[BakerAunt]

As a break from our Lima Beans, Ham, and Rice, for dinner on Thursday, I made Salmon and Couscous and Greek Seasoning, which we had with a salad and Buttermilk Ranch Dressing made from the Penzey's seasoning.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike and CWCdesign for the recommendation. I have ordered a ChefAlarm in yellow!

[BakerAunt]

I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Wednesday from dough I made last week. If I am lucky, these will last my husband for 10-14 days, with me eating only a few of them.

[BakerAunt]

I made my "Every Six Days" batch of yogurt on Wednesday.

I use a candy thermometer for the temperature of the milk. I have to bring it to between 112-120F and keep it there for ten minutes in the first step of the process. The markings are coming off of the candy thermometer, which I clip to the side. Does anyone have a suggestion of a thermometer that would not have these issues, and that I could leave in the milk while heating it and for the ten minutes of keeping it at temperature?

[BakerAunt]

I baked the Apple, Barley, and Olive Oil Cake again on Tuesday, with the same changes as a couple of weeks ago. The recipe has been adapted to the point that it is now truly mine. This time, I baked it in a 6-cup heart Bundt pan (I could not resist the new one from Nordic Ware) and a 3-cup Kaiser Backform mini-Bundt pan. The 3-cup pan took about 35 minutes to bake. The 6-cup heart required 45 minutes. Both released perfectly from the pan (love The Grease). I will freeze the small one for Dessert Emergencies, and we will begin eating the other one tomorrow. It will fit nicely on a heart-shaped plate that I bought some years ago from King Arthur--back when they had more interesting offerings.

The 3-cup small Bundt came in a set of two and was called Kaiserguss, with the box stating "original Kaiser Backform." However, it had a "made in China" sticker on it that I only saw after I bought it some years ago at T.J. Maxx. Otherwise, the box looks just like the German ones. I do not know if that means Kaiser Backform moved stuff overseas. However, the pan performed admirably, so I am glad that I bought it. In a two-person household, smaller cakes are the way to go.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Tuesday was large lima beans cooked with a meaty ham bone from the freezer. I added 1 Tbs. dried onion and 1 tsp. thyme, along with some black pepper after the beans were done. I removed the bone, cut off the meat and put it back in with the beans. I cooked brown rice separately, and I sauteed separately chopped orange bell pepper and celery in olive oil, then added kale and a little bit of turnip greens, along with more olive oil. I mixed it all together in the pot with the beans. I added 2 tsp. of cider vinegar to balance the greens. We have at least four more dinners from tonight's meal.

[BakerAunt]

Eggs, anyone??

https://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2023/02/21

[BakerAunt]

You could always call the loaf "Artisan," Mike. 🙂

On Monday, I baked "Authentic Italian Lemon and Ricotta Cookies (no butter)" from Elena Paravartes' blog, Olive Tomato. I always replace half of the flour with white whole wheat flour. Today, I further experimented to see if I could reduce the ricotta from 8 oz. to 5 oz., which is what I had left after baking the Turkey, Spinach, and Mushroom Lasagna on Saturday and reducing the ricotta in it to 10 oz. As an additional, unplanned, experiment, my husband reminded me as I was baking the first tray that we were due at the CPA's office to go over our return forms. I had to leave the second tray unbaked for the half hour we were gone, then bake them upon our return. The gap in time did not affect the cookies. I taste tested one from each batch for dessert tonight, and the second batch is identical to the first. The reduced ricotta makes them a bit firmer, but we do not mind it.

[BakerAunt]

It was not as cold today as it was yesterday and last night, but Saturday was still a cold enough day for Turkey, Mushroom, and Spinach Lasagna, which we had with microwaved fresh broccoli. I cut back the ricotta to 10 oz. from 12 oz. I plan to use the leftover for a cookie recipe tomorrow, since ricotta does not keep well once it is opened. I have used 15 oz. in the lasagna before, but that is too much.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--Deb Perelman has a recipe for "Olive Oil Shortbread with Rosemary and Chocolate Chunks" (p. 210), in her second cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Every Day. I have not tried baking it; I'm not sure about the rosemary, (1 tsp. fresh rosemary) and she also specifies mild olive oil, which is not an ingredient that I have in the house. She does say for a milder flavor, replace half of the olive oil with a neutral oil.

I could try it with 75% neutral oil and the rest olive oil, I suppose. However, I think the rosemary might be a no-go with my husband.

[BakerAunt]

Best wishes for a speedy and successful renovation, CWCdesign. I agree with moving out and doing it all at once. I hope the contractor can complete it in the allotted time. That view will be fabulous!

[BakerAunt]

Very interesting project, Mike. I wonder if this is like some of the wrapped imported rye breads that we sometimes see at the stores?

I bought Dorie Greenspan's book, Dorie's Cookies, shortly after it came out in 2016. We were in the midst of preparing to move, once we did, we started the house renovation bog down, and then I had a diagnosis of high cholesterol. Almost every recipe in the book relies heavily on butter, so the book has sat unused. However, I was paging through it late last year and found a recipe for "Chocolate Chip Not-Quite Mandelbrot" (104-107) that uses oil rather than butter. While the cup of mini-chocolate chips are little fat bombs, the recipe makes 72 cookies, so I decided to bake it on Friday night. I made just one change by substituting half white whole wheat flour.

The dough was much easier to work with than I had feared. I did use my hand mixer to combine the eggs and sugar, then the oil and vanilla, but I combined the flour mixture and chips with it by hand. They were easy to slice after ten minutes of cooling. I used my offset knife. These go back in the oven with a cut side down and are sprinkled with additional cinnamon sugar. I used the Penzey's cinnamon sugar blend which includes vanilla. The cookies are not the traditional Mandelbrot as they have no almonds and are cakey rather than hard and dry. I ate some crumbs left from cutting them before the first bake and liked the taste.. I look forward to having them with some tea or coffee tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

That jam sounds delicious, Chocomouse!

Our weather has been unseasonably warm. We got rain today, and it is snowing lightly outside late this evening.

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt today. For dinner, I made more muddled mashed potatoes to go with the leftover pork tenderloin and microwaved fresh broccoli.

Chocomouse--I paid $3 a dozen for eggs at Aldi's today.

[BakerAunt]

I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Wednesday. I will bake them sometime next week.

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