[BakerAunt]

For Wednesday's dinner, I used leftover roasted chicken breast to make a stir-fry with farro cooked in frozen chicken/turkey broth, carrots, celery, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and peas. I included the kale my husband has been growing on the porch with a grow light. It was not a lot, but it added to the taste and nutrition. I seasoned the stir-fry with ½ tsp. sage and ½ tsp. thyme.

[BakerAunt]

What irritates me is that the motor is fine. It is the mixer attachments that won't stay in now. Len is right: there is no way to open the case. While I will have to trash the mixer, I will donate the attachments in the hope that someone can use them.

One of my friends had a mixer that would only hold one beater. She gave it to an artist in her neighborhood who used it to mix paints. It's nice to see a second use before the trash can. As neither attachment will stay in on mine, that is not an option.

I use the hand mixer to combine oil, sugar, and other wet ingredients when I make cakes or quick breads. It helps to emulsify the liquid ingredients before stirring in the dry ingredients by hand. For now, I will use the back-up mixer. I'm not sure how well it will handle thicker cookie dough. By 7-qt. stand mixer is just not good at small amounts.

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Tuesday. I would have made it yesterday, but I ran out of milk and wanted to wait for our regular shopping trip this morning.

For dinner tonight, we had the rest of the yellow pea soup, the Scottish scones, and the applesauce, as well as a slice of a small loaf of wholegrain pumpkin bread that I pulled out of the freezer.

[BakerAunt]

I bought that book back when I was working and baking for my office, and an office member was trying gluten-free. There was also a person who needed to curb the sugar. However, I only made a single recipe from the book, and that was to mixed reviews. I also ended up giving the sugar substitute I had bought to the person who needed to curtail sugar. I could not stand the taste.

For me, cutting the saturated fat does decrease my cholesterol, but only, alas, by about 10%. I've maintained the low-saturated fat diet, both because I want to take a lower dose of the statin, and because since starting the statin, I do not seem to do well with foods that are too high in saturated fat.

[BakerAunt]

While we're on the subject of cookie baking, the Big Nate Comic strip has the start of a cookie baking war:

https://www.gocomics.com/bignate/2024/02/20

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover roasted chicken breast, more roasted sweet potato chunks with the few that were left over from Saturday, microwaved fresh broccoli, and more of the applesauce.

Mike--I think that any change to a new way of approaching food and nutrition initially throws us for a loop, since much of the previous repertoire gets wiped out or has to be modified, and it takes time to develop a new batch of recipes. I could not find much that was useful when I sharply curtailed the saturated fat in our meals, and I ended up pulling from a variety of sources.

I've not had cauliflower rice, but it will probably be best NOT to think rice when you are preparing it and anticipating eating it. Instead, think of it as preparing and eating a known food in a different way.

[BakerAunt]

I made Cornmeal Pumpernickel Waffles, one of our favorites, for breakfast on Sunday. I inadvertently left out the sugar. We each tried a double Belgium waffle without it, then I stirred 3 Tbs. of sugar into the remaining batter. They do need the sugar, even with maple syrup.

To go with pea soup for Sunday dinner, I baked my Scottish Scones that use 1 Tbs. avocado oil, ¾ cup buttermilk, and one egg but no butter. This time I made them with half pastry flour and half whole wheat pastry flour. The dough was a bit stickier than when I made them last time with half barley flour and half AP. The other day, I found a large cutter I have that makes six hexagonal biscuits at one time, so I used it to make six, then a seventh single one, and the last a hand shaped circle. I bought that cutter from King Arthur some years ago (back when they sold interesting baking equipment) and used to use it for biscuits all the time. Now that I know where it is, I will be using it more frequently.

[BakerAunt]

I made applesauce on Sunday to have for dessert, after we had pea soup and Scottish Scones. The apples are from my last bag of seconds that we bought in November. I have enough for one more batch. However, about half of the apples cooked to the requisite broken down texture, and about half stayed somewhat firm, which is not ideal for making applesauce with a food mill. It was not a matter of where they were in the pot, since it was the same for those on the bottom and those on the top. This bag was supposed to be an Ida Red mix, so there is probably another kind of apple, although they look mostly the same to me. The apples released much less juice, and the flavor of this batch of sauce is somewhat blah.

[BakerAunt]

When we have leftover pork, I make a stir-fry with farro and vegetables. I've also used it in soba noodle stir-fries.

[BakerAunt]

I roasted three bone-in chicken breasts and also roasted some sweet potato chunks tossed in olive oil. We had the chicken and sweet potatoes with microwaved fresh broccoli. There is plenty of leftover chicken to use in other meals next week.

[BakerAunt]

You have a good attitude toward the keto baking, Mike. I'm not sure that I would. I had enough trouble cutting the saturated fat in our menus. I suppose it gets easier the more one does it, but sometimes I just want to eat a large bag of tortilla chips with salsa.

My husband and I are both pleased with the Pumpkin Mixed Grains Bread that I baked yesterday. I'm not sure how much to attribute to my tweaks and how much to the cup of kabocha squash puree that replaced half the pumpkin. I will bake another two loaves with all pie pumpkin after these are consumed.

[BakerAunt]

I baked two loaves of Pumpkin Mixed Grains Bread, a recipe that had its origins in a Jane Brody recipe for Pumpkin-Rye Bread. My version is over two-thirds wholegrain, with whole wheat flour and dark and pumpernickel rye. I also added some of the King Arthur six-grain blend and this time increased it from ½ to 2/3 cup, as well as increasing the water I use from ¼ to 1/3 cup. (I substitute 1 ½ cups of buttermilk for the rest.) I found a 1 cup container of kabocha squash puree from two years ago in the freezer, so I combined it with 1 cup of pie pumpkin puree. I look forward to sampling the bread tomorrow. Just the way the dough felt and the baking smell tells me I am on the right track.

[BakerAunt]

I made yellow split pea soup for dinner tonight, adding some ham I had in the freezer. We have had about 1 ½ inches of snow since mid-morning, and it is sticking, so soup is perfect.

[BakerAunt]

Egg prices are up here, but it was about $2.18 a dozen at Aldi's when we shopped about ten days ago. Eggs usually go up as Easter approaches. but perhaps the hens do not lay as much in the winter in cold places.

[BakerAunt]

On Valentines Day, I baked Oatmeal Date Muffins for breakfast using some Valentines paper liners.

For dinner, I made sourdough pan pizza.

[Author]

Posts