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I was thinking about Mike's comments on Mason jar sizes. I have been buying some local honey when we go to Kroger, and these are 3 cup canning jars. I have in the past also bought maple syrup in 3 cup Mason jars. Indeed, I saved the syrup jars separately for canning the great maple syrup Chocomouse's family produces.
I have saved the honey jars as well. I am thinking that if I could can apple pie filling, then two of the 3-cup jars would be perfect for pies. I don't know who would sell 3 cup Mason jars; probably they are only sold to commercial entities.
I found a cup of frozen, unsweetened applesauce in the freezer, so Saturday afternoon, I baked White Whole Wheat Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts,” a recipe that originated at King Arthur, that originally used whole wheat flour, although they later used white whole wheat flour. On the KABC site it uses AP flour. I have been working with this recipe off and on since 2013, but the version I baked today is the best. I reduced the sugar from 1 ¼ cup to 1 cup and the salt from 1 ½ tsp. to ½ tsp. I reduced the 4 Tbs. boiled cider to 1 tsp., and the vanilla from 1 ½ tsp. to ½ tsp. I want the flavor of my homemade applesauce to dominate! I have some Penzey’s Chinese cinnamon that I used. I had a partial egg left over from another use, so I used that with the other two eggs (recipe calls for three). I coated the two six-well doughnut pans with The Grease. I found that the thick batter was easy to distribute using a mini-spoonula—about three glops per well. I baked for 17 minutes. I inverted them onto the rack almost immediately. I moved each doughnut to a platter and sprinkled it with Penzey’s Cinnamon Sugar (includes a bit of vanilla.) The recipe includes a maple glaze, but I decided to forgo it in favor of the light cinnamon sugar dusting.
I ate a warm one with a cup of tea--ah, autumn feels real!
I roasted a chicken for dinner on Friday. I also cut up the rest of the honey nut squash we had grown and roasted the pieces in the countertop oven at 375F for 40 minutes. We will definitely plant these again. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli.
Wednesday night’s dinner was the Crispy Oven Fish and Chips with Dill Tartar Sauce, along with microwaved fresh broccoli.
I found that I can do the fish and chips recipe in an hour. That is partly because while some items are in the oven, I can work on the other items. However, it helps to wash the potatoes in advance, so that they are dry when tossed with olive oil; that adds some time, most of it hands off.
For lunch on Tuesday, and into the rest of the week, I used the squash puree I made on Sunday to make my curried squash soup. That means I added homemade turkey/chicken broth to it, 1 ½ tsp. Penzey’s Now Curry, and at the end whisked in ¼ cup Fage nonfat Greek yogurt.
Mike--Yes, I noticed with Blueberry pie filling that a pie requires a quart and a pint, unless it is a very small pie. I've wondered why they don't make 6-cup canning jars, but maybe it is tradition and pies used to be smaller.
I agree about soups, Janiebakes! Indeed, most soups are better after the first day!
I have wanted to try the Pumpkin Soda Bread in Ken Haedrich’s The Harvest Baker, p. 52, and Sunday (Halloween) seemed a good time to bake with more pumpkin. I knew that I would have to make at least one change to the recipe, as it uses 4 Tbs. butter, which he cuts into the flour. I also thought that I could make it more whole grain. I replaced 2 ½ cups of the AP flour with the Irish whole meal flour that King Arthur sells and used 2 cups KAF for the rest. I reduced the salt from 2 tsp. to 1 tsp. I added 2 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill milk powder to increase the calcium, and because I think the added dairy helps when replacing butter. Instead of 4 Tbs. butter, I used 3 Tbs. avocado oil, for a little more fat than canola oil would provide. I also chose golden raisins. I used 1 cup of pumpkin rather than ¾, in part because mostly I freeze pumpkin in 1 cup, 2 cups, or 1 ½ cup containers, and I did not want ¼ cup left over. I hoped that the whole meal flour would take up some of the excess liquid. Instead of an egg yolk, I used half an egg that I had left over from another use. I mixed all the liquid ingredients together, then added them to the flour, raisin, nut mixture, which is what I do for an oil-based pie crust or scones. The dough was sticky, so there was no way I would be kneading it, but it held together nicely when glopped onto two corners of a parchment-lined baking sheet, and I was able to shape it a bit around the sides. I baked for the stated 40 minutes, turning the sheet at the halfway point. I might cut two minutes off the baking time, as they seem slightly overbrowned. The flavor and texture are excellent. I will bake this recipe, with my changes, again.
I have been pleased with The Harvest Baker. While Ken Haedrich is not always as focused on heart healthy ingredients as I would wish (he recovered from a heart attack a few years ago, so he must have some awareness of the issues), I can usually find ways of adapting the recipes in his baking book, which is one of the few I have found that has great squash recipes.
On Sunday, I roasted and pureed a Winter Frost squash. I am planning to use it for a curried soup later in the week. I learned on Wednesday, at a routine dental cleaning, that one of my molars has died, and I did not know or feel it (had a crown). So, on Monday, we drive to South Bend where I have an appointment with an endodontist for a root canal. I do not know how much I will feel like chewing after the procedure, so the squash is there for a quick soup.
Sunday dinner is Lentil-Turkey-Vegetable soup. I began by sauteing chopped carrots and celery in olive oil, then adding ground turkey to brown, before adding some minced garlic, and sliced mushrooms. I then add homemade turkey/chicken stock from the freezer, 1 Tbs. rehydrated dried onion, 2 cups rinsed Bob’s Red Mill Vegi-Soup blend (split green and yellow peas, brown and red lentils, and some barley), and 1 Tbs. of Penzey’s Ozark Seasoning. After 45 minutes, I added chopped yellow squash, and near the end, I added some kale leaves. It will be a warm soup for several additional nights. After an unseasonably warm autumn, this week our area will see temperatures near freezing overnight.
On Saturday afternoon, I baked three loaves of my adaptation of Grandma A’ Ranch Hand Bread. One will get sliced at lunch tomorrow. The other two go into the freezer for later.
I have been working, off and on, to develop a non-butter maple cookie over the past two years. I want a cookie that I can imprint with the Nordic Ware Halloween designs (or other cookie stamps). I baked my recipe again on Friday, but this time replaced the canola oil with avocado oil and added a tablespoon of milk powder. I also mixed the dry and wet ingredients as if I were making a pie crust, and that resulted--perhaps along with the avocado oil--in more of a shortbread texture, which I like. My recipe made eighteen cookies, so I made six of each design (pumpkin, cat, spider).
We had a threat of frost earlier this week, so my husband picked any tomatoes that seemed ready, as well as our second hybrid spaghetti squash-pumpkin. (I need to cut one of those open and see if it is edible, and if so, for what.) Oh, my husband also found two more green beans! They will go into the soup that I am contemplating for this weekend.
I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Thursday. I will bake the crackers next week.
Chicken Enchiladas sound very good Len.
For Thursday’s dinner, I made my adaptation of the Ensalada de Quinoa from the Bob’s Red Mill site and roasted chicken thighs to go with it. We have enough for two more meals.
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