[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I baked five small loaves of Wholegrain Zucchini bread. Most are destined for the freezer, but we will eat at least one for desserts. The quick bread used up the 2 cups of Golden Arrow zucchini that I had left over from the meatloaf I made last night.

I also baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough I made last Saturday.

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Friday. Dinner tonight was leftover zucchini-turkey meat loaf and leftover pasta vegetable salad. Having a simple re-run let me spend the day on baking projects.

We have a small garden, which, alas, gets shaded by trees and the very large house next door. (I still dislike that they added 17 feet of two-story to it.) We had two Dester Indiana tomatoes. They did not like the heat, but they have been making up for it for my sandwiches The Early Girl and Better Boys have done ok. We have potato plants and green beans in the garden, along with pickling cucumbers. We put the cherry tomatoes in grow bags by the side of the house. They produced a lot at the start, then paused, but now there are a lot of green ones. We still have a pumpkin from a grow bag, the only one that had coinciding male and female flowers at the right time.

[BakerAunt]

Clearly you and Mike have larger tomato gardens than my husband and I can fit into our property. Sigh.

I roasted two butternut squash on Thursday, after we got back from getting our Covid shots. I used my food processor to puree them. I made Curried Butternut Squash soup by adding chicken broth to the desired consistency to the pureed squash in a pot on the stove, then a dash of maple syrup and 1 Tbs. of Penzey's Now Curry. I froze three 2-cup containers for fast lunches and had some soup with half of a turkey bacon-tomato sandwich. I have a little left for tomorrow as well.

For dinner on Thursday, I made Turkey-Zucchini Loaf with Peach-Dijon Mustard Glaze. It will give us another two meals after tonight, which is good, since temperature in the upper 80s are predicted for this weekend. I used a Golden Arrow squash.

[BakerAunt]

I baked the Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin rolls on Wednesday morning, which was an excellent way to welcome the first day of October. I turned them out of the ceramic baking dish immediately, as they tend to stick when they cool. I put them on a square platter. While the bottoms may still be a little sticky on the platter, it really helps not to have the sides stick.

[BakerAunt]

I made a pasta salad with lots of vegetables to go with the two remaining pecan covered pork slices. I deliberately made the pasta salad large with lots of vegetables, so that we can eat it over the next four or five days. For the dressing, I'm using the one that I make for the green bean and cherry tomato salad, as we really like its flavor. It combines olive oil, cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, and Penzey's Sandwich Sprinkle, along with some freshly ground pepper. We had to eat it without Greek cheese crumbles as, alas, we are out and the local store does not carry it.

Navlys--I dip them in egg mixed with Dijon mustard and paprika, then coat them with pecan meal. I cook on a parchment lined sheet pan in the oven at 350 F and check thinner ones at 15-20 minutes. You want to remove them when the temperature is 145 F. For 4 boneless pork chops, I would use an egg, 1/2 Tbs. Dijon mustard, and 1 tsp. paprika. (I also use a single egg for eight, but I double the mustard and sweet paprika).

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday evening, I made dough for Cinnamon Swirl Pumpkin Rolls, shaped them, and put them in the refrigerator to bake tomorrow morning. I replaced the usual 3 Tbs. of brown sugar with 2 Tbs. of maple syrup, as I had two bottles that I wanted to clean out.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, we finished the green bean salad, along with two more of the pecan coated pork slices, as well as having applesauce from the freezer.

On Tuesday, I roasted a honey nut squash to go with the pecan coated pork. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli, and of course more applesauce.

[BakerAunt]

I made tomato sauce on Sunday, using Early Girls (which were not early this year) and Better Boy tomatoes, and a Dester Indiana that needed to be used from our garden. I ended up with maybe 2 ½ cups of sauce, which I froze. I had previously made 1 cup of sauce from our tomatoes. I am not sure how much more sauce I will be making. Much depends on whether the remaining green tomatoes ripen.

For dinner, I made Pecan and Dijon Mustard Paparika coated boneless pork slices. I roasted eight, so we have three more days of meals from the entrée. We had it with the green bean and cherry tomato salad--minus the Greek cheese (we ran out)--I made last week. We really enjoy using pecan meal for coating pork and salmon, so when we go to Florida, we need to find a route that takes us by Ellis Brothers Pecans in Georgia again so that I can buy more pecan meal as well as pecans.

P.S. to Joan--I'll be in touch about our travel dates. I hope we can meet up again!

[BakerAunt]

My foot issue is that I need strong arch support and a rigid sole on my shoes. So far, the only ones that fit the bill are Lowa hiking shoes, and they are pricy.

[BakerAunt]

I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Saturday. I will bake them sometime next week, after our latest predicted span of days with high in the 80s. It feels like August not the end of September.

[BakerAunt]

We finished the minestrone and cornbread tonight.

I made yogurt on Saturday. I also made yet another jar of refrigerator dill pickles, using the little pickle cucumbers from our garden.

[BakerAunt]

Cvcdesign--Sorry to hear about the stress fracture. I'm glad you had it checked out instead of trying to tough it out. Re: the lovely boot and shoes in general. One thing about growing older is that "cute" shoes are no longer an option; sturdiness and support are needed. A company that can make such shoes and make them cute would make a fortune.

[BakerAunt]

We had soup and cornbread again. That was fine with me, as I tackled two major baking projects.

[BakerAunt]

I look forward to seeing what Joan bakes for the poker nights! The cinnamon rolls look yummy.

For lunch on Friday, I decided to bake my flatbread recipe with a topping of sauteed onion, sliced mushrooms, and spinach, topped with sliced yellow tomatoes, and goat cheese. After baking it, I put fresh basil on top. Excellent!

I also baked three loaves of my Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread, as we ran out of bread at lunch, which is part of the reason that I made the flatbread for me--that and a need to use the yellow tomatoes, spinach, and basil from the farmers market! I have been happily eating turkey bacon and Dester Indiana tomato sandwiches, and I will get back to doing so, as the Desters have been so wonderful this year.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover soup with freshly baked cornbread.

Navlys--I agree with you about frozen green beans. Even though I have tried freezing some of ours, the freezing process changes them too much. I tolerate them in mixed vegetables or pot pie, but that is it.

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