[BakerAunt]

We finished off the last of the black-eyed peas with brown rice and ham.

[BakerAunt]

We are having a lovely, cool, rainy day. It would be ideal for baking, but we are still conserving water, so I need to keep the dishes at a minimum. The well company is coming Thursday afternoon to drill the new well. As soon as we are set, a LOT of baking is going to happen.

[BakerAunt]

I made stir-fry on Wednesday night using the leftover pork, the drippings, green onion, carrots, celery, red bell pepper (from garden), mushrooms, broccoli (farmers' market). I used some soba noodles that I bought when we went to Colorado Springs last April. (When I'm in another town, I like to check out what their supermarket carries.) These soba noodles are Hakubaku, organic, and made in Australia. They are the best I have found in taste in not clumping. I have enough for another two times of making stir-fry. I will have to see if they are available online or at any other grocery we might visit on trips

[BakerAunt]

Our enclosed porch does not allow in the correct light frequency for plants, nor does it allow in heat--a bitter disappointment to my husband. (We do have a heating vent out there.) The first time we overwintered a bell pepper plant, I was sure it was dead, with its over wintered 2 small green peppers. It was amazing when my husband planted it in the garden again, and the little peppers grew and turned red, and it produced lots of red bell peppers.

[BakerAunt]

My husband has only had success with red bell peppers if he starts plants in pots the previous spring, overwinters them on the enclosed porch, which is cool. They look like they have died back, but he keeps them watered, then when it is warm enough the NEXT spring, he plants them out. We like our bell peppers red, so we start getting some about mid-summer.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--have you tried the boiled cider that King Arthur sells? It is concentrated, so you would not use as much as fresh cider. It's my go-to for recipes that call for cider, since my husband cannot drink cider, and I cannot finish off a whole container by myself.

[BakerAunt]

I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Tuesday from dough that I had in the refrigerator.

Aaron--I buy the malted wheat flakes from King Arthur, which has some recipes that use them. I need to order some more. My husband and I like the flavor. They can be used in oat bread recipes in place of oats.

For some reason, I am thinking that they are a British item, but I could be wrong.

[BakerAunt]

When I freeze tomatoes, I cook them with a bit of olive oil and some minced garlic. If I plan to use it as sauce, I do not cook it until it is moderately thick. If I plan to use it for pizza sauce, I cook as much water out of it as I can. I have to forgo the onion in deference to my husband. As for the red bell peppers, I have plenty of uses for that crop without freezing, or perhaps I should say, we cannot fit enough pepper plants into the garden!

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Tuesday was the Crispy Oven Baked Fish and Chips. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli from the farmers' market.

[BakerAunt]

We ran out of bread on Monday, and I wanted to move past my usual four recipes. I took the recipe I had worked out for Sunflower Oat Wheat Bread and altered it to use 1 cup of Harvest Grains and the last malted wheat flakes (1/4 cup). I baked it as two 9x5 large loaves, which are now cooling. One we will begin slicing at lunch tomorrow, and the other I will freeze for later.

[BakerAunt]

There was only enough bread for my husband's lunch today, so I rummaged in the refrigerator for a throw-together lunch. I started with olive oil in a small sauté pan to which I added garlic. After a minute, I added a large cut-up tomato from the garden that needed to be used, and then some onion. After cooking for a bit, I added a 1/2 teaspoon of Penzey's Tuscan Sunset, about a half cup of leftover potato water, then the leftover freekeh from a couple of nights ago. I added some kale and let it wilt before adding a small can of chicken. After a little pepper, I put it in a bowl and grated Parmesan over it.

[BakerAunt]

I use the technique in The Food Lab for cooking dried beans, and my beans come out perfectly now. That means salting the water in which they soak, draining it and rinsing the beans, then salting the water in which they cook. So, all those years of being told that salt should not be added to beans until they get soft was not accurate.

[BakerAunt]

I was going to bake bread today but got distracted with other matters, so it is on the agenda for tomorrow. We had temperatures that reached the upper 70s--not the 80s originally predicted--but it was humid. We were blessed with a good rain between 6 and 7 this evening that popped up out of nowhere, as it was not even on the radar my husband had been watching.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I made black-eyed peas, which I mixed with brown rice, sauteed celery and red bell pepper, 1 Tbs. dehydrated onion, 1/2 tsp. thyme, black pepper, fresh parsley, and a package of chopped ham.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--that's a great example of using what you have on hand and streamlining the process!

Our Saturday night dinner is Salmon and Couscous with Dill. We had microwaved fresh green beans from the garden.

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