Like Len, I wanted a patriotic dessert for tomorrow, so on Tuesday afternoon, I baked Confetti Cookies, a recipe from the Smitten Kitchen blog (May 12, 2016). Instead of rainbow sprinkles, I used a mix of red, white, and blue nonpareils—until I ran out, at which point, I switched to rainbow ones. I found that I needed to bake mine 11 minutes rather than the 9-10 stated, but I have heavier baking sheets. I ended up with 40 cookies. I love the light texture and the crunchiness from the nonpareils. I will definitely bake this recipe again.
I made another batch of black raspberry jam this afternoon (details will be posted on the canning thread).
For Monday night’s dinner, I made potatoes with panko and parmesan encrusted boneless chicken breasts. Instead of using garlic powder, onion powder, and chives in the coating, I opted to use ½ tsp. Penzey’s poultry seasoning and to add a bit of onion powder and a bit of black pepper. As usual, I roasted the cut-up potatoes, rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with poultry seasoning for 30 minutes at 400F, then turned the temperature down to 375F, pushed the potatoes to either side of the pan, put the breasts in the center, then roasted for another 30 minutes. On the side we had the last of the green beans from the farmers’ market AND the first of the green beans from our garden.
My husband and I cooked dinner together on Saturday night. He cooked two boneless pork chops, then cut them up while I de-glazed the pan and set aside the drippings. I stir fried snow peas (farmers’ market) and sliced mushrooms, then added the pork, and drippings. I mixed with soba noodles and added sliced green onion at the end.
Bev--Now that you mention it, my grandmother may have just used cider vinegar and salt. Salt certainly brings out the sweetness of tomatoes. I'll mull this over. I picked up a lovely large heirloom tomato, a long thin cucumber, and a white onion at the farmers' market today, so I'm on the verge of experiment!
Len--I ran the Microsoft Defender scan, which said no problem, even as the problem persisted! MS was no help, and I stumbled upon the task bar fix on my own. (I was able to use Chrome with no problem.) Maybe I need to go back to Norton Anti-Virus, but it does not seem compatible with the Edge Defender--based on the computer mess I had back in February, in which I had to allow MS to strip off all my programs in order to get the computer out of a continuously spinning loop after MS downloaded some updates. In fact, that happened twice. (It's very irritating to have to put the sound driver back on the computer, among other things.) Supposedly the update assistant I added after the second time will cause that not to happen again, but I get nervous now every time MS puts on updates.
It hasn't always happened at Genius Kitchen, but it has happened there twice.
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by
BakerAunt.
Bakeraunt, my mother used to make the same salad while I was growing up (in Alabama). I also didn't pay attention to amounts or ingredients! However, I don't recall having oil in the dressing. She most likely used apple cider vinegar, probably added a little salt and nothing else. My Dad wanted his food simple and not fancy which is how she cooked. She rarely used recipes except for baked goods. If you find a good combination, I would be interested.
My grandmother used to make a sliced salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, and white onion. These were layered, and then allowed to marinate in an oil-cider vinegar dressing that also probably included salt. I'm not sure about sugar. She did this without a recipe, and I was too young at the time to notice proportions.
I've been searching the internet to try and figure out what should be in the dressing. In the process, my computer screen got locked by one of those "pretending to be Microsoft" scams that try to get you to click on their site or call their "help" number. I was finally able to use task manager to get out of it. I'm not sure I will ever go back to Genius Kitchen again, as it happened there once before.
Ok, I digressed.
The only salad I found that comes close uses 1/4 Cup olive oil (I'm pretty sure my grandmother used a standard vegetable oil), 3/4 Cup cider vinegar. It also uses 1/2 Tbs. red wine vinegar (not something my grandmother would have used, dii weed (definitely not!), 1 tsp sugar, and about 1/4 each of salt and pepper.
Before I strike out on my own, is anyone familiar with such a salad? It's probably a southern dish.
-
This topic was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.
-
This topic was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.
Thursday evening, I baked Double Ginger Biscotti with Pistachios. It’s my adaptation of a recipe from the June 1997 Bon Appetit. The second time I baked it (see April 8, 2017), I added 1/3 cup crystalized ginger (hence the “double” in my title). This time, I added ½ cup of crystalized ginger, as I wanted more ginger taste.
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.
For Thursday dinner, I made my sheet pan maple-glazed chicken and sweet potatoes with rosemary. We had steamed green beans (from farmers’ market) on the side.
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: clarity
On Thursday morning, I baked Wheat Germ Corn Muffins, a recipe from the back of a package of Bob’s Red Mill wheat germ. I also found it on their site:
https://www.bobsredmill.com/recipes/how-to-make/wheat-germ-corn-muffins/
It is like most cornbread recipes, but it uses just half a cup of cornmeal and adds ½ Cup wheat germ. I substituted buttermilk for regular milk, so I added ¼ tsp. baking soda (did not reduce the 1 tsp. baking powder), reduced the salt from ½ to ¼ tsp.. Instead of melted butter, I used 3 Tbs. canola oil. I made them as 6 large muffins rather than 12 standard. I had a warm one with butter—delicious!
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.
I got it at a restaurant supply store, 50 pounds for about $19. I figure even if I don't use 3/4 of it, I'm ahead financially. I'm going to double bag a bunch of it and freeze it.
A few year back I had my (now former) neighbor check and while ConAgra and Gold Medal both have clear flours in their catalogs, they're only carried by the east coast distribution centers (and sometimes on the west coast.) Unless he wanted to order a pallet (probably 40 bags), it wasn't available in the midwest.
Last night we grilled country style pork ribs, with potatoes roasted on the grill with herbs from the planters on the deck and garlic olive oil, and a green salad. Tonight we'ew grilling on the smoker chicken thighs, with broccoli and a gemelli with veggies (store-bought, carrots, peas, corn, green beans, plus celery, onion, and green pepper) salad. I'm using up the last of the frozen soup veggies in the freezer. I mixed up a dressing for it using mayonaise, chopped garlic, French's yellow mustard, and some mustard labeled Dijon, which is very very dry, has little flavor, and is very thick with whole mixed mustard seeds.
The Vermont Maple Sugarers' Association has been fighting this for several months, and we may be winning the battle. The FDA is now agreeing that we do not add sugar to maple syrup (not the real stuff, "pure" syrup, although of course we do know there are some businesses that try to pass off their "syrup" as pure maple syrup). And the FDA only meant that eating it is adding sugar to your body! Yeah, right! So, why doesn't the bag of white sugar say "sugar added"?? I think now the FDA has agreed to remove "added sugar" from the label, and is working on some other way to warn buyers to limit their intake of sugar. I'll read that article, too. Thanks for posting the link, Mike.
For breakfast on Tuesday, I baked a new recipe, "Cream Scones," from Beatrice Ojakangas' Breakfast with Beatrice (p. 200), which is a collection of her breakfast recipes from her various cookbooks. The recipe makes four small scones, and my only change was to substitute in 1/4 cup of cake flour for part of the 1 cup flour. These have a light texture and are slightly sweet.
We tried a bit of the jam--the little bit that did not fit into the canning jars. Black raspberries have wonderful flavor.
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.
-
This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.
The latest edition of Gastro Obscura has an article on salt rising bread entitled "Gangrene Bread". (Clostridium perfringens, the bacteria that salt rising bread uses for leavening, is the most common bacteria in food poisoning cases, usually causing just stomach issues but it is often found in cases of gangrene.)
See Salt Rising Bread
Black raspberries make an excellent pie, if you like berry pies with seeds in them. (I do.) If you strain out the seeds, it takes a lot more berries and I think then it gets a bit intense.
I've also made a clafoutis with black raspberries.
