BakerAunt
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We are having cold weather—in the 20s and 30s—so for dinner on Wednesday, I made Pork Loin Roast with Barley, Butternut Squash, and Kale, based on a recipe from Cook’s Illustrated. I replace the Swiss Chard with kale, and I had organic kale from a farmer’s market vendor from last Saturday, which is delicious. The butternut squash, a commercial grocery purchase, was not particularly sweet, which was disappointing, but the meal still came out well, which my changes to the directions. We have enough for two more meals—just in time for the expected 50F temperatures on Friday.
Those buns look great, Len.
For dinner on Monday, I made that skillet Chicken Thighs with Broccoli and Orzo (based on a NYT recipe and readers’ suggestions for improvement). It was all the better for the organic broccoli I found at the farmers’ market last Saturday. We have enough left for dinner tomorrow.
I baked my Wholegrain Fresh Apple sheet cake today, using some of the Winesaps we bought last month. I used a 13x9” Pyrex baking dish since apples can take the finish off of the USA pans when the cake is left in the pan. Instead of buttermilk, I used some kefir that has been sitting in the refrigerator (bought back when I could not find buttermilk). I have also revised my technique by whisking in the sugar with the wet ingredients.
I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Monday. I will bake the crackers either at the end of this week or start of next week.
When we went to Walmart last Thursday, I was looking for matches--which I never found--and in the canning section found a display on an upper shelf that had regular Ball canning lids! I bought two packages.
Here's the Los Angeles Times Christmas Cookies; half are gluten-free, and half are vegan.
After looking at them, I shall pass.
What I really want are my splendid butter cookies--rolled sugar cookies and shortbread--which had to go when I needed to restrict butter in my diet to a tiny amount. I am planning on baking Pfeffernusse, which still require a stick of butter but make enough long-lasting cookies that I can eat one a day and into the new year. Of course, my plans for that last year did not count on my husband--who says he does not care for them--eating them at a greater rate than my one a day.
If I can find my springerle molds, I have an oil-based ginger cookie that is delicious. We are still in disorder because the contractor working on the annex has not been back for two months, so what would be over there is piled in the house, and I'm not sure we will even have a place for a Christmas tree. Let's see how much he and his crew accomplish when they return in the coming week.
I might bake the KABC rye-spice cookies.
No thinking is needed here either: we are having leftover pizza, along with spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and fresh organically grown broccoli from yesterday's farmer's market.
I baked the pumpkin sweet rolls that I shaped and let rise overnight in the refrigerator on Sunday morning for breakfast. They are my most delicious version of this recipe.
My husband and the dog finished up the bread for lunch on Sunday, so I baked two loaves of my riff on Len’s Semolina Rye Rolls recipe.
On Saturday, I needed to use up about a cup of pumpkin, so I made up the dough for my adaptation of King Arthur’s Pumpkin Swirl Sweet Rolls. My recipe has more whole grain, some calcium fortification, honey instead of brown sugar as the sweetener, a bit of buttermilk, and 3 Tbs. avocado oil replaces the 4 Tbs. butter. I also use Special Gold yeast. I had to omit the crystalized ginger in the filling as it bothers my husband’s digestive system. I shaped the sweet rolls, covered with saran, and will let them rise overnight in the refrigerator to be baked tomorrow morning, then glazed.
Dinner tonight was Salmon and Couscous with Greek seasoning and microwaved fresh broccoli on the side.
My mother once made her turkey tetrazzini when she had people over for dinner (yes, in those days, it was an acceptable invite people to dinner entree) and later found the turkey she was going to use in the refrigerator. So, it works with just the mushrooms and almonds! 🙂
After much turkey—my husband had the last of it for a sandwich at lunch—dinner on Friday was my sourdough pan pizza topped with homemade pizza sauce from our garden that I had frozen, Canadian bacon, mozzarella, mushrooms, green onion, red bell pepper from our garden, and black olives on my half. We had it with a salad of wonderful spinach from the farmers market and cherry tomatoes from the grocery store.
Cases have spiked horribly in our county. On Nov. 28, there had been 115 cases (for Nov. 25, 26, 27, and 28). November 29 was only 24, but then Nov. 30 was70, Dec. 1 was 60, and Dec. 2 was 90. Happy Holidays.
When we do our big shopping trips to the larger town northeast of us, we have limited out shopping at Walmart to once every three months for stocking up, because so few people are wearing masks, and even some the employees are sloppy about it. We also have seen fewer masks in Aldi's and Kroger.
Our hospital district reported that ICU beds were 40% Covid on Nov. 30, 42.9% Covid on Dec. 1, and 44.9% Covid on Dec. 2. I told my husband that we need to avoid any emergencies since only 11% of ICU beds are available.
Indiana has not done well with the pandemic. The legislature wanted to end the "emergency" and ban vaccine and testing mandates for businesses, but they would have had to call a special session, and with cases spiking, the better part of valor was discretion, and they left the governor (same party) to extend the rather mild emergency measures. The death toll stands at 17, 117, and I would not be surprised if it hits 18,000 by the end of the year.
I am not worrying about the omicron variant right now; Indiana is in the grip of Delta.
I made yogurt on Friday. I have not been able to buy plain Stonyfield full-fat yogurt for several months, as it is not available at either Walmart or Kroger in the larger town in which we do our grocery shopping. I have had to settle for vanilla flavored full-fat Stonyfield, which adds extra sugar, as well as the vanilla taste. However, something is better than nothing.
I haven't made my Mom's turkey tetrazzini in years, so CWCdesign and Mike are bringing back the memories. Her recipe used wide noodles, mushrooms, turkey, toasted sliced almonds, a bit of sherry, broth, and heavy cream. Parmesan was sprinkled on top. I've tried making the recipe without the heavy cream, and it did not thicken enough. I need to experiment next time we have a turkey again and see if I can create a version lower in saturated fat. The recipe also froze well (without the Parmesan), and it was one of the meals I would make for the freezer back when I needed to have some easy meals to pull out for dinner.
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