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For dinner on Thursday, I made chicken salad from the rest of our roast chicken. I use a mixture of light mayonnaise and nonfat Greek yogurt, along with Dijon mustard, freshly ground black pepper, and dried dill for the dressing. I did not have any green onion, so I used some Penzey's dried onion. (Scott does not do well with regular onion.) I had three small red bell peppers, from the plants we brought in to overwinter on the porch, that were in the refrigerator, so I added those and some celery. I should have bought more celery last time we did the big shopping trip, as I prefer it be organically farmed. We had the chicken salad as open-faced sandwiches on the last of the Butternut Squash and Pepita Bread. I might try that recipe as buns for sandwiches.
Len--Salmon patties go extremely well with your Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina buns.
I plan to ignore the new food pyramid.
Skeptic--When I can't get any more product out of a honey or maple syrup jar, I save it for bread making and put hot water in it, then use the water to proof my yeast.
I'm glad that you were able to get your maple syrup back to its proper liquid state.
For dinner on Wednesday, I roasted a bone-in, half turkey breast that we found at the grocery store yesterday. I checked the internet for recipes and directions, and the directions are all over the place, with some sites not allowing me to look unless I lower my ad blocker (not going to happen). I rejected those that required overnight brining, as I needed it for dinner, as well as those with copious amounts of butter. Suggested temperatures ranged from 325-400 F with times for 20 minutes per pound up to a lot longer. In the end, I did a hodgepodge. I rubbed it with olive oil, sprinkled on dried sage and thyme, then put some sprigs from my rosemary plant atop it. I started it on a rack at 385 F for 10 minutes, then lowered the heat to 325 F. I checked after 30 minutes, then after another 20, then at two or three more 15-minute intervals to get to 165 F. I splashed it twice with some white wine to make sure it did not dry out. The meat was moist and tender, so I would certainly roast it the same way again, but I will take better notes next time. We had a phone call from one of the kids, so I lost track of the timing. I made a sauce out of the drippings after deglazing with white wine.
To go with the turkey breast, I boiled some cavatappi pasta that I combined with a 4 oz. broken up log of goat cheese and some olive oil, with a sprinkle of black pepper on mine. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli. For dessert, I pulled out a small loaf of zucchini bread that I made in the autumn.
I made Maple Granola on Tuesday. We were almost out, and it is a staple around our house.
We finished up the dressing and had more of the roast chicken and gravy, as well as microwaved frozen peas.
Skeptic--They are certainly NOT bread sticks. They do, however, pull apart nicely when cooled. It's like rolls where you bake them next to each other, but they break apart easily. I plan to try them as rolls next time.
On Monday, I finally baked a recipe that I have been wanting to try since last year: "Butternut squash and Pepita Pull-Apart Breadsticks. It was in an email that Red Star Yeast sent me, but in 2024, our farmers market had few butternut squashes. This year, there was a bonanza, and I bought a lot which I am now roasting and turning into puree. The recipe specified platinum yeast, which I do not have and have no intention of buying. I used regular yeast. I also made it half whole wheat, substituted olive oil for butter, added some milk powder and flax meal, and used buttermilk rather than whole milk. I also replaced half the water with more buttermilk. What could possibly go wrong? I allowed for longer rising times, but neither rise was spectacular. However, when I baked it, the oven spring was great. Although these are described as breadsticks, they are baked in a 9 x 9-inch pan, so it is more like long slices in a square loaf. It is topped with an egg wash, chopped pumpkin seeds, and a sprinkle of coarse salt. Scott and I both like the flavor. I think, however, that next time, I would bake them as rolls in the 9 x 9 pan and delete the salt in the topping. The recipe is a keeper as a bread but not as bread sticks.
Skeptic--Put a rack in a pot on the stove. (I have small circular racks that I use.) Set the jar in the pot, without its lid. Add water to the pan, up to about 1/4 to 1/3 of the jar height, and heat over medium heat. The crystals will dissolve, just as with honey, and you will have pourable maple syrup again. Let it cool before putting the lid back on the jar.
I awoke on Monday to the lovely smell of spice from the apple mixture in the crockpots. I let them go for about an hour longer, as I was busy. The big crockpot switches to warm after ten hours. The little one (Montgomery Wards) chugs along until I turn it off. I put the contents of the big one into my largest, deepest bowl before using my stick blender. The contents were nicely contained; had I done it in the crock, I would still be cleaning up. I put the pureed apple mixture back into the big crockpot, added the vanilla, then moved the contents of the smaller crockpot to the large, deep bowl and pureed it, before adding it to the big crockpot. It fit perfectly. I tasted it and decided to add another ¼ cup brown sugar and another 1/4 cup white sugar, as well as 2 tsp. more of cinnamon and ½ tsp. additional nutmeg. I also added another ½ tsp. vanilla. I asked Scott to taste it, and he thought it was fine. I then let the mixture simmer in the uncovered crockpot.
Although the recipe states two hours, I was cooking down a recipe and a half, and these apples were watery, so I kept an eye on it and kept stirring occasionally. As it approached three hours, the mixture mounded nicely on a spoon. I transported the crockpot out to the Annex, where I had the electric canner set up with sterilized jars. I ended up with six pints and a single 1-cup jar.
As Mike notes, the spices need to be increased from the base recipe, and I also add allspice and cloves. I think that the spices, and the amount of sugar and vanilla, depend in part on the apple variety. These were seconds, and I did not recognize many of the names. There were also more yellow apples than I usually like to use.
Can any of us ever have enough chocolate?
On Sunday, I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made last Monday. Scott is very happy to have his crackers again.
Thank you to everyone for your good wishes after Scott's fall on the ice. He is doing ok, but his right arm is swelling somewhat and when he forgot and moved it instinctively to catch a falling coat, he had some intense pain. We will follow up with our doctor this week.
Your pizza looks yummy, Joan! We had leftover roast chicken, dressing, and gravy, with microwaved mixed vegetables. I had some of my cranberry and dried cherries sauce. Leftovers are good when you have a big day in the kitchen.
I made yogurt on Sunday.
I also cut up apples to fill my 3 ½-qt. and 6 ½ qt. slow cookers. I started after dinner, and it was around 11:30 p.m. when I added the sugars and spices to each and plugged them in to cook overnight. This is the apple butter recipe that I made last year and the year before, after Mike posted a link to it. I have enough apples from the seconds we bought that I will be able to make a second batch later.
Joan, I'm glad that you are enjoying the blackberry jam! I love seeing it on your English muffin on your pretty green plate.
We had a scare today when Scott slipped on the icy steps while taking Annie to get the mail. I was making lunch, when a woman knocked and came in with Annie on her lead and asked if I were the wife of the man with the dog who fell on the stairs. They noticed him because Annie stayed with him and barked, and that got their attention as they were driving by. That couple was wonderful. They helped cover him, got him to agree to calling the EMTs, who convinced him that he should get checked out at the hospital. They also drove me to the hospital, as our roads have icy patches, and waited while he was checked, then drove us home. I'm going to bake them something to thank them. Scott did not break any bones, thank God, but he is going to be very sore, and he was not interested in eating much tonight except a little frozen yogurt. His right shoulder, in particular, is painful.
I had some of the leftover pea soup and scones.
I roasted a large chicken, about 6 ½ lbs. for New Year's Day dinner. I also made Pepperidge Farm dressing to go with it. (I bought two extra bags at Thanksgiving, so we are set.) To make the broth for the dressing, I pulled out some bones from chicken breasts that were in the freezer. Annie was beside herself, as she had been smelling chicken all day, but her reward awaited her. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli. Dessert was pumpkin pie.
Happy New Year Everyone!
We began ours with Cornmeal-Pumpernickel Waffles.
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