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BRM is moving toward some food products, such as energy bars and crackers. Their bars have too much saturated fat for me, and the crackers are extremely salty. They also came out with instant oatmeal packets, and I like theirs better than Quaker Oats packets. However, we only use packets when we are traveling. I think there are also some grain side dishes in development.
Mike's comment reminded me that I also like their white pastry flour, which I combine with their whole wheat pastry flour for my pie crusts.
I cannot always find the BRM items that I use locally. The in-town store has some items at a definite mark-up. I need to start checking when we go to Walmart in the next town. The Kroger there has some items, but it is rare to find the whole wheat flour, and I have never seen the Artisan Bread flour there. No place around here carries their beans, and only some of the grains are available. I knew that I could not find the quinoa locally.
BRM has also cut back its product line. I had to go to Walmart.com last year to get barley flour from another company because BRM no longer carries it. Sunflower seeds were not on their site anymore, so again, I used Food for Life at Walmart for those and for the black beans. I'm not sure that I will be able to find BRM milk powder, and I depend on it for my yogurt and for fortifying non-yeast breads and cookies.
BRM also used to sell wonderful, dried cherries and dried apple pieces
I pay the Baker's Plus annual fee at King Arthur, so shipping is free for purchases over $25, and I earn Baker's Bucks to use on future purchases. I have enough "must have" products to make it worthwhile: cheese powder, special dry milk, large packages of yeast, pumpernickel and medium rye flour, baking powder, espresso powder, white whole wheat flour, malted wheat flakes, Harvest Grains. They appear to have stopped carrying the Pompanusuc porridge, which is a pity, but I still have a stash in the refrigerator.
For lunch on Wednesday, and into next week, I made Spanish Chickpea, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew (recipe adapted from the Penzy's site). Temperatures went below freezing last night, and today is in the mid-40s, so the stew hit the spot. It was also good for using up more of my frozen tomato sauce.
I found a cup of Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal in the pantry and wanted to use it up, so on Tuesday morning, I did a riff on the Bob's Favorite Scottish Oatcakes (recipe from the package not the website, which had too much water). I made about a 2/3 recipe, estimating proportions rather than trying to figure out straight percentages. I increased the cane sugar to 1 tsp., as when I last baked them, I thought them too plain. I replaced the 4 Tbs of butter with 2 Tbs. avocado oil, mixed with 1 Tbs. buttermilk. I went ahead and mixed in 2 Tbs. of water (might have used another tsp.). I rolled out the somewhat dry dough 1/4-inch thick and cut with a 2-inch round biscuit cutter. That made 15. I baked for 25 minutes on the slightly above center rack at 325F. I had one with tea in the afternoon, and I have improved on the original recipe. They are a cracker, with just a slight sweetness.
On Tuesday evening, I baked the Blood Orange Loaf Cake recipe from the Nordic Ware site. I followed the recipe, except that I reduced the sugar in the cake from 1 1/4 cups to 1 cup, as the warm cake gets brushed with a blood orange juice combined with 1/3 cup sugar, and tomorrow I will glaze it. However, I will only make a half recipe of the glaze.
Dinner on Tuesday was leftover roasted chicken thighs, roasted sweet potato chunks, and microwaved frozen peas.
Aaron--I have a dedicated plastic tub that has traveling kitchen items. I take out what I need, based on where we are going and for how long. One item is a small case with several different knives because the knives in every place we've rented with a kitchen are dull. The alternative is to do as my husband's cousin does and always bring a sharpening stone.
I made yogurt on Monday. Dinner will be leftovers from yesterday.
On Monday, I decided to take advantage of the great oranges I have and use some of the zest to bake Easy Italian Whole Wheat Breakfast Cookies, a recipe that I have not baked in a while. I made a mistake and used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white whole wheat, which caused problems with the dough being too sticky, since I also substitute in barley flour. I also think that the honey I am using is not as thick. I managed to get it rolled out and cut, but it was not pretty. I may bake the recipe again in a few days, with the right kind of flour and see if I need to cut back the honey or increase the flour slightly.
Our farmers' market goes throughout the winter. Some vendors have greenhouses, and I favor one who has great spinach, kale, and lettuce. She also supplied all of my non-pumpkin squash, garlic, and red onions. The other produce vendor, who also does breads, favors microgreens, and we just do not use then. However, he has great onions. I am eagerly awaiting his asparagus. We have a vendor for pork and one for beef who are also year around, and I used that company for stew beef twice this winter.
We have had two really warm days, with a good little rain this afternoon. A cold snap is supposed to set in, with freeze over the next couple of days.
For Sunday dinner, I roasted eight chicken thighs on silicone racks, so that the fat would run off into the parchment-lined pan for easy cleaning. I paired the chicken with rigatoni from semolina flour tossed with a sauce made of sliced mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, then dusted with some flour before adding some leftover half and half., sage, and freshly ground pepper. After the pasta cooked, I added it to the mushrooms but reserved some of the water, which I used to cook broccoli florets for about 2 minutes, before adding them to the pasta, along with some of the water. I had read about that technique for broccoli and pasta in an email today from the Los Angeles Times cooking editor, and it works well.
I also made turkey broth today from bones that have been in the freezer.
That festival sounds great.
My husband and I did drive to Colorado Springs and back early this month to attend my younger stepson's wedding. We attended the rehearsal dinner, with about 40 people in a medium-sized room. The wedding was an enclosed space with a number of people present. One or two wore masks. We decided not to do so, trusting in our vaccinations and single boosters, although I was right at the six-month mark. It has now been nearly three weeks, and we have stayed well.
I will probably go ahead and get the second booster before the end of this month. From the news reports, vaccinated people still do get sick, but rarely is it serious. I am still carefully choosing which gatherings I attend.
I used the Apricot Oatmeal Bars recipe here at Nebraska Kitchen to bake Seedless Blackberry Jam Bars on Saturday. I replace the flour with white whole wheat flour and reduce the brown sugar a tad from 2/3 to 1/2 cup, and cut the salt from 1/4 to 1/8 tsp. The blackberry jam is from a batch I made in late summer of 2020--a year we all remember too well.
I've also never heard of it.
I baked Pecan, Orange, and Cranberry Muffins on Saturday morning. I adapted the recipe from the little baking book, Muffin Magic.â My version uses buttermilk (but I used leftover kefir this time), with adjustment of baking powder and baking soda, and this time I used all whole wheat flour. I still have some wonderful Cara Cara oranges, so I used the zest and juice instead of the Fiori di Sicilia I substituted last time. I made six large rather than twelve small muffins. I will freeze most of these for fast breakfasts.
That pizza sounds so good, Chocomouse.
Dinner on Friday was Salmon patties, accompanied by a stir-fry that I made with sauteed carrots, celery, red bell pepper, sliced mushrooms, and garlic and combined with cooked farro (1/2 cup dry cooked in 1 3/4 Cups water with 3/4 tsp. of Penzey's chicken base).
That's great information on hard boiled eggs, CWCdesign.
We had the last of the pork tenderloin. I roasted cubed sweet potatoes to go with it and microwaved the last of the fresh green beans. Tomorrow, I will need to do regular cooking again.
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