A Dilly of a Roll

The dill in my garden is just out of control, so I had

to do something delicious with it!

The weather has been a little rainy, so it didn't feel so terrible

to turn the oven on to bake.

I had the recipe for these Cottage Cheese Dill Rolls

in an old breads cookbook that I had when I was

first married.  They are amazing. 

I can't find the cookbook anymore but it was a

great introduction to a variety of bread making and

I spent many wonderful hours baking different breads

from around the world.

Start with fresh dill.  You can grow it or buy it in the

produce section of your grocery store.

The moistness of this bread comes from the addition of

cottage cheese.  It mixes right in and you don't even know it's there.

You end up with a smooth and satiny dough that is very easy

to work with.

Knots are always a fun addition to a basket of rolls.

Growing up I think I always preferred clover leaf rolls

because they were so fun to pull apart.

Of course, Parker House rolls are so great with a little

bit of butter inside.

I decided to make all three.

Can't  you just smell the warm rolls?  I love, love, love

homemade bread and rolls.  I have to quickly give

some away to the neighbors or I will eat them all.

These went to a neighborhood BBQ.

Cottage Cheese Dill Roll Recipe

2 C. cottage cheese

2 T. butter

 2 T. yeast  (I use the SAF yeast)

1/2 C. warm water

2 eggs

1/4 C. sugar

2 T. finely chopped onion

1 T. finely chopped fresh dill weed

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

5 C. flour

Place the yeast in the 1/2 C. water and stir to dissolve.

Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of your mixer with

the bread dough hook in place.  Add the water with the

yeast.  Mix for about 5-10 minutes or until dough pulls

away from the sides and looks smooth.  Add a tablespoon

of flour at a time if the dough looks too sticky, but remember

this is a really soft dough and will be less sticky after rising.

I added 2 T. more flour on the day I made these.  The

amount of flour will vary with the humidity where you live

and the humidity on the day you make the bread.

Place in a bowl sprayed with Pam and spray the top of the

dough with Pam.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until

double.  This usually takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Now the dough will be really easy to use.  Shape as desired.

Place on greased pans or muffin tins and cover with paper

towel until doubled, usually 30 minutes. 

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

Butter the tops when you take them out of the oven.

Oh, these are just so wonderful.  Give them a try when the weather

cools down.

I will be posting this on

Beauty and Bedlam's

Tasty Tuesdays.

Check out the fantastic parade of delicious food

that is featured there.  It will make your mouth water.

Cafe Du Monde Beignets - French Doughnuts

These lucious puffs originate from New Orleans at the Cafe du Monde
which has been in the French Market since 1862.  You can't

pass Cafe Du Monde without seeing people lined up to

nosh on these tasty delights.

You can also find them at Disneyland's French Market

(in Downtown Disney),

 hot and toasty ready to have the paper sack torn open to find these

powder sugared doughnuts, waiting to melt in your mouth.

I love revisiting Disneyland by making our favorite foods from there.

They also sell a boxed mix at Disneyland's French Market. 

I was very suspicious to say

the least, that anything that light and delicate could be

reproduced from a mix that just calls for adding water, but

I gave in and paid the $9.99 (I know, I know, that is terribly

pricey! - Hey it's Disney!) 

Well, surprise, surprise, the first batch seemed more than worth

the price.  They did not disappoint.  They were light, fluffy and

melted in your mouth.  It was exactly the same taste.

Just follow the package directions, mixing 2 C. mix with 7 oz.

water. Mix well.  They say to roll out to 1/8 inch thick.  I

rolled mine out more to 1/4 or 3/8 inch thick.  That made it

more like the ones we watched them make at Disneyland.

The package also says to liberally flour the board and they do

so I did too.  They still stayed light and fluffy.

Fry in vegetable oil at 370 (or medium high) until golden,

basting with hot oil and turning half way through.

Drain on paper towel and then toss in a sack about 3 or 4 at a

time with about 1/2 C. powdered sugar.  Keep adding more

powdered sugar.  They should be heavily coated.

To my delight, I found the same boxed mix at World Market

a little later for about $3.00.  Of course I bought one for

every member of the family.

If you aren't lucky enough to have a World Market or yours

doesn't carry the mix, you can find it online at

http://www.cafedumonde.com/

(Do pay attention to the expiration date listed on the box.)

Experience a little French delight for breakfast soon.

I will be posting this on The Girl Creative's

Just Something I Whipped up Monday.

I just love her party!  Last week I spotted two recipes on there

that looked delicious and I copied them and took them

to Lake Powell with me!  They were both hits.

Garden Bunny Tea

A few bunnies hopped into my garden as asked for

a

Tea Party.

What was I going to say?

Of course, I said, bring all of your friends.

We will set the table.  We will have a wonderful time.

So they came and we had tea.

We laughed and we talked.

It was a glorious afternoon.

An afternoon filled with friendship and

magic.

They felt so honored.

But really, I was the one who was honored.

My little garden friends, you can come anytime.

Don't be shy!!!

Come again, and I will pick flowers.

We will laugh.

We will share.

We will be the best of friends.

Next time bring Peter!

You are always welcome to visit here in my garden.

(The little neighbor girls saw this set up in the front yard

under the flowering plum.  They brought their mom

over to see it.  They had been over earlier and

had seen the Fairy Tea.  They have been quite enchanted

and have brought their friends over to see the tables

and the Fairy Garden.)

I will be posting this on

Pink Saturday

and

on Lady Katherine's Tea Parlor.

Basil Mayonaise BLT's & An Award

This is amping up your traditional BLT.

We wanted a simple dinner Sunday, but company

was coming. 

What if we did the BLTs on nicer bread,

that crusty European style bread

with

that really expensive maple cured bacon

and

used some of the basil from the garden

in the mayo?

Shame, shame, shame on me for ever having made

an ordinary BLT with cheap white bread

and cheap bacon.

This was absolutely gourmet.  I would have paid

good money for this in a nice restaurant and

gone home and dreamed about it all night.

Make a chiffonade (thinly sliced) with your basil by

stacking the leaves on top of each other and

then rolling them tightly together.  Cut thinly

with a sharp knife.

Place it in a food processor with mayo.

I usually use light mayo.

My husband is anti anything light, so tonight

he slipped in real mayo.  Oh, I forgot how

good that tastes.

Chop until it is finely mixed in.

Basil Mayonaise

1 C. mayonaise

3-4 T. finely chopped basil leaves

Place in a food processor.  Use the chop setting

on pulse to finely chop the basil.

I tried this spread on garlic toast then topped with

tomato and basil bruschetta topping.  WOW!

(The flavor improves with time, so if you can make it

a day ahead, or at least an hour, but if you

can't, it is still so tasty.)

Butter both sides and toast the bread.  My daughter got me

this wonderful grill pan which works really nicely.

You can do it in a pan, on a griddle or in the broiler.

Spread both sides of the bread with the basil mayonaise.

Top with bacon, lettuce and tomato, in whatever

order you like. 

Serve. 

You may need toothpicks to hold it together.

I have to admit, we had it two ways,

one with untoasted crusty European style bread

and one with toasted.

I honestly can't tell you which one I liked better.

They were two different experiences.  The

soft bread was a wonderful texture,

but then the buttery toasted bread was a

whole different texture.  I can't decide!

You be the judge.  Try it both ways and let me know.

I was tagged by the wonderful Kathie at

Just a Happy Housewife ...and Tickled Pink About It.

She gave me the

Daily Dose of Chaos Award.

Now how did that sweetie know that by the

end of Sunday at our house it really is chaos?

Go check out her lovely blog.  She is a darling and

she is very clever and funny.  I am so glad we are

blogging friends.

The rules on accepting this award is that I answer

the questions so that you can get to know me better

and then I tag 8 other bloggers so that they can

answer the questions and you can get to know them

better.

1.  What is your signature color?

Do you think this ink color along with my blog title is hint enough? 

Purple has been my favorite as long as I can remember.

I grew up in a time when avocado green and burnt

orange were really in and my mother loved them.  I

missed my inner femininity as I watched girlfriends get

pink and purple bedrooms, or I remember a blue toille that

I just loved.  I got a new room that I shared with my

two sisters in the finished basement and it had wood paneling

and orange, brown and green curtains.  Even then I

didn't like it.  In high school I chose a purple stone for

my class ring and people asked if I was born in February.

I said no, I just love purple.

Now the truth is there is more red and burgundy in my home

than actual purple, but my houseboat is purple on the inside

and outside and I see red, burgundy and pink as sister colors.

You probably didn't want to know that much did you!

2.  What is your most embarrassing moment?

I love being a grown up because I just don't get embarrassed as

often.  When I was in high school I got on a tramp in front of

all boys (one including a boyfriend) and I heard a noise but

didn't think much about it.  I did flips and all kinds of jumps and

when I got done, a girl put her arm around me and told me my

short were ripped all the way up the back seam!  No boy said

a single word.

3.  Would you ever get anything pierced

other than your ears,

If so what?

I really am not even that into pierced earrings at the moment.

I started wearing chunky necklaces and the earrings seem to

much.  I don't want any other piercings and they all seem

like they would be uncomfortable to me.

4.  Are you a social butterly or a homebody?

I love to entertain and go out, but I love my evenings at home

too, so I guess I am a combination.

5.  Are you done having babies or do you want more?

I have to laugh at that question when you see the National

Enquirer or some magazine at the checkout stand

announcing this old woman having babies.  I have to

think of Sara in the Bible, I know how old I feel and

I am half her age.  No, I am done but I am willing

to have lots more grandkids come into my home and

I am glad it is them and not me.

6.  Are you loyal to your hairstylist or do you

try every salon in town?

I have had too many bad hair years because of stylists

so when I find one I stay with them.

(This is exactly how I have felt as I watch my hair fall to the floor!)

7.  How many times have you moved in your life?

We stayed in the same home my whole growing up years.

I had friends who were building and selling and

moving.  I loved seeing their new homes so

when I married and my husband said let's build and

sell, I said yippee, I have been wanting to do this

my whole life.  We did that and moved every two years

until our oldest was in 5th grade and then we settled down.

We built and sold 8 homes but didn't live in them all

and now we have lived in this home for 19 years.

8.  If you could plan your vacation with just you

and your love, where would it be?

Oh, we have had the opportunity to travel to so many

wonderful places, Israel, Turkey, Greece, England, Italy, France

Mexico, Hawaii.  I would have to say I love Hawaii an awful lot, but

I did hear of something I want to try:

Royal Carribean's Oasis of the Seas.

The center of the ship is open with rooms facing the atrium.

Looks fun and fattening to me!

I am tagging the following blogs:

Joni at Red Couch Recipes

(of course, she is my sister)

Ann Marie at Frog Hollow Farm Girl

Bunny at The Paris House

Delores at Vignette Design

Donna at Conghaile Cottage

Lynn at Happier Than a Pig In Mud

Christine at Christines Home and TravelAdventures

and Scrambled Hen Fruit.

Enjoy all of these wonderful bloggers.  They are all great

friends and you will love their fun and inspiring blogs.

I am posting this with

Just Something I Whipped Up Monday.

Sharing Sunday

Summer Nights - The Perseid Meteor Shower

Summer nights spent under the sky
starwatching

are one of my favorite things.

The Perseid Meteor shower is a yearly event that takes

place from the end of July to mid August.

Friday was the peak of the shower,

but you can still see a lot of the shower

this next week.

We are always at Lake Powell at this time of year.

We go to the top deck on the houseboat and lie down

and watch for shooting stars.

My husband has put together a collection of

music that he calls "Star Gazing" music.

It includes songs from

Kurt Bestor's Evening Angels

Ray Lynch's Celestial Soda Pop

and

various Kenny G songs.

Listening to this music, you feel transported.

In order to see the meteor shower

you must get away from city lights.

We were at Lake Powell this past week and

went up every night to watch the stars.

Tuesday night we saw the most spectacular one.

It left a trail bigger than the one in the opening picture

(from Photobucket.com)

The trail stayed in the sky for a long time.

Thursday night we saw 8 in less than 10 minutes!

Of course we weren't good enough photographers

to catch one, but these photos were taken at

Lake Powell of the night sky.

Notice you can see the full outline of the moon in this

one.  These were taken by one of the Young Men

we had on this trip by the name of Josh.

Get out and look at the stars this summer

before the summer is gone.

I will be sharing this on

The Tablescapers

Summer Sundays.

Oh, so few left, sigh!