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Thanks for posting the article link, Mike.
A friend who grew up in Minnesota, who is about ten years older than I, told me that her job in her large family was to bake the bread using a huge pan divided into sections for each loaf.
I have told my husband that on our next extended trip, we are taking the bread machine. Finding a bakery that makes good bread has been impossible in the places we visit, and I hate having to resort to store-bought bread with its lack of taste and texture, even when we buy a wholegrain one.
I wish that more people knew how easy it is to bake your own bread. I think that the emphasis on "artisan" loaves has obscured the simplicity. I noted that the article does not discuss breads that do not stale in two days, in part because they use oil (olive, avocado, canola), dairy, and/or eggs.
Thanks, Chocomouse.
Fred seems to want to make the point that even though you and Diane brought him to the house, he will be the one who decides if he will grace you with his presence. In other words, he wants it to be his idea.
Saturday night's dinner was determined by 1) what I have in the house and 2) what can I make without turning on my big oven. I realized that I could try a new recipe, "Turkey and Sweet Potato Meatloaf," by Julia Turshen, who is covering for the writer of the Washington Post "Eat Voraciously" recipe newsletter while she is on maternity leave. I altered the recipe in that I used the regular 19.2 oz. of 93% fat-free ground turkey rather than the preferred pound of dark. The smallest sweet potato that I had was around 15. 7 oz. I used about 11.2 oz., leaving it unpeeled as specified. (I boiled up peeled chunks of the rest for the dog to have as her "topping," when we eat.) Due to my husband's issues with onion, I replaced the small onion with 2 tsp. dehydrated onion, which I rehydrated and the two cloves of garlic with ¼ tsp. garlic powder. Doing so also saved me the step of sautéing them in olive oil first. Instead of the six large leaves of fresh sage minced, I used a generous ½ tsp. of dried sage. I replaced 1/3 cup of finely chopped fresh parsley with 1 tsp. dried. I replaced 1/3 cup of plain breadcrumbs with ½ cup of quick oats. I added 2 Tbs. flax meal, and then, because the mixture seemed slightly dry, ¼ cup of milk. I baked it in a 7 x 8-inch Emile Henry flat casserole rather than a loaf pan. I learned that trick from my mother who favored flat loaves that filled the dish. I left the temperature at 375 F, even though I used the small convection oven, but I checked it at 50 minutes, and it was done.
My husband and I both like this turkey loaf, so I will put it alongside my other two turkey loaf recipes. We had it with microwaved fresh broccoli as the side.
We see lots of blackberries developing in our woodlands and on our terrace. If we keep getting periodic rain, that will make for a wonderful crop, which means more jam and more of that great blackberry brownie recipe I found last year.
No blooms yet for the Early Girl Bush, one or two of the Better Boy, and the volunteer cherry tomatoes. One Better Boy and the cherry tomato plant my husband started has bloomed, as has the Goliath Bush and the Dester. The last two I bought already started at the farmers market.
The beans are starting to bloom, and my husband has replanted what the chipmunk got. The honey nut squash plants have emerged
The fairy tale pumpkin plants have emerged. My husband was worried when the three were taking a while, so he planted two more. Now there are five plants.
We have grown snow peas in the past, then they stopped doing well. Maybe we should try the hanging pot idea.
I got up early on Friday morning and made another batch of black raspberry jam. Once again, the yield was four 8 oz. and one 4 oz. jars. The lid of one of the 8 oz. jars from the previous batch did not seal, so I put it in the refrigerator for us to enjoy now. When I made that first batch, I forgot to wipe the rim of the first jar before putting the lid in place, so that is probably the jar that did not seal. We are in for another hot day today and tomorrow. We were fortunate to have a slight front come in last night to cool us down a bit. I still have plenty of black raspberries, but I need to buy another package of canning jars.
I also made chicken broth using the bones from the rotisserie chicken and bones in the freezer from when I roasted bone-in chicken breasts.
I needed to bake bread on Wednesday, as we used up the rest of it. My husband was trying to be conservative with it, but I pointed out that with the heat and humidity, it was starting to mold. As it is still very hot, I decided to make a 9 x 9-inch pan of rolls in the convection oven. I baked the Honey Oatmeal Rolls, a King Arthur recipe, but with changes. I replaced 2 cups of the AP flour with white whole wheat and the AP flour with bread flour. I replaced the milk with buttermilk and increased it from 1/3 to ½ cup. I added 2 Tbs. each of flax meal and special dry milk. I reduced the salt by a third and reduced the yeast from 2 ¼ to 2 tsp. The rolls were done in 28 minutes.
Hugs, Joan.
We re-ran the rotisserie chicken and quinoa salad. We will do the same tomorrow. It's not clear when the heat will break.
We are familiar with mud puppies and occasionally see them in the lake.
We spent a little less than two and a half hours at the woodlands early on Wednesday morning, where I picked over 2 quarts of black raspberries, which then came to 3 quarts with my husband helping out at the end after he finished his other tasks. We were fortunate that the clouds kept the heat down a bit. However, the clouds dissipated as we returned home, so it is in the low 90s.
I decided to make an easy dinner that would not require the oven, so I made quinoa salad (Penzey's recipe) with lima beans, corn, lime juice from our limes that I froze last year, and faux feta, so called because it clearly uses cow's milk not goat's milk. However, it is what the store had available. I picked up a rotisserie chicken to go with the salad. The rotisserie chickens now sell at the local store for $8.99; when we moved here seven years ago, they were $5.99, and occasionally there would be leftover ones marked down the next day. That no longer occurs.
Great stories, Joan!
On Tuesday, we had a break from the heat with morning rain that gave us 1/10th of an inch. I took advantage of the slight break to make and can four (8 oz.) and one (4 oz.) jars of Black Raspberry Jan, which is our absolute favorite. I used the black raspberries from our terrace (about 3 pints), along with the nearly 2-quarts that I picked at one of our woodlands on Sunday. I had hoped to have enough to make a second batch, but I only had 3 cups of mashed fruit, even after scavenging the bushes on the terrace for today's ripe ones, and I needed another cup. I will go back to the woodlands in the early morning tomorrow and pick more so that I can finish the second batch. I will pick as many additional ones as I can. We have not had a good black raspberry season for several years.
I made a farro stir-fry for Tuesday's dinner by sauteing chopped celery, sliced mushrooms, and grated carrot, then adding the diced leftover maple glazed pork tenderloin, and using half a cup of boiling water to clean out the storage dish in order to incorporate the rest of the glaze. I added just a bit more maple syrup. I would have added red bell pepper if I had had it.
As we still have a lot of frozen blueberries from last year's picking, I made blueberry cobbler on Monday for dessert. I baked it in the countertop oven so as not to heat up the house. I have now cut the sugar from 1 ½ to 1 cup in this King Arthur recipe. Perhaps the developer did not have as sweet blueberries as we are able to pick locally. The topping was a bit runny this time. Next time I will cut back the water a bit, especially when using frozen blueberries.
posted in wrong section so moved to correct one
I made a pasta salad on Monday for lunch, using one of the jars of relish that I canned last autumn. I added green onion, chopped carrot, and cherry tomatoes. I had it over a mixture of lettuce and spinach from the farmers market. I'll repeat this lunch for the next several days.
I also made yogurt.
Dinner was more of the maple glazed pork tenderloin and the rest of the mashed potatoes. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli.
We had to turn on the air conditioner today for the first time this year.
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