Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
I de-seeded five quarts of blackberries today. I froze two containers for future use in Bittersweet Blackberry Brownies. I have set aside 2 cups to try a Blackberry Chia Seed Jam that I can use in Rye Bars. I used 4 cups to make three 8 oz. jars of blackberry jam. I have another 4 cups in the refrigerator to use for jam tomorrow.
I checked lids before I canned this batch of jam, as Mike suggested, and I noted that one was indented on the rim, so I threw it away.
For dinner, we had leftover stir-fry. Today was our big shopping trip to the larger town, so between that and doing the berries, I was glad to have a ready-made dinner.
On Wednesday, I baked my version of The Shipyard Galley's Zucchini Muffins. Years ago, King Arthur sent the recipe out in an email--back when they were not into the fussy baking they now promote, which probably sends a lot of would-be bakers scampering out of the kitchen. I made the full recipe as a dozen regular and six large muffins. I will freeze the large ones for quick breakfast mornings, and we will eat the small ones over the next few days. The zucchini came from the farmers market.
I started my cooking day on Wednesday by making yogurt.
I then used some frozen lima beans I had cooked about six weeks ago to make a bulgur stew with onion, orange bell pepper, garlic, tomatoes with hatch chilis, Spanish paprika, a little cumin, and a bit of cayenne. It is a rift off of a recipe that uses garbanzo beans. The lima beans make it somewhat bland, but I needed to use them up. I have enough for several more lunches.
Dinner on Wednesday was stir-fry with leftover pork and soba noodles. I also used green onion, red bell pepper, celery, the five snow peas we got from our garden, mushrooms, and broccoli. We have enough for another meal. For dessert, I had the rest of the cantaloupe and a small York peppermint patty. My husband had a zucchini muffin and a molasses cookie.
We are getting low on crackers, so on Tuesday, I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers and refrigerated it for a few days.
My husband pan cooked some pork for dinner on Tuesday, and I roasted sweet potato chunks. We finished the coleslaw. We had cantaloupe for dessert.
Dinner on Monday was Salmon and Couscous. These days, I season it with Penzey's Greek seasoning. We had microwaved frozen mixed vegetables as well.
Joan--your meal looks great, and it is beautifully plated.
On Saturday, I baked the Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina buns using Len's recipe. I make them as ten rather than eight buns. We are planning a late afternoon trip to a state park because our town is having its Lakefest, along with fireworks this evening, and we need to get the dog away from it. We will take along a picnic dinner. Unlike last year, we are choosing a park further away, so that we do not get back before the show ends. We are also hoping that no one around this park will be shooting off fireworks or firecrackers. It was bad enough last weekend when a local wealthy person who has a vacation home here did a private professional show that had our dog cowering. You cannot prepare for what you do not know is coming.
I made a frittata for lunch on Saturday (and the next three days). I used zucchini, orange bell pepper, green onions, mushrooms, kale, and a leftover potato wedge from last night. I used five eggs and a partial egg (held back when I coated the fish last night) and ¼ cup milk. I used 2 oz. grated mozzarella and ½ tsp. Penzey's Mural of Flavor.
Dinner tonight will be leftover pork on freshly baked buns.
Your cookies look great, Joan! I'm sure that they will sweeten the pot for poker night!
On Friday, I addressed our lack of cookies and baked Big Lake Judy's Best Ever Molasses Cookies.
I made Crispy Oven Fish and Chips with Dill Tartar Sauce for dinner on Friday. We had it with more of the coleslaw I made yesterday.
Earlier in the day, I made another batch of jam, but this time, I only got two 8 oz. jars, with not enough for a third jar, so I moved some of it to a 4 oz. jar to process and the rest went into the refrigerator. I noticed today that the blackberries are easier to seed when they have been refrigerated for a couple of days, and it made the jam thicker. I am not sure why that happens.
Last year, I tried a Rye Blueberry Bar recipe from King Arthur. The filling was horrible, as it seemed to be lacking enough liquid, and the cornstarch formed horrible clumps, which did not make for great taste. I gave it a 3 out of 5 stars because I thought the recipe had possibilities but was not ready for prime time. My review was one of the first, so it can be found near the end of the reviews. I noted that another person also had problems with the cornstarch forming clumps. Many other people raved about it. My husband thought that they were not bad. I liked the crumb topping and bottom but vowed never to make that filling again.
On Thursday, I decided to try the recipe again, but this time using the blueberry chia seed jam that I made on Saturday. I made the same changes to the crust as last time in that I used white whole wheat flour in place of the AP flour, replaced the ½ tsp. cardamom with ¼ tsp. allspice, which is my usual spice for a blueberry pie. I replaced 10 Tbs. butter with 1/3 cup avocado oil plus 2 Tbs. water. This time I used old-fashioned rather than quick oats, as I am hoping it will keep the crust and topping firmer for longer. I deleted the 2 tsp. of vanilla, although last time I used 1 tsp. in the crust. (Indeed, one sign that the recipe needed work was the 2 tsp. of vanilla in the crust and the 1 tsp. in the filling. When all else fails, cover it up with vanilla!) I baked it in an 8 x 8-inch glass baking dish.
We had some for dessert this evening, and we really like my version. It is just sweet enough but not overly sweet. I will definitely bake them again. They would likely work with a chia seed jam made from another kind of fruit, such as peaches or even with regular jam.
I made yogurt on Thursday. I also made my usual coleslaw but this time with red cabbag I found at last Saturday's farmers market. The flavor is slightly different but still delicious.
We had pork sandwiches on the last two buns from the freezer (time to bake more) and coleslaw for dinner.
On Wednesday, my husband pan cooked some boneless pork, and I roasted sweet potato chunks to accompany it. We also had microwaved frozen peas.
Tuesday's dinner was leftover farro stir-fry and more cantaloupe.
I checked the seals on my jam, and one of the three 8 oz. jars did not seal. The lid was stuck on, but the lid depressed and sprung back, so I put it in the refrigerator to eat now. The other 4 oz. jar did seal. That is the second failure to seal this year. I know that the first one was caused by forgetting to wipe the rim of the jar, but I do not know what caused this one.
I picked another four quarts of blackberries in our woodlands on Monday. There are still a lot out there. I seeded enough to make another batch of jam. I also froze enough of deseeded blackberry for two recipes of the Bittersweet Blackberry Brownies. I refrigerated the rest of the berries and will deal with them tomorrow.
I'm going to look around online at devices that might make it easier for me to remove the blackberry seeds. It also has to be easy to clean and set up.
Dinner tonight was the rest of the black-eyed peas with rice and ham, along with some microwaved broccoli. We also had cantaloupe from a local farm stand at the edge of town.
-
AuthorPosts
