[BakerAunt]

We have leftovers for tonight, which I consider good planning. 🙂

Our town had a twice-monthly farmers' market this winter. Any produce was gone by December. We do have a local chocolatier who makes beautiful artisan chocolates, which, SOB, I have resisted. There is a local meat producer, a jam maker, local honey, muffins and dessert items, and of course lots of crafts. Microgreens have appeared, but I'm not sure what to do with them. There were also eggs, even goose eggs. The market is on a brief hiatus before opening for the season the Saturday before Mother's Day.

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

To go with our soup on a cold, rainy Saturday, I made Buttermilk Scallion Flatbreads, a recipe from the KAF site (that also appears in an issue of Sift) that I first made last fall and adapted to have less saturated fat. This time, I cut the salt to ½ tsp., and I substituted ½ cup of white rye flour for that much of the whole wheat flour. The rye gave a subtle flavor to the flatbreads, cooked on an iron flat grill pan, and it also made the flatbreads easier to roll out, as there was no shrinking from the 7-inch-circles. I pointed out to my husband that on Saturday, we had both eaten six different kinds of whole grains: oats, millet, whole wheat, barley, farro, and white rye.

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

We had cold, rainy weather on Saturday, so it was a perfect day to make my Butternut Squash, Kale, and Farro soup. I only had about 6 cups of broth, so I cut the farro by ½ cup, which still made for the kind of chunky soup we like.

[BakerAunt]

I used up the last of our orchard Winesap apples from last fall, which for the most part kept well in the cold detached garage with thermostat at 48F. We only lost one apple, although some were beginning to soften. I made that Apple Cake from Recipes from the Old Mill, which I’ve baked about four times since last fall. This time I reduced the whole wheat flour to ¾ cup, and the AP to 1 cup and instead used ½ cup of barley flour. I added 2 Tbs. flax meal and 1/3 cup powdered milk (large granule type). I used white whole wheat flour in the topping in place of the AP flour. The texture of the cake is particularly delicious, as is the taste, so I will use this combination again.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it too, as I was thinking of churros.

[BakerAunt]

Friday’s dinner consisted of chicken legs, seasoned with sage, thyme, and sweet curry powder, roasted on a rack. The cuts we had seemed odd and had a lot of fat. For a side dish, I used a leftover mixture of brown rice, which I combined with cooked millet, leftover from the bread I baked on Wednesday. I sautéed onion, celery, and carrots, and a package of mushrooms (I sliced). I added some lightly microwaved frozen peas. The rice-millet combination went in at the end. I liked including so many vegetables with the grains.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you for weighing in Cass! I'll look forward to your call in a month.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--you probably could cut the oil to 1/3 cup and not see too much difference. You could also replace half the oil with buttermilk, which would keep them nicely moist.

Chocomouse--I'm so sorry that your oven decided that NOW is the time to demand mechanical attention. At least it waited until after the holiday.

[BakerAunt]

I knew the answer without seeing the choices due to discussions here at Nebraska Kitchen. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

I meant the water bottle one. Even if I wanted to try it, rarely do we have water or soda bottles around the house. However, I don't know that I would risk my nice Bundt pan to cut corn off the cob.

[BakerAunt]

After three days of delicious leftovers, Thursday's dinner will be salmon and couscous, with Penzey's Greek Seasoning, and microwaved frozen peas on the side.

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it too, but the explanation will help me with any further meat purchases.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday morning, I baked Millet-Sunflower Bread, a recipe from King Arthur’s Whole Grain Baking, that I first baked earlier this year. As directed, I cooked the millet the night before and refrigerated it overnight. (Note: I cooked a half recipe of millet, using the directions given, which is enough for one loaf with enough left over to use in pilaf.) As I did last time, I held back the salt (reduced to 1 tsp.) and the olive oil until after the 45-minute rest that follows mixing all the other ingredients together. Once again, it baked into a lovely loaf. It’s a great wholegrain bread recipe for people not keen on whole grains, as the bread has a mild taste. I look forward to cutting into it tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

For lunch on Wednesday, I tried a Mark Bitman recipe for “More Vegetable Less-Egg Frittata.” It stuck a bit to the frying pan; next time I will prepare the egg mixture in advance. I used half a grated zucchini, leftover from another recipe, the last four mushrooms, and some green onion. I added a bit of brown rice, which may also have contributed to the sticking. I seasoned with 1 tsp. of Penzey’s Mural Seasoning. I used two eggs and 14 grams of grated 2% cheese. I had half for lunch, and I’ll warm up the other half for tomorrow’s lunch.

[BakerAunt]

Sigh. I had to give up scones due to the butter content.

All but one of my biscotti recipes called for butter. The one that does not is the KAF Cinnamon Biscotti, but of course the cinnamon chips add a lot of saturated fat. Skeptic kindly posted some recipes for me, and we really like that pumpkin biscotti. I also made one I found on this site, but it was pretty sweet, and my husband disliked the anise. I did like the Cardamom-Tahini biscotti to which I posted a link, maybe more than a month ago. My husband disliked the cardamom--although I noted he still ate a few--so those lasted me a while.

The biscotti I made yesterday are a bit hard. Next time, I'll bake them for less than 20 minutes. However, my husband crunched through about four last night. Clearly, he does not recall that he told me he does not care for ginger!

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