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[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--I'm glad that your father is recovering. It is always iffy when an elderly person breaks a bone.

Here in northern Indiana, and indeed in much of Indiana, people are also not careful. I am now two weeks out from my booster shot, and I still wear my mask in stores or any indoor location. I notice that medical and dental offices require masks, and people seem to be honoring that, perhaps because they would be removed if they do not. Stores are another matter. Most employees (with the exception of my local grocery store) are required to mask, and I do so as well. Most customers are not. For me, the Covid-19 pandemic exposed not just selfishness, but a lack of caring for others in our society.

Our farmers market, which has an indoor location in the large meeting room of the public library has limited vendors, so that social distancing can be achieved, and vendors and buyers must wear masks. That gives me confidence to return. The unfortunate part is that not every vendor who wanted to participate could do so, and the decision was made based on having a variety, so some people are not happy.

[Mike Nolan]

Nobody seems to know when Ball canning lids will be back in stock in local stores (you can get them on Amazon but the prices are ridiculous), so I went ahead and ordered 200 of the Konblimc lids on Amazon, at about a dime each. I'll do some tests of them and report back, but they seem to fit my regular jars properly. I think they're made in China.

[cwcdesign]

I only have one clock that needs adjusting - the rest are on all my devices and are automatic - I did that one last night before I went to bed.

We will be having leftovers tonight and for another day or two. Last night I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It has been a couple of years since I made meatloaf and seemed to have forgotten ingredients and timing. I usually just throw everything into a bowl and mix it up, but this time I seem to have shortchanged us on the liquids and breading - the flavor was OK, but the meatloaf was dry (I also went a few degrees over on the baking). I usually cook it in a loaf pan but this time, I patted into shape and put it in a casserole. I know that mine always has taken longer than recipes say, but I second-guessed myself. I have found that 375º is a better temperature for me and takes about an hour. I saw two recipes from people I normally trust and they both said from 40-60 minutes at 350º. Mine was nowhere near done at that time or temp. But, then when it was 30º below target temp, I went 15 more minutes and it was overdone. I have to trust myself more.

[Mike Nolan]

USDA recommends that you use clearjel rather than starch (cornstarch or wheat flour) when canning pie filling.

I don't think I've seen them in stores, at least not lately, but I do see 3 cup (24 ounce) Ball canning jars on Amazon, but not at a price I'd be willing to pay. There are some 20 and 22 ounce jars, probably from China, on Amazon, but the reviews on them aren't very positive and the jars may not be compatible with Ball/Kerr lids and bands.

[BakerAunt]

I found a cup of frozen, unsweetened applesauce in the freezer, so Saturday afternoon, I baked White Whole Wheat Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts,” a recipe that originated at King Arthur, that originally used whole wheat flour, although they later used white whole wheat flour. On the KABC site it uses AP flour. I have been working with this recipe off and on since 2013, but the version I baked today is the best. I reduced the sugar from 1 ¼ cup to 1 cup and the salt from 1 ½ tsp. to ½ tsp. I reduced the 4 Tbs. boiled cider to 1 tsp., and the vanilla from 1 ½ tsp. to ½ tsp. I want the flavor of my homemade applesauce to dominate! I have some Penzey’s Chinese cinnamon that I used. I had a partial egg left over from another use, so I used that with the other two eggs (recipe calls for three). I coated the two six-well doughnut pans with The Grease. I found that the thick batter was easy to distribute using a mini-spoonula—about three glops per well. I baked for 17 minutes. I inverted them onto the rack almost immediately. I moved each doughnut to a platter and sprinkled it with Penzey’s Cinnamon Sugar (includes a bit of vanilla.) The recipe includes a maple glaze, but I decided to forgo it in favor of the light cinnamon sugar dusting.

I ate a warm one with a cup of tea--ah, autumn feels real!

[Mike Nolan]

At the height of tomato season, I made a big batch of tomato relish (recipe here), somewhere around 8 quarts of it.

The last time I made a big batch I overcooked it trying to reduce it and we didn't care for the taste, so this time I cooked it until I thought it tasted right. It was still fairly watery at that point, so we've been dishing it out with a slotted spoon to drain it a bit, because it turns a hot dog bun soggy quickly.

To save some time, I drained a bunch of it and put it in a 1 quart container. I saved the liquid that I drained off, which is a combination of vinegar, sugar, salt, tomato juice and the juices from the onions and sweet peppers. I thought it might make a good salad dressing.

Tonight we had salads for supper, with some tuna fish, tomatoes (close to the last from the garden) and cheese. My wife used the relish liquid as her salad dressing, I added it to some Dorothy Lynch (French-style) dressing. I also put some on some steamed rattlesnake beans. It was very good on both.

It would be ironic if we wound up using the excess liquid from this year's relish before we ate all the relish, but it is certainly possible.

[Mike Nolan]

I can do spaghetti from scratch in about 35 minutes start to finish, but that's using sauce from a can (Hunts pasta sauce, there are two garlic-free ones!, and a can of diced tomatoes and usually a small can of tomato paste, plus a can of mushrooms.) If I want to make a meat sauce or meatballs that adds another 20 minutes to just brown the meat or 40 minutes to make meatballs and cook them in the sauce.

And that time includes making cheese toast in the oven.

[Mike Nolan]

At least with baking a large amount of the total time is just waiting: during bulk rise, final rise, baking and cooling. That's why the 'bread in 5 minutes a day' method works. But you still need to pay attention to it, because of things like overproofing.

But even a fairly simple savory dish can involve 45 minutes to an hour or more of active prep time, and sauteeing or frying are not 'hands-off' activities.

One of my pet peeves with recipes is when they call for a cup of something like a diced vegetable without giving you an idea of how much that weighs. How you dice it makes a big difference in how much the cup of diced vegetable weighs. The autumn chicken dish I made last week called for four different diced or cut ingredients: sweet potatoes, apples, Brussels sprouts and onions. It also called for 6 ounce chicken thighs, but the only ones I could find were 8 ounce (4 to a two-pound package.) We both took pretty large servings of vegetables with each thigh, but there was still a lot of vegetable left over at the end.

[Mike Nolan]

I can find 24 ounce (pint and a half) and 28 ounce canning jars, but nothing between 32 and 64 ounce. (And the USDA recommends against using 64 ounce canning jars for much of anything.)

[Mike Nolan]

Most people make cookies on the big side, and that cuts into yield. But of course so does snacking on raw dough, even though it is frowned upon these days. My mother usually had to make a double batch of her oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in order to get 3 dozen baked. (And to be fair, she'd snack on the raw dough, too.)

I've been known to weigh the raw dough then weigh the first few cookies to see if I'm making them the size the recipe anticipates. Most of the time I'm way over.

[Mike Nolan]

Soups need time for the flavors to meld together and mellow out. If I make it in the morning, it'll have mellowed out by supper, but most of the time I don't get it started until after lunch.

Even chili is better over time. My wife's stepmother used to make her football chili (recipe available on this site) in the morning, then leave it on a low temperature while everyone went to the game. By the time we got back some 5 hours later it was pretty good.

[Mike Nolan]

We had macaroni and cheese, as my wife is on trick or treat door duty this evening, though it is cold here (upper 40's) and activity has been slower than normal.

We're doing safe distancing trick or treating again this year.

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[BakerAunt]

I have wanted to try the Pumpkin Soda Bread in Ken Haedrich’s The Harvest Baker, p. 52, and Sunday (Halloween) seemed a good time to bake with more pumpkin. I knew that I would have to make at least one change to the recipe, as it uses 4 Tbs. butter, which he cuts into the flour. I also thought that I could make it more whole grain. I replaced 2 ½ cups of the AP flour with the Irish whole meal flour that King Arthur sells and used 2 cups KAF for the rest. I reduced the salt from 2 tsp. to 1 tsp. I added 2 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill milk powder to increase the calcium, and because I think the added dairy helps when replacing butter. Instead of 4 Tbs. butter, I used 3 Tbs. avocado oil, for a little more fat than canola oil would provide. I also chose golden raisins. I used 1 cup of pumpkin rather than ¾, in part because mostly I freeze pumpkin in 1 cup, 2 cups, or 1 ½ cup containers, and I did not want ¼ cup left over. I hoped that the whole meal flour would take up some of the excess liquid. Instead of an egg yolk, I used half an egg that I had left over from another use. I mixed all the liquid ingredients together, then added them to the flour, raisin, nut mixture, which is what I do for an oil-based pie crust or scones. The dough was sticky, so there was no way I would be kneading it, but it held together nicely when glopped onto two corners of a parchment-lined baking sheet, and I was able to shape it a bit around the sides. I baked for the stated 40 minutes, turning the sheet at the halfway point. I might cut two minutes off the baking time, as they seem slightly overbrowned. The flavor and texture are excellent. I will bake this recipe, with my changes, again.

I have been pleased with The Harvest Baker. While Ken Haedrich is not always as focused on heart healthy ingredients as I would wish (he recovered from a heart attack a few years ago, so he must have some awareness of the issues), I can usually find ways of adapting the recipes in his baking book, which is one of the few I have found that has great squash recipes.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I roasted and pureed a Winter Frost squash. I am planning to use it for a curried soup later in the week. I learned on Wednesday, at a routine dental cleaning, that one of my molars has died, and I did not know or feel it (had a crown). So, on Monday, we drive to South Bend where I have an appointment with an endodontist for a root canal. I do not know how much I will feel like chewing after the procedure, so the squash is there for a quick soup.

Sunday dinner is Lentil-Turkey-Vegetable soup. I began by sauteing chopped carrots and celery in olive oil, then adding ground turkey to brown, before adding some minced garlic, and sliced mushrooms. I then add homemade turkey/chicken stock from the freezer, 1 Tbs. rehydrated dried onion, 2 cups rinsed Bob’s Red Mill Vegi-Soup blend (split green and yellow peas, brown and red lentils, and some barley), and 1 Tbs. of Penzey’s Ozark Seasoning. After 45 minutes, I added chopped yellow squash, and near the end, I added some kale leaves. It will be a warm soup for several additional nights. After an unseasonably warm autumn, this week our area will see temperatures near freezing overnight.

[cwcdesign]

Chilling the dough makes it less sticky so it’s easier to roll into balls for rolling in sugar and baking. Claire is a baker I trust and there is plenty of sugar, molasses, butter and egg in her recipe - mine did not look like hers when they came out of the oven - that’s how I know it was user error(s)