

I also scan the top of the shelves from a distance as I walk to furniture. That is how I have gotten all of my globes and a couple of amazing lamps.

 I check the furniture, pull the tag if I am interested 
and then move on to smaller housewares like dishes, etc.

 ( $2.00 worth of bamboo garden stakes repaired this chair that was marked down to $10.00)

Then I look through the decorative items and dishes for blue and white 
(luckily it's easy to spot.)

(All my blue and white has been thrifted!)

I move down to baskets and such because I am after wicker hampers and picnic boxes to use as storage for two spots in my house.

 ( I can pack a car!! Still think KIA needs to use me in a commercial!!)

I run by frames because I usually purchase any bamboo frames or mirrors that I find and can potentially use. I have some I bought 20 years ago at a garage sale!

So basically I am only looking for what I specifically want.
I am not shopping to resell
 although I'm tempted because I have to leave good stuff behind all the time!! #thestruggleisreal

I can be quick because I know what I want and I'm pretty focused on that.

If I find something great that I'm not sure whether I "need" or not I will take a few moments to think about what I can move or replace.
 The full cycle is donating something that I have used and am changing out with a new find.

I don't feel bad if I find a "better" lamp and donate one back when they both cost $4.94 :)

(This came home with me yesterday. You'll see this project in a future post, I'm sure!)

And, full disclosure, sometimes I find something so amazing for such a deal that I will grab it and figure out what to do with it/where to use it later.

I honestly have a bamboo bench, in the way, on the back porch that I cannot for the life of me figure out where it should live but it was less than 20 dollars,
A similar one is on Craigslist and Offer Up for over $100,
and it's awesomeness is too much to part with.

Every week I say I need to give it away and every week I hang on to it for
 "just one more week because it will come to me!!"

#bamboohoarder

#forreal

I try not to let that happen but sometimes it just does :)

My favorite rooms on the internet and in homes I visit always
 have a variety of items including thrifted items
 and/or furniture and travel or family momentos.
My favorite rooms in the most recent ORC are the ones from the guest bloggers who had to get creative and use that creativity to design amazing rooms of color, texture and depth. I felt like a lot of the "chosen" designers spent massive amounts of money designing rooms that showed off a bunch of sponsors or had very few creative ideas that the rest of us could learn from or use. I am not bashing the One Room Challenge. I love that Linda has created something that gets us motivated ( Goodness, knows this self professed 85%er needs it) but I'm just not feeling the "reveals" that read like the shopping guides from a swanky design magazine. I'm probably the only one but that's my two cents worth. Maybe I'm just grumpy because I don't have sponsors :) Anyway, I hope you checked out all the guest bloggers and saw some of the amazing things they found to use in their rooms.
#thriftingforthewin

You can see many of my "finds" in real time on Instagram !