Pie

I tried again today to make pie crust. This time, success!! Pastry is one thing I have always failed at. It takes a much lighter touch than bread dough! Lorna was kind enough to pass along her recipe for pastry. (Hers always turns out nicely so I knew I had a tried and trusted method.) It was not too sticky to roll out, even though today was warm again. The crust baked up just right, flaky and sweet. Delicious!!

Bonus points if you can tell what kind of filling I made...my favorite!

Wind

We have been having some wild weather! Very smoky and HOT all this past week. We broke the recorded high temperature! Last night it thunder-stormed and the wind started blowing...no more rain today, but still lots of wind. As you can see it has been gusting pretty strong. This is what I found when we got home from town...

Sure glad I wasn't parked in my usual spot for that!!

Healthy breakfast?

Well, it does have fruit in it!

Chick

Had to check on the baby robin today....I think we interrupted feeding time. The mama robin kept trying to fly at us with a bug!

Bread

Yesterday we tried baking bread in the big oven again. We mostly do pizza or flat breads. Something you can cook quickly and see through the open door. Kyle has been wanting to perfect baking loaves, so we made it our project for the day. After firing one load of wood, we left the door off till the temp came down to about 500. We put the door on and let the temp equalize for about 20 minutes, then sprayed down the inside with water (good for the breads oven-spring) In went the bread and we let it bake closed for about 10 minutes, then sprayed again. The bread baked for about another 25 minutes. Then we pulled out pretty golden brown loaves! The oven was hot enough to bake another time, but I was out of dough. The loaves got baked through and the crust was soooooo good! The even heat from the oven almost made them toasted on the outside. We will definitely be doing this again, it was an excellent way to have fresh bread in the heat of summer!

Cuban Food

A few months ago, we tried the new Cuban restaurant in town. (The food was pretty good, but it was really slow.) When I saw plantains for 45 cents each at Walsmart, I thought it would be fun to have cuban food at home. Ours is more tex-mexi-cubano but everyone still thought it was good. I made mashed plantains with mojo (lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic), chicken thighs marinated in lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and chipotle chili, re-fried beans, tortillas, fried peppers and onions, and veggies. YUM!! The mojo in the plantains is supposed to have O.J. in it also but I had none, I think it needed it. They were really limey, but that went well with the spicy chicken. They were also very thick. After more research online I think they should have some olive oil mixed in. I will be trying them again, with some changes. (I should note, the kiddos didn't like the plantains...Liam ate a little with his chicken, but Abbie had a tiny taste. At least they will always try things, better luck next time with a new recipe.) I will definitely be making the chicken again. My family loves chicken and I am always looking for new ways to cook it.

Peep, peep

The Robin eggs have hatched on the wheel of the plow truck. The mama Robin has been fairly tolerant of our peeking at her nest. She flies away as we approach, but doesn't try to peck our eyes out for taking a quick look. The baby is not so cute but very fascinating! The only down side is, I don't want to move the nest, so we can't drive the truck! Good thing we have family willing to haul trash for us. (Anybody know how long we will have to wait?)