[BakerAunt]

To get out of my lunch rut, on Monday, I cooked up a cup of tricolor pasta, left over from some other recipe, then rinsed until cool. I combined it with a rinsed and drained can of low-salt black beans, a small chopped red onion, some chopped tomato, and some chopped cucumber. (This was a "what's on hand in the refrigerator" dish.) I softened 1 Tbs. of Penzey's Italian Dressing mix in 2 Tbs. water. I mixed it with 3 Tbs. red wine vinegar and 3 Tbs. olive oil, and a tsp. of sugar, tasted it, then added another Tbs. of red wine vinegar. I tossed pasta salad in the dressing. I had a serving with grated parmesan on top. I have leftovers for the next few days, and it is all mine because my husband does not like cucumbers or black beans.

[BakerAunt]

My husband is tracking it by using his telescope to project the image onto a piece of cardboard. We have some clouds coming and going. Our area is supposed to get 86-87% coverage.

[BakerAunt]

Hi, Italian Cook. I was thinking too that we have not heard from him for a while. I have emailed him and told him that we miss him. Maybe he will check in with us.

[BakerAunt]

When I substitute honey for sugar in my yeast breads, I do it 1:1. However, I've not had occasion to substitute for a lot of honey. Usually it is for 1 or 2 Tablespoons.

[BakerAunt]

Mike's cookies are terrific.

I decided that I needed to be more inventive with mine, so I left a small spot on each free of the sparkling yellow sugar and used some fine black decorating sugar on that surface. They lack the crisp lines that are the hallmark of an eclipse, but we will eat them just the same.

[BakerAunt]

I tried to find my sun cookie cutters without success. They are probably among the boxes in the storage shed. I then decided to bake the Soft Barley Sugar Cookies in KAF's Whole Grain Baking. Instead of white coarse sugar, I'll use yellow coarse sugar. That will make a sun, and taking a bite will make an eclipse of sorts (except that the eaten part will not be coming back).

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--Italian-style flour is one of the flours I do not have in my vast flour collection. I'll be interested in hearing about your cracker baking session.

[BakerAunt]

I'm mixing up the dough for Soft Barley-Sugar Cookies, from KAF's Whole Grain Baking. The dough needs to be refrigerated overnight. I'll bake them tomorrow morning. The recipe makes 10 giant cookies. I plan to use the KAF yellow sparkling sugar on them. For tomorrow, I will dub them the "Make Your Own Eclipse" Cookie. All it takes is one bite! 🙂

[BakerAunt]

I was able to unearth my food processor, and the new blade appears to fit. I hope to be able to try it out when sugar pumpkins become available.

[BakerAunt]

For anyone needing inspiration on food for the eclipse:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2017/08/19/544446630/total-eclipse-of-the-stomach-a-stellar-menu-of-gastronomic-delights?utm_source=npr_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=20170820&utm_campaign=thesalt&utm_term=nprnews

[BakerAunt]

Hmm--I just compared the ingredient list of the KAF and the nuts.com cheeses. KAF comes out ahead. I think that the KAF Vermont Cheese powder is the same as the Cabot Cheddar Shake.

I found it here:
http://www.dakinfarm.com/Cabot-Cheddar-Powder-8-Oz,3229.html#

The shipping charge for this site is horrendous, but if I were to buy it in bulk, I'd still come in under the KAF price.

However, I have belonged to the Bakers' Rewards with KAF, so with a $25 order, I get free shipping, and I usually have a rewards coupon if I've previously done a large order. My Bakers' Rewards membership expires in a month or two, and I need to decide, by working out the math, if it is worth it for me to pay for another year of it.

[BakerAunt]

I saw a segment on the News Hour last night with this mathematician. She suggested getting kids interested in math means telling them not that it's "useful," but that it is "exciting." She also pointed out that theoretical mathematical discoveries that had no obvious practical application at the time when they were discovered have turned out to have significant applications in our time.

[BakerAunt]

Here's the Rye Crisps recipe:

Rye Crisps

I'll get the sourdough one posted this weekend.

[BakerAunt]

For Friday dinner, I made salmon patties, a recipe based on one I saw in an internet health story a few years back. They went perfectly with the Clonmel Kitchen Double Crusty Bread.

[BakerAunt]

I will post my variation on the KAF recipe Sourdough Cracker recipe. I don't recall if I posted my variation on the rye crackers in the KAF 200th Anniversary Baking Book. I'll have to look.

I find that some of the KAF cracker recipes are over complicated. Instead of rolling all the dough out, as some of the recipes state, I've found that dividing it and working with a smaller amount at a time is easier. As for moving the crackers individually to a cookie sheet--it's not going to happen. I cut them on the parchment, slide the whole sheet onto the cookie sheet and bake.

Mrs. Cindy advocated using a pasta machine to get nicely thin crackers, but I don't have one, so I've not tried it.

If you think that the ingredients in store-bought bread are scary, try reading the ingredients in store-bought crackers!

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