Project Update

This weekend, we managed to slowly tackle a few things on the project list I posted a few weeks ago. We also found time to do some batch cooking and have a fantastic homemade pizza for date night on Friday.

Friday's pizza consisted of homemade dough made in the bread machine, using our favorite bread machine book, Bread Machine Magic. Then, we pulled and stretched the dough to form two 14 inch rounds onto which we layered several yummy toppings. These included mushrooms (re-hydrated gourmet mushrooms from Costco), bacon, onions, green pepper from our garden (which the deer did not find), and cheese. We had contemplated some fresh tomato, but the pizzas seemed to be getting overloaded, so we added those to eggs for breakfast on Saturday. We topped the pizzas off with some fresh basil from our garden and some red pepper flake, which we love on pizza. (We have some pictures, but I don't know how to get them off Benny's phone right now.) They were fantastic, and we had enough left over to have some on Saturday night also. So much better, and cheaper, than ordering delivery or pick up.

Saturday, I tackled finishing the mirror project by painting the mirror with two coats of black paint (once in the morning and again in the evening), and then dry brushed some silver acrylic paint onto the raised portions of the frame on Sunday. It looks fabulous, although it needs a bit of cleaning up with a razor blade along the interior edge, mostly because I didn't pull the tape off soon enough. I didn't get any before pictures, but I'll post some after ones soon. (This no pic thing is becoming a theme...)

Saturday morning, we also stained a portion of the deck. Really, by the time we (by we, I mean Benny) dealt with the wasp nest behind the siding (seriously... how did they get in there?!), and a quick sweeping of the deck, we got one more section of railing done. But, hey, progress is progress. The plan is to do some more staining next Saturday morning. Part of the difficult part of this project is that it's so weather dependent, and we can't do it in full sun (difficult when we face south) because the stain won't cure properly.

Yesterday evening, we made a tuna melt pie which was great, although I think it could have used some green pepper. We'll make this for our supper club this week to share with Michele. I'd definitely recommend it if you're looking for good comfort food; it totally fits the bill for that! (The link for it isn't up yet, but it's in the most recent Rachel Ray magazine.)

So, how go your last minute summer projects? Any yummy dishes you've made that you want to share? I'd love to hear from you!