[BakerAunt]

I spent much of Sunday cross stitching a particularly challenging section of my current project, so Monday is the day to be back in the kitchen. I made broth using the bones frozen from our last turkey, along with those of the chicken we had this week. (Does that make it Churkey Broth?) I also made another batch of tomato sauce, which I hope to use in a recipe tomorrow if I can get spaghetti squash at the grocery. I skipped the Farmers Market this week, as there are so many weekend and summer people here for the holiday—most coming from virus hot spots.

[BakerAunt]

It seems to have been a quiet day in the kitchen for most people.

We ate the last of the bread for lunch on Saturday. I selected another recipe that makes three loaves; we are eating it quickly, baking three and freezing two saves time. I used “Marilyn’s Sourdough Oatmeal Bread,” from The Baking Sheet (Autumn 1998). It is a long-time favorite of mine, but as it calls for ½ cup of butter, I have not made it for several years. I decided to play with the recipe and use 1/3 cup oil and more sourdough starter and wholegrains. I also used maple syrup rather than honey, as we are low on honey, and I added 2 Tbs. maple sugar. The dough had a nice rise both times and excellent oven spring. I look forward to cutting into one at lunch tomorrow

[BakerAunt]

It's a lovely pie, Mike.

Back in the July 12, 2020 baking thread, I wrote about my attempt to bake “Buttermilk Blueberry Coffee Cake,” a recipe from the King Arthur 200th Anniversary baking book using oil rather than butter. Although it had good flavor, the blueberries sank, and it stuck to the pan. On Friday evening, I baked the Buttermilk Blueberry Coffee Cake again, using my oil substitute and whole wheat pastry substitution, and addition of 2 Tbs. flax meal. I followed Cass’s revisions and used just ¾ cup buttermilk and ½ tsp. baking soda. I also prepared the pan as he instructed me. The cake baked well in the same Bundt pan—no sinking berries at the bottom. I did follow Skeptic’s suggestion as well to put some batter without blueberries in the bottom of the pan before I mixed in the blueberries. I only had a little bit of sticking, and I think that was because I missed two small places. The cake came out beautifully and is cooling. I look forward to slicing into it tomorrow. I made it with the last of our fresh blueberries. All the rest have been frozen.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday afternoon, I made another batch of tomato sauce. I was going to freeze it, but I may refrigerate it to use on a spaghetti squash "lasagna" next week, if the cool weather forecast comes to pass, and if there are nice spaghetti squash at the farmers market.

For Friday dinner, I roasted a whole chicken on top of a bed of cut-up potatoes and mini-carrots that I had tossed in olive oil, then sprinkled with poultry seasoning, some salt, and Penzey’s Sweet Curry powder. I also rubbed the chicken with olive oil and sprinkled on the same spices. We had it with microwaved fresh broccoli. I am impressed with the whole chickens from Aldi’s, as they have less fat and use a lot less salt in the processing. They tend to be larger than what we could buy in town, as they are usually at least 5 pounds, and the price is better.

There will be plenty of leftovers for dinner for a few nights, so I will be able to focus on baking for a couple of days.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover salmon patties, and leftover summer squash with tomato sauce and whole wheat pasta, and fresh microwaved green beans from the garden.

It's ok, Chocomouse, to post about brats. I just go back in my memory to two particularly wonderful times when I had brats. If I had the opportunity, I'd probably just eat one really good one, and then I'd be satisfied for a long time.

[BakerAunt]

I had intended to roast a chicken for dinner on Wednesday, but it had not thawed through, so I pulled out a can of salmon and made my salmon patties. To go with it, I sautéed a green and a yellow zucchini with some celery, then added the leftover tomato sauce from a batch that I made earlier in the week and a heaping tsp. of dehydrated onion that I reconstituted. I cooked some penne whole wheat pasta and mixed it in,

I also made another batch of yogurt on Wednesday.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--Tell your husband that there is ALWAYS room for more flour!

I used to wait for the Christmas season, when flour went on special (Gold Medal or Pillsbury unbleached), and then I would stock up, placing the bags in large plastic containers until needed. I recall Frick, from the Baking Circle, mentioning that she did the same thing, putting bags in roaster pans, etc.--much to her husband's puzzlement when he would discover them.

By the way, Bob's Red Mill has semolina flour available on their website again--or at least they did when I looked this afternoon.

[BakerAunt]

Ooh, those brats sound so delicious, Chocomouse!

For dinner on Tuesday, I had the leftover bulgur and celery mixture that I had used to stuff the squash yesterday. I sautéed a diced yellow zucchini and chopped red bell pepper in grapeseed oil. I added 1 tsp. re-hydrated dried onion, and the drippings I deglazed from last night’s pork, along with some that I had frozen a while back. I added the leftover diced pork, then the bulgur mixture. We had it with microwaved fresh broccoli on the side.

[BakerAunt]

The Walmart we usually shop in the next town over also has someone stationed outside to stop anyone without a mask, and they also track the number of people in the store at any given time. I'm not sure why the one we shopped yesterday did not.

I was happy that I could buy two bags of King Arthur AP for the same price as before the pandemic hit. However, there were only three bags on the shelf. I'm not sure if we just hit them on a day when they were re-stocking or not. I already had two bags at home, but I bought these additional two because I have "Pandemic Paranoia."

[BakerAunt]

I have been craving brownies, so I pulled out the recipe for King Arthur’s Deep Dark Brownies. I always bake it in a 10x10 ceramic square dish rather than the 9x9 pan the recipe specifies. I find that the center did not cook well in the smaller metal pan, and this one, that KAF sold in the past, is perfect for this recipe. I made a few changes. I used white whole wheat flour rather than AP. I replaced one of the three eggs with 1 tbs. flax meal and 3 Tbs. water. I replaced half the vegetable oil with buttermilk. I use water, rather than strong coffee, because the recipe also specifies expresso powder, and my husband has his limits when it comes to coffee taste—even though he would still devour them! I could have left out the optional chocolate chips, but I instead used 30g (about ¼ cup) rather than the 1 cup I would have happily until two years ago. The recipe is best when it sits overnight, but there is no chance that at least a few brownies will not be eaten tonight.

[BakerAunt]

We were in Walmart yesterday, in another county, having combined a routine medical visit with shopping in the area. It was early in the morning, around 9 a.m. It wasn't crowded, but there were FOUR people without masks, and the store personnel did nothing. They shopped and checked out like everyone else. We had to dodge around a couple of them. While that county does not have a mask mandate, the STATE does, and this county has seen a steady increase in cases.

I hope that you are doing ok, CWCdesign. You have had a difficult month.

[BakerAunt]

A couple of other thoughts, Aaron. When I take the crackers out, I make sure that they are all disconnected from each other (cut apart with knife if necessary). I then slide them off the parchment and leave them on the hot baking sheet to cool down. Again, they should not be touching each other, as KABC says that will cause sogginess. Taking them off the parchment has the added benefit of letting me re-use it to roll out the dough for the next sheet.

[BakerAunt]

My husband pan-cooked pork for dinner. I roasted two halves of a table queen squash for 40 minutes, then stuffed it with a mixture of bulgur, sautéed celery a bit of sage and parsley and onion powder, then topped with a bit of grated 2% cheese.

Joan--I can get my husband to try new recipes as long as I ease him into it, leave out the fresh onion, and avoid certain spices. He has been surprised that he enjoys most of the different kinds of squash that I've cooked over the past three years.

[BakerAunt]

Your husband is a lot more adventurous than mine, Navlys. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

I shelled a lot of pecans on Monday afternoon. A cup of them went into another batch of Maple Granola that I made this afternoon.

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