Tablescape Thursday and a Rustic Peach Tart for Foodie Friday

This week I am combining my Tablescape Thursday post with a Foodie Friday post. Please visit Susan at http://www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ to enjoy lots of fun tablescapes and Gollum at http://www.designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ to drool over some truly beautiful food!!

Walking through Marshall's the other day I found these placemats on clearance and knew they would look great with my green Bordello Pinneiro dishes from Portugal.

The dishes have an assortment of animals; rabbit, rooster, pig and cow.

Rustic Peach Tart I found a recipe for the tart on RealSimple.com and played around with it a bit.

Arthur Court pewter napkin rings - Butterfly.

Rustic Peach Tart Ingredients

1/4 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

4 peaches, sliced

1 readymade refrigerated piecrust

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Rinse and slice peaches, removing pits. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and ginger and add the sliced peaches and toss together.

Unroll the piecrust dough and place on a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment.

Arrange the peaches in the center of the dough and gently fold and pleat the crust about 2" over the peaches - leave the center of the peaches uncovered.

Lightly brush dough with water and sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons sugar.

Bake about 15 minutes at 425 degrees and reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue to bake for another 25 minutes or until golden.

Cool slightly before serving. Top with ice cream for a fantastic summer dessert!!

Foodie Friday Flan

We love Flan, and it is really so simple to make! There are many recipes with variations of ingredients with everything from cream cheese to bread crumbs, but here is a recipe I like to use that is quite simple.

Flan

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 large eggs

3 large egg whites

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

1 -1/2 cups milk

1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally. Increase heat to medium-high and continue to cook without stirring until syrup turns a deep amber color (about 5-8 minutes). Immediately pour syrup into a glass pie dish (or 6 individual Pyrex custard cups). Tilt the dish to coat bottom with syrup. Whisk eggs, egg whites in a large bowl. Blend in remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture through a strainer (to remove any lumps) into the sugar syrup coated dish. Bake in water bath* for 60 to 70 minutes. Cool to room temperature and then place in refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. When chilled, invert onto a platter and gently remove pie dish. Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

In water bath* *water bath = place dish in large roasting or baking pan. Add enough hot water to come halfway up sides of the pie dish.

Just out of the oven, cooling before going into the refrigerator.

Getting Ready to Celebrate July 4th!

We are having some friends over to celebrate the Fourth of July. It has been so hot here in the Houston area that we are going to have to cook and eat inside. I just can't ask my dear husband to stand over a hot grill!!

We are having homemade cupcakes for dessert.

Thanks for joining me for Tablescape Thursday. I have been having so much fun playing with my dishes!

Please be sure and stop by and visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2009/07/welcome-to-45th-tablescape-thursday.html to enjoy some beautiful eye candy.

I hope you all have a fabulous and safe July 4th.

~Karen~