For Sunday’s dinner, I made the “Pizza Beans” from Smitten Kitchen Every Day. I first made this recipe last fall, but at the time, my husband requested that next time I make it, I add ground turkey, so I did. I had mozzarella on hand, thanks to Mike Nolan’s helpful advice that it can be frozen. (I freeze it in 4 oz. amounts, tightly wrapped in saran, then sealed in a baggie.) I decrease her amount of cheese from 8 oz. to 4 oz. and use one made with part skim milk. I cooked my own large lima beans from scratch. I do not have the Italian type she uses, so I just used the large lima beans sold by Bob’s Red Mill. We like this recipe, so it will stay in the repertoire. It was particularly nice on a cold day in which it snowed heavily all afternoon.
As I recall, the explanation is that the carbon dioxide released by the yeast (or other forms of leavening) makes existing bubbles grow, but the reason it doesn't form a lot of new ones has to do with the surface tension that air bubbles need to exist, because the molecules of carbon dioxide released by the leavening are too small to easily combine into a new bubble. They can be absorbed into existing bubbles, though.
Chemical leavening may produce more new bubbles than yeast.
If you've ever been to a commercial bread factory (I hesitate to call them bakeries), they use aerating nozzles to inject gas bubbles into the dough, although in many cases it's closer to a batter. That's how they get the loaves so airy.
I found a recipe for Whole Grain Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies a while back. They use oil instead of butter:
Whole Grain Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
I made a few changes to see if I could further reduce saturated fat and increase nutrition. Here's what I did:
1. I used natural peanut butter (the kind with the oil that has to be stirred). The recipe did not specify what type to use, so I assume it is the trans fat stuff.
2. I used canola rather than olive oil, since olive oil has twice the saturated fat as olive oil. However, given how bland canola oil is, that may have contributed to a bland taste.
3. I halved the salt from 1/2 to 1/4 tsp.
4. I added 1 Tbs. flax meal.
5. I reduced the oil from 1/3 cup to 3 Tbs., since I used natural peanut butter.
6. I used about 1/3 cup (60 grams) regular dark chocolate chips--that is what I had, and that makes 6g saturated fat in the recipe.
7. I added 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill powdered milk
8. I did not add nuts.
9. I used white whole wheat flour.
After I mixed it up, it made a firm ball of dough. I decided to press it into a lined 15x10 inch jelly-roll pan lined with parchment. I used slightly dampened hands. I baked it for 20 minutes, which was a little too long, although they did not burn. The bottoms were browner than I would have liked, and they were a bit dry. I would probably bake for 15 minutes next time.
The flavor is bland. I had expected the peanut butter to be more pronounced, but it is rather faint. My husband agrees about the taste, but he ate two at lunch and two at dinner, probably because he feels chocolate deprived. I wonder if the recipe could be adapted to use all peanut butter and no oil.
I don't know that I'll try these again, but I would like a peanut butter oat bar that does not use butter or margarine or Crisco.
We got back from our Florida vacation late Monday afternoon. Dinner was a rotisserie chicken and half a package of mushroom noodles (sold by Aldi’s) mixed with some olive oil, and a package of frozen broccoli and some Parmesan cheese. I microwaved the package of broccoli first, then when the noodles finished cooking, added the broccoli to the water and allowed to sit for a minute or so before draining, then adding the olive oil and Parmesan
Not scratch baking but...i had a pkg, of brownie mix and used light olive oil for oil( didn't have anything else) and spread the warm brownies with a squeeze pkg. of Duncan Hines frosting and topped with crushed chocolate peppermint pretzel crisps. Surprise,surprise they were good. The frosting was a freebee from my supermarket. It took all my strength to squeeze the frosting. I don't think it's going to be a winner.
No baking for me today (unless you count making a batch of custard).
We had theatre tickets this afternoon, so we had Blaze Pizza for lunch, and then had it again for supper, since it was a long show (3 hours).
In "American Pie", Peter Reinhart talks about pizza places in Italy that make a pizza that's about 3 meters long, they have to fold it (like an accordion, I guess) to get it in the oven. You order it by the centimeter.
We're probably not having anyone over for the Super Bowl this year, I don't know that I'll much cooking that day.
OMG! I remember making those salads for Thanksgiving dinner every year, the only time we had them! Making those was quite a step up from putting the silverware and linen napkins on the table! My mother hated to cook and was not a good cook - those two traits are probably highly correlated! We all still laugh about some of the things we ate. Surprisingly, in spite of that, we all (6 siblings) are excellent cooks who really enjoy cooking. Every chef-authored book that I ever read with my career exploration students in high school emphasized the positive relationship and role model of an older, usually female, family member who loved to cook. Such memories!
I've always thought putting parsley on a plate was stupid, and the judges on Chopped (all great chefs) seem to agree.
Anyway, Arthur Hailey said it best in one of his early books, Hotel, when he had the sous chef say: There's too much parsley on the plate and not enough in the soup.
I made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies (Quaker Oats recipe), added toasted walnuts to it. Froze half of them and baked up half. Then I melted Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips and dipped the cookies in it. They came out pretty good.
I made the Crusty Gruyere Loaves from the KAF website for a bookclub meeting tomorrow night. I've made them a number of times, and they are delicious and also impressive looking. This time I cut the filled and rolled dough into 6 pieces for 6 rolls, planning to cut each of the huge rolls into 4ths at the potluck. (most of us are usually on diets and limiting carbs!) I also added chopped green olives to take the flavor up another notch.
I made meat ball subs tonight, first time ever. I used a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, and they turned out very tasty, although a bit time consuming to make. I had made whole wheat sub rolls yesterday. I used ground turkey, and made tomato sauce from garden tomatoes in the freezer. I would make them again, but plan to not be making anything else at the same time (Crust Gruyere Loaves).
I sautéed some onions and peppers and chicken tenders with TJ’s simmer sauce. Yo make it my own I sprinkled several of the spices I bagged before leaving home ( in Fl. for 3 mos.) and it turned out HOt Hot HOT. I guess without the labels you don’t know what your getting.
When we first got a food processor, around 40 years ago, we used it a lot.
I don't use mine very often these days, nor do I use a stand blender. (I don't think there's even one in the kitchen.) I use my stick blender frequently, though.
