[BakerAunt]

Skeptic, Yes, I would like to see your other recipes when you have time to post them.

I will use whole eggs, since the yolks have important vitamins. (I wish the same could be said for butter, which I have loved not wisely but too well. Sigh.) I would include nuts, as walnuts and almonds are considered heart-healthy. As with eggs, of course, the key is not overdoing it. My approach is to make sure that my saturated fat per day is under 11 grams and to include more prominently foods that help lower cholesterol, such as beans and oatmeal.

[BakerAunt]

After dinner Sunday, I mixed up the ingredients for Skeptic's Pumpkin Biscotti. I used white whole wheat flour, rather than regular. I followed Skeptic's lead in reducing the sugar to 2/3 cup. I added 3 Tbs. powdered milk to the flour mixture. (I'm trying to make sure I get enough calcium.) I made it into a long log (16 inches), but I only made it 3-inches wide. It was 1/2 inch high. I spritzed it with water and sprinkled it with demerara sugar (Sugar in the Raw) to give it a bit of sparkle.

It's in the oven on its first bake. I'll add to this post after it is finished.

The first bake was 25 minutes. After the 15 minute cooling period, I spritzed it with water, moved to a cutting board, then cut straight, rather than on a diagonal, 1/2 inch thick. I checked on the second bake at 15 minutes, then gave them another 5. I'm waiting to taste test until tomorrow, since I want the spices to have a chance to meld, but I did nibble some of the crumbs after I sliced the log, and the taste is great. It made 28 biscotti (counting the little curved ends).

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I made chicken and potatoes. I used a half, boneless, skinless chicken breast (cut in half--these are large!) that I rubbed with a bit of low-fat mayonnaise, then dipped in a concoction of 3 Tbs. Panko, 3 Tbs. coarsely ground quick oats, about 1 Tbs. or so of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 tsp. garlic powder, 1/4 tsp. onion powder, 1/2 tsp. dried chives, and freshly ground pepper.

I cut up (large dice) three Purple Viking (I think that's the name) potatoes from the farmers market, leaving the skin, and rubbed the pieces with olive oil. These went onto a parchment-lined baking sheet to roast at 400 for half an hour. I then scooted them to the sides of the pan and put in the two pieces of chicken. I put it back in the oven at 375F for 30 minutes more (probably 25 would have been better, as chicken was slightly dry). We had it with microwaved fresh green beans from our garden.

[BakerAunt]

Cooler weather moved in yesterday, so Saturday is a good day for soup for dinner and to use some of that broth in the freezer. I tend to throw my soups together, based on what is in the house, so I have to write down what I did. I started by cooking 2/3 cup Bob’s Red Mill Hull-less Barley in 4 cups of the broth for 80 minutes. It’s supposed to be healthier than the usual pearl barley, but I know from previous experimenting that it takes a while to cook and get soft. In large Le Creuset pot, I sautéed diced onion and celery in about 1 ½ Tbs. grapeseed oil, as I wanted a more neutral flavor than olive oil, added garlic, then added about 8 oz. sliced Baby Bella mushrooms. I added the cooked barley and its liquid, 2 cups of Bob’s Red Mill Vegi-Soup Mix (red and brown lentils, split green and yellow peas, some letter barley that always dissolves), then added another 4 cups broth. I used ½ tsp dried Rosemary, 1 tsp. dried thyme, and ½ tsp. ground sage to season. After bringing to a boil, I simmered for an hour, decided it was too thick and added 2 cups more broth from the freezer, then let it sit covered until dinner. We like this version of soup a lot, but some of the flavor may be because half of this broth was made using the bones of a rotisserie chicken.

[BakerAunt]

Saturday evening, I baked “Healthier Cornbread,” a recipe I’ve used for a long time now, to go with soup for dinner. It only calls for 2 Tbs. canola oil and uses one egg and a cup of buttermilk. I tried it with 1 cup of white whole wheat flour in place of the AP, and I used ¾ cup of the ground cornmeal from KAF and ¼ of Bob’s Red Mill coarse cornmeal. It came out very well. I thought initially that it might be a bit dry, but it was fine and not quite as crumbly as what I make with AP flour.

[BakerAunt]

Glad to hear that your freezer is fixed, Mike! And before the weekend! And in time for the tomato harvest!

I have been wondering about a food mill with the tomatoes for removing skin and seeds.

Is there a specific reason for removing tomato seeds? I've never done so.

[BakerAunt]

I’m trying an experiment with my husband's and my beloved Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers (recipe posted here at Nebraska Kitchen). The recipe calls for 4 Tbs. of butter, and I always make a double recipe. The recipe makes a lot of crackers, but I am mindful, with the low saturated fat diet that I’m now following, that in a doubled recipe a stick of butter is 56 grams saturated fat, and the cheese powder adds another 18g. The main flavor is from the cheese powder, so I do not want to delete it, but I wondered about substituting canola oil for the butter. I did some online research, and the suggestion was that ½ cup butter can be replaced with 1/3 cup canola oil. I have a rye cracker recipe I like that is oil based, so I decided to try converting the sourdough crackers. Tonight, I mixed up a double batch and used the canola oil in place of the butter. The dough feels about the same, but is not quite as tacky. I’ve formed it into small rectangles, wrapped, and refrigerated them. I’ll bake the crackers in a few days and report on the results.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Friday, I made Salmon with Dill and Couscous—and added ½ tsp. chives. We had it with the first harvest of the second planting of green beans from our garden.

[BakerAunt]

We are out of bread, and it was terribly hot and muggy today, so I started my adaptation of Bernard Clayton, Jr.'s Dark Grains Bread after dinner. I'll probably be up until midnight. I'm keeping careful notes, and I hope to be putting my version of the bread on this site soon.

Added Note: The bread came out well, although there is the usual "speckled" top with a bit of wrinkles. The first rise took less than 50 minutes, and the second was almost over risen after 30 minutes. It was warm in the house, but this bread has always had a fast rise. I've been using 4 tsp. yeast, since it's a lot of whole grain. Clayton used 4 1/2 tsp. When I cut it back before, the structure seemed to suffer, but I'm also using a different method to mix it and kneading it longer. I might try 3 3/4 tsp. next time and see if that helps control the rise.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I'm glad you have the canning method on which to fall back, Mike. I hope that the repair person can get the freezer fixed for you next week.

Our second crop of green beans should be ready to pick early next week. Two of the bell peppers are turning red. The tomatoes continue coming, although my husband has found some tomato worms. He has also found some that have been parasitized by neighborhood wasps. I'm not sure from where the wasps originate, but I am glad their actions are defending the garden. My husband's carrots seem to be doing well. Of course, sometimes you cannot tell until you pull them out.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I'm sorry about your garden woes, Chocomouse. At least you have the tomatoes and winter squash--both of which are featured in the Spaghetti Squash Casserole recipe.

On Thursday afternoon, I made another batch of my tomato sauce with tomatoes from our garden and again left the peel. I did put in some onion, garlic, and celery. I froze this batch, perhaps for another Spaghetti-Turkey "Lasagna" in the future.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you, Skeptic, for putting the pumpkin biscotti in the recipe section. I will certainly try baking them. I might use white whole wheat flour.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--We liked the tomato sauce with the skins. These are thin-skinned tomatoes. (I'll have to ask my husband what they are.) I tried this after making ratatouille, where the recipe did not call for skinning them, and it was fine. With the sauce I made last week, most of it was used for the spaghetti squash-turkey casserole (like a lasagna without pasta). With the spaghetti squash, the texture of the skins was not noticeable.

If you are looking for a smooth sauce, for a recipe where that is central, then you will need to skin the tomatoes.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--Yes, I would love a low-fat pumpkin biscotti recipe.

I have two of Susan Purdy's cookbooks, and her recipes are great. I do not have the one you mention here. It would certainly be worth looking over. I may see if I can get it from the library. A lot will depend on how she went about cutting fat and whether she differentiated between healthy and unhealthy ones.

I'm actually pursuing a low-saturated fat diet, which is different from what a lot of the low-fat cookbooks take as their approach. I recall in Beatrice Ojakangas' low-fat baking book (which I have in one of the unpacked boxes that will remain unpacked until the renovation starts--I hope in November--then completed in a timely fashion) that she cut eggs, which were thought to be bad in those days, as well as nuts. While I would not go crazy over eggs, each has only 2 grams saturated fat and has vital nutrients, so they have an acceptable place in diet these days. The same is true of nuts, which while we cannot scarf them indiscriminately, they have vital nutrients. (I'm bemused when I see low-fat peanut butter, as they have taken out what actually makes it healthy.) I'm not eliminating saturated fat, but I am keeping it at 11g per day or less. I still used a light butter-canola oil spread on my sweet corn last week!

The challenge is to bake foods where I don't feel when I eat them that something is missing.

[BakerAunt]

I remember that Dachshundlady, from the KAF Baking Circle, bought a cake pan that would fit in her crock pot. I don't recall if she ever shared on the site that she did use it to bake in the crock pot.

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