BakerAunt
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For dinner on Thursday, I made the Crispy Oven Fish and Chips with Dill Tartar Sauce. We had it with leftover coleslaw.
November 11, 2021 at 12:20 pm in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of November 7, 2021? #31997Thank you for the good wishes for my husband, Joan and Chocomouse. He is impatient with injuries, so he probably overdid it the first day. He has been hobbling around the house and even raking leaves. He thinks that he can drive tomorrow, so that we can go get apples.
I had noticed that another one of my smaller butternut squashes had a bad spot, so on Thursday, for lunch, I baked a recipe that I created last year, Butternut Squash, Kale, and Cheese Savory Tart, starting from a Splendid Table recipe for Butternut Squash Galette with Gruyere. Oil crusts do not work for a galette, but I bake the recipe in a 10-inch Emile Henry ceramic tart dish, and it is every bit as good as I recall. Leftovers warm up well in the small convection oven. For the crust, I used olive rather than canola oil and cut the salt by another quarter teaspoon.
I had to substitute pre-grated low-fat mozzarella for the cheddar I used last year because the bag of pre-grated 2% cheddar that I opened yesterday had green mold in its midst. (Note: expiration date is Dec. 25). It would have been present when I used some of the cheese yesterday for an omelet. I had thought it smelled slightly off, but I did not see anything then, and as it was newly opened, I went ahead and used it. Today it went into the trash.
I baked a new recipe on Tuesday: Pumpkin Pecan Loaf Cake, which is on the Nordic Ware site and features their wheat and pumpkin loaf pan. As always, I made some changes. I used half whole wheat pastry flour. I cut the sugar from 1 cup to ¾ cup and the brown sugar from ½ to 1/3 cup. I halved the salt and reduced the canola oil by a third. I deleted the milk, since I use my own pumpkin pure, but I added 3 Tbs. Bob’s milk powder. I also deleted ¼ cup raisins, as I do not care for them in pumpkin bread, and I omitted the vanilla because the spices should be enough. I used the wheat and pumpkin loaf pan, which I coated with The Grease. I set the timer for 55 minutes, but I checked it at 49 minutes, and the tester came out clean. Next time, I will check at 45 minutes. We each had a slice for dessert. It has just the right amount of sweetness and a firm texture. The taste is excellent. I will bake this recipe, with my changes, again.
As I was doing the usual grocery shopping on Tuesday morning—without my husband who twisted his lower leg after tripping on a grapevine in the woods on Sunday—I saw some lovely cabbages and decided that coleslaw would make a wonderful addition to leftover sloppy Josephines for dinner. I like a change from frozen vegetables. I am also finishing up a course of antibiotics that accompanied the root canal I had last week, so I am keen to get my digestive tract refurbished with healthy bacteria. Coleslaw is a start.
I also made yogurt on Tuesday, for the first time in several weeks. I had run out of the Stonyfield yogurt and had to wait until we did our big shopping trip last Thursday to the next town, as it is not carried in our local store. I was having to make do with Yoplait low-fat peach or strawberry yogurt, which is the best that the local place carries. The other brands of non-Greek yogurts they carry rely on food starch as thickener, which means they have less calcium, and have added sugars, or else they carry yogurts high in saturated fat. I was able to get a quart of Stonefield full-fat yogurt (fat not an issue, since I use 170 g to make my six containers), but I had to settle for vanilla, as Kroger once again had no plain yogurt. While that means some added sugar, at least the 11 grams of added sugars will be dispersed among my six jars.
I'm a little worried that my yogurt maker may be developing some problems, as the batch I made a few weeks ago did not solidify as much as it should. If that happens again--and I end up drinking the jars--I will need to seek out an alternative.
That pie looks delicious, Mike.
On Monday morning, I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I had resting in the refrigerator.
In addition, I baked my version of the Oat Flax Meal Buns, a recipe that originated with King Arthur, although I have altered it. I cut the salt by one-third, and the yeast by ¼ tsp. I also use buttermilk in place of water, and water in place of orange juice. I use a bit less flour and increase the whole wheat content slightly. I replaced 4 tbs. canola oil with 3 Tbs. olive oil, and reduced the honey to about 2 ½ Tbs. I forgot to flatten the buns, so they were more like rolls, but they still worked well for open-faced Sloppy Josephines.
Monday was a busy day in the kitchen, and busier than expected when I noted that one of my small butternut squashes from the farmers market was beginning to go bad. I cut out the bad parts, skinned and diced it, then roasted it for 40 minutes in my small convection oven. I decided that it would go well in a lunchtime pasta dish for me, so I cooked 3 oz. of Ronzoni Super Greens Rotini. (I bought it on sale a while back, less because of its healthy hype and more for the color.). For the sauce, I used the defatted drippings and deglazing liquid from the chicken I roasted last week, and added chopped onion and sliced mushrooms, then a 5 oz. can of light chicken meat, and the roasted butternut squash. I added a dash of freshly ground black pepper, combined it with the pasta, and I had lunch for today, with enough left for tomorrow.
I made chicken broth from the meaty bones of the chicken I roasted last week. I will freeze it.
Monday dinner was Sloppy Josephines. I added that ¼ cup of tomato sauce I made last Saturday and used less ketchup. We also had microwaved frozen mixed vegetables.
My husband got his booster--Moderna--last Thursday. We had to go to the larger town where we do our grocery shopping, as the CVS in our little town had Pfizer not Moderna, and my husband wanted to get the booster that matched his original vaccine. He had a sore arm for a couple of days and was out of sorts the evening he got the shot, but he was fine the next day.
Some of the anti-vaccination people remind me of former students of mine who would do elaborate plagiarism in their papers. They would have saved so much time--not to mention avoided academic disciplinary procedures--if they had just done the assignment themselves.
Skeptic--I usually par-cook my apples before I put them into the pie. That is in part because I use an oil crust and a streusel top. That mixture could be frozen. I have also once frozen cut up raw apples with sugar and lemon and later baked them into a pie.
I seem to recall that Zen (Kitchen Barbarian) has a recipe somewhere on this site where she discussed par-cooking the apples. I'll have to look for it.
Skeptic--I'm glad that your father is recovering. It is always iffy when an elderly person breaks a bone.
Here in northern Indiana, and indeed in much of Indiana, people are also not careful. I am now two weeks out from my booster shot, and I still wear my mask in stores or any indoor location. I notice that medical and dental offices require masks, and people seem to be honoring that, perhaps because they would be removed if they do not. Stores are another matter. Most employees (with the exception of my local grocery store) are required to mask, and I do so as well. Most customers are not. For me, the Covid-19 pandemic exposed not just selfishness, but a lack of caring for others in our society.
Our farmers market, which has an indoor location in the large meeting room of the public library has limited vendors, so that social distancing can be achieved, and vendors and buyers must wear masks. That gives me confidence to return. The unfortunate part is that not every vendor who wanted to participate could do so, and the decision was made based on having a variety, so some people are not happy.
We will have leftover roast chicken, leftover roasted red potatoes, leftover roasted Honey Nut Squash, and microwaved fresh broccoli.
All of our clocks have been changed except for the one on the oven. I will change it next time I bake, as it only lights up when the oven is in use.
For Sunday breakfast, I made Cornmeal-Pumpernickel Waffles, which we had with maple syrup and the rest of the blueberry sauce.
On Saturday, I cut up four small tomatoes that have been ripening on the porch and cooked them in a little pan with some olive oil and garlic. For my trouble, I got about a ¼ cup of sauce. I will use it in some Sloppy Josephines next week.
Dinner on Saturday was leftover roast chicken, roasted cubed red potatoes tossed in olive oil and Penzey’s Mural of Flavor, and microwaved peas.
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.
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