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For dinner on Wednesday, I made White Wine-Braised Chicken with Artichokes, a recipe from the "Eat Voraciously" column in The Washington Post. I used the other can of artichoke hearts from the pantry and will not buy more, as Scott resolutely refuses even to try them. I also left out the olives, as I do not think they added much to the recipe. I had 8 oz. of mushrooms that needed to be used, so I sauteed them in olive oil, then set them aside while I browned the chicken, skinned and coated in a flour mixture with paprika and onion powder (omitting the oregano, which bothers Scott's digestive system). I added the mushroom with the artichoke hearts and made sure to dish those onto my husband's plate. The recipe made very little sauce, so I might increase the white wine from five to six ounces next time. I used my Staub 11-inch skillet this time and was pleased at how well the coated chicken browned and the whole recipe cooked.
We had the chicken with mixed brown and wild rice cooked in my new Green Pan 4-qt. rice cooker. It is the second time I used it, and it really does a nice job and cleaning is easy. (Note: I bought the simple one not the complex electronic one.) We had microwaved frozen peas for an added vegetable.
We also picked another 10 lbs. of blueberries at our favorite place in the early morning before the heat and humidity settled in. I washed them this evening and spread them on baking sheets lined with paper towels to dry overnight. I will freeze them tomorrow.
As we are headed into a heat wave tomorrow, which will put a pause on running the oven, I baked flatbread on Tuesday evening. I have been experimenting with various flours in my adaptation of a Ken Haedrich recipe. I use a cup of King Arthur's Italian-style flour, a half cup of barley flour, 2 Tbs. semolina flour, and a half cup of whole wheat flour. However, I have more whole wheat pastry flour than I realized, so I decided to use it instead of the whole wheat flour. The dough was more delicate but not unreasonably so; I was able to roll it out easily. It also did not "fight" the way the dough with whole wheat flour does. The crackers (I cut them into 40 rectangular pieces before baking) are now cooling on the pan. I want to see if the lower gluten content will create a crisper flatbread. That taste test will wait for tomorrow.
I found a package of eight boneless pork chops at a good price at the market on Tuesday, so for dinner, we and pecan crusted baked pork chops. I added ¼ tsp. of paprika and some freshly ground pepper to the egg and 1 Tbs. of Dijon mustard mixture into which I dip them before "breading" them in the pecans. That was just enough to coat all eight. I also roasted some red potatoes cut into cubes and tossed in olive oil in the little oven. These came from Saturday's farmers market. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli.
So yummy looking, Joan!
I made yogurt on Monday, but I started it late, so I will be up well past 11 when it will be done.
Dinner tonight was the last of the coleslaw and the last of the salmon patties. I let Scot have the last Deli Rye roll and I ate mine on a slice of bread with a thin slice of onion. With all the leftovers gone, I will need to cook tomorrow, just when the heat is returning.
CWCdesign--bagging biscuits always reminds me of Mrs. Cindy, who also stored her bags in the freezer, much to the Saint's puzzlement.
Chocomouse--I'm glad that you are feeling recovered enough to do some baking.
I took advantage of a cool Monday morning to bake Pumpernickel Raisin Bread, a recipe that I created in May by drawing from two different recipes. This time, in addition to the cup of golden raisins, I added 1/3 cup of walnuts. I'm looking forward to buttered slices with my coffee for breakfast tomorrow. The hot weather returns tomorrow. Sigh.
That is a great idea, Len, to use the parchment initially with the "crisper" pan. I've greased them in the past, but the grease tends to drip down into the oven and make a mess. Countertop ovens are great for hot weather.
Our dinner tonight was the rest of the stir-fry.
While appearances are a plus, Mike, I'm an advocate of at least it tastes good, so you achieved the most important objective.
On Sunday, I baked Oatmeal Jam Bars using the last jar of 2022 Blackberry jam. Hey, I'm catching up!
I also baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough I made last week.
When I had my early afternoon tea on Saturday, I realized that there were only two cookies remaining from those I baked on Monday. Clearly, my husband has been hitting them rather hard. I decided to bake a full recipe of my healthier take on Oatmeal Scotchies, using Nestle butterscotch chips. I could not find the Nestles chips at Walmart or my local store, but Kroger had bags of the Nestle butterscotch chips a few months ago, so I bought two. While the chips are little saturated fat bombs, sometimes it is nice to indulge. I do make the cookies with white whole wheat flour (what King Arthur now styles as golden wheat), substitute ½ cup of avocado oil for the butter, add 2 Tbs. each of milk powder and flax meal, and add a half cup of sunflower kernels. Of course, they use oats. The secret ingredient is the ½ tsp. of orange extract. I used a #30 scoop and got 44 cookies. I told Scott that this batch needs to last for at least a week.
On Saturday, I made egg salad to have for lunch on open-faced sandwiches using a Deli Rye Roll. My egg salad is very simple, just hard- boiled eggs, some mayonnaise, some salt, and chopped onion. For today, I put some slices of pimento-stuffed green olives on top. I made enough for several lunches for me, as Scott is not a fan of egg salad.
For dinner, we had salmon patties on deli rye rolls and more coleslaw.
I've noted higher prices for chicken as well.
Quick report on the deli rye rolls: we really like them! I had two with Land o' Lakes butter-canola spread at lunch today, along with some cheese.
We had leftover stir-fry for dinner tonight.
I'm slowly accumulating blueberries from our two little bushes. One had only a few, while the other has a reasonable amount. I might get enough for six blueberry muffins from it.
I picked the first two cherry tomatoes yesterday from the red plant. The yellow and purple plants have green ones. Out in the main garden (cherry tomato plants are in grow bags), the regular tomato plants have some green ones. My husband picked a few beans two days ago, but so far, it is not looking as if we will have the plenteous harvest of past years. One of the pickling cucumber plants is finally developing fruit. The bell peppers are so far disappointing. The potato plants have great tops, so we hope for a good harvest there.
The blackberries on the terrace are showing the lack of rain. We did have a good storm a couple of days ago, so I hope the ones on the woodland property are doing well. I have bought the bug repellent, Picaridin, that Wire Cutter recommended in the article that CWCdesign gifted from NYT. Apparently, it is not just ticks and mosquitoes that attack; there is, according to Scott's cousin's wife, a blackberry mite, which is the early stage of chiggers, and the mites are what bite us. Supposedly, this spray will repel them as well. I've also ordered a pair of used Patagonia workwear pants to help deal with the brambles. Once I start picking, I will report back on the success of my proactive defenses.
Ah, Joan is going all in at tonight's poker game! 🙂
Last night's thunderstorm helped cool us down a bit, so on Thursday morning, I baked a new recipe, "Deli Rye Rolls," from the King Arthur site. I used measuring cups for the flour and wrote down my own weights. My AP flour, at 302 g was close to their measurement of 300 g, but my pumpernickel weight was 174 g, compared to their weight of 135 g, a significant difference. I replaced the tablespoon of vital wheat gluten with 1 Tbs. first clear flour. I replaced 1 cup of the water with a cup of buttermilk. I deleted the 3 Tbs. of dried onions but included ¼ tsp. of Penzey's toasted dried onion powder. I reduced the salt by a third. In place of their Deli Rye flavoring, I used 2 tsp. caraway, 1 ¼ tsp. mustard seed and 1 1/4 tsp. dill seed. The first and second rises were just 45 minutes each, but the temperature in the house was 79 F. I made twelve buns, but they are a little small, so next time I will make just ten. I did not do the egg white, water, and molasses topping or sprinkle them with Everything Bagel or poppy seeds out of deference to my husband. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to report on the taste of the rolls, because I had one with a salmon patty with a slice of onion, which covered up most of the roll's flavor. Worth it.
That is a lovely cold plate dinner, Joan! I like those meals that are a little of this and a little of that.
Good move, CWCdesign to pick up the rotisserie chicken. We often do that when ending a trip.
I made salmon patties for dinner on Thursday. We had them on some of the Deli Rye Rolls I baked this morning, along with more coleslaw.
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