I'm not sure what I did wrong, but the meringue collapsed when I added the chocolate chips and nuts, so the cookies came out really flat:
They puffed up a bit when I baked them, and they taste (and crumble) like meringue, but they're supposed to be tall and puffy.
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Just now, I've been watching a possum on my deck (its 12:30 p.m.), eating the birdseeds that have fallen to the floor. We see it most every night on the Ring camera, but lately it's been out in the daytime, eating apple scraps that the turkeys took down from the apple trees. We leave the possums alone -- they eat ticks!
Oh, I'm sure the Harvest Grains mix would be terrific in a "white" (AP) sandwich bread! It would add both nutrition and flavor. I see KABC has a recipe for Harvest Grains Bread that calls for 2 1/2 cups bread flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat. You could just use all bread or AP flour instead. I usually use 2 cups AP and 2 cups whole wheat with 3/4 cups of the grains mix to make 2 loaves. Do you use white whole wheat? You could try that, too.
On Tuesday, I roasted an Autumn Frost squash (50 minutes at 375F, upside down). I used my stick blender to combine the puree with a cup of turkey broth left from Christmas cooking, and a little bit of water. I stirred in half a cup of Fage Greek yogurt, and 1 1/2 tsp. Penzey's Now Curry then warmed the soup over medium heat. It goes well with the crackers I made yesterday. I have enough for a couple more lunches.
We had a cat who used to catch voles in the back yard, bring them to the door in his mouth, and try to let them loose inside the house. He did the same thing with June bugs. He found out the hard way that squirrels are much harder to catch, one nearly chewed off his tail at the base, the vet was able to save it.
Your shrew may come back, or you may find you have a whole family of them. They can get in through a hole about the size of a quarter, and many door thresholds have a gap wider than that at the bottom.
Fortunately, they aren't considered as destructive as mice, though they will foul any food they get into. Mice will chew through plastic or even metal containers to get to the food inside. Two or three years ago mice chewed a hole in a foil bag of chocolate wafers and emptied the bag. (I've used chocolate, cocoa butter and peanut butter in mouse traps, they like all three.)
On Christmas morning, my husband sat down at the computer. The dog was curled up in the soft chair on her blanket next to the desk. He looked over and saw a small creature making its way across the arm. It and the dog looked at each other while my husband exclaimed, "Oh, great, we have a mouse!" He did not want the dog to chase it, so he called her off the chair, and she joined me back in the dining area. (She probably would not have chased it; she seemed puzzled by its presence.) The creature scampered back to the bookcase, but then it re-emerged, and he noted it had a short tail and was a charcoal color. It was a shrew, and a rather tame one at that. It made its way into the corner where the dog had been lying and curled up in the warmth, oblivious to him.
He had me bring his work gloves, then he carefully folded the blanket around it. I opened the door, and he took it outside and across the road next to our shed and released it there. He later looked it up, and it is a short tail shrew, a common eastern shrew.
We are wondering how it got in. We are also wondering just how long it had been in the house, since it was not frightened of the dog or us and seemed perfectly ok with our conversation.
The standalone induction units that go up to about 1800 watts will work in a standard wall outlet. You might want to have a dedicated outlet for it, like you might have for a microwave oven.
A drop-in electric range top generally uses 220 power with an outlet in the space where the surface drops in, and that's what a drop-in induction surface would use, too.
I've actually seen a standalone induction cooktop, intended for commercial use, that requires a 220 outlet but can go up to about 3000 watts. It will handle a pot up to about 14 inches in diameter, so my 24 quart induction-ready stock pot would work on it. We used one at SFBI.
If I ever remodel the basement kitchenette, I might be tempted to get rid of the two-burner ceramic cooktop and replace it with an induction unit, especially if I can get one with enough power to do canning. (That might require putting in a 220 outlet, but that's not far from a power panel.)
I'm using my 1500 watt standalone induction unit a lot more these days, it doesn't heat up the kitchen nearly as much as using a gas or electric cooktop does, which is a big plus during the summer when it is hot. We've made Cardinal Preserves (strawberry jam) in it, without heating up the entire kitchen. I've put a small room thermometer about 6 inches away from the induction unit and it says the temperature when boiling something doesn't get above 75.
On Monday morning, I baked my version of the KABC Gourmet Soda Crackers after the dough rested in the refrigerator for about 16 hours. I rolled it out, cut the dough into 2x2-inch pieces, then baked on the convection setting of 400F for 4 minutes 40 seconds, turned the sheet around, and baked for another 4 minutes 40 seconds. I pulled them out, separated the crackers, removed the parchment, then put the crackers back in the oven, where they will stay until completely cool, to maintain crispness. My Wolf oven vents the heat well, which means that I do not have to prop the door open to prevent them from further browning. (This feature, however, is a pain when I would like to turn the oven off for a short time without losing the heat because I want to use it again within a half hour or so.)
Hugs to you and your family, CWCdesign, as you remember Michael's birthday.
I use our standalone induction unit a lot, but its coolest setting is still too hot for some tasks.
I started using it when I made the oyster stew on Christmas Eve, but the butter was getting too warm to poach the oysters slowly (they shouldn't sizzle), so I switched over to the electric cooktop which has continuous adjustment.
I've been thinking about switching the cooktop to induction, but we'd have to replace a number of pans, including my wife's egg pans, which aren't induction-ready
If you get a drop-in or standalone induction cooktop, make sure it has sufficiently low settings to handle things that need to be gently warmed.
On Saturday night I mixed the dough for English Muffins which I made yesterday. Last winter I had splurged on the Baking Steel mini-griddle for making them (and other things). It has a "moat" to catch the oil. It was the first time I had made them since I broke my wrist and I had a little bit of a learning curve with the griddle. I do now own an IR thermometer so I can test the temp on the plate.
I had gotten the griddle to the recommended temperature and added the avocado oil which slid to the back, did my test and it burned so I kept turning the heat down. The oil started smoking and I checked the temp and it had gotten way too high, so I kept turning it down and finally got it set on low. I ended up cooking the muffins for 2 ½ minutes on each side (supposed to be 5) and then baked for an additional 5. They might be overdone in the middle, but better than raw.
So my stove is not level in the back (I got out the level). I will move the griddle to the front burner, which is also smaller, next time and will just start heating on medium low. The problem with flat top electric stoves is that they don't adjust heat quickly. I've decided that I will splurge on an induction stove as to get natural gas would be way to expensive - there is not a line in the complex.
Today I will be baking fudge brownies with caramel in the middle for our celebration of Michael's birthday tomorrow. He would have turned 70.
We did have eggs Benedict (mostly) for lunch, though on Semolina bread, not on English muffins.
The Hollandaise came out very good, even if I was afraid for a while it would never thicken.
On Sunday, I mixed up dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers (aka Baker Aunt's Crackers). I will bake them at the end of the week.
I also mixed dough for my version of the KABC Gourmet Soda Crackers. It rests overnight in the refrigerator, gets baked tomorrow, then sits in the cooling oven to crisp.
I did some baking this week. First, I made Stollen. Then I made oatmeal raisin with mini chocolate chip cookies. Finally I made Pfeffernusse. I have never made pfeffernusse before and don't think I have ever had one either. I used a mashup of 2 recipes. I used the spice blend from Martha Stewart because I had all those on hand. I used the dough recipe and method from Chef John from Food Wishes (he's on Youtube). His recipe does not use any butter but calls for 2 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. I used half and half. My dough came out hard and dry so I gave it a good splash of additional half and half. Then the dough looked right and was workable. I used the Chef John glaze (lemon juice and powdered sugar) and enrobed the cookies with it.
I'm not sure about them as I have nothing to compare them to. The texture is more bread like than cookie like but they are OK. If I make them again I might use the Martha Stewart recipe which calls for 1 stick of butter.
One of my nephews (vaccinated but not yet boosted) tested positive for Covid after coming into contact with one or two people at his work who tested positive for it. He was and continues to be asymptomatic, but he visited his parents before he knew about his co-worker, so then they had to be tested. My sister, who had received her booster nine days earlier, continues to test negative. However, my brother-in-law tested positive, had trouble breathing, and had to be hospitalized for treatment. (He's home now.) He had been dragging his feet on getting the booster, even though he was eligible before she was. After hearing her story, several of my sister's friends immediately made appointments to get their booster shots.
Moral: Boosters are not optional.
I'm making a batch of pastry cream for a trifle, I think I'll make a triple batch (starting with 6 cups of milk) so there's some left over. 🙂
