[BakerAunt]

I tried another experiment with a pork roast in the crock pot. The vegetables turned out well, but half of the pork roast (the upper part I think) did not cook through. We ended up putting the sliced meat and the vegetables into the microwave to finish. I am not going to do pork roasts in my crock pot anymore, since I cannot figure out how to keep them from either being overdone or undercooked. Maybe it is the age of my crock pot (about 30 years old). I'll stick to doing the occasional beef roast when it is hot. Otherwise, I'll use the oven.

[BakerAunt]

I baked my blueberry pie this morning. Instead of cutting slits in the top crust, I used a small heart cutter and cut out three hearts. I put those on the pie. It will be our only blueberry pie of the season, since we were late getting to Indiana, and so we ended up picking the smaller, less juicy blueberries (the ones that were still green when the first ripe batch was picked). Even though we picked for two and a half hours, we only got 8 1/4 pounds. Except for the pie, and the blueberry hot cross buns I made, the rest will be frozen for my husband to use on his oatmeal (unless I steal some for blueberry muffins).

Instead of making slits in the pie crust, I used my smallest heart-shaped biscuit cutter and made three heart cut outs around the center. I put the cut-out pieces on top of the crust outside that circle. The pie is for our anniversary dinner, so hearts are appropriate.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--for some reason, your link for the cream article goes to the last entry of "What are You Baking the Week of June 30?"

From the discussion, I now know to make sure any cream I hope to whip is at least 30% butterfat. I may go ahead and buy the heavy cream. If not, I will check the side of any whipping cream I might buy.

[BakerAunt]

Hi, Skeptic 7. Your recipe looks good. I'm in a lunch rut, so I've marked it as one that I want to try.

Some ideas for the filling: try substituting chopped broccoli. Perhaps try another kind of cheese? Maybe try adding some ground turkey or some ground beef, or maybe in some pieces of ham. I love red bell pepper, so a little of that would add some additional flavor, as would mushrooms. I've also seen pizzas that use black beans as topping.

You could also explore adding some spices. When I make omelets, I often use the Penzey's Forward seasoning (no salt). I've also used their southwest seasoning. It depends on what flavors you enjoy.

If you worry that the filling might be too liquidy, you could par-bake the crust at a higher temperature for about 5-10 minutes, then add the topping.

Let us know what variations you try, and when I get around to trying your recipe, I'll post my results.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--when I use old-fashioned oats or Grape Nuts in a bread, I usually soak the grains in any liquid I'm using--except for what I use to proof the yeast. It's not a long soak--usually between 10 and 15 minutes.

[BakerAunt]

I baked my Oat-Cinnamon Scones Friday evening for breakfast over the next few days. I only remembered the cinnamon chips after the dough was together, so I mixed them in as best I could. As an experiment, I used 2/3 pastry flour and 1/3 whole wheat pastry flour.

[BakerAunt]

For Friday dinner, I made my mother's stroganoff recipe with a few substitutions: ground turkey for the ground beef and cream of mushroom soup for the cream of chicken soup (Campbell's Healthy Request). To keep it from being bland, I added 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning. We eat it over brown rice.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday morning, I tried a new recipe, "Snowdrop Brownies," a recipe by Stephanie Coon of Juneau, Alaska from the "Too Busy to Cook?" feature in Bon Appetit (March 1993), p. 126. It called for 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa. I used up some double-dutch and filled the rest of the measuring cup with Ghirardelli baking cocoa. I also added 1 tsp. espresso powder and walnuts. I baked it at the temperature given and used an 8-inch glass pan, as specified. At the end of the 25 minutes, the sides were done, but the center was clearly under baked, so I baked it another 5 minutes, and then the center looked done. However, it still sank a bit, and the sides looked a bit overdone. I'm thinking it might have baked more evenly in a 9-inch square pan. In looking closely at the picture, I now see that the center does appear to be slightly sunken. I missed it because they show some of the cut brownies on a platter--perhaps to hide the sinking. (Darn those food stylists.) We had them for dinner, and they are delicious and of a smooth consistency. I find them a bit less sweet than many brownies, and I like that. The white chocolate chips do get lost; I see them but do not really taste them.

[BakerAunt]

I used some pork chops left over from a meal my husband cooked to make one of my soba noodle dishes with sautéed carrots, mushrooms, half a package of frozen broccoli (fresh is very expensive here right now), the drippings from the pork, and sliced green onion. We ate it with sweet corn because almost anything goes with sweet corn. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

I'm glad that the buttermilk version came out well for you Bev. I'm planning on baking this bread again soon.

Tonight I fed my sourdough starter that I brought from Texas two weeks ago in its own little ice chest. I meant to do a feeding sooner, but it has been hectic. It perked right up. I used the discard to make dough for a single recipe of my Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I usually make a double recipe, but I worried that it might stress the starter by using too much of it at once. I did unpack my stand mixer and use it. I will bake the crackers on Friday. I think that that the dough benefits from a couple days rest in the refrigerator.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--Your comment about that four-year old reminds me of a story from a former colleague, who as a young child, decided only to eat white foods. Her mother bought a book, Bread and Jam for Frances, about a little girl who would only eat bread and jam. The lesson backfired, as my friend interpreted the story, which was meant to encourage children to eat more varieties of food, as so cool that the little girl only ate bread and jam. The book ended up reinforcing the behavior it was meant to change. I'm always amused that people producing some children's literature think that children will take exactly the intended message from these stories.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: fixed sentence error

[BakerAunt]

Oh, dear. My blade arrived after the food processor (with its old blade) was packed. I have the new one where I can get to it, but I've not unpacked the food processor yet. We are going into a renovation, so I'm trying not to unpack too much, but we do not yet know when the contractor will be able to start the job.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Italian Cook for the additional analysis. I've often thought that some recipes work better as cupcakes than as cakes, and that some cake recipes would not make the best cupcakes.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: Do you prefer it as cupcakes because of the texture?

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I baked a one-loaf recipe of my version of Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread (recipe on this site). I used the bread machine, as my stand mixer is still packed and will likely stay that way until we get settled. We have been having trouble in the warmer weather finishing the 8x4 inch loaves, so I halved the dough and baked it in two 7x3 inch bread pans (nice heavy ones that I happened on a few years back at T.J. Maxx). I baked the two loaves for 35 minutes. I will freeze one.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

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