[BakerAunt]

I baked Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina bread from Len's recipe. Yep, I brought my smaller bread machine with us to Florida, although I still use it just for mixing and kneading. The oven in our apartment seems to be just 5 degrees too hot, which is very good for an oven in a rental.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the rotisserie chicken and potato salad, although we put the potato salad on some mixed greens. We made a short trip to the Botanical Gardens this morning, but it has been raining a lot in Florida today. The Botanical Gardens looked dry, so the rain is greatly needed.

Joan--Did you get my email from last week? Would it be better to text you? If you are available, Scott and I would love to see you when we head back from our vacation.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--Thank you for the compliment on the Golden Wheat Dishes. You are correct; they came in boxes of Duz detergent. When I was a little girl, my grandmother, my aunt, and my Mom decided that they would collect a set for me for when I was an adult. I've added a few from Thrift stores, etc., over the years. I like to use them with the Fire King Golden wheat. One funny thing about the dishes, was that when they were doing salad plates or soup dishes, almost all we got were soup dishes, so I only have about seven of the salad plates, but the soup dishes make great salad plates, as they are so shallow. I've kept my dishes in good condition by never putting them in the dishwasher, as the soap destroys the design and the gold rims.

Our Saturday night dinner was rotisserie chicken and potato salad, because we are now in Florida for a vacation, and after three days of driving, cooking was low on the list.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--I'm sure that your cookies are more than worth the price of an oil change!

Aaron--Those little apple-filled cookies in muffin tins sound delightful.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked oil-based mixed fruit and nut scones, using half whole wheat pastry flour and adding 30 g of King Arthur's Cinnamon bits with the fruits and walnuts.

I also baked my version of Ellen's buns as twelve rolls.

[BakerAunt]

We got another three inches of snow overnight from Monday into Tuesday. That snow is not the problem; it's the ice layer that developed underneath from the storm from Saturday into Sunday. We are getting a taste of real winter, which we have not had for a few years.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I baked a triple recipe of Soft Oatmeal Cookies. I usually use all white whole wheat flour, but this time I replaced a third of it with whole wheat pastry flour, and the texture seems softer, which we like. I also baked Wheat/Rye/Semolina Buns from Len's recipe.

[BakerAunt]

Those pies sound great, Mike.

I made salmon patties for dinner on Tuesday, which we had on the buns I baked today. We also finished the Broccoli-Cauliflower salad.

Earlier, for lunch, I improvised a mushroom soup, playing with a recipe that I tried once before and decided needed some work. I needed to use up 8 oz. of mushrooms. I sauteed them with onion in olive oil, then added 2 Tbs. of whole wheat flour, 1 cup of frozen chicken broth, then used up some evaporated milk left over from last week's pie. I added 2 Tbs. flax meal to thicken it, then a generous dash of sherry. It made one hearty serving. I will continue to play with this recipe.

[BakerAunt]

I'm about to bake Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made last week. It is a good project for a cold evening. It was 17 F this morning.

[BakerAunt]

Jack is earning his keep--with a little help from technology!

We are supposed to have more snow, but light, overnight. Our county did a lousy job on our stretch of the road, and people did too much driving on it on Sunday and packed it down, but the state highway is in good shape.

[BakerAunt]

Oh, Joan, I am so sorry. Sending you a virtual hug.

For dinner on Monday, we had salads with mixed greens, on which we put some of the broccoli-cauliflower salad from last night, a few cherry tomatoes that ripened inside, and turkey on top. It was a great fast meal. Scott finished the applesauce, and I had more of my cranberry-dried cherry relish.

[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.

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