I made up some oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookie dough, portioned it out and froze it (baked a few for "quality control"). I'll be baking them either Friday or Saturday to bring to our block party on Saturday. They're calling for rain but hopefully it will hold off until late.
For lunch on Wednesday, I needed to use up a cup of leftover black beans. I cooked ¼ cup bulgur (dry) and mixed it with the beans. I added drizzle of olive oil, ¼ tsp. of Penzey’s Southwest Seasoning (was a freebie), sliced green onion, and chopped tomato from our garden. It made enough for me to have it again tomorrow.
I've never made pastrami, I've made corned beef a few times, none of the recipes I tried were worth repeating. The best thing I've made with a brisket is the time I tried to do a variant on Montreal Smoked Meat (without the garlic.) It was almost good enough to convince me to buy a real smoker. It bears some resemblance to pastrami.
The pastrami at Katz's on Houston in NYC is world-famous, and for good reason. I had a friend who lived in Chelsea for a while and he would take the subway down to Katz's every few days. Later he moved to the DC area for a few months, and was ordering whole pastramis from Katz's every few months.
That sounds so good, Chocomouse!
We had more of the leftover pork tenderloin for dinner, and the little that remained of the mashed potatoes, along with steamed broccoli. I felt the need for something more, so I experimented. I had about ¼ cup leftover quinoa, which I decided to add to a bulgur (cracked wheat) salad. I found an online recipe from Ellie Krieger that The Washington Post had printed and used it as my base. I cooked ½ cup bulgur in 1 cup of water. Once it was cooked, I spread it on a plate to cool, then mixed it with the bit of quinoa, some chopped red onion, some chopped tomatoes from our garden, a Tbs. of olive oil, a tsp. bottled lemon juice, a dash of salt, and 1 ½ tsp. of the Penzey’s Sunny Paris seasoning (was a freebie). It was ok, but it needs feta cheese, so I’ll get some at the grocery tomorrow and add it before we re-run it tomorrow. I’m not sure the Sunny Paris made much of an impact in the recipe.
Our farmers' market ends in October, although there has been some discussion about a monthly winter market. I had considered baking for the FM this summer, but repeated delays from our contractor have left us unrenovated. That will change. We asked our architect to recommend another contractor, and we are awaiting his bid. We have high hopes of a start in November--and I really hope that the snow will delay its arrival during the time part of the house is opened.
The baked goods at our FM consist of whatever the Amish family brings, as well as a lady that does muffins, and another who does cinnamon rolls for the Tuesday market (now ended for the season). There is a baker who brings pastries from his place outside Chicago for an occasional stint at the Saturday market. I'm thinking that scones, small Bundt cakes, and some breads might be my niche. Indiana's cottage food law does allow vendors to take orders online, but the baked goods must be delivered at the market, if it comes from an "uninspected kitchen."
I grew up in a small town (population 1200 then, more like 800 today) that had as many as 3 grocery stores. Today there are none, just a convenience store/gas station that seems to me to have a somewhat larger than usual section of groceries. I think the nearest real grocery store is 15 miles away.
Two of our neighbors raised vegetables and sold them at roadside stands in the summer and fall, another baked bread and cookies that she sold to a regular clientele. Our neighbor across the street at times ran a roadside hamburger stand, when she wasn't running one of the two restaurants in town.
The farmers markets here are too big and have too many procedures, rules and limitations, but if I lived in a small town I'd think about baking for a local farmer's market at least occasionally.
On Monday, I again baked my new version of Barley-Wheat Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread—a rather fast turnaround, as I just baked two loaves last Thursday. One was intended for the freezer, but I visited a friend in town in her clothing resale shop on Friday morning, and after a long conversation about myriad topics, including the lack of good bread in town, I looked through the clothes and found Levi men’s shorts in my husband’s size and the style he prefers. (These are even hard for me to find new.) She told me to take them home and either bring them back or pay her when I came by again. The shorts fit, so I asked if she would like the $3 or a loaf of the bread. She texted: “Bread, please,” so I took it to her. She texted me yesterday to say that my bread is wonderful, and I definitely should consider selling it. (One topic we had discussed was Farmers’ Market.) I promised my husband that if I bartered away one of his loaves (Grape Nuts Bread, especially this new version) is his favorite), I would bake it again, and we went through our one loaf quickly.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by
BakerAunt.
I baked the KAF Deep Dark Brownies on Sunday evening. I cut back the Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips from 1 cup to about 1/4 cup (30 grams to be precise). This recipe is best if it sits overnight.
My husband has been wanting something chocolate, so I turned to this oil-based brownie. After I cut down the optional chocolate chips--which I've never considered optional, sigh--I calculated that if I cut them into 12 pieces, it's 2.5 grams per piece, which is acceptable.
I'm making Vienna bread today, and probably a batch of Irish peach cake (Irish apple cake using peaches.)
Joan--It is so neat to cook with tools that have been in the family for so many years. (Hmm--maybe this could be a thread topic?)
I agree with Navlys--your chicken sounds great!
Skeptic I can sympathize with your thriftiness . I bought a box of Ferrara (hard) ladyfingers on sale 3 years ago. I couldn't bear to throw them away. So today I spent $4 on marscapone to make tiramisu. I used the recipe on the box and I think it came out pretty good. I do not like cream cheese so don't even think about it as a substitution.
I bought baby back ribs on sale and baked them with rub in foil at 350 for 2 1/2 hrs and then sauced them and baked them a little longer. They were superb! I also discovered that they were not the usual "onsale" (Smithfield) brand. They were the "Swift" brand and they were not fatty but meaty. I've purchased so called "xtra meaty" ribs and nothing compares to these.
I haven't made any kind of pie in a long time and haven't made a peach pie in years. So today I made a peach pie. I followed a recipe on Youtube but seasoned it with a pinch of cloves and a couple of drops of almond extract. I cheated on the crust, used the refrigerated Pillsbury pie crust. I won't know how it turned out until tomorrow (if I can contain myself tonight) but I think it looks good.
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The grocery had pork tenderloins on sale this week, so for Friday’s dinner, I made my Maple-Glazed tenderloin roast. To accompany it, I made mashed potatoes from Deseree potatoes (apparently the most popular variety in Europe) that I bought at the farmers’ market on Tuesday. I made rough, mashed potatoes and left the skins on. I used just a bit of butter and half and half. Steamed green beans and sliced tomatoes rounded out the meal.
Note: I've corrected the name of the potato in this post.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: correction
On Thursday afternoon, I baked two loaves of Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread. I used the same proportions as last time, except that I accidentally increased the barley flour to 1 cup (moment of inattention), so I decreased the AP flour to 1 ¼ Cup. The bread baked well, so I may incorporate that change as I work to increase the recipe’s whole grain content. I baked to 195F, which works better for a bread with honey.
