[chocomouse]

I had to make something for my husband to take to a potluck tonight. Luckily, I had about 2 dozen "Cowboy Cookies" in the freezer -- scooped and frozen, ready to bake. It took me about 45 minutes in the countertop oven. It was 98* here at the time, and I have avoided cooking or baking anything. We have one more day of upper 90s (the 3rd day in a row) and temps should be lower after that.

[chocomouse]

It's OK to be tired of making carrot cake - but I'd never be tired of eating it! Today I made a sheet cake from a box mix -- sad looking thing compared to one made from scratch. However, I needed to take some short-cuts. Tomorrow I'll cut it into chunks and make a berry trifle with lemon pudding, Cool Whip, raspberry cordial, and strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.

[chocomouse]

Today I made a potato salad, a broccoli salad, and a cowboy salad. Tomorrow is Father's Day, and our daughter's 49th birthday, so we're having our usual family celebration with most of the extended family here for the afternoon.

[chocomouse]

My husband had tacos and I had a taco salad for dinner tonight.

[chocomouse]

No real cooking. But tuna salad on the onion-wild rice buns I made the other day.

[chocomouse]

OK, Joan, you've talked me into it. This is the 2nd one you've made in a few weeks, and I have carrot cake on my list, but not made it yet. Next week I will, I promise! I also have that same Tupperware (I think) cake holder, from many, many years ago. I use it for a lot of things, even turned upside down with the base as a lid.

[chocomouse]

I baked another tray of focaccia, with Penzey's Foxpoint and KAF's The Works sprinkled on top.

[chocomouse]

We had roasted chicken thighs, mashed potatoes, and salad.

[chocomouse]

I took this photo last summer. I have not seen Chippy yet this summer, but I'm betting it will be back once the cherry tomatoes on the deck are ripe.

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[chocomouse]

We had Better Chedder dogs with grilled sweet red peppers and onions, on focaccia.

[chocomouse]

That sounds good, BakerAunt. I pulled a container of leftovers out of the freezer for our dinner - ground beef, tomato sauce, and rice. It was really good, with a green salad and rolls that I made this morning. It's been chilly for a couple of days, after several days of temps in the upper 80s, and then we had a surprise rain shower about 4:30 so the meal was perfect for the weather.

[chocomouse]

I made Peter Reinhart's Wild Rice and Onion Bread, but shaped it into 12 small dinner rolls and 6 thin "burger buns" this time. I also reduced the salt and subbed in 2 cups of whole wheat for 2 cups of bread flour. I used wild rice leftover from dinner last week. We love this bread, but I don't make it very often.

[chocomouse]

Mike, I do have lots of daffodils (but very few tulips) since the deer and small critters don't eat daffodils or their bulbs. Cayenne pepper has not deterred them from the bird seed in winter or other small seedlings in summer. Last summer a (or several?) chipmunk picked most all of my cherry tomatoes on the deck. It then peeled the tomato, left the peels in another pot, sat there and ate the tomato, not 5 feet away from where I was sitting. Now, my husband has made a wire cage, with 1/2" holes, to go over the cherry tomato pot and plant; he is still figuring out the top for it so I can easily remove it to reach down inside to pick the tomatoes. I will try to find my photo of the pot full of peels and post it later. No critters seem to bother the salad or paste tomatoes I have put in the in-ground garden in the back yard. I'm able to plant them outside the electric fence, as a sort of "first line of defense" against raiding varmints.

[chocomouse]

Tonight we grilled ribs and had leftover salads.

[chocomouse]

I made two loaves of Harvest Grain bread.

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