Recipe #20: Crustless Blueberry-Pear Pie

I had some pears that were quite ripe and used them to make this tasty Pinterest recipe.

This is how mine turned out:

CRUSTLESS GINGER BLUEBERRY-PEAR PIE

Serves 8-12

Ingredients:
2 large pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease 9-inch pie plate.
Fan the pears slices out in the pie plate. Top with blueberries.
In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, sugar, eggs, ginger, vanilla, salt and milk. Sift in the flour and whisk until batter is well combined and very smooth, no lumps.
Pour batter over the top of the pears and blueberries.
Bake for 10 minutes, then turn the oven temperature down to 350 degrees. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until custard is set and the top is a light golden brown.
Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
Source: Adapted slightly from Baking Bites.

My revisions to the recipe:
I didn't have ginger, so I used allspice and a dash of cinnamon. The allspice was an nice, unexpected surprise.
I also used frozen blueberries.
I didn't have unsalted butter, so I used regular butter and skipped the salt.
I did not sift my flour.

My friends, parents, and co-workers loved it! It was so easy; I'll definitely make it again!

I Love

I don't care what all the critics say, I love Taylor Swift's new song and music video, "Shake It Off." It makes we want to dance! I just bought it on iTunes.
What's your favorite dance move?

Via Hulu Plus, I just finished the MasterChef Junior series. I love MasterChef, the adult version, but the kid's version was so different and cool. The judges are intense in the adult show, so I enjoy watching their softer sides with the kids. Other than that, it was refreshing how the children cheered each other on, as well as comforted each other. I thought, it was interesting that the children's dishes were as complex and out-of-the box as the adult's dishes. I also learned how to poach an egg from watching the show. :)

I was excited to finally see the movie, Last Vegas. It was funnier than I thought it would be. It had a lot of one-liners; I laughed the whole time. It also had a great cast: Robert De Niro, Morgan, Freeman, Michael Douglas, and Kevin Kline. It featured 4 childhood friends who reunite for one of the guy's bachelor parties. Not shocking, they head to Las Vegas. They happen into all kinds of trouble along the way. It was kind of disappointing that the funniest parts of the movie I'd already seen in previews. What do you think? Are you going to see it?

Into the Storm

Hmmm, well I saw the movie and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Actually, the previews before the movie were scarier than the movie itself. I didn't watch the previews, but instead watched the back of the chair in front of me. :)
Into the Storm didn't have any recognizable actors or actresses in it. It was pretty action-packed, with several intersecting, interesting story lines. It was a bit predictable. As always, they killed off people I didn't want them to. ;)
There were a couple of times, I MAY have yelled instructions to the people in the movie. Something like, "don't do that, stupid" and "run!" That was all. :)

Reading

I love to read and over summer decided to get some reading in before class starts. I've been wanting to read the 5 Love Languages, so I grabbed a copy. The book emphasized that you should learn the love languages of your loved ones. If you know their love languages you can speak to them in their language. So what does that mean? Well, my love language is Words of Affirmation. If someone wants to "speak my language," they could send me a text mentioning what they appreciate about me. That's a general example, but the gist of it is that we normally love people the way we prefer to be loved, but that might not be that person's love language. We feel most loved when loved according to our primary love language. The book gave several examples of ways to love people based on the five love languages. The five languages are: 1) Words of Affirmation, 2) Physical Touch, 3) Quality Time, 4) Gifts, and 5) Acts of Service. The book is well-written by Gary Chapman and I definitely recommend it. Shouldn't we all love each other the way they makes each other feel most loved?

I just realized that Nicholas Sparks wrote a new book that I somehow missed. I read all of Nicholas Sparks books. So, I got the book, At First Sight and read it fast. I can never put his books down. His books are generally all love stories. It follows an engaged couple. The guy moves from NYC to the small, southern town his fiancee lives in. The book kind of feels like a mystery. The fiance, Jeremy struggles with living in a small town, maintaining his writing career, getting married, and expecting a baby with someone he hasn't known long. There are lots of twists and turns in the book; it doesn't necessarily have a happy ending, but I guess that's life. Is your interest piqued? Are you going to read it?

Coffee Table Quest

After moving into my apartment over a year and a half ago, my biggest challenge has been finding the right coffee table. My living room is pretty narrow, so the ever-popular large coffee tables wouldn't work. In addition to looking for a specific sized coffee table, I also wanted one with storage. Lastly, I wanted one that was black, gray, white, or paint-able. Over the course of the last year and a half, I've looked at hundreds of coffee tables, but never found anything close. I checked Craigslist at least weekly. I also stopped by my favorite used furniture store, Rockstar and Rogers Home Fusion, quite frequently. I was beginning to think I'd never find the right table. While shopping with a friend, at Marshall's, I found it! I wasn't positive at first, but over the next week, as I looked at the photos I took, I realized I really liked it and thought it would fit well in my space. It had a small stain, so I got an extra 10% off my purchase. I also signed up for a Marshall's card and got another 10% off. I love a good bargain! It goes really well in my space and I love it!!! Now my living room is nearly complete! Next, I need to hang more artwork on the walls. There's always a project to be found! :)

Nail Polish Remover to Remove Shoe Stains/Scuffs

I was pretty upset that my new workout shoes started looking smudged especially on the toe area. I'd tried cleaning it with soap and water to no avail. Thankfully, I found the following tip on Pinterest, that solved my problem.

pic.twitter.com/rL9elF1eam

— Life Hacks (@LifeHacks) January 31, 2014

Before :
After:

It really helps fade the stains and is a cheap fix. Try it!

Another Way to Display Vacation Photos

Roughly 10 years ago, I bought coasters that could hold photos and have never used them. I've been meaning to put photos in them since I moved to my apartment nearly 2 years ago.

After my Ireland trip, I thought it would be neat to use pictures from my trip to personalize the coasters. It was hard to pick four pictures and even harder to choose how to crop them. I decided on two picture from my Ireland trip and two from my Italy trip (2012).

The top two photos are of Ireland. The top left photo is outside Ross Castle and the top right photo is of the harbor in Dingle. The bottom two pictures were taken in Cinque Terre. I really love how they turned out!

What creative way have you found to display your vacation photos?

Recipe #19: Blueberry Breakfast Grilled Cheese

I'll cut to the chase; these are as wonderful as they sound!

After a rough day, nothing sounded appetizing. Thankfully, I remembered the recipe a co-worker had shared with me for Blueberry Breakfast Grilled Cheese. For once, I actually had all the ingredients.

As always, I tweak recipes based on ingredients I have. I used blueberries covered in greek yogurt from my freezer. I sprinkled sugar on my cream cheese too. I don't have a sandwich press, so I just used a skillet. This was so good!

I was talking about this recipe with a friend while at the grocery store and it must've sounded good to the lady behind us in line, because she asked for details. :) We all started talking about other fruit combinations, like strawberries and/or bananas.

So, I dreamed up a banana and brown sugar mix. I tried it this morning and it was wow! The heat made the banana nice and gooey!

Try it, you know you want to! What other fruit combinations do you think would work well?

Funny Videos

I don't know if you've seen any of the "Hitler downfall" videos, but there are dozens of variations of them and they're hilarious. I know, who ever thought Hitler and hilarious would be in the same sentence?!

Here are my two favorite ones:





Funny, right?!

Scary

I cannot handle scary movies or commercials. Not only do I easily get nightmares, but on occasions, I've been known to let out a blood curling scream, at the theater, during scary previews (Open Water). In my defense, that shark came out of no where!Scary right?!

While watching a movie at home with a friend, a new anti-smoking commercial came on. It was pretty icky with the guy talking about how things have changed now that he has a voice box. Suddenly, he started talking about cleaning his hole and my eyes got big, I freaked out, started screaming, and changed the channel as fast as possible. They need to warn people about those commercials. I don't smoke and now never will! My friend, kept laughing at my reaction. Don't you think it's scary too?!

Into the Storm is a movie my friend wants to see and I think I'll scream the whole movie while curled in the fetal position. Don't you think so too?

Taking a Chance

I got my heart shredded at the beginning of this year, it was the first time I'd ever been in love. After five months, I'm getting over it, but it's tainted my optimism and thoughts on love. It made me scared and it at times made me never want to try again. The pain was beyond words. The thought of being vulnerable again brought fear. So, I hadn't been very open to or even seeking love since then. Maybe that's bad or maybe it's good, but I just needed more time.

Somehow, someone worked their way into my life and made me brave enough to think that I could try again. He was an open book, ready to tell me who he was and share his stories with me. The guy who broke my heart was more of a closed, guarded book. This openness was refreshing. Our times together were filled with laughter and conversation. They were great!

In the end, we didn't work out. There wasn't a huge fight or hurt feelings. Just a conversation about how our lives included vastly different things; priorities I couldn't give up and that he wasn't going to ask me give up. We had talked about deal breakers on our first date and he was kind enough to bring up the difference to ask where we were going to go with it, instead of ignoring it as most people would do. I so appreciate how upfront and honest he was. So, despite our attraction and chemistry, we decided to be friends, since we enjoy each other's company. I think, if he hadn't been this thoughtful, we wouldn't be able to be friends now. To be honest, I've never been friends with someone I've dated or gone on dates with. Previously, one or the other of us has wanted to cut ties and move on. This is new.
Do you agree with this quote?

Have you been able to be friends with people you've dated?