BakerAunt
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Aaron--I have a dedicated plastic tub that has traveling kitchen items. I take out what I need, based on where we are going and for how long. One item is a small case with several different knives because the knives in every place we've rented with a kitchen are dull. The alternative is to do as my husband's cousin does and always bring a sharpening stone.
I made yogurt on Monday. Dinner will be leftovers from yesterday.
On Monday, I decided to take advantage of the great oranges I have and use some of the zest to bake Easy Italian Whole Wheat Breakfast Cookies, a recipe that I have not baked in a while. I made a mistake and used whole wheat pastry flour instead of white whole wheat, which caused problems with the dough being too sticky, since I also substitute in barley flour. I also think that the honey I am using is not as thick. I managed to get it rolled out and cut, but it was not pretty. I may bake the recipe again in a few days, with the right kind of flour and see if I need to cut back the honey or increase the flour slightly.
Our farmers' market goes throughout the winter. Some vendors have greenhouses, and I favor one who has great spinach, kale, and lettuce. She also supplied all of my non-pumpkin squash, garlic, and red onions. The other produce vendor, who also does breads, favors microgreens, and we just do not use then. However, he has great onions. I am eagerly awaiting his asparagus. We have a vendor for pork and one for beef who are also year around, and I used that company for stew beef twice this winter.
We have had two really warm days, with a good little rain this afternoon. A cold snap is supposed to set in, with freeze over the next couple of days.
For Sunday dinner, I roasted eight chicken thighs on silicone racks, so that the fat would run off into the parchment-lined pan for easy cleaning. I paired the chicken with rigatoni from semolina flour tossed with a sauce made of sliced mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, then dusted with some flour before adding some leftover half and half., sage, and freshly ground pepper. After the pasta cooked, I added it to the mushrooms but reserved some of the water, which I used to cook broccoli florets for about 2 minutes, before adding them to the pasta, along with some of the water. I had read about that technique for broccoli and pasta in an email today from the Los Angeles Times cooking editor, and it works well.
I also made turkey broth today from bones that have been in the freezer.
That festival sounds great.
My husband and I did drive to Colorado Springs and back early this month to attend my younger stepson's wedding. We attended the rehearsal dinner, with about 40 people in a medium-sized room. The wedding was an enclosed space with a number of people present. One or two wore masks. We decided not to do so, trusting in our vaccinations and single boosters, although I was right at the six-month mark. It has now been nearly three weeks, and we have stayed well.
I will probably go ahead and get the second booster before the end of this month. From the news reports, vaccinated people still do get sick, but rarely is it serious. I am still carefully choosing which gatherings I attend.
I used the Apricot Oatmeal Bars recipe here at Nebraska Kitchen to bake Seedless Blackberry Jam Bars on Saturday. I replace the flour with white whole wheat flour and reduce the brown sugar a tad from 2/3 to 1/2 cup, and cut the salt from 1/4 to 1/8 tsp. The blackberry jam is from a batch I made in late summer of 2020--a year we all remember too well.
I've also never heard of it.
I baked Pecan, Orange, and Cranberry Muffins on Saturday morning. I adapted the recipe from the little baking book, Muffin Magic.â My version uses buttermilk (but I used leftover kefir this time), with adjustment of baking powder and baking soda, and this time I used all whole wheat flour. I still have some wonderful Cara Cara oranges, so I used the zest and juice instead of the Fiori di Sicilia I substituted last time. I made six large rather than twelve small muffins. I will freeze most of these for fast breakfasts.
That pizza sounds so good, Chocomouse.
Dinner on Friday was Salmon patties, accompanied by a stir-fry that I made with sauteed carrots, celery, red bell pepper, sliced mushrooms, and garlic and combined with cooked farro (1/2 cup dry cooked in 1 3/4 Cups water with 3/4 tsp. of Penzey's chicken base).
That's great information on hard boiled eggs, CWCdesign.
We had the last of the pork tenderloin. I roasted cubed sweet potatoes to go with it and microwaved the last of the fresh green beans. Tomorrow, I will need to do regular cooking again.
The oil cakes I have at room temperature do not harden the way the butter cakes do, so the oil certainly plays a role. I was concerned the sugar would cause the cake to dry out in the refrigerator, but that appears not to have happened. Maybe the frosting also helps.
We had more delicious Easter leftovers with fresh green beans.
When we talked to the happy couple over Skype on Easter, they told us that they forgot about freezing the cake before they left for their honeymoon. So, a week later, when they returned, it was still in the box in the refrigerator. They said that it was still delicious and ate the rest of it.
I knew this cake lasted well four or five days (the longest I've ever had it in the house before it was completely devoured), but now I know it can go longer.
On Wednesday, I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough that I made last week.
MaryJane--Those breads sound so wonderful.
I've been on a quest to get my Swedish Limpa bread just right. This Easter, I seem to have achieved it.
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