Finished Picnic Blanket and Tomato Pie(with zucchini)

I finished off handstitching the binding on my picnic blanket the other day and took it for a test run at the beach yesterday.  While it seemed Huge! when I was trying to work on it in the house when we spread it out at the beach it seemed just right - a good size to sit on with several good friends.  This is the backing and one of my favourite sheets.

When I looked through my stash of thrifted binding I realized that I didn't have enough of any colour that would work.  The finished edges of the striped sheet that I had cut off caught my eye and I had an idea.

I decided the use some more of the striped sheet to make a wide binding tape.  I love the way this finished off the blanket. Here's the front.

And the back.

Yesterday before heading to the beach E decided he wanted to learn to make our favourite tomato pie.  We had picked some of our tomatoes and had been looking forward to our first tomato pie since last Autumn.  I made the dough and then we did the rest together.

Dough

1 1/2 cup flour

5 Tbsp butter (my recipe is ripped on this part so I can't remember exactly what was called for but anywhere around 4-6 Tbsp works well)

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup grated cheese ( we used Asiago this time but have used all different kinds and find it delicious)

3-4 Tbsp water (just enough to give you a nice dough)

Cut the butter into the flour and salt until it looks like oatmeal.  Add the grated cheese.  Add water until it forms dough.  Can chill in fridge.  Roll out the dough and put it on the baking pan BEFORE you start piling on your ingredients - things will NOT go well if you assemble it on your counter top and the realize when you've got it looking beautiful that you still need to put it on a pan. Trust me.

We like to put pesto on the dough and then we sprinkle some bread crumbs (this helps absorb some of the tomato juices so it isn't a soggy mess by the time we eat it at the beach later).  Then we put on zucchini (you didn't think we would be eating anything without zucchini, did you?).

Then layer on the tomatoes.  Lots.  E is just getting started in this photo.

Put on the topping mix.   This is about 2/3 cup mayo, 1/2 cup of grated cheese, lots of fresh garlic, salt and pepper and some romano or parmesan.

Then fold the edges in.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!  If you only make one tomato recipe this summer then I really think this should be it.  It is beyond delicious.

And makes a great beach dinner with a fresh salad.