[BakerAunt]

We move the tree outdoors as soon as the freeze danger ends. Inside, it has good light from the window, although we are also using light on it this year, in part because elder bonus son left behind a HUGE computer screen when he visited that blocks the window. (I am seriously considering junking the thing, which no one told me he was leaving.)

The tree has had years with fewer limes and years with more. We will see what happens.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I baked Lime-Pecan Biscotti, a recipe that I invented that uses oil rather than butter. I used the two limes from my lime tree, which is now safely parked in the Annex apartment until the weather warms in the spring and there is no danger of it freezing. It usually produces more limes. A squirrel stupidly stole one and probably regretted it after a bite. However, it was just not a year for a lot of limes.

[BakerAunt]

I made broccoli-cauliflower salad for part of Sunday's dinner. I used my broccoli salad recipe. I always delete the red onion, in deference to Scott's digestive system. I use half non-fat Greek yogurt and half low-fat mayonnaise in the dressing. I omitted the bacon, as we have none. I had a partial bag of "salad toppers," which is sunflower seeds, pecans, and dried cherry and cranberry (a Marshall's buy), which I used instead of adding just sunflower seeds and dried cranberry, although. I added some additional dried cranberries and more chopped pecans. It tastes great! We had it with more leftover turkey.

I also roasted sweet potato chunks. This time, I tossed them in avocado oil and roasted them for 30 minutes at 400 F, and they came out perfectly, so higher temperature for a shorter amount of time is desirable.

[BakerAunt]

We are re-running Thanksgiving turkey, dressing, applesauce, and cranberries. and microwaved frozen mixed vegetables.

[BakerAunt]

The snow began here around 9 a.m. Scott drove me to the farmers market so that I could buy salad greens and two dozen eggs. It continued to snow. Scott said we had had about 4 inches when he last shoveled, and he estimates that we have had at least another inch, and it is still snowing.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse, my Cuisinart hand mixer went kaput about two years ago. I went back to using my older, smaller Kitchen Aid hand mixer. It is not quite as powerful, but it does a good job and is lighter than the Cuisinart. If it goes, then I will pull out the one from Scott's house that he had when we got married, or I can use the old one from his parents' house. They are not as powerful, but they can get the job done. In those days, they made appliances to last! I don't think my stand mixer should have bitten the dust after not quite fifteen years.

On Saturday, I baked Rye Barley Crispbread, which I have been craving for a while. It mixes up easily by hand, and I always had to knead this heavy dough by hand for 15 minutes. It's topped with sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds, and with the wholegrains, it is a nutritious snack.

I also baked seven Lemon Ricotta Blueberry muffins to use up a half cup of ricotta left from another recipe. It is good to have frozen blueberries from the summer!

[BakerAunt]

I checked their site, Mike, but Mr. Mixer seems to be exclusively Kitchen Aid.

[BakerAunt]

Note: The pumpkin pie came out well, although I had a little bit of wet cracking, and a slight sinkhole. Well, taste is what matters!

On Friday, I made a big batch of Maple Granola, as we are getting low.

We were out of bread after lunch, so I baked the whole grain bread recipe that I have been developing--the one that requires malted wheat flakes that King Arthur appears to have discontinued. I usually bake it as two 9 x 5 loaves, which are almost too much for the pans. I wanted to make three smaller loaves, so I increased the Harvest Grains by ¼ cup, the buttermilk by ½ cup, the flour by ¼ cup, and increased the yeast from 3 ½ tsp. to 3 ¾ tsp. I mixed up the dough, and just as I was starting the kneading process, my mixer stopped. At first, I thought that I had mistakenly hit the timer, but alas, the mixer will no longer turn on, although it will set the timer and count down. I'm glad that it at least mixed the dough before it stopped working. I had to turn out this big mass of dough onto my Silpat mat and knead, which I did for about 17 minutes before I could pull a windowpane. It made three 8 x 4 loaves, just a tad bit smaller than I would prefer. I will see how it is when we slice one for lunch tomorrow.

I do not think my 7-qt Cuisinart stand mixer can be repaired. It was discontinued by Cuisinart, and parts, if needed, are not available. I would not know where to look to find a repair place. I can get by with my two bread machines for now, but I will need to get another stand mixer, and it must be one that can handle heavy doughs and large batches.

[BakerAunt]

We re-ran Thanksgiving dinner, except that we had microwaved frozen mixed vegetables instead of peas. We both had our pumpkin pie in the afternoon, me with coffee, and Scott with tea.

[BakerAunt]

Thanksgiving dinner was turkey, dressing (Blue Bag Pepperidge Farm forever!), applesauce, Dried Cherry and Cranberries with Cardamom (all mine, since my husband does not care for cranberries or cardamom), applesauce, peas, turkey gravy. Dessert was pumpkin pie.

Earlier in the day I made yogurt.

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[BakerAunt]

The turkey is actually a little over 17 lbs., which was the smallest we could find at Aldi's. It was mostly defrosted, after six days in the refrigerator, although it had a chunk or two of ice still inside. Scott put it into the oven at 2:05 p.m.

[BakerAunt]

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

My oil-buttermilk pie crust has been resting in the refrigerator. I am about to blind bake it while I combine the filling ingredients for my pumpkin pie. I'm using fairy tale pumpkin puree that I froze last year.

[BakerAunt]

I moved our turkey to the refrigerator on Friday morning. Today, I turned it over. My experience is that it takes at least a week in the refrigerator to thaw a 15 lb. turkey.

[BakerAunt]

I miss Cindy also. Thanks for reminding me about the pan.

I baked Pumpkin Soda Bread on Tuesday, a recipe from Ken Haedrich's The Harvest Baker that I have baked twice before and have been craving. I alter it by substituting 2 ½ cups of King Arthur's Irish style flour, adding ¼ cup of Bob's Red Mill milk powder, and replacing 4 Tbs. of butter with 4 Tbs. avocado oil. I also cut the salt from 2 tsp. to 1 tsp. I used a small egg rather than just the egg yolk. The recipe also uses cornmeal, and I use medium grind. It has a lovely orange color, and the flavor sets off the golden raisins and walnuts. It makes two loaves. I will freeze one.

[BakerAunt]

I made soup for dinner on Tuesday, using broth from the freezer, Bob's Red Mill Vegi-Soup mix (combines red and brown lentils, green and yellow split peas, and barley alphabet letters) ground turkey, chopped carrots and celery, sliced mushrooms, kale, and chopped red bell pepper from our plants, which are now on the enclosed porch for the winter. I harvested the rest of the red peppers and put them in the refrigerator. I used a tablespoon of Penzey's Ozark seasoning in the soup, as well as some minced garlic and dried onions. We will have it for dinner tomorrow as well, then I will freeze the rest.

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