[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday evening, I baked the KAF recipe for whole wheat blueberry muffins. I made the following changes: added 2 Tbs. flax meal; added 1/3 cup powdered milk (the granular stuff I’m trying to use up); reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup; reduced the oil to ¼ cup; reduced the salt to 3/4 tsp. I had some leftover streusel in the refrigerator (not sure how old it was) that I sprinkled on top. The muffins are ok, but I will use a different streusel recipe next time. These made for a quick breakfast before we went blueberry picking again. These are the late blueberries, so they are not as full of water as the ones we picked in July. I will freeze most of these.

[BakerAunt]

Clearly the information a friend gave me years ago is WRONG, so my losing streak continues, but I am now correctly informed.

[BakerAunt]

Wednesday night’s dinner was stir-fry, using a leftover pork chop from Tuesday’s dinner. The vegetables I used are: green onion, celery, carrots, red bell pepper, three mushrooms (all I had), broccoli, and snow peas from our garden. I used I roll of soba noodles.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for the responses. My husband thinks that I should blanch them to kill any bacteria.

Most sites say to blanch for 3 minutes, then 3 minutes in ice water. One site said 2 minutes.

All sites agree that beans should be dry before freezing. Some people put them directly into the bags; others freeze them separately on trays for an hour or two, then freeze them.

[BakerAunt]

My husband cooked most of Tuesday's dinner: pan-cooked thin pork chops, macaroni and cheese (I've shown him how to make it with Vermont Cheese powder), and microwaved broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

I was able to work it out, although I have not had to focus on carb content in food. Am I correct that sweetness plays a role in whether a food is high in carbs?

[BakerAunt]

I missed it. I had narrowed it down to two and chose the wrong one. There goes my streak....

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Monday, I made salmon and couscous. This time I used 1 tsp. Penzey’s Ozark seasoning. It was a bit strong, so next time, I’ll use ½ tsp. We also had microwaved green beans from our garden.

[BakerAunt]

Another thought, Italian Cook, would be not to let the dough rise as long before dimpling it. That would give the dough a bit of time to recover from the dimpling.

When I make it, I use the optional Vermont cheese powder. I also sub in 1 1/2 cup whole wheat or white whole wheat flour and add 2 Tbs. flax meal. I cut the salt to 1 tsp., which will also give the yeast more freedom and allow for a quicker rise.

I've not used the optional pizza dough flavor (don't have and don't want it), nor have I tried adding meat or cheese. I'll be following your experiments with interest!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

King Arthur has a blog link to the right of the recipe on their site. It also shows a thicker bread. P.J. says to "dimple" the bread, and what is shown seems to be the light indentation.

[BakerAunt]

I made an educated guess, which was correct.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I don't poke all the way down to the bottom. I just do a gentle poke all around. You want to make a slight indentation. I hope that helps.

[BakerAunt]

The pie turned out very well indeed. It's the first time I've had a blueberry pie hold together, and the individual berries can be seen. I had reduced the sugar from 3/4 to 2/3 cups, since these blueberries we pick are particularly sweet. I'd do that again next time, along with halving the original amount of streusel, although I suspect it would by yummy with the full amount. The one thing I would do differently next time is to increase the allspice, with which I replaced the cinnamon, from 1/4 to 1/2 tsp., since I think that the pan cooking, then baking, diminished its flavor a bit.

The crust came out well and is crisp on the bottom. My husband, whose favorite pie is blueberry, is particularly pleased that I've found a way to bake it that is much lower in saturated fat. There is about 22g per pie, so if cut into sixths, that is 3.66 grams per slice, with some fiber from the whole wheat and all those blueberry antioxidants.

[BakerAunt]

changed, so no comment necessary here.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I deduced the correct answer, even though I've never used mussels.

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