We are in Carmichael - hotter than Placerville, but we have a lot of shade trees around the house which help keep the outside temp in our yard about 10 degrees cooler than the high for the day in the weather report. And our house has 4' deep eaves which help too for the spots where the sun does hit. The attic fans help too. I know because the second summer we were in the house, the second one burned out and our house got hotter until we figured it out. They are fans in the attic that turn on automatically when the attic temp gets enough hotter than the outside temp so that the air in the attic doesn't get super heated. I have allergies, but not bad enough to make us stop using the whole house fan. I just take my Zyrtec and if it gets bad even with that I use a nasal spray.

Sure... no problem. I took a basic zuccini bread recipe and used summer squash. I don't see why winter squash would not work if you peel it and it is moist enough. Had to tweak it to my taste... 3 eggs 3 cups flour (I use the cheap general pupose) 2 cups sugar 2-4 cups of squash (grated in the cheese grater worked well but some I put in the blender until it is liquid) 1 cup of oil (canola works good) 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1 teaspoon of salt (I use less) 1 teaspoon of honey (squirt from the bear works) 1-3 teaspoons of cinnamon (penzey's vietnamese) 1-3 teaspoons of real vanilla extract 1/2 - 1 teaspoon cardamon (ground) some sliced almonds Best to put all the dry stuff in the mixing bowl first and stir it around to mix it up good. Make real certain the baking soda is not in lumps... nothing worse then finding a chunk of soda when eating bread. Add the eggs, oil, squirt of honey, and squash and stir into a batter. Original recipe I started with called for 2 cups of grated squash but I've double that amount when trying to use up a batch of squash. I butter my bread pans by putting a gob of butter on a paper towel and smearing it all over the inside. Divide batter into two equal portions when pouring into the pans. Sprinkle the sliced almonds on top. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes. Let set on a bread rack in the pan for at least ten minutes before popping it out of the pan... to early and it breaks into chunks... delicious chunks but not pretty. When all works well it yeilds an attractive brown loaf with lightly toasted almonds decorating the top. The grater will pick most of the seed out of the squash... I add them back in if I get the squash young and tender. Older squash I peel if the hide is tough... young stuff it goes in. While the first batch is baking is a good time to mix up a second. It freezes very well... hack a frozen chunk off with a big chef's knife and nuke it to thaw for almost instant treat. Might as well make some loaves as once you have all the stuff out it is pretty easy. It is very addictive so pretend not to notice when people eat the whole loaf in one sitting... slice by little slice. Very high in fiber. For freezing ease I ran a bunch of squash in the blender until it was liquid... make fine bread. I found I like a little less spice. Original recipe called for 3 teaspoons each of cinnamon and vanilla. I cut that in half without any ill affect. Honey, almonds, and cardamon were my "tweaks"... a heavenly combination to me. Only screw up I've had was trying to hurry a loaf out of the pan so I could get another batch in the oven... it broke and I HAD to eat it myself. I was very pleased with the appearance the almonds gave... a fancy looking bread. I've forgot the almonds and the bread is still okay. I've mixed the sliced almonds in the batter where they hide the seeds well... they taste best toasted on top. I might try sprinkling squash seeds on top sometime... Hope I didn't forget anything. It has been a very forgiving bread if I don't get quantities exact. At first I measured everything exact but later just get it close... no problems with that yet. Sort of gotta watch it towards the end of the bake... I look for a golden brown color... more or less. : ) lyra

Cheryl, the link appears to work. Here is the recipe. Trust me it is an awesome tasting bread and oh so easy. Have made this for meals for folks who are in need of a meal from our church. They think I have slaved over this bread...NOT! Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think. Barbara Bakes, also has some other great recipes that I havent tired but hope too! Cinnamon Swirl Brioche adapted from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day and Cook's Illustrated Brioche dough (makes about 3 large loaves) 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets) 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt 8 large eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup honey 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted 7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I only used 6 1/2 cups) Mix the water, yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container. Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated. Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours until the dough rises and collapses. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container overnight and use over the next 5 days. Filling 1 cup confectioners sugar 3 tablespoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt Assembling the Cinnamon Swirl Brioche Grease three 9 x 4 inch loaf pans.* Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and divide dough in three equal pieces. On a well floured board, pat each piece into a 7 by 18 inch rectangle. (If necessary, use a bench scraper to loosen dough and add more flour underneath the dough so it doesn't stick.) Use a spray bottle, lightly spray the top of the dough with water. Sprinkle a third of the filling mixture over the dough leaving a 1/4 inch border on the sides and a 3/4 inch border on top and bottom. Spray filling lightly with water so the filling is speckled with water. Starting on the short side, roll the dough up into a cylinder and seal seam. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Use your bench scraper to cut the loaf in half lengthwise; turn halves so cut sides are facing up. Gently stretch each half into a 14 inch length. Pinch the two ends of the dough together and braid dough by laying the left piece over the right keeping the cut side up, until pieces of dough are tightly twisted. Pinch ends together. Transfer loaf, cut side up, to prepared loaf pan. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover pans loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size. Top of the loaves should rise about 1 inch over the lip of the pan. (Mine took 3 hours, but the Cook's recipe says 1 1/2 hours.) Preheat oven to 350*. Bake approximately 25 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Reduce oven temperature to 325*, ten loaves with foil and continue baking until internal temperature registers 200*, 15 to 25 minutes longer. (I just got a new wireless thermometer thanks Tiff! and it took my bread exactly 15 minutes longer.) Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan on a wire rack. Remove loaves from pans and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing, about 2 hours. *You can bake all three loaves at once, leave the dough in the fridge for up to five days, or freeze the dough.

Buttery Yeast Rolls I found this on Food.com Prep Time: 2 hrs Total Time: 2 hrs 18 mins Yield: 20-24 rolls Ingredients 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup warm milk 1 eggs 1/3 cup butter or 1/3 cup margarine, softened 1/3 cup sugar 1 teaspoon salt 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour ( NOT bread flour!) 1 package dry yeast ( 2 1/4 tsp) 1/4 cup butter or 1/4 cup margarine Directions Place all ingredients except the 1/4 cup butter into bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select the dough cycle and start machine. Shape dough into 20 to 24 balls and place in buttered pan (s). Melt the 1/4 cup butter and brush it over the tops of rolls, saving the excess for brushing on after baking. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, or until double in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 to 18 minutes. Brush baked rolls with remaining butter. NOTE: This dough can also be divided into two portions and each rolled into a 12-inch circle; spread each circle with softened butter, cut into 8 wedges and roll up starting with wide end, to make crescents OR use this dough for cinnamon rolls or sticky buns. I made a batch of these today and they are really good. I used real butter and rolled them out jelly roll style and buttered and rolled them up and put them in muffin pans. I use the homemade Pam grease and the recipe made 14 large rolls. I baked mine for 15 minutes. I think I will get out two bread machines and make two batches for Thanksgiving. Sue