All Settled In

 Hi everyone! I am finally back from my little moving vacation--we are pretty much all settled into our new apartment and we (including the kitties) just love it here! We have so much more space now, including a spare room where I can have a larger crafting area (that is the main part of it above). Daniel also has half  of the room for his desk and hobbies. We have almost everything organized and really feel at home. We also have a nice little porch garden started, I will have to get some photos for a future post :)

I have managed to get a little bit of painting done--here is "Jane," inspired by the fabulous Jane Austen of course :) She is available in my shop.



I have also been taking advantage of our larger kitchen and have been doing a lot of cooking and baking--I made my very first pie all by myself! I couldn't believe it when I took it out of the oven and it actually looked like a pie :) I used this blueberry pie recipe--the crust came out flaky and delicious!

  

I also made an asparagus quiche...

And some really yummy Ricotta-Basil Stuffed Tomatoes (here they are ready to go into the oven).

These are really light and great for this time of year. Here is the recipe if anyone wants to give them a try (I got the recipe from the July/August 2010 issue of Vegetarian Times):

Ingredients:

• 8 large beefsteak tomatoes
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 2 tbsp. plus 4 tsp. grated Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 1 cup diced zucchini plus 24 very thin zucchini slices

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Slice tops off tomatoes, and scoop pulp out of centers to make stuffable tomato shells; set aside. Discard half of tomato pulp; remove seeds from and finely chop remaining half of pulp.
2. Whisk together eggs and ricotta in medium bowl until smooth. Stir in red onion, basil, 2 tbsp. Parmesan, and garlic. Add corn, diced zucchini, and chopped tomato pulp; stir until combined.
3. Fill tomatoes just to top with 1/2 cup ricotta mixture. Sprinkle each tomato with 1/2 tsp. Parmesan, and top each with 3 zucchini slices and tomato top. Place in large baking dish.
4. Bake 45 minutes, or until filling is puffed up and tops are browned. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

[To freeze and enjoy later: Cool stuffed tomatoes completely, then place in foil-lined baking pan. Wrap tightly in foil, then in plastic wrap, and freeze. When ready to eat, thaw tomatoes completely. Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake, uncovered, 20 to 30 minutes, or until filling is hot.]

I am looking forward to making some long overdue blog visits, I hope you are all doing well! See you soon :)