[BakerAunt]

Thanks, CWCdesign! I haven't looked at email because we have been traveling. We arrived this afternoon in Florida to spend a week. Because we now have a larger vehicle, having traded in my Subaru Impreza toward a Subaru Outback, there was room for my older bread machine, which is small and not that heavy. I mixed up the dry ingredients for three different bread recipes to bring with me.

As we were eating dinner, I used the bread machine to knead dough for Len's Semolina Rye rolls, which I baked as a loaf. (We ate all the other breads I baked on the trip down.) I could not find buttermilk at the Walmart Express we stopped at to pick up some supplies. All they had was the fatty stuff with 7 g saturated fat per cup. I found 1% fat kefir and used it instead. The oven here is pretty accurate, I just needed to drop the temperature about 5 degrees. The wires on the oven racks are very far spaced. I had to lay the oven thermometer that I brought flat on the rack to keep it from falling through. The kitchen had no potholders, and I struggled using a hand towel to get the loaf out. I may pick up a pair of potholders, as I slightly burned a finger. There are also no racks, and I did not consider the extra oven rack to be clean enough. So, I used two bowls and put the ends of two table knives on each. That made an ok rack.

[BakerAunt]

Beautiful rolls, Len!

[BakerAunt]

Congratulations on your new great-granddaughter, Chocomouse!

[BakerAunt]

So much of the judging is subjective. She is a winner just for competing!

[BakerAunt]

And that, Joan, is the glory of Thanksgiving!

[BakerAunt]

That sounds like a great meal, Mike.

We re-ran our early Thanksgiving dinner again tonight.

I made a "use it up" soup to put in the freezer. I used the turkey broth from the giblets, as well as another container of turkey broth from the freezer, some mushrooms and kale that needed to be used, a large, chopped carrot, and about a cup of Bob's Red Mill Vegi-Soup mix of brown and red lentils, green and yellow split peas, and barley. It will make a good quick meal or two in December.

[BakerAunt]

Those look good, Mike.

I baked my riff on Ellen's Buns on Thursday. I formed them as six large ones to use for turkey sandwiches for the next few days.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--from my own experience, I think that the pan grease works best with cake batter. I've had some similar issues when I tried to use it with a thicker batter, such as for muffins or quick breads. Have other people noticed it?

I baked Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies on Wednesday.

I also baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough that I made last week.

Finally, because I have been craving them, I baked my oil-based cranberry scones and added some lemon zest. I will freeze some of these and set the others aside for breakfast tomorrow and Friday.

[BakerAunt]

We re-ran last night's early Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday.

[BakerAunt]

Clearly, baking talent runs in your family, Joan! I don't have cable so cannot watch, but I hope she does well!

[BakerAunt]

Yes, Chocomouse! I have a spare for later in the winter as well.

For those of you cooking Thanksgiving for a group:

https://www.gocomics.com/drabble/2024/11/27

[BakerAunt]

That's a great idea with the spaghetti squash, Chocomouse.

We had early Thanksgiving dinner on Tuesday evening. My husband roasted the turkey. I made the blue bag Pepperidge Farm dressing, using broth for the water and chopped celery, dried parsley. We microwaved broccoli that came from the farmers market. I thawed the applesauce I made earlier this month to go with dinner. I also had some of my Cranberry and Dried Cherry Relish with Cardamom. For dessert, we had pumpkin pie.

[BakerAunt]

Cass told me a few years ago that he was disappointed that so many people from the Baking Circle, such as Frick and Dachsundlady, Mumpy, and RobinWaban did not come to Nebraska Kitchen. Wonky and LuvyPom came but disappeared. There was also a guy from New York who was an excellent baker and a former competitive cyclist. I, too, miss them and often wonder how they are doing.

[BakerAunt]

I am baking a pumpkin pie this Monday evening.

[BakerAunt]

Monday's dinner was the rest of the black-eyed peas and ham, the two leftover potato chips (wedges) from last night, and microwaved fresh broccoli.

As we have an excursion planned for after Thanksgiving, we will have our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Today I made Cranberry and Dried Cherry dressing with cardamom, which only I will eat, and it will last me well into December as an accompaniment to meats, stirred into plain yogurt, and eaten on toast.

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