What to do with dried out garlic bread? Savory French Toast!

I picked up a loaf of roasted garlic bread the other day but failed to store it in a ziploc bag or the fridge so it got too stale to snack on. There are two things i know stale bread is good for: croutons and french bread. I also have a bunch of dried rosemary from my mom's garden so I decided to make a savory french toast with the leftovers for KE and my dinner.

1. Slice remaining bread in 1" thick slices
2. break 3 eggs into a bowl that is big enough to accomadate one slice of bread, whisk in ground pepper and about 1 Tbsp dried rosemary
3. Heat a skillet with olive oil, soak bread in egg mixture, flip to get both sides, and cook so both sides are light brown
4. Top with a veggie or sauce. We used some left over grape tomatoes, sauteed in some olive oil to soften and put ontop of hot french toast.

Afterthoughts:

• KE wanted some balsamic vinegar on the tomatoes, to make them a little more tart and savory
• I had considered a broccoli puree on top of the french toast - or perhaps some sauteed greens? the tomatoes were good but there could have been more veggies on top!
• I would totally make this again with fresh bread, not just dried out bread! There are probably other spice and herb combinations that are fantastic as well.
  
• With a few more veggies on top this is a pretty healthy meal: grain (bread), protein (egg), veggies (whatever you put on top).

This has been one of our more successful experiments, yay!

How not to buy a car in another state and then exchange it between family members

Why are state-to-state transactions so difficult!?

My mom lives in DE, she bought a car in MD and didn't pay sales tax because Delaware doesn't believe in taxes. She bought the car and put both our names on the title. Lesson one: don't do this.

If you are going to buy a car and give it to your child who lives in a different state (especially one with tax/higher tax) this is what you should do:
1. buy the car in your name in whatever state
2. get the title in your name in that state
3. sign the title over in your state to your family member, in that state
4. have that family member request a new title in his/her state- if it is gifted in the other state and you have a title you shouldn't have to pay sales


What not to do:
1. sign your name and your giftee's/daughter's name on the title
2. register the car in your state
3. take the car to NY with only the giftee present at the DMV
4. have to get the other person to take a trip up to your state in order to show proof of ID and sign the paper- oh and pay NYS sales tax because the NY residents was on the original papers
5. be told the credit card machines aren't working (and you are going to owe more than $500- who carries that much cash? or a check book unless you expect to use it?!
6. have the credit card machine work (thankfully!)
7. get plates, get emissions testing and wait for new title in about 3 months


Ugh. What a frustrating experience! Ready to leave the city where hopefully things will be clearer.

A healthy and quick lunch

My dad worked at home when I was in middle and high school and on occasion if I was home, I'd make some lunch for us. I went to make tuna salad one day and we were out of mayo so I substituted Dijon Mustard. It was... AMAZING and I haven't gone back since! No mayo for me, just mustard :)

Pita tuna melt
(makes one serving)

1. Rip 1 whole wheat pita in half and place on plate with ripped sides out (somehow ripping the pita tastes better to me than cutting it. That one I cannot explain!)
2. Empty tuna can 5oz/packet 3oz (dump out any water) into a bowl
3. Add about 3 Tbsp mustard of choice (deli mustard has 0 calories!) and stir. Put into pitas, keeping open sides out.
4. Slice cheddar cheese (1 oz = 1 serving) and place in each sandwich half.
5. Microwave on high for 1 minute, remove and flip sandwiches over (bottom side will be a little bit soggy, but nothing too bad)
6. Stick sliced cucumber and grape tomatoes into one sandwich half right before eating (it will keep your veggies cool and crisp if they aren't sitting in the freshly nuked sandwich.)
7. Enjoy!

This is my go to lunch at home generally. It's quick and tasty and I love open face tuna melts! Oh yeah, yay mustard! My condiment of choice :) I would have put up a picture but I ate it before I realized I should be blogging it!

Never rent a 16' truck in NYC and other lessons learned from moving out

A 16' truck is a commercial vehicle. No one at the rental place told me this when they said "well it's the same price as a 10' truck". It is not the same price. On the Verezano bridge alone I paid $20 to get through, I had to take truck routes and pay truck tolls. There is no parking of commercial vehicles in residential neighborhoods overnight (a $65 ticket). So while the price at budget was the same as a 10' truck the price within the city and the reality is that it cost more than that. On top of that, it was a huge pain to drive in the city.

Now I am staying with KE and trying to get started with my fitness regime I was so excited to have the time to implement. So far, it hasn't been going as well as I'd hoped, but I'm working out my eating plan again and trying to figureout what to eat that's healthy and cheap before I head off to an unknown kitchen this summer. I did pick up one thing at Wal-Mart for the summer though: a mini food processor. It holds 1.5 cups and I look forward to making fresh pesto! I may even get some potted basil plants to keep in VT. When I get there and check the lay of the land I'll know more about that.

Back to diet planning!