[BakerAunt]

Best wishes for your trip, Joan. Enjoy your time with family!

I roasted two butternut squashes on Friday and made a double batch of Curried Butternut Squash Soup. I had hoped to add some apple cider, as I did last time, but my cider has gone hard. Instead, I added some additional chicken broth and some maple syrup. A tablespoon of Penzey's Now Curry gave it the perfect flavor. I froze three servings in separate containers for future lunches. I will eat the rest over the next few days. I offered to leave part of the soup without the curry powder, so that my husband could have some, but he declined.

For dinner on I made chicken salad using the rest of the roasted chicken breast. I used some Chobani non-fat Greek yogurt in place of some of the low-fat mayonnaise. We had it on one of the sub rolls that I pulled out of the freezer and halved. I had some of my butternut squash soup with my sandwich. We are headed for a chilly weekend, and the temperature is already dropping, so soup and sandwich is perfect.

[BakerAunt]

I don't mind the digital coupons from CVS, as they do not make me go through all sorts of gyrations in order to receive and use them. My only complaint there is that it is best not to put the coupon on my card unless I am going to use it on that particular trip, as I have had some coupons vanish when I tried to save them for later.

I was going to talk to someone at the Kroger concierge desk about the digital coupons, but when they remodeled the store, they got rid of the desk--and put in a lot of self-checkouts. They also split the baking section into two half aisles, which is very inconvenient.

I'm curious as to what people think about self-checkout. At Aldi's, it is faster to let the checker do it!

[BakerAunt]

Well, if it takes a pasta machine, I will not be getting that result. I am not sure that a completely hollowed out roll is desirable, or even that tasty. I am in quest of the golf-ball-sized hole, surrounded by bread.

I need to try the recipe again, this time using only King Arthur flour. I think that there is something to how the ball is shaped, as well as the stamp, to get a good result. Perhaps, I can give it another try after Thanksgiving.

[BakerAunt]

We did our major grocery run today, so we happily settled on leftovers for dinner. I had the rest of the beef stew, while my husband had more of the chicken breast with the rest of the noodles and mushrooms from last night, as well as some microwaved broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, I made noodles and mushrooms with a slightly creamy sauce. I have perfected using avocado oil rather than butter in the sauce. These were spinach noodles that I bought at a specialty grocery store. We had them with leftover roasted chicken breast and microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

I baked my first apple pie of the season, using some of the Winesaps that we bought at the orchard last week. The recipe is from Bernard Clayton's pastry book and is titled French Apple Pie. Instead of a top crust, it has a streusel crust. I have perfected a streusel crust that uses avocado oil rather than butter (3 Tbs. oil in place of 1/2 cup butter). I also cover the pie with foil for the first 45 minutes, so that the streusel does not get overbrowned. We will slice into the pie tomorrow at lunch.

Aaron--yes, nothing is worse than sitting around waiting for bread to rise. Another project needs to fill the time.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover beef stew for dinner.

I made another frittata for lunch on Tuesday, so that I could use up some roasted potato chunks that were not enough for another meal. I also used red onion, the two little green bell peppers we picked before the freeze, some sliced mushrooms, some kale, and the rest of a container of feta. I used three eggs this time but probably could have used a fourth. I really like that ceramic frying pan, as it makes it easy to invert the frittata onto a plate, then slice back into the frying pan. (Note: I will use a bit of non-stick spray on the plate next time, so that it slides back more easily.) I saved the leftover frittata to warm up for lunch tomorrow.

I also made chicken broth today, using the bones from last night's chicken breasts and from a previous time that I had frozen.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough that I made last week.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Monday, I made roasted bone-in chicken breasts, which we had with leftover roasted potatoes and microwaved fresh broccoli.

I also made yogurt today.

[BakerAunt]

When I was growing up, we used to fight over who got the heels for making toast. That was store-bought bread. My mother would sometimes save up heels in the freezer, so that we could all have them toasted. I still like toasting the heels; indeed, I like it even more now that I bake my own bread.

[BakerAunt]

I must have my movies mixed up.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--I'm glad that your Rye Semolina Bread came out well.

I agree with Mike about rye breads. As for other yeast breads, I think it may be more a matter of practicality. once the loaf has cooled. The bread making process takes 4-5 hours, and then the loaf needs to cool completely before cutting, which means another 3-4 hours. My chances of timing that for a mealtime are not great unless I start very early in the morning and plan to have it for dinner.

As for cutting warm bread, Peter Reinhart once wrote that a warm loaf of bread is like a teenager on the verge of adulthood: the bread looks done, but inside it is still baking.

I will bite into warm rolls, although they have a much softer texture. However, rolls cool faster than a loaf of bread.

With my quick breads or cakes that are oil-based, I read an article from Bon Appetit or Epicurious (back before they erected the paywall), that gave hints for oil cakes, and one of them was to bake it the day before to give the spices time to infuse the bread. On the occasions when I have cut one the day I baked it, I have noted that the flavor and texture gets better with time. That is not true of butter cakes, which can begin to dry out.

[BakerAunt]

We were mostly out of bread, except for two sub rolls in the freezer, which I want to save for chicken salad sandwiches later this week, so on Sunday, I baked bread. I chose the Pumpkin Rye-Whole Wheat Bread that is my recipe, based on a radical adaptation of one that Jane Brody includes in her Good Food Gourmet. Mine has twice the whole grain, I am still playing a bit with the recipe. I mixed it differently this time by including more of the bread flour in the first flour addition that I then allow to rest for 15 minutes before adding the rest of the bread flour with the salt, and then the oil. I also used avocado rather than olive oil. I used 15 oz. of homemade pumpkin puree frozen two years ago when I had my first and only fairy tale pumpkin. I kneaded the dough for 9 minutes on the third speed of my Cuisinart stand mixer, and I allowed for longer rising time, about 90 minutes for the first rise and 70 minutes for the second. I bake the recipe as two 9x5 loaves. The loaves look good, and I look forward to slicing one tomorrow at lunch. The other goes into the freezer.

[BakerAunt]

That's a cute cartoon. We were able to keep our local rabbits out of the garden with chicken wire around the bottom. It helped that they seem to like the variety of grasses and plants in our lawn, including some that my husband was pleased that they ate.

One of our farmers' market vendors has had a major problem this summer and fall with groundhogs. They ate their melons, radishes, turnips, and some other vegetables. He estimates it cost them at least $25,000 in sales. One groundhog even buried a bicycle when he tunneled into their barn. So far, the vendor has trapped SIXTEEN. He has much sympathy for the golf course groundskeeper in Groundhog Day.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover beef stew. The flavor has improved overnight--as is true of all stews--but we still agree that I will go back to my standard recipe that uses red wine instead of cider and different spices.

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