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Joan--Your husband does not know what he is missing!
Mike--Glad to hear that Diane is on the road to recovery.
For dinner on Thursday, I made salmon and couscous with Penzey's Greek seasoning. We also had microwaved frozen peas and carrots.
Best wishes to Diane, Mike, for a quick recovery.
I had a bag of cranberries in a refrigerator drawer that I needed to use, and after sorting out the bad ones, I had about a cup. I also had half an orange, left over from the Julekage I baked last week. On Wednesday evening, I used them to make Jane Brody's Cranberry-Orange relish. I make a couple of changes in that I increased the sugar for the half recipe to ¼ cup, as 1 ½ Tbs. is not going to cut it, and I do not have orange liquor to add. This recipe used to be my go-to for cranberry relish before I found the cherry-cardamom cranberry relish that is now my favorite. I will use this cranberry relish as a stir-in with my morning yogurt, a topping for toast, and a little on the side for me when we have chicken.
My doctor did not even mention diet and wanted to go straight to statins. After nearly four years of trying on my own to do it with diet and exercise, I faced the truth that I could not lower it more than 25 points, which was not enough. I still follow the way of eating that I worked out for myself so that I can take a lower dose. While my husband missed the chocolate chip cookies (as do I), he was pleased to have his best numbers yet.
Most health sites start off by saying that toast with cinnamon can substitute for a cinnamon roll, or that a piece of fruit makes a satisfying dessert. Get real. Nutritionists who develop recipes focus on the "health" and rarely have the culinary experience to turn out a recipe that tastes satisfying.
I am not pleased with having to eliminate some recipes that I really liked--and that makes holidays, particularly Christmas, challenging. I miss sugar cookies and being able to use my vast collection of cookie cutters.
I have been able to adapt certain recipes, and I actually prefer my oil-buttermilk crust to the butter crust I used to bake for pies. It has been trial and error because. there is no resource for low-saturated fat baking. I have, on a couple of occasions, suggested to King Arthur that they consider developing recipes in that category, but they remain on the Vermont butter train. I would be more understanding of that choice, but given that they went all in on gluten-free, keto, vegan--and it is nice for those who need to or choose to follow those eating modes--I would think that they could spare some attention and development time for those of us who need to restrict saturated fat, which is likely a larger group, and probably one of the reasons so many people give up baking. I skim their weekly recipe emails; rarely, is there a recipe I can bake or even adapt to my needs.
It would be nice to have suggestions all in one place. I learned how to bake excellent oil-based cakes after reading some discussions in the old Epicurious/Bon Appetit emails (before they erected the paywall). I worked out oil substitution for butter in some recipes by googling it, reading different sites, and personal experimenting. I think it was Chocomouse who suggested 2% evaporated milk in place of half and half and heavy cream, and that allowed me to make the occasional quiche.
I will keep on experimenting, but in my frustration, I see the frustration of a lot of people who probably just give up because the resources are so scattered.
Joan--I always stir the hooch back into my sourdough starter as well.
On Wednesday, I baked pumpkin biscotti (Skeptic's recipe). I also baked a loaf of Pompanoosuc Porridge Bread in my Emile Henry long baker.
For me, for dinner tonight, I baked my Roasted Beet, Greens, and Greek Cheese Flatbread, but as I only had four small beets, I roasted chunks of butternut squash when I roasted the beets for the flatbread and used about half of it on the flatbread. The squash is a bit bland, but that works well with the assertiveness of the beets, and the color is lovely. The original recipe uses spinach, and I have used beet greens in the past, but the few beet greens I had went bad before I could use them. I used 5 oz. of kale, and it worked well. My husband had leftover farro with turkey, vegetables, and mushrooms, with some of the roasted butternut squash on the side.
I plan to do more experimentation this year with different toppings for the flatbread, which is very much like a cracker.
I also made yogurt today.
My farmers' market bag is a large Patagonia tote, which is particularly handy when I am buying pie pumpkins in the fall. Dirt wipes out easily. I also have a smaller tote that I use for items that I want to avoid getting crushed. As the winter continues, I have less need for the large bag and sometimes take the smaller one. Two of our vendors use "tunnels," so last week I was able to get a large bag of spinach and a large bag of kale, as well as some turnips, although the tops of the turnips were shot due to that sub-freezing period we had. There are still some squashes available, although that vendor did not have an overly successful squash crop this year. Garlic, onions, and carrots were also available, as is beef and pork. One vendor now sells lamb.
On Monday, I baked my version of Ken Haedrich's Pumpkin Soda Bread from his cookbook, The Harvest Baker. I had baked it last year for the first time, with changes, and we like it a lot. I replaced 2 ½ cups of the AP flour with King Arthur's Irish Whole Meal Flour and used medium grind Bob's Red Mill cornmeal. I reduced the salt by half. I increased the pumpkin to 7.5 oz. I use part of an egg rather than just the egg yolk. I also replace 4 Tbs. butter with 4 Tbs. olive oil (last year used avocado oil) and add 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder. I baked the two loaves on a sheet pan, so the rise was not high. They are somewhat like giant drop biscuits. I might try them in 7 or 8-inch cake pans next time. I might also cut the buttermilk back slightly, However, the taste and texture are wonderful.
I made pea soup on Monday for the first time this winter. It pairs well with the Pumpkin Soda Bread I baked.
I have heard of people who carry their own chopsticks.
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I started by using canvas bags in 1990 for grocery shopping. We later switched to some from World Wildlife Fund, as they stand up while being loaded (like paper sacks and unlike plastic bags), and I have a couple of REI ones that I have used for years. I also have some foldable ones--including a couple from King Arthur that my sister sent me for Christmas one year--that I can carry in my purse.At the farmers' market, I bring some net bags for holding my produce. We use the plastic produce bags at the grocery, but those bags are reused by us.
Department stores are not fans of "bring your own bag," perhaps because of theft concerns.
Mike makes a good point about TSA. Aaron also makes good points about kosher utensils.
Most "street food"--the original "to go" food--developed so as not to require utensils.
In the medieval and Renaissance period in England--and probably throughout Europe, people carried an eating knife with them. (Such knives, with embroidered sheathes were often wedding gifts.) I'm not sure if that extended to spoons; forks, of course, were a latecomer to the culinary dining scene.
In our time, there are "camp" eating utensils that could easily be carried, and some manufacturers make them for eating from establishments that would otherwise give the diner plastic utensils. I have two sets for traveling with interchangeable spoon and fork tops.
We forget that so much of what we discard--shopping bags, utensils, cups--were once expensive and can be so again. Our local grocery still gives us a nickel off for each reusable bag we bring that is needed to bag our purchase.
Leftovers heated up in the trusty microwave oven.
Welcome back, Blanche,
You actually started one of our most informative baking bread threads about five years ago. I went back and re-read it just now. Wow! If anyone wants to re-read that thread, just click on "topics started" next to Blanche's name, and the thread will come up.
There is always room here for rookies! We all love to bake bread. Personally, I think the world becomes a better place when people bake their bread, since it teaches paying attention to detail, going through a process to achieve a goal, being willing to adapt, and practicing patience.
I was an English professor before I retired, which meant that I was teaching writing skills, not just literature. Too many students wanted instant results, but writing is a process that requires some of the same skills as bread baking, and those skills are developed over time.
One of my friends is allergic to tomatoes; getting people to take it seriously is sometimes an issue for her. At one dinner at a house, she asked if an item contained tomatoes, and the person responded, "Not enough to kill you." Clearly, that man had no clue about food allergies. Even when eating out, it can be an issue, since some recipes might use a bit of tomato paste. That means she is cautious as to what she orders.
Aaron--that explains why in Secrets of a Jewish Baker, the author says to make sure that the egg wash does not get into the space between the braids. Next time I try baking challah, I will see about getting the pull-apart texture. I wonder if part of it is using all egg yolks. I'm usually short of the five my recipe specifies, so I substitute in a whole egg. Of course, I am now substituting in some white whole wheat flour to get more wholegrain.
I may have more yolks with which to experiment. We really liked the Zimtsterne (cinnamon star) cookies that I baked this past holiday season, and each recipe calls for two egg whites. I used the star cookie cutter, but I think that I could use a snowflake or a heart cookie cutter just as easily.
I prefer the Bob's Red Mill bread flour to the King Arthur bread flour; for me it gives a better rise. I find that I can use more whole grain flour when I use the BRM.
Your challah is beautiful, Aaron. Maybe Violet will develop a taste for it when she is older.
My husband has a sweet tooth, so biscotti without sugar are not his idea of a treat. I think he was referring to the nuts and dried fruit in most of my biscotti. It did occur to me last night that I can bake the pumpkin biscotti, which do not have fruit or nuts.
I would say our dog is a bit spoiled, although her opinion is that she is rightly valued, and that part is also true. When we first got her at 14 mos., she had clearly had negative experiences with some male, so we addressed that, on advice from a trainer, by making my husband the one who feeds her. I only occasionally will do so. She will eat her kibble once he puts a little something on it: a bit of yogurt in the morning, a bit of bread at lunch, or a bit of whatever we are having at dinner. She has also latched onto the concept of dessert, which we have after doing the dinner dishes, and tea, which my husband has late in the afternoon. No matter where she is in the house, she can hear him, even if he is only moving toward a Tupperware container and comes running, sits, and looks up expectantly.
I will do some looking around at dog biscuit recipes.
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