Friday, July 31, 2009

Pink Saturday! & Fertilizer Friday!

It's Prime Time
in
My Garden!

The Stargazer Lily's are in full bloom!

How about a Dahlia...
this is the Cactus variety.
I had to plant it...
it was the last package
of bulbs left on the shelf.

The Bee is abuzz...
with Runner Beans.

A bit of Yarrow has survived
the Soapwort invasion.

The Cleome's are starting to bloom -
Yippee!

For more pink...
&
For Fertilizer Friday

Robyn

Sunday, July 26, 2009

It's Monday!

This Bluebird
is happy...

We finally
had the time
to change out
the front planter!
I had the flowers
purchased for weeks...
Jacob brought them
from the back yard
to the front for me.

The pansies had their day...
They just can't take our July heat.

I bought petunias
and geraniums
to add to the ivy.

See, doesn't that look much better?
I've never waited 'til mid-July
to swap the plants out before.
It will be interesting
to see how they do.

My garden is filling in nicely.
The coneflowers are blooming
despite the Bunnies best efforts.

I have a tomato on the vine
with promises of more to follow!

The Scarlet Runner's
have climbed higher than ever!

And this is this week's "Grow Sign" shot!
Look closely,
it's in there somewhere...

This year's first Dahlia!

The Stargazer's are starting to show!
Next week's pix will be spectacular!

It's amazing what a little bit of rain,
and a whole lot of sunshine
can accomplish.

I'm linking this post today to:

Artie@Color Outside the Lines
&
Tootsie@Tootsie Time

Robyn





Thursday, July 23, 2009

Foodie Friday! ~ Dough!

Jacob had a hankering
for Cheese Ravioli
and I wanted
Grilled Pizza.
So we said
What the Heck!
Let's go for broke
and make both of them!

We started with the ricotta cheese filling.
We added grated parm, shredded mozzarella,
fresh basil & italian parsley.
Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm!


Place the filling in the fridge,
until you are ready to use it!

The pasta is a cinch!
It's just 2 cups of flour & 3 eggs.
I put the flour in my largest bowl
and make a well in the center.
Add the three eggs
and mix it until it
comes together to form a ball.

Then knead & knead for about 10 minutes.

Roll it through the pasta roller.
Start at the widest setting - number 7.
We stopped at number 4.

I have this nifty ravioli mold I should have
photographed - Doh!
It has an indentation for the filling and a
zigzag ridge to help form the ravioli squares.
I just spoon one teaspoon of filling per square.
Put a bit of water
around each square
to seal the deal,
place another pasta sheet over all
and run over it with the rolling pin.

Fresh pasta only takes a few minutes....

The leftover scrapes made for a tasty plate, too.

Served with Fire roasted tomatoes, garlic,
and red peppers.

Now, onto the Pizza D' Resistance!

I grilled sweet red peppers and onions.

Hot Italian Sausage Links.

Grape Tomatoes.

The pizza dough is pretty simple,
and only takes 30 minutes to rise.
4 cups of flour, 2 packets of rapid rise yeast,
1 tablespoon of honey,
and 1 tablespoon of olive oil,
a palmful of italian seasoning and minced garlic,
1 and 1/4 cups of lukewarm water.
Mix all at once in your Kitchen-aid mixer
for about 10 minutes.
Place into a well-oiled bowl
and place in a warm, draft-free area to rise
to about double in size.
Rub your hands with olive oil,
grab a fistful of dough,
Spread it out quickly and carefully
onto a preheated tile (450+ degrees).
It only takes a few minutes to bake.
Remove to a plate...
Turn the dough over
(the bottom is now the top)
and put on your fav ingredients.
Mine are caramelized onions,
pepperoni, italian sausage,
roasted red peppers,
mozzarella cheese.
Sometimes, I grill olives,
asparagus, and chicken breasts, too.
The skies are the limit.

Jacob likes pizza sauce,
italian sausage,
pepperoni and mozzarella cheese.

I place the pizza
back on the grill's top rack
for about 2-3 minutes -
until the cheese is melty and brown.
There's nothing like
the grilled roasted-in flavor!

The dough makes about 6
8-10 inch pizzas.
I suppose you could
pre-roll out the crusts
and refrigerate them until party time,
but I think it is more fun this way!

Sometimes,
there is a little bit of leftovers....


which makes for a great snack later....
(or for breakfast the next day)
While you read through all of the other
Foodie Friday recipes.

Visit Gollum for the list.

Robyn







Sunday, July 19, 2009

A Blue & Met Monday!

It's time for me to celebrate!
Two Met Monday
projects were completed!

Actually, this was Gramma's Birthday Cake.
Have you ever had a cake from
Sam's Club? They are very good.
(I chose this cake 'cuz the frosting was Blue.)

This driveway has seen a better day.
It was patched and sealed,
and re-patched
and re-sealed.
I've never had an asphalt driveway before,
we've always had concrete in the past.

It was time for it to go.

In a matter of two days,
the crew removed the old driveway,
set up the forms and rebar,
poured and prepared the driveway.
I'm excited! It really looks so fresh and new!
Now we just need a little rain
for the lawn to fill back in.
(I may have to breakdown and buy some sod.)

While the garage was free,
it gave me ample room
to refinish the bench from the front porch.
I was so pleased with the bench
from the patio, that I decided to stain
this one with the same Sage stain.

Let's go check out all of the other
ideas today!

Robyn

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Pink Saturday!

Nothing makes me happier
than reaching the weekend
after a very lonnnnng work week.
The Sweetest Part
of course!

I cannot believe
that it is already mid-July.
Where has this summer gone?
I am in the midwest
and it has been a very chilly week,
and a very weird summer.
I'm ready for a vacation
and
some sunny skies.

Robyn

PS: Click HERE
for
Beverly's Pink Saturday!