Bennett and Melissa's Photoblog: July 2005

These were wonderful. Not quite as good as the apple, cinnamon pancakes that have become my staple, but definitely good for a change of pace.

Pancake Recipe from scratch: "Plain Griddle Cakes (pancakes from scratch)

sift:
one cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
one-quarter teaspoon salt (not needed)

beat and add:
one egg (optional)

add:
1 cup milk (scant)
stir gradually to make smooth
add:
1 teaspoon melted butter or oil

cook in a hot frying pan, flip pancakes when they bubble, to brown the other side.

Serve with Vermont maple syrup.

These pancakes are sure to be tasty -- if you're watching your sodium intake, you can make them without salt and baking powder, which also contains sodium (as does milk), and they'll probably still be pretty good. We never add salt to anything, but when we omitted the baking powder the pancakes came out a little bit on the glue-ey side.
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This was really good. Butternut squash is a lot like pumpkin, but a bit milder. Make sure to cut the pieces no larger than 1/2" cube. I used 1 cup whipped cream instead of the 1/2 cup whipping cream. Worked fine.

Recipes: Printer Friendly: "RISOTTO WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND LEEKS

1 large butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 cups (about) chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced (about 3 cups)
2 cups arborio rice or medium-grain rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

Preheat oven to 400�F. Place squash on large rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Roast until tender and beginning to brown, stirring occasionally, about 40 minutes.
Bring stock to simmer in heavy large saucepan. Reduce heat to very low; cover and keep stock warm.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in another heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add leeks and saut� until soft but not brown, about 10 minutes. Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine and simmer until absorbed, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup hot stock; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining stock 1/2 cup at a time, allowing stock to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently, until rice is tender and mixture is creamy, about 25 minutes longer. Add roasted squash, cream, Parmesan cheese and sage; stir until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve warm."

Makes 6 first-course or 4 main-course servings.

RISOTTO WITH BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND LEEKS

Now if I could only find the arborio rice in my safeway. I guess that I'll just pick some up in Baltimore.

Fresh Poppyseed Bagels and a Bagel Polish Sausage (Bageldog eat your heart out!). I made bagels from scratch today. You really do boil them and then bake them. The texture was perfect. I'll be able to cut back on the Safeway brand bagels!

All done. A new foundation is ready for the shed.

Getting read to tamp everything into place.

Laying the pavers.

We're laying the leveling lines.

Here's the proof. We found out that is you drive your own car, the dump is free, but if you rent a truck, then you have to pay. Oh well.

That's 3300 pounds of concrete rubble and tree!

Now everything is off the truck. Time to load the trash.

The Official Before Picture

Fresh from Lowes

This is something that I have to try... I wonder if I can half-bake them and freeze them for later...

Cooks.com - Recipe - French Bread Rolls: "FRENCH BREAD ROLLS
Printed from COOKS.COM

2 1/4 c. water
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 c. white flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. salt
2 pkgs. active dry yeast
Heat water until very warm (120 to 130 degrees). In a large bowl, blend warm liquid, 2 cups flour, sugar, salt and yeast at low speed until moistened. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in remaining flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover, let rise in warm place about 1 hour. Generously grease 2 cookie sheets and sprinkle with cornmeal. Punch down dough and divide into 12 parts. Shape each part into a roll and place on prepared sheets. Make an 'x' slash on each roll about 1/4 inch deep. Cover, let rise in warm place about 1 hour. Brush rolls with water. Place a shallow pan of water in bottom of 400 degree oven. Place bread on rack above water and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet."