[BakerAunt]

S. Wirth, I am sorry to hear about the stroke your husband suffered. I will keep him and you in my prayers. Be sure to take care of yourself during this stressful time.

[BakerAunt]

Wednesday afternoon, I baked Toffee-Pumpkin Snack Cake, a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Fall Baking (2017), p. 28. I discovered it last year, and I think this is the fourth time I've baked it. The recipe is more than half wholegrain and seeds (spelt, buckwheat, chia seed). It’s not bad in the saturated fat department, as it uses pumpkin puree (from my freezer) and canola oil. The difficult ingredient is the toffee pieces, which have 2.5 g saturated fat per Tbs. My half recipe of the cake calls for ½ cup. I’d rather spend my precious saturated fat allowance elsewhere, so I cut the amount in half. I also decided to try reducing the canola oil from ½ cup to 1/3 cup. I make my own pumpkin puree, so it tends to be moister and less dense than the canned pumpkin. I put some Autumn sprinkles on top. If cut into 8 pieces, each piece has 2.5 g of saturated fat. The cake was fine in taste and texture without that additional oil, so I will use that modification in the future. It does seem a little too sweet, so I might cut the sugar by 2 Tbs. next time.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook and Cwcdesign have also not been posting.

[BakerAunt]

Only the first paragraph can be viewed, and then the paywall hits.

I was always puzzled by high carb diets.

I was also puzzled by the low-carb diets that threw bread out the window.

[BakerAunt]

Best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery, Mike.

Tonight I made Salmon and Couscous. Instead of dill, I used 1 tsp. of Penzey's Sunny Paris (was a freebie), and it makes for a nice change. We microwaved peas for the side dish.

[BakerAunt]

It's very difficult to get clear nutritional information even in 2018. The doctor's office was of no help. Their answer to calcium and Vitamin D issues was to hit me with over the counter supplements. At no time, did anyone ask about my diet and physical activity. I got good advice from my friend's daughter because she has her M.A. in Dietetics There is no known history in my family of hereditary high cholesterol, which makes the lipid panel results all the more puzzling. I'm also wondering if another medication I take may have contributed to those high readings. I'll ask the doctor after they repeat the lipid panel (and Vitamin D test), which I was told would be done after three months. In the meantime, I will follow my low-saturated fat diet, which in addition to removing butter's centrality (sob), includes skinning baked chicken, not having those bacon-tomato sandwiches I've been looking forward to eating with our home grown tomatoes (I did eat them with the rest of the bacon in the house), eating steel-cut oats almost every morning (it's a good thing that I like them a lot), and including more fish, having some meatless meals, and incorporating more beans and a greater variety of vegetables. I assume the new diet, and the increase in walking time, is why I have managed to lose 3 1/2 lbs.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: added comma

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. I was able to read the story. It does seem that there is still confusion about dairy fat in the field of diet and nutrition.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday morning, I baked the graham crackers. The dough was very difficult to roll out. I had to resort to Big Bertha—my heavy maple rolling pin from Williams-Sonoma—to get it to where I could roll it with the regular pin and dough wands. I had added 1 Tbs. extra flour last night when kneading the dough by hand. Perhaps I should not have done so, but the dough was forming a paste all over my hands. Maybe it would be best to make the dough in the mixer, give it a short rest period, flatten it into a rectangle, and put in a shallow oiled dish for its overnight rest. The recipe does not make a lot. I got 16, with an average size of 3 ¼ inches by 2 ¼ inches, and with dough rolled to 1/8 inch, they are thick. These are hard crackers and would work well for dunking. I like the flavor, so I will try the recipe again.

[BakerAunt]

My husband and I were supposed to go hiking in Tippicanoe State Park tomorrow. He changed his mind and wanted to go today. We negotiated my time for baking and cooking in the morning, so that we could go in the afternoon. That meant I spent the morning cutting up vegetables and making Ratatouille, following a recipe from Jennifer Segal in her blog, “Once Upon a Chef.” I used less eggplant (mine was about 6 oz.). I used two yellow summer squashes rather than the green zucchini. I used a red bell pepper. I cut the garlic to 2 cloves, and I also used only about ½ cup chopped onion (about the maximum I can run by my husband). I did not put in as much salt as she does, and I used a bit less olive oil. For the spices, I used 1 ¼ tsp. of Penzey’s salt-free Tuscan Sunset. I did not use the red pepper flakes. I warmed some up for dinner, and we had it over some bulgur, along with leftover chicken legs. I will definitely make this recipe, with my adaptations, again.

Here's the link to the recipe:

Ratatouille

Bonus: The tomatoes are from our garden. The yellow summer squash, onion, red bell pepper, and eggplant came from the local farmers market.

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

[BakerAunt]

I had heard about the accident but did not realize the local connection. Wonky, I am praying for strength for all of you in the painful time now and in the days ahead. The support the community draws from each other will be what sustains each individual.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday evening, I decided to try a new recipe and mixed up the dough for Graham Crackers. I am using the recipe in Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor (pp. 296-297). He says that the crackers taste better if the dough is held overnight at room temperature, so I will wait to roll and bake them until tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

I've probably baked most from the King Arthur Whole Grains baking book, which is more about easing people into whole grains, although there is another book from two sisters who own a flour mill (not the at home kind) that has given me some good recipes. Most of my whole grains recipes have been gathered from here and there. I'm not sure that I will trust Livingston on yeast recipes, but there are some others I will likely try, such as the Millet Muffins, as I have ground millet flour in the freezer that I need to use. I bought it for the KAF disappointing Maple Millet Scones I baked earlier this year.

[BakerAunt]

Just a note to say that the KAF Nutty Fruity Sourdough came out well. It has good texture, even though the whole grains give it a bit of density. Each slice has lots of dried fruit and nuts in it. I'm enjoying it with afternoon tea, and my husband is actually eating it without slathering it in butter-canola spread.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike! I've located a recipe at Once upon a Chef and will try it on Monday.

[BakerAunt]

This post is what I am NOT cooking today. The honey vendor at the farmers' market was going to bring me 5 pounds of their Granny Smith apples. I even dug my food mill out of the stuff in the shed in anticipation. This morning, she had to break the news that their Granny Smiths were no good. She cut open a couple of good looking apples and found the lady bugs had gotten to them.

We are going to Michigan in October for my husband's family reunion, so I will be on the lookout for apples there.

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