[BakerAunt]

I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Thursday. I will bake them next week after the dough rests in the refrigerator.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, my husband skillet-cooked boneless pork ribs, which we had with leftover red potatoes from a few days ago and microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

I baked Cranberry Scones on Monday evening to use up some frozen cranberries. I used half Irish-Style flour and half King Arthur AP. I replaced 8 Tbs. butter with 1/3 cup canola oil and increased the kefir I used in place of buttermilk from 2/3 to 3/4cup. I baked them in my Nordic Ware scone pan after coating it with the Grease, which made for an easy release. I also sprinkled them with the white sparkling sugar from King Arthur before baking.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Monday was Salmon with Couscous and Penzey's Greek Seasoning, along with microwaved frozen mixed vegetables. We had pumpkin bread from the freezer for dessert.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--another benefit of using oil rather than butter is that the cake will not dry out as fast. Indeed, it is usually better the day after it was baked.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I baked my version of the Lemon Ricotta cookies from the Olive Tomato website. I always use half white whole wheat flour and part-skim ricotta cheese, as well as a large rather than a medium egg.

I also made Sourdough Pan pizza for Sunday dinner with sauce made from a can of Muir fire-roasted tomatoes, Canadian bacon, part-skim mozzarella, mushrooms, green onions, black olives (on my half), and grated Parmesan. Usually, I include chopped red bell pepper, but I used the last one in last week's stir-fry.

[BakerAunt]

Your dinner sounds delicious, CWCdesign. We are months away from asparagus in northern Indiana.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I cooked a package of black beans that I had soaked overnight. I used three pounds of them to make my Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup for lunch today and into next week. Instead of pumpkin, I roasted a kobacha squash and used it instead of pumpkin. I think that pumpkin gives it a slightly sweeter flavor, but the soup is still delicious, especially on a day when the temperature has not risen above the high teens.

I froze a scant pound of cooked black beans to use later.

[BakerAunt]

I agree with you, Joan--no wasting food!

We had leftover pork tenderloin. I made some more of the boiled/steamed little red potatoes and again tossed them in olive oil with some salt. We also had microwaved frozen vegetables. We had potatoes left over from this meal, so they will return as part of a future meal.

I also made yogurt today.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Thursday was stir-fry made with the rest of the turkey. As usual, I used soba noodles with carrots, celery, green onion, red bell pepper, mushrooms, and broccoli. I used some Penzey's chicken base (free sample a while back) mixed with 1/4 cup boiling water, since I did not have any deglazing liquid to add, and it worked out well.

[BakerAunt]

KABC is currently selling some smaller handled lames which require the blade to be bent. Supposedly those work better for making swirling patterns. I usually do a tic-tac-toe setup for round loaves.

We are in the midst of another Winter Weather Warning on this Thursday. It began with rain, which created ice onto which snow has now been falling. We may get major snowfalls. (Predictions are all over the place.) With that indeterminate forecast, I retrieved the rest of our Winesap apples from the garage yesterday, and I baked an apple pie with streusel topping. I joked to my husband that if we do have a power failure, we can survive on apple pie!

[BakerAunt]

I have the walnut lame from KAF also, Italian Cook. It is good for straight slashes. I have had the same experience as you, depending on whether the dough is delicate or sturdy, and it may be my own trepidation. I have found that with a delicate dough, it helps to slash about 10 minutes before you will bake it, as that gives it a bit of recovery time.

I'm glad you had a lovely outcome with your Cuban bread!

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: I buy low-fat mozzarella balls, cut them into 4 oz. sections, then wrap and freeze the section s I'm not using. For a half-sheet pan pizza, I cut a 4 oz. chunk into small, diced pieces, then sprinkle it over the pizza after I have spread on the sauce and placed the Canadian bacon on the sauce. I then add the other toppings (mushrooms, chopped red bell pepper, green onions, black olives on my side, then the whole pizza gets topped with grated Parmesan before going into a 450F oven for 15 minutes. The cheese melts well.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover turkey, leftover brown rice mixed with gravy, and microwaved frozen peas for dinner. It was good that I did not have to cook a new meal because I spent all afternoon on the phone with Tracfone, most of it on hold, and did not get the problem resolved of their website not allowing me to log into my account. I will give it a rest and try again tomorrow. I suspect their website is having some kind of major problem, but the people I talked to would not admit it, and they did not want to go off script to resolve the problem.

[BakerAunt]

For our Valentine's Day dinner on Monday, I made Maple Glazed Pork Tenderloin, small red potatoes boiled in their skins, then tossed in olive oil and salt. We had microwaved frozen mixed vegetables. Dessert was two of the little Hazelnut Cakes I baked yesterday and coated with vanilla glaze and Valentine's sprinkles.

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