BakerAunt
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Your dinner sounds delicious, Italian Cook. I would never have that issue with my husband, as he does not care for wine. However, he did consume all the raisins a few weeks back, thereby forcing me to substitute a dried fruit mixture in the granola.
On Monday, I made another batch of yogurt.
For Monday dinner, I made my Spaghetti Squash Casserole. Prior to making it, I also made the sauce for it from a bunch of our tomatoes that have ripened inside. We had it with microwaved frozen peas and Rosetta rolls. Between the cooking and the baking project, it was a long day in the kitchen, but we have leftovers for the next few days.
I have turned them over. I'm not sure just how well the design has stayed. They go into the oven in about 10 minutes.
I am in the midst of a long baking project. Cass and I talked about Rosetta Rolls, and he asked if I would be interested in baking them. There was a long discussion about these Italian rolls on the King Arthur Baking Circle. (I think that discussion did get transferred to Nebraska Kitchen under the threads category.) To my knowledge, no one from the BC or NK ever tried baking them. Cass sent me a recipe from Il Fornaio and Italian Independent Bakers, and he generously sent me a real Rosetta stamp. I made the biga last night. Today I added the additional water, flour, salt. I decided to knead in the bread machine, but to cut it off after about 12 minutes. The dough is now on a short ferment in a dough bucket on the dining room table. After it is divided, shaped, and stamped, it will spend 3-8 hours in the refrigerator before baking. I'll report back later today.
I have taken a couple of pictures and will take others along the way. Whether I can figure out how to upload them to Nebraska Kitchen remains to be seen.
We are also eating leftovers, in our case, from the maple-glazed pork tenderloin. I am roasting Queen squash every night to go with it. Last night we had the squash with a bit of maple syrup and maple sugar put on near the end of roasting, with leftover bulgur on the side. Tonight, I'll stuff the squash with the bulgur near the end of roasting.
On Sunday, I baked Whole Grain Pumpkin bread, using as my basic recipe the one from Lemon Poppy that is posted at Nebraska Kitchen. I use barley as my wholegrain flour and add flax meal and milk powder. I cut the sugar to 1 ¾ cups and use half oil and half buttermilk, as Lemon Poppy suggested. I baked the recipe as six small loaves; I sprinkled two loaves with orange and black decorating sugar and the other four with autumn color decorating sugar. I will freeze those four.
On Saturday, I baked Bernard Clayton’s Dark Grains Bread, with some tweaks of my own. I used molasses, as he specifies, because honey, which I have substituted in the past, is more expensive. We have a good local person from whom we buy it, but I try to reserve it for eating (mostly my husband puts it on his oatmeal), and I use it sparingly in recipes. I really miss trips to T.J. Maxx, Ross, and Big Lots where I could buy a German honey that I would use in baking. This bread sometimes has more rise than at other times. I might try some gold yeast as part of the yeast next time.
Note: We cut it at lunch the next day. While it is a firm bread, it is not a dense loaf, so the rise is what it should be. The taste is terrific; the molasses blended in well.
I voted today--the first day that in-person voting opened in my small town. They cut the hours back from 8-6 to 8-3. There will be early voting next Saturday as well, same hours. I arrived shortly after 9:30, and it took 90 minutes, most of the first hour standing outside in 40F weather. I congratulated myself on wearing a hat and a light fill jacket with hood. Some people were not dressed for the cold. The room for voting was small, with just two machines, which were wiped down and sanitized after every voter. We were given a disposable glove to wear on the right hand. There was the usual person in line who wore the mask under the nose, and another who kept taking hers off to talk--and no, I don't care if she is tested every day. Still, I know that I had it easy when I think of people in other cities who are standing in long lines for hours.
It can depend on the temperature in the house. When it is cooler, I find that it takes longer.
I think that I've baked that cake, Len. Or maybe I just meant to do so? At any rate, your cake looks delicious.
The caramel discussion reminded me of a scrumptious--butter based probably--cake that I made some years ago from Southern Living, I think, that had a wonderful caramel frosting. However, as I only managed to drop my LDL cholesterol another 7 points at the last doctor's visit, I'll have to continue forgoing caramel. I comfort myself that the LDL is 32 points less than two years ago.
I do recommend the olive oil apple cake that I baked last year and the year before. I wish that I could get some good apples.
For Friday’s dinner, I made Maple Glazed Pork Tenderloin, a favorite recipe of ours from ATK. We have been seeing some good deals lately on pork tenderloin, and I have another in the freezer. I also made roasted Queen squash, to which I added some cooked red bulgur. The squash I cut was one where two had developed and not separate—conjoined twins, if you will—I did one half, with its two sections for us tonight, and I will do the other half tomorrow. It was somewhat bitter, so tomorrow, I’ll skip the bulgur and after the initial roasting, brush with maple syrup.
I had hoped to bake crispbread today to go with leftover stew, but last night’s rain was enough that we could get the boat off the lift, so we took a boat ride around the lake this afternoon. I pulled out a recipe that I have been thinking of trying: Crazy Sesame Breadsticks, which was developed for the never published Christmas menu in the December 2009 issue of Gourmet, but was put on the web by Epicurious in December 2018. I made two changes in that I used ½ cup white whole wheat flour, and I cut the salt from 1 ¼ to 1 tsp. I used unhulled sesame seed not the mix of white and black. The first rise went well. I rolled out the dough, pressed on the sesame seed, began to cut ¼ inch strips—and realized that there was no way I was going to be able to get the strip up in one piece. So, I squished it up into a ball, kneaded to distribute the sesame seeds, then divided it into 32 pieces. I rolled each piece into a 7-inch strip, the proceeded to bake. They baked into about the thickness of a finger and have a slight crunch on the outside and chewy on the inside. They went ok with the stew. At least the recipe was quick and not a lot of work.
On Tuesday, I made another batch of yogurt.
For Tuesday's dinner, I roasted three bone-in chicken breasts. I rubbed them with some olive oil and sprinkled with Penzey’s poultry seasoning. I roasted at 425F for 45 minutes, using the roast setting on my oven. They were a little dry, so I should have checked them sooner.
We had it with a new recipe, Mark Bittman’s “Pasta with Winter Squash and Tomatoes.” I used a butternut squash from the farmers’ market, and cut up 2 cups of our tomatoes that have finished ripening in the house. I used ½ tsp. Penzey’s dried shallots, as it is difficult to get fresh ones where I live, and I also deleted the red pepper flakes (a no-go for my husband). I added dried parsley and Parmesan. I used whole wheat pasta. We liked it, and I will make it again. The last green beans from our garden rounded out the dinner. (I know that I have said last green beans a couple of times, but now that there has been a freeze, these really are the last.)
That small pie is so cute!
On Tuesday, I baked my lower in saturated fat version of Bob’s Red Mill Oregon Trail Cookies. I think that I will call mine “On the Trail Cookies,” as they are substantial enough for a hearty snack and last well.
CWCdesign--I read that there is not going to be a canned pumpkin shortage but that there was a delay in that the pumpkin crop developed more slowly this year. It is hard to know. My husband's cousins in Michigan were talking about a canned pumpkin shortage when we did our reunion Zoom call, but I noted a good supply in the only grocery store in our little town. It seems that the pumpkin shortage is almost an urban legend, coming up year after year. As I do not use canned pumpkin, I do not keep track of supplies, but for those who do use canned pumpkin, has there ever been a year when you could not purchase it?
That said, puree made from fresh pie pumpkins is the best.
On Sunday, I made my Scottish Style Scones (Barley) recipe to go with the beef stew we have for dinner.
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