[BakerAunt]

Thanks for posting this information, Mike. I've forwarded it to a friend who has a flat cooktop on order, just in case it involves what she is getting.

[BakerAunt]

Ah, my educated guess was correct!

I'm bemused by recipes that call for white truffle oil. How much money do they think I have? 🙂

[BakerAunt]

When I was watching a Great British Baking Show "Master Class," I saw Paul Hollywood make Hot Cross Buns. Rather than a frosting, he made a special (non-yeasted?) dough and used it to make the crosses before the bread was baked.

It might be worth a call to those Ukrainian churches to see if anyone is keeping the bread baking tradition alive. Often that gets lost before the younger generation realizes its value and wishes it had asked for the knowledge before it is gone.

[BakerAunt]

I know this one!

[BakerAunt]

I made ratatouille for Thursday night’s dinner, using some of the “Carbon” tomatoes from our garden. This variety cracks and has green shoulders, and a bottom that is smoky red when ripe. My husband does not care for how they look, but they are a wonderfully sweet tomato, and worked very well in the recipe. That recipe also featured three different kinds of zucchini and an eggplant from the farmers market. The onion, garlic, and red bell pepper came from the grocery store. We had the ratatouille over a wild and brown rice mix, along with leftover chicken from last night.

[BakerAunt]

Early apples have shown up at the farmers market. I don't know what variety the "seconds" I used for applesauce were, but the pink applesauce had almost a "cherry" note. For eating, I bought a variety called Scarlet Gala for eating, and they are delicious.

At the orchard down near Peru that we visited in December (not a u-pick) last year, the Ever Crisp was a delicious eating apple that lasted well in the 48F garage during the winter. The small Winesaps also lasted well. We hope to visit that orchard again and put in a winter's supply.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it. I listed off the ones I see in the store (did miss one of the top 5).

[BakerAunt]

I'm actually trying to work on incorporating more vegetables at meals--not always easy with a husband who thinks that one vegetable, along with a starch is fine. Of course, I have zucchini hidden in the dessert....

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, I roasted some chicken thighs on a rack, so that the fat can drip off. I put just a bit of olive oil on them and sprinkle with Penzey’s poultry seasoning. We ate it with an ear of sweet corn each and microwaved fresh broccoli. I also had a half tomato from our garden.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it--in spite of narrowing it down to two possibilities.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Just a note to say that we liked the Whole Wheat and Oatmeal Zucchini Bread. It is plenty sweet without the sugar I deleted, and the replaced oil is not missed.

[BakerAunt]

I know this one, too, thanks to my rolling pie crust days.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Don't feel badly about liking your own post, Joan. I've done that to my posts at least twice. I'm not letting myself hover over the clicker anymore until I get where I'm going!

On Monday, I baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Barley Whole Wheat Grape Nuts Bread. It's one of my husband's favorites, so it shows up a lot in the baking rotation.

I also baked 5 mini-loaves of my adaptation of Ken Haedrich’s Whole-Wheat and Oatmeal Zucchini Bread, from his book, The Harvest Baker (p. 50). I first baked it last year. At that time, I reduced the salt to ½ tsp., added 1/3 cup powdered milk (the granular kind I’m trying to use up), replaced the milk with buttermilk, and deleted the citrus zest. I used pecans instead of walnuts. This year I made some further tweaks. I’d added 3 Tbs. flax meal last year; this year I added 4 Tbs. I used old-fashioned oats. I reduced the vanilla to 1 tsp., and I reduced the granulated sugar to ¾ cup (same as the brown sugar). I reduced the oil to ¾ cup and increased the buttermilk to ½ cup. They bake up nicely in mini-loaf pans that are about 6x3 inches. (Remember those Baker’s Secret ones?) I had an odd squash from the farmers market that has a particularly long slender, curvy neck. The vendors told me that it is like zucchini. It’s nice, because the neck does not have seeds, and it gave me the 2 cups of shredded squash I needed. (I’ll save the rest of the squash for soup or stir-fry.)

I sprinkled the tops of the loaves with demerara sugar before baking. I've frozen three of them, and left the other two for dessert over the next couple of days.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

To go with leftover pizza on Monday, I tried a new recipe for a buttermilk dressing that was in the latest blog post from Smitten Kitchen. She used it with Napa cabbage and made a salad with other vegetables, but I used it on a small head of green cabbage that I had from the farmers’ market. I made a half recipe. I didn’t have a shallot, so I added some minced red onion. I also used dried chives in place of fresh ones. After tasting it on the cabbage, I added a bit more sugar and ¼ tsp. celery seed. My husband, who sometimes eyes new dinner dishes suspiciously, dished up a small amount, then went back for more:

napa cabbage salad with buttermilk dressing

[BakerAunt]

I got it, too!

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