[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Sunday for the first time since before we went on vacation. It will be good to have it at breakfast again.

I also roasted a peanut pumpkin. I had two, but one burst open overnight and made a mess. Usually, I would have processed the pumpkins by now, but there were just too many demands on my time in the autumn. I was particularly sorry to lose a peanut pumpkin, as I think the puree consistency is particularly well-suited to cakes and my cakey version of pumpkin bread.

We finished the turkey, spinach, and rice casserole tonight. It really holds up well.

[BakerAunt]

Here's hoping that the part for Mike's refrigerator arrives soon!

I was going to make stew today, as I need to use some potatoes, and I was able to buy a pound of stew meat at the farmers' market. However, the stew meat is frozen, so we had more of the turkey, spinach, and rice casserole. It does hold up well.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I'm glad that you liked the peanut butter oatmeal cookie recipe.

Wow, Joan! You had a busy day of baking, too!

What I really want is a taste of what Mike is baking.

On Saturday, I baked a double batch of King Arthur's Spiced Rye Ginger Cookies. My only changes are to add 1 Tbs. milk powder per recipe and to halve the salt. I used a #40 scoop, which gave me 47 cookies. I rolled them in equal parts of white, red, and green sparkling sugar. (King Arthur used to sell the sparkling sugar in colors other than white but stopped doing so.) A dozen of these will be a gift to our neighbors. These cookies are delectably spicy.

After baking the cookies, I experimented with making Eggnog scones by adapting a King Arthur recipe so that I used canola oil rather than butter. I was able to find a low-fat eggnog at the grocery when we did our shopping run, but I had to buy lactose-free to get it and to avoid eggnog with high-fructose corn syrup. I splurged and used 90 g of cinnamon chips and added ½ cup of chopped pecans. I will try a couple for breakfast tomorrow.

Next Day Update: I had two of the scones for breakfast. They are firmer than butter scones but still delicious. I used half whole wheat pastry flour and half King Arthur AP. I might try replacing the AP with white pastry flour next time.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the turkey, spinach, and rice casserole I made yesterday. It is more flavorful today than when I first cooked it. I think that we can get two more meals from it.

[BakerAunt]

I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Friday from dough I made earlier in the week. My husband is happy as he has been without his beloved crackers for several days.

[BakerAunt]

I looked in the bread holder on Thursday afternoon and realized that there was just one thin slice left, so I baked my version of King Arthur's Pompanoosuc Porridge Bread. I use a long, thinner loaf pan for it, which makes for nicely sized slices.

[BakerAunt]

Before Thanksgiving, an email from Stonyfield Yogurt had a recipe for Turkey Casserole that I thought showed promise. I needed to use the rest of the turkey we had frozen after Thanksgiving before we left for our trip, so on Thursday, I used it as a basis to make what I am calling Turkey, Spinach, and Rice Casserole. My ingredient changes were using whole wheat flour and replacing the dried basil with celery salt. I also used Fage non-fat Greek yogurt because that is what I have. I replaced the fresh spinach with cooked frozen spinach. I added 8 oz. of sliced mushrooms. I used brown basmati rice, which I cooked in turkey broth from the freezer, and I added the broth not used in the rice cooker, to the sauce. I also did not layer it but mixed it all together, put it in a 9 x 13" Emile Henry casserole dish and warmed for 20 minutes. It is slightly bland, but my husband likes bland. It made enough for three nights, so I will get a break from cooking tomorrow and can focus on other kitchen projects.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I finally had time to use the spaghetti squash that I had roasted last week to bake my adaptation of Ken Haedrich's Spaghetti Squash and Parmesan Cheese Quiche for lunch today and for the next five days. I have adapted it to replace butter with olive oil, heavy cream with low-fat evaporated milk, and an oil crust. For my crust recipe, I replaced the whole wheat pastry flour with fine cornmeal (by weight). I used 1/3 cup of canola with enough olive oil for half a cup, because I did not know how the cornmeal would work with the oil. I like the flavor. Back when I was making butter crusts, I used a cornmeal butter crust recipe, so it was great to know that I can adapt my oil recipe to make a cornmeal crust.

[BakerAunt]

We went and got our Christmas tree on Wednesday at a Christmas tree farm about 30 minutes from us. They did not have many left, but we found a lovely white fir. That inspired me to bake a double recipe of my soft sugar cookies that use avocado oil instead of butter. I decorated a little over half with red and green sugar, and the rest with some red, green, and white sprinkles. I hope to bake more Christmas cookies tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

We had the rest of the stir-fry tonight.

Joan--Thank you, again, for the sweets!

[BakerAunt]

Sending positive thoughts that she will be on that list!

[BakerAunt]

That would be so fun, Chocomouse. Sigh.

On Tuesday, I made stir-fry for dinner, using soba noodles, leftover pork, deglazing, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, green onion, mushrooms, and broccoli. We have enough for tomorrow night as well, which should give us time to go buy a Christmas tree.

For dessert, we each had a slice of Joan's pound cake from the freezer. It's delicious!

[BakerAunt]

Happy Birthday, Diane!

[BakerAunt]

Navlys--When we remodeled, we found that we had to use different bathroom tile because it was not made any more. When we remodeled the small kitchen in the Annex, we discovered that its flooring was not made any more. As that is a guest space, we found something as close as we could and went with it.

What we have learned is that flooring is available for a year or two, then the company moves on to other designs and colors. Unless you stock up--and who among us has the room?--then it is replace the entire floor.

I'm not a fan of recessed refrigerators, but that is what we also ended up with due to the cabinets. I like being able to clean the coils in back.

Here's wishing speedy repairs to Mike and to Navlys!

[BakerAunt]

I've been racing to get the Christmas decorations up, since we came back with just two weeks until Christmas. The halls have now been decked, and I will be turning my attention to cookie baking this week.

On our way home from Florida, I convinced my husband to stop at Ellis Brothers for pecans. He was skeptical, since most of the places along the highway are tourist traps, but Ellis Brothers is a family business that alternates between selling pecans and peaches--and lots of other goodies as well. I bought three pounds of pecan pieces for baking, so that should have me set for a while. I also bought a 3 lb. bag of pecan meal, which I haven't been able to find since King Arthur stopped carrying it. I like it in biscotti and plan to try it in a crumb crust. The cashier told me that some people like to use it as a coating on pork chops, so that is on my list to try.

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