[BakerAunt]

That bread looks so good, Joan!

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Len. I'll have to check it out.

I have some older cookbooks that belonged to my husband's mother and grandmother. One has recipes for cooking pigeons. I will pass on that one!

[BakerAunt]

My husband managed to harvest another pound of green beans, and I used the rest of our cherry tomatoes as well as some I bought last week at the farmers market to make our favorite green bean, cherry tomato, and Greek cheese salad. I found a frozen container of black-eyed peas in the freezer, so I added those as well. We had it with open-faced chicken salad sandwiches.

[BakerAunt]

There was a half bag of peanut butter chips in the refrigerator with an expiration date of 2015. I tasted one, and they are fine. To use them up, I went internet recipe hunting for a no-butter peanut butter chip cookie. I found "Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Without Butter or Margarine" from Miriam Pascal at OvertimeCook.com which I thought had possibilities.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies {Without Butter or Margarine}

Although she says not to use natural peanut butter, I used Santa Cruz naturally crunchy and reduced the oil from 2/4 to 2/3 cups to compensate. I also used white whole wheat flour and added 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder. She used ¾ each of chocolate chips and peanut butter chips but notes that just one type of chips could be used. I used the scan 1 cup that I had on hand. The recipe said to use a "medium" scoop, which is not helpful. I used a Zeroll #30, which is probably larger than that medium, as I ended up with 32 rather than four dozen, so she probably used a smaller scoop. Of course, we love larger cookies. I baked the first tray of a dozen for 12 minutes, and they were perfect. I baked the second tray, also a dozen, for 10 minutes, and they were slightly overdone. I baked the third tray of nine for 9 minutes, and they were perfect. Scott had a warm one from the second batch and gave them a thumbs up. I had one at teatime, and seconded his vote. I will be baking these again. They would be delicious without any peanut butter or chocolate chips.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Friday, I used the rest of the roasted chicken breast to make chicken salad. We had it on open-faced sandwiches, using slices of the Chewy Semolina Rye Bread I baked earlier in the week. I used dark rather than medium rye when I baked it, so it is a firm bread, which is perfect for this kind of open-faced sandwich. We had microwaved fresh broccoli on the side.

[BakerAunt]

I usually stir it back in, but then I use 2 cups for crackers, and feed it. My best bread was after I had fed it for crackers, then for pizza, then baked bread.

I'm just grateful that we can refrigerate our starters.

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Thursday.

Dinner was more of the roasted chicken breast and the rest of the farro-vegetable stir-fry.

[BakerAunt]

I'll make a note about the honeybells, Joan. I've seen them when we vacationed in Florida.

On Wednesday, I baked my adaptation of the King Arthur recipe for Butterscotch Apple Sweet Rolls. I made the filling last year and froze it. I let it thaw for a few days in the refrigerator, then put the sweet rolls together this afternoon. We each had one for dessert tonight. My recipe cuts the saturated fat by replacing butter with avocado oil and sour cream with nonfat Greek yogurt (I cannot find low-fat nearby). I continued to tweak the recipe this time by increasing the 2 Tbs. of avocado oil that I substituted for butter in the rolls to 3 Tbs. I also added an additional tablespoon of water. I reduced the sugar from ½ cup to 1/3 cup but added 2 Tbs. honey. I tried replacing some of the sugar with honey in my cinnamon rolls, and it seems to keep them softer longer. I also make the rolls half whole wheat flour, so that is probably why I needed a bit more water. I reduced the glaze by using just ¾ cup of powdered sugar rather than 1 cup. With that filling the glaze needs to be kept to a minimum.

[BakerAunt]

Mike is correct: the dill is more pronounced after two days. I'm enjoying my pickles!

We had leftover roasted chicken breast and farro stir-fry for dinner on Wednesday.

[BakerAunt]

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Diane!

[BakerAunt]

Update on the pickles: I could taste the dill flavor more today. I really like their crunchiness!

[BakerAunt]

Your cake is beautiful, Joan. I think it looks much better than it would have as a loaf! While the lacy look may be because you had a lot of glaze, it works well.

I'm impressed that you were able to find good oranges, but then, you do live closer to Florida than I do.

[BakerAunt]

I had planned to bake sweet rolls on Tuesday, but I realized at lunch that with both of us eating sandwiches--my husband because he always does and me to take advantage of our tomatoes for turkey bacon sandwiches--that we needed more for tomorrow. I baked a tweaked version of King Arthur's Chewy Semolina Rye Bread. My tweaks are replacing 1 ½ cups of the water with buttermilk, adding 3 Tbs. special dry milk, omitting the dried onion and vital wheat gluten, cutting the salt by a third, and replacing 2 Tbs. sugar with 2 Tbs. honey. I used Bob's Red Mill dark rye flour, but I think the recipe uses medium rye, judging by the picture that accompanied the recipe in the catalog. The bread bakes nicely in the Emile Henry long baker. Unfortunately, the battery in the instant read thermometer is failing, and I did not have a replacement, so I had to use one of my other thermometers, which is rather slow. The bread needed about 8 minutes longer after the upper time the recipe specified.

I was able to time the baking, so that when I took out the roasted chicken breasts I made for dinner, I could turn down the oven temperature and put the bread in to bake within about 15 minutes.

[BakerAunt]

When we grocery shopped this morning, I found a package of three bone-in large chicken breasts that were marked down for quick sale. I roasted those for Tuesday night dinner, which will give us plenty of leftovers. I also thawed some chicken broth and made another farro stir-fry using green onion, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and half-cut squash (the zucchini-type one that has the seeds in a bulb at the end). I had two tomatoes that needed to be used quickly, so I cut those up and threw them in, along with some of the kale from the pot my husband still has on the porch, although it is getting tougher. There is enough for one or two more nights.

[BakerAunt]

We were given six small reddish gold pears over a week ago. We each ate one, but they are not a flavorful variety for eating raw, so on Monday evening, I cut up the rest of them and baked six large Pear Cardamom Oatmeal muffins. I will have one for breakfast tomorrow and freeze the others--if I can find space in the freezer!

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