On Wednesday afternoon, I made four cups of strawberry jam, using my Bell jam maker and the Bell large electric canning pot (pot sits on a base and has a spigot for draining into the sink). I had about 1/3 Cup left over, so I refrigerated it, and I’m thinking it will go well with biscuits or scones tomorrow morning. As an experiment, I did my canning in the garage apartment kitchen. It worked well in that I was away from distraction. The downside was that due to some delays, I had dinner in the oven, so I had to do some running back and forth, and the meat got a bit overdone. These strawberries, maybe because they are so fresh, made absolutely magnificent jam (I licked a spatula), and my husband who walked in and sniffed said, "That smells amazing!"
The recipe I use is the lower sugar one from the booklet that came with the jam maker. I like the jam maker, although it only makes four cups or so at a time, because I do not have to stand over the stove and stir. Since we do not eat a massive amount of jam, small batches work for us.
I've not tried canning anything other than jam and blueberry pie filling. Perhaps the Farmers Market will inspire me. We do freeze a lot of blueberries.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by
BakerAunt.
For lunch on Wednesday, I made Curried Butternut Squash Soup with some butternut puree I froze last October. I used 3 Cups puree, 2 Cups chicken/turkey broth, 1 tsp. Penzey’s Now Curry, and a few Tablespoons of heavy cream. We will be going down to one refrigerator/freezer when (if?!) our renovation starts, so I need to see what should be used.
For dinner on Wednesday, I made another attempt at cooking a Top Round roast. I decided to do roasted potatoes as well. I have matching small rectangular Emile Henry baking dishes, so I cut up yellow potatoes, rubbed them with olive oil and put them in one dish (I used cooking spray) and sprinkled them with rosemary. I baked those for 30 minutes at 400F. I used cooking spray in the other dish as well, then rubbed the 1.25-pound roast with Worcestershire sauce on both sides and sprinkled it with garlic powder, onion powder, Penzey’s Paprika Smoked Spanish Style, and sprinkled on rosemary. I reduced the oven temperature to 300F. and put the roast in next to the dish of potatoes for an hour. That was a bit too long for the meat; 40 minutes would probably have been better. However, it still tasted good.
My husband planted our garden a couple of weeks ago. He made it narrow and long (but not too long) and put a 5-foot wire fence around it, then chicken wire around the bottom. He puts old screens from the windows on top. He left one end open, but he closes it off at night. The narrow and long and higher fence is to deter deer, which do not like to jump into a space they will have trouble exiting. The chicken wire around the bottom is to deter the rabbits, and perhaps the squirrels and chipmunks.
Unfortunately, we had hotter weather than usual in May, so the spinach and lettuce may not make it. The carrots may recover. The green beans are coming up nicely. The bell pepper plant and the two tomato plants went in a couple of days ago. At least the weather has cooled down to what is more in line with June temperatures.
Skeptic7. The lemon biscotti came out even better than the first time I baked it (more lemon zest this time).
I dock the cracker dough with a fork, one stab at a time. I keep thinking that somewhere amongst my kitchen utensils I must have some kind of docker, but until our renovation gets started and finished, I'll have to wait to find out.
When I make the Swedish Christmas flat bread, I use a "knackebrod rolling pin that is notched, and that makes the indentations. However, I don't think it would work with the very thin cheese cracker dough.
Navlys--Isn't it great to discover gems among those saved recipes?
Tuesday night dinner was another stir-fry with sliced mushrooms, celery, yellow bell pepper, broccoli florets, diced pork left over from Sunday dinner, along with the saved drippings, noodles (blend of wheat and buckwheat) and sliced green onions added just before serving.
I'm planning on baking the KAF Wheat-Oat Flax Buns (with my changes, of course) either Sunday evening or early tomorrow morning. We have company arriving tomorrow.
I'm not cooking tonight; my husband will be cooking boneless pork ribs again. I have bought him a new nonstick skillet (All Clad, on sale at T.J. Maxx--we were actually in a city last week!), as the old one had a build-up of crud and the coating was scratched significantly in one place. I will keep a watchful eye on him to make sure that he uses a bit of grapeseed oil--and lets it heat up--and uses high enough heat to get browning on the meat.
Navlys--I've been amazed what my husband will eat as long as he doesn't know what is in it (intense spices, however, I do avoid). It also does not do to tell him afterwards, as he will then decide if he has any problem that it must be what I cooked or baked.
Some people taste with their mouths, some people taste with their eyes and my husband tastes with his ears. When he heard I was making a prune, peppercorn and herb rubbed roast (eye round) he was immediately turned off. "But honey the prunes are just in the marinade", says I. Too late. Anyway it was another milk St. recipe which turned out pretty good, I think. The roast has to be thinly sliced and it will make great roast beef sandwiches for the future. (shhh!)
Nutmeg used to be used as a meat preservative, if you look at recipes from colonial days they would grund up 2 or 3 nutmegs to preserve a few pounds of beef. (And nutmeg wasn't a cheap spice then, either.)
The USDA's database says that a teaspoon of ground nutmeg is 2.2 grams and a tablespoon is 7 grams. (Yeah, that doesn't add up.)
I weighed several whole nutmegs on my microscale (1/10 gram increments) and they ranged from 2.2 grams to 4.7 grams.
We did go to LaMars this morning for our free donuts, but we also bought a dozen of them, most of which went in the freezer. (They freeze very well.)
Mike, I was all over the internet, including Microplane's website, and I can't find a nutmeg grinder by Microplane. I found the William Bounds Nutmeg Grinder at Williams-Sonoma (see link).https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/nutmeg-grinder/?pkey=e%7Cnutmeg%2Bgrinder%7C95%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH#reviews Thanks, Mike.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by
Italiancook.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Italiancook.
I spent a couple of hours shelling pecans to get three cups of pieces. I'm going to make the dough for Lemon Walnut (but I'm using Pecans) Biscotti, a recipe from Bon Appetit (April 2005), p. 119, which I first baked back at the start of January. The dough is to be refrigerated at least three hours or up to three days, so I plan to bake them tomorrow morning. They should go well with iced tea.
Joan--my Mom liked to season green beans with bacon. (I do it when my husband is not around to object.)
I’m making a sheet pan dinner this Thursday evening: Maple Roasted Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Rosemary (I’ve posted the recipe somewhere on this site).
