Wayside Treasures

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

New Altered Bottles ~

I have been working on some new altered bottles

and I have finally finished a few.

I will be listing these in my altered bottle shop asap.

Enjoy ~

Birdbath, Bling and a Book ~

This post is rather random in nature, but I wanted

to share some of my most recent finds with you.

Isn't this the most beautiful illustrated book page

you have ever seen?? Look closely and you will see

a woman and man in the background ~ I love it~

I purchased this book at Eva's anque store.

It is titled, "My Robin" and has the above picture in it

along with other black and white pictures.

I sat down yesterday afternoon and read this book.

Such a precious story about a robin

that the author befriended~

There was a flea market on our corner again this past weekend

and I brought home this huge birdbath.

I only paid $15 for it and I had hubby haul it in to the

back porch/laundry room last night until I figure out

what I want to do with it.

{it is cement and very heavy}

I may leave it in the house for the winter.

{my pretty cat Izzy made it in the photo too}

A dear friend was kind enough to give me all this bling to use for my altered bottles. I LOVE it. I was like a kid at Christmas going through the box.

I hope you have a wonderful day today. Blessings~

Monday, September 7, 2009

Tomato Bisque ~

This

Tomato Bisque

is so yummy~

Remember this cookbook that I won

from Tracie over at My Petite Maison ?

{the photo below is from the book}

This is the first recipe I made out of this cookbook.

I made it for our lunch today and it was

definitely a hit with hubby and I.

I will most certainly be making it again.

Next time I will plan better

and purchase some crusty bread to go with it. Since I didn't plan very well,

we only had garlic bread on hand.

It was okay, but I would prefer the crusty french bread

with it next time. lol

Tomato Bisque

8 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 and 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh dill, plus more for garnish

2 lbs. heirloom tomatoes, chopped

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 and 1/4 cups heavy cream

2/3 cup half-and-half

1/4 cup minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/4 cup honey

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large nonreactive pot, melt 6 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat and saute the onion and the 1 and 1/2 teaspoons dill until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and broth, bring to a simmer, and remove from the heat.

In a small saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat and add the flour, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 3 minutes without browning. Add the cream and half-and-half and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley and honey. Remove from the heat. Using an immersion blender, stand blender, or food processor, puree the cream mixture with the tomato-broth mixture ( in batches, if necessary ). Return the blended soup to the same pot, reheat over low heat, and season with salt and pepper.

To serve , ladle into warmed shallow soup bowls and garnish with dill.

Serves 6 to 8

Enjoy !

Blessings~