[BakerAunt]

We are almost out of bread--just enough for my husband's lunch today and tomorrow--but with heat and record humidity, I am trying to hold off baking bread until Monday evening, when it is supposed to cool down.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I baked the Olive Oil Greek Yogurt Brownies from The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Beginners. (p, 180) for the second time. As I did the first time, I used all white whole wheat flour in place of AP flour, used non-fat Chobani Greek yogurt in place of the 2%, used Dutch Process Cocoa, and added 1 tsp. espresso powder. This time I also added 1 tsp. flax meal and 1 tsp. milk powder. As I did last time, I lined the pan with parchment paper. She uses waxed paper—something I recall my mother doing with cakes when I was growing up, but parchment paper was not widely available in those dark ages. I do know that waxed paper, at too high of a temperature will melt. The brownies came out delicious, so I would make the same changes next time.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Saturday night is boneless pork ribs pan-cooked by my husband, sweet corn bought this morning from the corner stand, and I made that bean salad from Edible Michiana for the third time, but I used a cup of the large white bans that I cooked yesterday in place of the garbanzo beans. The salad is less slimy with these beans rather than the canned black-eyed peas I used the past two times.

[BakerAunt]

Beautiful, Len! I love sunflowers.

[BakerAunt]

I forgot to add that I cooked a pound of dry great northern beans on Friday after soaking them overnight. I reserved a drained cup of them in the refrigerator for a salad I plan to make tomorrow and froze two 1-cup containers and one 1 lb.-container (these with the broth) for later use.

[BakerAunt]

That is disappointing about the sheet pan, Navlys, since part of the point of a sheet pan meal is to have leftovers worth eating!

We finished our leftovers, so I needed a new meal for Friday dinner. It is still horribly hot and humid, so I made salmon and couscous with Penzey’s Greek seasoning, which we had with microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

An update on our hybridized spaghetti squash: the yellow one has turned orange, and the green striped one is starting to turn orange. They look like elongated pumpkins. My husband still thinks that I should try cooking them when they finish ripening. My thoughts are fall decorations.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign: Well, at least you are cooking and baking various recipes. I do, to some extent, but I seem to do more squirreling away of recipes than I can ever hope to bake or cook. (I am working on that.) I must have printed this thread--in case I ever needed it--then promptly forgot about it in the piles. Back then, I was still using copious amounts of butter in my baking. While I now know a lot more about oil-based cakes, given my efforts to cut my cholesterol numbers, had I remembered this thread, it would have shortened my learning curve on a few points:

Oil has not water; butter does. When replacing oil, some additional liquid is needed. (That seems to be key for the gourmet soda crackers using all oil that I have been baking).

Oil cakes do not rise as much as butter cakes, but that means I can use a pan that is not as large.

Oil cakes become tough if overmixed when the flour is added.

I diverge from KP here in that I have started mixing the sugar with the wet ingredients. I think that later makes it easier to mix in the flour mixture.

Something else I have learned: oil cakes last longer than butter cakes, which dry out faster.

I also find that adding some milk powder seems to create a more tender cake.

[BakerAunt]

We are alternating these days between two kinds of leftovers, which is good because temperature have hit the low 90s with humidity.

[BakerAunt]

I bought strawberries at the farmer’s market last Saturday. Although they are better than any I could buy at the grocery, they were picked a little too early. I decided on Tuesday to bake my variation on the shortcake recipe that came with the Nordic Ware Shortcake basket pan. I use half barley flour, replace milk with buttermilk, adjust the baking powder and add a bit of baking soda, reduce the salt, and replace butter with canola oil. I will slice the strawberries and mix them with some sugar, and serve them in the center of each little cake for dessert for the next three nights.

[BakerAunt]

A too true bit of humor from the comics:

https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2021/08/24

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Monday.

Dinner on Monday was a NYT recipe, Skillet Chicken Thighs with Broccoli and Orzo. I adapt it by using more olive oil instead of butter, omitting the lemon, and finishing it for 25 minutes in the oven at 425F. My changes, except for the olive oil, were those recommended by cooks who reviewed the recipe after trying it.
Oh, yes, I also add the garlic much later so that it does not burn.

[BakerAunt]

In our area of north-central Indiana, only some of the customers wear masks. CVS employees began wearing them again weeks ago, but the local grocery store workers have not. My husband and I have opted for masks in stores, and we will not be attending any group events. I've not masked at the outdoor farmer's market, but it has not been very crowded.

Although local reports are that 48% of the county is vaccinated, The Washington Post statistics for our county are 38%, and that has hardly moved over the past months. In the past week, the number of new cases was 139, as opposed to 61 the previous week, and I am uncertain about how much testing had been occurring. Our school district still thinks it can get by without masks in the classroom, although this variant is more transmissible than what we were dealing with last year. The county health director recommended masks in schools, but each district makes its own decisions.

[BakerAunt]

It will be leftover soup for our Sunday dinner, although I baked crackers to go with it.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--the siren call of chocolate is hard to resist.

I baked KABC’s Gourmet Soda Crackers on Sunday morning. Right now, they are in the turned-off oven where they will crisp until dinner tonight. I am still fine-tuning my butterless adaptation of the recipe, as well as altering some of the directions. These are nice, plain crackers, so they will go well with leftover soup tonight. I also like them with humus—if any are left after my husband starts nibbling on them. I have had to remind him that these are not wholegrain, and while my change reduces the fat, they are much less healthy than the other crackers I have in rotation, so they should be paired with something healthy, not scarfed alone with abandon. 😊

On Sunday, I also mixed dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them next week. These crackers are more whole grain (1 cup AP in the starter to 2 1/2 cups whole wheat, plus 1/3 cup flax meal) and also deliver calcium.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

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