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We were supposed to have a freeze last night, but it looks like it stayed above freezing. My husband has been covering plants. The tomatoes remain stubbornly green. They are "Early Girl," which is clearly a misnomer, since the first one ripened in September, and we have had only four others. We may end up picking them green and seeing if they will ripen inside.
I'm still holding out hope that the rest of the Honey Nut squashes will ripen in time. Oh, and my husband found another five beans. Those plants have produced mightily.
I have been finding great baking apples (Spy Gold) and pears at the farmers' market. When I saw a link in last week's Washington Post recipe email to "Apple and Pear Cake with Citrus and Nuts," from Becky Krystal, I knew that I wanted to bake it. I also knew that I wanted to make a few changes. I used half barley flour and half King Arthur AP. I added 4 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder. I used ¼ tsp. sea salt in place of twice that much kosher salt. I reduced the sugar from 400g to 375 g, and I left the peel on the apples and the pear. The recipe requires commitment, as after zesting an orange and lemon, they must be peeled, any seeds removed, coarsely chopped, then combined with a stick blender.
Instead of using a 12-15 cup Bundt pan, I used two 6-cup Bundt pans, coated with a new batch of The Grease. One is the traditional shape, and the other is swirled. I baked for 48 minutes, and possibly could have baked slightly less. After ten minutes, the traditional Bundt pan easily gave up its cake, The swirl was a bit stubborn but eventually came out clean. I think that with the swirls, it might need to bake slightly less due to the sharp edges. The cakes are cooling on racks on the counter. One will go into the freezer, and the other (the swirl) will be sliced for desserts, starting tomorrow evening.
The yellow pears we have been getting for the past month have been delicious. The grower offers a variety of vegetables, but apples are his major crop, along with unpasteurized cider. He has two pear trees are on his property, but he does not know what kind they are, so they must have been there when he bought the land. The pear I used for the cake is more of a green pear. I have not seen many people buying them, but that may be because many people do not realize that pears need to ripen off the tree and be eaten as soon as ready.
On Friday, we had Salmon and Couscous with Penzey's Greek Seasoning along with a salad that featured our cherry tomatoes and green onion tops.
Sounds yummy, Navlys!
I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Thursday from dough I made last week. I got my flu shot today, so I am feeling it in my arm, but I could still get the dough rolled. I will wait until next week to get the new Covid-19 shot.
I made yogurt on Thursday.
For dinner, I cooked some mushroom noodles that I got at T, J. Maxx (from Germany) and tossed them with mushrooms sauteed in avocado oil, the bit of gravy I made from the chicken I roasted last week, the rest of the chicken, and steamed broccoli. It was a good dinner for a cool, rainy day, and we have leftovers for tomorrow.
Thanks for your comments on tomatoes, Mike.
As we look forward to next gardening season:
Our garden did ok with the cold weather this weekend. The frost was on the roofs not the ground.
The tomato plant from the farmers market produced delicious and sweet tomatoes once it got going. the two tomato plants from Gurney's that got stunted under the grow lights have been slow to produce. The fruit do not get that deep red. I was unimpressed with the first one I used a while back. I sliced a second and third tonight to use in a tart, and the flavor reminds me of a store-bought tomato. I think that they will be ok in sauce, but they are certainly not very good uncooked. I told my husband that we need to try another variety next year. It still remains to be seen how many of the green ones on those two plants will actually ripen before a freeze.
I'm still holding out hope for the remaining honey nuts to ripen, as well as the large ones that came from one of the seeds.
Spaghetti squash do not last as long as butternut squash, but it helps to have them in a cooler location. I have two from the farmers market, and one is slated for a spaghetti squash mushroom quiche, based on a Ken Haedrich recipe in The Harvest Baker.
My husband had leftover stir-fry for dinner on Tuesday. I baked a yellow squash and tomato tart, based on a Ken Haedrich recipe in The Harvest Baker for a free-form tomato and zucchini tart. I had that for my dinner, with leftovers for future lunches.
On Tuesday, I baked Whole Grain Pumpkin bread, using as the base recipe one that Lemon Poppy posted on the Baking Circle, and which is now here at Nebraska Kitchen. I bake it as five small loaves. This time, I made it with half whole wheat pastry flour. As usual, I reduce the sugar to 1 ¾ cups and halve the salt. I will freeze three of the loaves.
The "gourmet" buttermilk, which is all the local grocery now sells, is 5% saturated fat.
Our dinner was leftover roast chicken, roasted chunks of honey-nut squash from our garden, and the last green beans from our garden. The beans were tender and delicious.
CWCdesign--yes, with the bread flour, you will not need the whole grain bread improver.
Dinner on Sunday was a stir-fry using brown and wild rice that I had frozen last week, the leftover pork and the deglazing liquid, carrots, celery, red bell pepper from our garden, green onions, and a yellow squash. I added a ¼ tsp. dried sage and some freshly ground black pepper.
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