The Inquisitive Skink

About a year or so ago a wonderfully talented cook, Madelyn Hood, served Mark and I a wonderful dish of stuffed shells that had a delicious winter squash filling. She has since that time talked to me about a small catering she provided where the main dish was once again a pasta dish using winter squash (or was it pumpkin?). So I've thought about creating a pasta dish with winter squash for a while now. My family spreads Thanksgiving out over the entire long weekend. Didn't make it to Madison this year (though I managed to deliver a Bavarian Apple Torte and a Blackberry Pie to them) but we still had our small family gathering at home Thanksgiving Day, and then one with Mark's family at a gathering at his sister's in Indy on Saturday. I had made some Brie with caramelized onion fondue for day-long nibbling while dinner was made on Thanksgiving day. The following day I kept working on creating a recipe for a new lasagna for the Saturday gathering and decided to combine...

I have started to bake bread, mostly looking for an easy way to incorporate this new habit I 'm trying to establish into my already way-too-busy life. I really like the slow cooker bread recipe located here. However, the 3 hour baking period isn't always the most practical for me. I am going to test out a loaf that stays on warm for five hours and tell you how it goes! My next attempt will be at following the instructions of the Five Minute Artesan Bread , by by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois . Mother Earth News provides an their master recipe online here, but you should really check out the whole book. It's worth it. I'm interested in flatbreads and really like the ease of making chappatti's . The recipe I like is this: 2 cups atta flour or whole wheat sifted flour 1 tsp salt 1cup warm water (Or more as needed) Mix the flour and the salt. Make a well in the mixture and pour in the warm water. Mix. Turn out and knead for 8-10 minutes. Cover with plastic ...