[BakerAunt]

Auto-correct has sabotaged you, CWCdesign! I will post the recipe either today or tomorrow. I will post it with my changes, but will add a note about what the original recipe does. The cod I used was packaged cut into squarish pieces; it would work well for a fish fillet sandwich that would be scrumptious with the Tartar sauce.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--be sure to bake something particularly yummy to celebrate having your oven in working order again.

I made a new recipe for dinner on Friday: Crispy Oven Fish and Chips with Dill Tartar Sauce. The recipe was one featured in an email or online from the now closed Chefs Catalog. I used a pound of cod and adjusted the proportions accordingly. It called for toasting the panko used for breading the fish. As the fish only bakes for 15 minutes, that gives a nice golden crust. I also cut my potatoes into long wedges (large Russets into six each). The tartar sauce is exceptional. It uses mayonnaise, dill, minced dill pickle, lemon juice. I did not use grated onion, but I did use ¼ tsp. of Penzey’s roasted onion powder. The sauce was a hit with both the visiting son and my husband, as well as with me. I had only made a one-third recipe of it, but I might make a half recipe next time I make it for more than two people. It says a lot when dedicated ketchup eaters will consider tartar sauce as well.

I was hoping to post a link to the recipe, but with Chef's Catalog gone, so is the recipe. If anyone is interested, I will post it at Nebraska Kitchen and note my changes.

[BakerAunt]

Congratulations to you and your wife, Mike!

I made a batch of yogurt on Thursday. We have leftover potato salad and roasted chicken thighs for dinner tonight, which we will accompany with microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

Happy Anniversary, Joan! 50 years is quite an accomplishment!

Skeptic--I wear my nicer aprons for my less messy kitchen endeavors. Last night, for the blueberry pie, I wore a dark multi-striped one that I knew would hide any blueberry juice! Of course, I sometimes forget to put on an apron, which is why I need a row of hooks on which to hang my collection....

[BakerAunt]

We are suddenly getting a lot of tomatoes. The green beans are still producing. My husband has picked three of the small honeynut squashes (small butternut squashes). We still have a spaghetti squash-pumpkin hybrid on the vine (one we picked when the vine died). Also, a couple of more have started but are unlikely to achieve ripeness before a freeze.

My husband picked some of his carrots. They are very short.

Some bell peppers have turned orange--maybe red is next? We still have a lot of green ones.

[BakerAunt]

I baked my whole wheat sourdough cheese crackers on Wednesday.

In the evening, I baked a streusel blueberry pie in honor of my younger stepson. (He’s the one on the strict blueberry pie and blueberry cobbler diet.) This time I used the convection setting at 375F.

[BakerAunt]

I'm sorry Mike that you are waiting on parts for the freezer and refrigerator. I hope they will arrive quickly.

For dinner on Tuesday, I made the Cook’s Country All-American Potato Salad. (It is so nice to have the right kind of pickles stocked at my house for it!) I also roasted chicken thighs. We also had microwaved fresh green beans from our garden, as the bean plants are still producing.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I baked my adaptation of Pumpkin Snacking Cake, a recipe that I got several years ago from a special issue fall baking magazine. I had reduced the sugar by 25%; this time I reduced it by a third from the original amount. I also reduced the oil from ½ to 1/3 cup. I like that the recipe uses some spelt, some buckwheat flour, and chia seed. I baked it in a glass dish this time, which worked better than a metal pan, and I used the countertop convection oven so as not to heat up the house on a day when temperatures soared to 88F.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Tuesday as my adaptation of a Martha Stewart recipe for shepherd’s pie that I worked out some years ago. It was a good way to use up leftover mashed potatoes for the topping, and a bit of leftover gravy in the filling, which I made with ground turkey, some green onion, a bit of garlic, a cup of broth from the freezer, sliced mushrooms, and mixed vegetables. I was able to use the countertop convection oven, so I did not heat up the house. We had some sprinkles of rain this evening, so it is supposed to cool down a bit tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I cooked a few of our tomatoes that needed to be used quickly to make pizza sauce. If the weather cools a bit, we may have pizza later in the week. Otherwise, I will freeze it.

We are still having warm weather here, and we could use some rain again. The changes we see in the garden are due to the shortening days.

[BakerAunt]

My husband drove my stepdaughter to the airport in Indianapolis late this morning. Early this evening, my younger stepson drove in from Colorado. I was not sure when he would arrive, so I planned an easy dinner of salmon patties, with sweet corn (still available!), leftover quinoa salad, and multigrain crackers.

[BakerAunt]

As it turns out, my stepdaughter's I-phone is a water resistant model. It was in water, in the canoe (on its side) for only seconds. It rested for 24 hours in organic brown rice (sigh, only rice I had), and it is now working well. Whether that continues remains to be seen. She was able to hold up her camera when the canoe tipped on its side, so it stayed dry. All of this was due to trying to pull a can off the bottom of the lake (water was about 3-4 feet deep), clearly not something two people should try to do with their paddles while in a canoe, although I understand the environmental impulse.

[BakerAunt]

I envy your proximity to the King Arthur store, Chocomouse!

On Saturday, I baked the whole grain cracker recipe that I adapted from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book. I also baked a batch of Skeptic’s Pumpkin Biscotti. I was inspired to do so because I went to the farmer’s market this morning and bought a large “peanut” pumpkin and two pie pumpkins. It is now time to start using up any pumpkin in the freezer from last year. Autumn will be coming, but that is hard to believe on a day when the high temperature was 86F.

[BakerAunt]

I thought that the bread flour was Sir Lancelot and the high-gluten flour was yet another step up.

I bought a three-pack of high-gluten flour for a recipe I have never baked. I have been using it up, a cup here or there, in bread recipes where I am using a lot of whole grains.

[BakerAunt]

After dinner this evening, my husband and his daughter were on the lake in the canoe and ended up tipping over. Of course it was when she had her Iphone out for a picture. She retrieved it quickly, and it was not in the water long, but water and electronics never mix well. It is currently sitting under a pile of brown rice--although online sources are divided on whether that is the way to handle it.

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