I love making breakfast for our college students on Sunday morning, and with the arrival of fall weather, I thought a hot breakfast bake would hit the spot. I also like recipes that I can set up the night before, and then just pop in the oven in the morning. I came across a couple of recipes — one I’ve had for years and one I’ve never tried — that I could adapt for this morning. I struggled to decide between the two, but with 12-20 in our Sunday school class, I didn’t have to decide between them — I made both!

Peaches and Cream French Toast Bake

• 8 oz of sturdy bread (French or day-old bakery bread. I used hoagie rolls)
• 6 eggs
• 1 3/4 C milk
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 15-oz cans of sliced peaches, drained
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• Cinnamon for sprinkling

Cut bread into one inch cubes. Arrange tightly in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish (If you have a deep dish baker, use that.)

Whisk together: eggs, milk, cream, sugar, vanilla. Pour over bread making sure all pieces are soaked, turning them as necessary to coat.

Arrange peaches on top. Sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

Bake covered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove foil, and bake for an additional 30 minutes until French toast is lightly browned and egg mixture is set.

Blueberry Cream Cheese French Toast Bake

• 8 oz sturdy bread (Again, I used hoagie rolls)
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 C milk
• 1/4 C maple syrup
• 1 stick margarine or butter, melted
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 pint blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• Cinnamon for sprinkling

Cut bread into one inch cubes. Arrange tightly in a greased 9 x 13 baking dish (If you have a deep dish baker, use that.)

Whisk together: eggs, milk, maple syrup, melted butter. Pour over bread making sure all pieces are soaked, turning them as necessary to coat.

Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Cube cream cheese into centimeter-sized cubes and sprinkle over bread mixture. Sprinkle blueberries over bread mixture.

Cover tightly with foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.

Bake covered at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove foil, and bake for an additional 25- 30 minutes until French toast is lightly browned and egg mixture is set.

I made baked them both at the same time, and the sweet fruit and cinnamon smell just about brought  me to tears. The blueberry bake was done about 5 minutes before the peach bake. Each serves 8.

I served both with syrup on the side, but neither really needed it. The peach bake was definitely sweet and moist enough without it, and lived up to the deliciousness of its peaches and cream name. The blueberry was a little less sweet, with great burst of tart blueberries and smooth cream cheese. Both were absolutely delicious. Either would be great for a Christmas brunch, or any time you want to show some college students some home-cooked love.

20 gauge wire and clear beads . . .

Flat nose and round nose pliers with a cutting tool . . .

Bend, shape, embellish, add jump rings and some ear wires . . .

Congo earrings.

In case you wonder what’s ever on my mind . . .

I must confess: I’m experiencing coupon burnout. It’s not the first time, and I’m certain it won’t be the last. Well, almost certain.

I can’t even remember why I stopped at Aldi 2 months ago. It was probably because I had run out of coupons for something, or that I saw Aldi had a great deal on produce.

The last time I remember being in Aldi was in 2003 in Marion, Indiana, buying supplies for our annual college camping trip. Aldi was poor on selection, hit-and-miss on quality, and notoriously inconvenient.

I was surprised when I went into our local Aldi at how much things had improved. Selection was better on, well, pretty much everything. The basics were augmented by seasonal items, special flavors, and mixed in with a few brands that I recognized. I picked up what I was looking for, and what I needed but didn’t expect to find at Aldi: flavored creamer.

A couple days later, I made some Just Love Coffee with the new Aldi creamer. Ken asked if there was something that was different about the coffee, because it was  . . . so GOOD! I tasted it, and sure enough, I think their hazelnut creamer was the best I’ve ever tasted!

It made me curious: what about other items? So I tried Aldi for a few more things: bread, salad, bagels, cake mix. The quality was not only good, I was surprised again when Ken asked where we had purchased the hamburger buns because they were excellent.

So, two weeks ago, I took my Kroger E-mealz list and bought the items at Aldi to compare. Because the E-mealz list is based on what is on sale at Kroger, and Aldi doesn’t have sale prices, I thought it was going to be an interesting price comparison.

In every case, the Aldi regular price was the same or better than the Kroger sale price. The items on the E-mealz list that weren’t on sale were much cheaper at Aldi. Exluding double coupons, I believe I could pay about the same at Aldi as I typically do coupon-sale matching at Kroger. But I don’t have to spend hours cutting, filing, pulling, sorting, researching every week.

So I bought a week’s worth of groceries at Aldi, plus a few extra things that looked fun to try — like frozen pizza. We’ve been eating all Aldi for the past couple of weeks, and we have been pleasantly surprised! We have liked everything we tried. Many things we have loved. (Their creamer, their pumpkin spice cream cheese, their chicken-bacon-ranch frozen pizza, etc.)

They don’t have everything we need at Aldi (like a good selection of frozen vegetables). We’ll occasionally have to pick up a few items at other stores, but for now, I’m pretty excited about Aldi. Another nice thing about the E-mealz menu plan for Aldi is that if I buy one three month subscription, I can use it repeatedly, because it’s not based on a sale cycle. Aldi has items priced the same every week.

I’ve now switched my E-mealz subscription from Kroger to Aldi. And I get a few hours of my life back each week!

After seeing the idea of a playmat for a Busy Bag, I knew I had to ask Ken to participate in my Busy Bag Bonanza. After an exceedingly long day at work today, I came home to discover that Ken had made this playmat, using fabric from my never-ending fabric stash and Sharpie markers:

In case you’re not a local, he chose famous sites around Nashville with streets in between.

The Parthenon with the Country Music Hall of Fame.

I was especially impressed with the detail on the Parthenon!

The Gaylord Entertainment Center, the Nashville Arena, The Sommet Center, The Bridgestone Arena. . .

The General Jackson Showboat . . .

And lower Broadway with the Batman Building in the background.

Ken even found a couple of hot wheels cars to drive the road in between.

So even while we’re in the DRC, we’ll be able to introduce the kids to Nashville! I LOVE this playmat, and I love my husband who created it even more!

One of my all-time favorite crafts was one that I made over two years ago, and I still use every day.

This was my jewelry pile. Not fun.

Obviously it’s a tangled mess, and made it hard to find what I want to wear, and even harder to untangle it from the rest of the necklaces.

 Don’t judge me.

But I had an idea. . . To start, I needed a big frame . . . but a inexpensive frame.

Found this 16 x 20 frame at Goodwill. (Where else?) I was not heartbroken to take it apart. It had a gold finish I didn’t like, so I dry-brushed acrylic paint onto the frame for a textured look.

I cut up some wallpaper samples to create a collage of textures and patterns that were color-coordinated, and arranged them on the backboard.

I purchased a cheap set of drawer pulls, and added those to the collage by arranging them in a slightly offset pattern, attatching them with screws through the backboard, and reinforcing them with washers.

I put the finished board back in the frame and hung on the wall.

And added my jewelry by hanging them on the drawer pulls.

It has served me well for two years, and keeps my necklaces organized and accessible!