BakerAunt
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What lovely tomatoes, Len! Ours are so slow this year, and I am yearning for that turkey bacon and tomato sandwich. At this rate, we won't have any until September, and there are not that many.
I have been looking for ways to use blackberry puree (what is left after I remove a lot of the seeds) other than in jam, as we can only eat and give away so much. While Scott would have been happy with a rerun of the Bittersweet Blackberry Brownies, I need a break from intense chocolate, so I googled and found a recipe, "Blackberry Swirl Coffee Cake" by Melissa at the blog "A Latte Food."
I used a scant cup (probably 7 oz.) of blackberry puree, while she calls for 1 ½ cup fresh or frozen blackberries which she purees with ¼ cup of sugar. I instead heated my blackberry puree with the sugar and let it cook a bit, then stirred in 1 Tbs. of chia seed to thicken it, before letting it cool.
I replaced her AP flour with King Arthur's Golden wheat (white whole wheat). Instead of 1/4 cup granulated sugar and ½ cup brown sugar, I used ½ cup granulated sugar. As I would be using buttermilk rather than regular milk, I changed 2 tsp. baking powder to 1 tsp. baking powder and ¼ tsp. baking soda. I added 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder and 1 Tbs. flax meal. I replaced the 1/3 cup melted butter with 1/3 cup avocado oil. I used the equal amount, as I would be replacing the sour cream with nonfat Greek yogurt, so I thought a little more fat would be good. I replaced the milk with buttermilk. For the topping, I cut the recipe in half; like King Arthur, she is clearly a fan of the deep streusel topping. I replaced the cold butter with an equal amount of avocado oil. I baked it in a 9 x 9-inch ceramic dish, because the acidity of the blackberries would damage the coating on the USA pans. It only needed 30 minutes to bake. Once the coffee cake had cooled, I needed to run a knife around the sides to loosen it. We each had a slice for dessert, and we decided the recipe is a keeper.
Dinner on Monday was the leftover shrimp and fettuccini from Saturday.
For Sunday breakfast, I made Pumpkin Oat Wholegrain Belgium Waffles. I cut the brown sugar from ¼ cup to 2 Tbs. With maple syrup, the waffle itself does not need to be overly sweet. Annie, of course, was in heaven, as she loves waffles.
I made soup for dinner on Sunday. I used some broth from the last batch I made, and I boiled up the bones from the split chicken we had last week to add to it. The soup was my usual with the Bob's Red Mill mixture of brown and red lentils, split green and yellow peas, and barley. I used browned ground turkey and sauteed carrots, celery, a yellow bell pepper, and a few leftover mushrooms. We have plenty to alternate with other meals this coming week.
We had a lot of rain, starting Friday night and lasting until late Saturday morning. Scott's rain gauge showed two inches had fallen, some of it in hard spurts. More is predicted for this evening, and a number of counties are under a flood watch. (The draining of wetlands that would absorb the excess water is a contributing factor.) We are on high enough ground for it not to be a problem for us. Annie is scared of the rain because she worries there will be thunder. To make matters worse, at 1:15 a.m. this morning a smoke detector announced that its battery needed replacing, and the high-pitch screech sent her downstairs to cower in her safety corner for the rest of the evening. I was not happy either at being awakened, as I had gone to bed late and was just drifting off. I had the battery out before Scott could even get up.
I took advantage of this cooler, humid day to bake two loaves of my adaptation of Len's Whole Wheat, Rye, and Semolina Bread. I needed to use up the last bits of molasses in a jar (nothing goes to waste around here), so I replaced the honey in the bread with molasses, rinsing out the jar with the water I would use to proof the yeast. I got two lovely, nicely risen loaves. As I noted when I baked this bread in Florida, this recipe is made for humidity. I look forward to sampling a slice tomorrow and tasting the difference in using molasses.
For dinner on Saturday, I made my adaptation of a Lemony Shrimp Pasta Primavera. The original recipe used the vegetables of spring: asparagus and peas. I used a zucchini cut into quarter wedges, which I caramelized on one side in olive oil before adding chopped red and purple bell pepper and sliced onion to the pan. I then added three small cloves of minced garlic, then a bunch of halved red and purple cherry tomatoes from our garden. After letting the cherry tomatoes begin to release their juice, I added just a bit of lemon juice (left over from when I baked cookies), then a bag of cooked in shell (and shelled) frozen shrimp. I tossed it with fettucine, and I grated a little Parmesan over each serving. So, what do I call the recipe? Primavera means spring. Google tells me that the Italian word for summer is estate, so maybe Shrimp Pasta Estate?
Our Friday night dinner was simple. I roasted some potato chunks and nine minutes before they were done added the leftover zucchini from last night. We had it with the rest of the roast chicken.
That's quite a set-up Mike.
We have yet to get any large tomatoes, although there are two green ones. We are doing well with cherry tomatoes. We have had a first picking of green beans, and more are on the way. The pickling cucumbers are doing well, and I just made my second batch of refrigerator dills from our garden. However, my husband forgot about two in the garden, and they have yellowed skin. I will see if I can peel them and use them in another way. We have some small green peppers on all the plants. The pumpkin plant has finally formed some flower buds, but it looks like they are all male flowers. We may have a repeat of last season when most of the pumpkins developed too late. The potato plants have really grown, and my husband had to cover up a potato or two that had started to show.
I will remember that Italian Cook if I need a lighter olive oil. I like using the whole grain flours, and we particularly like barley flour, so regular olive oil for these cookies is fine for me.
On Thursday, I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made last Saturday.
I made yogurt on Thursday. For dinner, we had more chicken and rice and finished the barbecue sauce. I sauteed green and yellow zucchini in olive oil, caramelizing it, to complete the meal. I made another jar of refrigerator dill pickles after dinner. They will be ready when we finish consuming the current jar.
Baking is a wonderful gift for people who help us, Joan! I'm sure they appreciate you.
After dinner on Wednesday, I baked Lemon Oatmeal Barley Sugar Cookies, which is becoming a signature recipe for me. I have learned that even though I replaced the butter with olive oil, it is still necessary to chill the dough for a couple of hours. I also have learned that the white whole wheat flour and barley flour are necessary to prevent an olive oil flavor. I used the remaining three lemons that I got from my sister when we went to California at the end of April. They kept well in the refrigerator. I am hoping the 35 cookies (one is rather small) will hold us for the next week if not a couple days longer.
I made a mixture of brown and wild rice on Wednesday to go with the leftover barbecue sauce from the pork. We also had leftover roasted chicken and microwaved fresh broccoli.
I ate the last Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie today, so I need to bake cookies again.
After yesterday's rain, we had a somewhat cooler day, although the humidity stuck around for most of Tuesday. I baked a full recipe of my adaptation of Shipyard Galley's Zucchini Muffins this morning--12 regular-sized ones to eat over the next few days and 5 large ones to freeze for future breakfasts.
In the afternoon, I baked Bittersweet Blackberry Brownies using puree frozen from last year. After they rest in the refrigerator overnight, we will begin having them for dessert tomorrow.
At the grocery on Tuesday, we found a package labeled "half chicken," which I think means a practice cut by a novice meat cutter that did not go as expected. We never quite know what cuts the package will hold, although usually it is a breast or two and a good buy. It turned out to be two large breasts and a back. I rubbed them with olive oil, sprinkled generously with Penzey's Justice blend and roasted at 425 F for 45 minutes. We had them with the last ears of corn and microwaved frozen peas. We have enough chicken for additional meals, which is what I like.
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