BakerAunt
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On Wednesday, I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough I made last week.
People who were on the King Arthur Baking Circle may recall my quest for a koulourakia recipe (aided and abetted by Robin Woban--I miss her). My husband remembered eating them from a Greek bakery in Florida. I did eventually find one that he liked and that was also a hit with his cousins, who recalled them as well, when I took the cookies to a family reunion.
However, those cookies were butter based, and butter has become a very teeny part of our diets. I was pleased that Elena Paravantes included an oil-based koulourakia in The Mediterranean Diet for Beginners (p. 178-179).
On Wednesday, I baked these cookies, which are made small and include cinnamon and a cinnamon sugar coating. I made one change in that the recipe calls for 1 ¼ cups AP flour and I used ¾ King Arthur AP and ½ cup white whole wheat. To measure out the dough, I used a Zeroll 100 scoop (she said a teaspoon of dough) and that worked well. I ended up with 28 as opposed to the 30 stated, so that is fine with me. I baked them the full 15 minutes using my heavy baking sheets and baked on the third rack up. We each had three of the little cookies for dessert tonight. They are crunchy and sharp with cinnamon flavor. They will not be mistaken for the traditional Greek cookies, but these would be a pretty cookie on a cookie tray—something hard to achieve when not using butter. I will bake them again. I might try all white whole wheat flour next time, as I have had success with it in other cookies.
My husband pan-cooked pork for Tuesday dinner. I roasted cut-up red potatoes tossed in olive oil and Penzey’s Mural Seasoning. For the vegetable, I had bought a cauliflower at the Farmer’s market, so I made “Sheet Pan Cauliflower with Parmesan and Garlic,” from The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Beginners. It was my first time roasting cauliflower tossed in olive oil. I replaced the minced garlic with garlic powder, since the fresh garlic would burn at high temperature. The Parmesan I sprinkled on it after it came out of the oven did not melt. Next time, I would put the pan back in the oven with the Parmesan for a few minutes after adding it. I did not get the caramelization because I used parchment paper. (I am not willing to clean up a sheet pan. My husband had seconds, so I would make it again if I get another good cauliflower at the farmer’s market.
The weather is dreadful for baking—hot and humid—but we were also out of bread. Although I rarely bake the same bread twice in a row, I baked three loaves of my adaptation of Grandma A’s Ranch Hand Bread, because that way I can freeze two loaves. I am not sure if I have any other recipes scaled for more than two loaves.
Dinner on Monday was Salmon and Couscous with Greek Seasoning. It is so hot and muggy that I tried cooking it in the countertop convection oven at the same temperature for the same time. It came out so well, that I will use the small oven whenever it is just the two of us eating the salmon.
I think there is some confusion among the group. CWCdesign's husband passed away nine years ago. I am glad that she celebrates their special day and the years they had together.
CWCdesign--it is always important to remember and celebrate.
I made Cornmeal-Pumpernickel Rye Waffles for breakfast on Sunday morning, as I had promised my husband, since we did not have the chance to have them on Father’s Day. I adapt the recipe from King Arthur’s Whole Grain Baking Book by substituting 1/3 cup canola oil for the butter. We used up yet another container of maple syrup. I may have to order from Scruggs again soon.
I wanted a lighter lunch on Sunday, given the carb heavy breakfast, and I had a recipe, Balsamic Chicken, White Bean and Carrot Salad, from a recent Washington Post email from “Eat Voraciously,” written by Stephanie Witt Sedgwick. I adapted it by not first poaching a chicken breast—I opened a 10 oz. can—and I did not cook the carrots in boiling water until crisp tender. (Note: both steps, which then throw away the water, waste nutrients.) I was going to stir fry the carrots, then thought, what the heck, and used them raw. I had 16 oz. of white beans that I had cooked a while back, and I had thawed them in anticipation of making the recipe. The combination of ingredients, along with the dressing of balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, chives (I used dried), sugar, and a bit of pepper and salt, is tasty and goes well with crackers. I like the crunch of the uncooked carrots. I will file this recipe for summer lunches.
I think we now have ten snow peas in the refrigerator. I am looking at stir-fry later in the week.
I have picked 2 1/2 pint baskets of black raspberries from our terrace, and it looks like I will get a couple more baskets. I am gearing up to make jam, but we are having high humidity and some heavy rains, so I will wait until the weather clears. I read somewhere that it is not ideal to can on a rainy day.
Last night we had 3 inches of rain, some of it in a short period of time. It looks like another storm is moving in this evening.
On Saturday, I made yogurt.
For dinner, I made Skillet Chicken Thighs with Broccoli and Orzo, a New York Times recipe that I first made over a month ago. I follow the advice in the comments of deleting the lemon, and of roasting the assembled dish in the oven at 425F for 20 minutes instead of trying to cook through the chicken on the stove top. I deleted the butter and used ½ tsp. dried thyme.
I will be trying more of her recipes from the book over the summer, Chocomouse, and will post when I do.
I recently bought The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for Beginners, by Elena Paravantes, RDN, who writes the blog Olive Tomato. On Friday, I baked the Olive Oil Greek Yogurt Brownies. The recipe did not specify what type of cocoa, but as it used baking powder, I used dutched chocolate, I used nonfat rather than 2% Greek yogurt, as that is what I have in the refrigerator. I substituted white whole wheat flour for the AP. My other change was to add 1 tsp. espresso powder. We sampled these brownies for dessert tonight; they have a rich, chocolaty taste and are between cakey and fudgy. I will bake these brownies again with the changes I made.
A neighbor gave us an unused bag of coleslaw mix (cabbage and carrots). I looked up a buttermilk dressing recipe on the internet and settled on this one from J. Kenji Alt-Lopez:
https://www.seriouseats.com/buttermilk-slaw-recipe
I like that it uses less mayonnaise and more buttermilk. I mixed it together on Wednesday evening, so it could set before we would start having it for dinner the next day. I had to delete the onion and go easy on the pepper in deference to my husband. We had it with dinner tonight, and I will make this dressing again. Having to leave the onion out makes it blander than I like. I may add ¼ tsp. onion powder next time.
I also roasted cut-up red potatoes, tossed in olive oil with Penzey’s Mural seasoning, and my husband pan cooked pork to complete the dinner.
Sigh. I wish that I could get good peaches locally. The lady who sold honey--and had organic peaches in good years (not hit by freeze)--does not come to the farmer's market any more. I am down to the last of the peach jam I made from the bumper year three years ago.
I baked Cranberry Scones on Wednesday evening using Elizabeth Alston’s base recipe in Biscuits and Scones (pp. 32-33) but substituting 1/3 cup canola oil for the 8 Tbs. butter. I also used half King Arthur AP flour and half of KA’s Irish Whole Meal flour. I reduce the baking powder from 4 to 3 tsp. I added a few drops of Fiori Di Sicilia as I had no orange peel. I did have frozen cranberries in the freezer. I bake it in the Nordic Ware scone pan. I froze six of the eight for quick future breakfasts.
I made a batch of Maple Granola on Tuesday. The last one disappeared faster than usual with both my husband and the elder son consuming it. My part is to eat about a tablespoon on my yogurt in the morning.
In the evening, I baked Multi-Grain Crackers, a recipe inspired by one in King Arthur’s Whole Grain Baking Book. My version has 25% less salt and replaces the butter with canola oil, buttermilk, and fine milk powder. I also rewrote the directions, so it is truly my own recipe. It is great for when I want crackers quickly.
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