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Thank you for bringing up these recipes, S. Wirth. There is also an oil crust in the KAF 200th Anniversary Baking Book. I'll have to decide which crust to try. It looks like I may get some apples after all! There is a U-Pick orchard about a 45 minute drive from here, and we plan to go next week. They have a variety of apples, among them Jonathans and Winesaps!
On Saturday afternoon, I baked Black Forest Brownies from Jenny Jones’ blog, as I fortuitously had a can of dark cherries in juice in the pantry. I made some slight changes: added 1 Tbs. flax meal, deleted the tablespoon of sugar, and used non-fat Chobani Greek yogurt, which is what I have in the house. (I’m hoping the flax meal will help, since the recipe says 2% Greek yogurt.) I baked in a parchment-lined pan. I used 30 grams of semi-sweet chocolate chips, which is less than the ¼ cup in the recipe. I calculated the saturated fat in my version at 19g per 9x9-inch pan. I cut the brownies into twelve servings, which means each has 1.58 g. saturated-fat and served them with a bit of frozen low-fat yogurt. These are pretty good. If I make them again, I would add ½ tsp. of espresso powder.
I made Clam Chowder for lunch on Wednesday, using olive oil to sauté the onion. (I threw out the bacon grease when I went on the low-saturated fat diet). It was my usual recipe from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. I used two cups, unpeeled Kennebec potatoes from the farmers’ market. I used canned, chopped clams, but I prefer minced. The “secret” ingredient is celery seed, first added by my college roommate, who taught me to appreciate celery seed.
For Wednesday dinner, I soaked, then cooked a package of black-eyed peas—one of the few legumes that my husband enjoys. I also made a sauce for spinach noodles and broccoli using some defatted chicken-sweet potato drippings from the freezer, some onion, ½ tsp. dried sage, a couple Tbs. of my homemade pumpkin butter, Parmesan cheese, pepper, and a bit of the pasta water. Some rotisserie chicken completed the meal.
OK--it's time to get some baking going this week, especially here with highs in the 40s. (Update: it actually got into the lower 50s.)
On Tuesday morning, I baked a healthier version of my Harvest Pumpkin Cake. It comes from a recipe in King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion (p. 194), but the texture is definitely that of a cake not a bar cookie, so I changed the name. It is a favorite of my younger stepson who often requested it for his birthday. I wanted to see if I could make some healthy tweaks to it, so I substituted ½ cup barley flour for that much AP flour, reduced the sugar to ¾ cup from 1 cup and the salt from 1 tsp. to ¾ tsp. I have always added ¼ cup powdered milk. I added 2 Tbs. chia seed and 1 Tbs. flax meal this time. I always use my own pumpkin puree. I will forgo the lovely low-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel) frosting—which includes 3 Tbs. of butter—and serve pieces with pumpkin butter dollops on top.
I'll add a note this evening about how we like this version.
Note: The changes shifted the cake closer to a bar cookie, although it is still a cake. We liked the flavor, and we both enjoyed spreading a layer of pumpkin butter over the top. (Saturated fat content is 1.125 grams for 1/8 of the 9x9-inch cake.)For Sunday dinner, I roasted chicken thighs on a rack (and removed skin before eating). I made ratatouille for the last time this season, using our tomatoes, and two somewhat pitiful small bell peppers from our garden, along with yellow summer squash from the grocery, and two small eggplants, onion, and garlic from the farmers’ market. We had it over a mixture of brown and other rice.
Aurgh! I hate it when I do that!
For some reason, pumpkin pies are particularly susceptible to having ingredients accidentally omitted. I once put a pie into the oven, then turned to my left and saw the brown sugar in its cup on the table. (So much for mise en place when the ingredient stays en place!.) I pulled the pie out, ladled the filling back into the bowl, put in the brown sugar and mixed it, then put it back into the oven.
Len--maybe a small scoop of low-fat frozen vanilla yogurt on top would help?
