[BakerAunt]

Joan--The cold front that came through Georgia is now here in Florida, so we will have a cooler day tomorrow, and then the warm air returns.

We had more of the black-eyed peas with brown rice, vegetables, and ham for Sunday night dinner, an easy microwave warm-up.

[BakerAunt]

To my surprise, Scott requested black-eyed peas and rice, a meal I did not expect to be cooking on vacation. I had to buy some coarse sea salt for soaking and cooking the dried black-eyed peas. (Normally, I use kosher salt, but I did not want to lug a box of it back to Indiana.) I also had brought only a limited number of spices with me, and thyme was not among them. I didn't want to buy dried thyme, as I have plenty at home, and the stores did not sell small jars. I ended up buying a package of fresh thyme, then had to google how to remove the leaves from the stem. (Martha Stewart was most helpful.) I could have used a bit more thyme than I put in, but it came out well. I used chopped celery, sliced green onion, and chopped yellow and red bell pepper, all of which I sauteed in olive oil before adding the beans, and then the rice. We cut up some sliced ham to add to our individual bowls. We have plenty of leftovers for the next few days of dinner.

[BakerAunt]

I have yet to try making bagels, Aaron, so I am interested in what you learn about the high-gluten flour. I have the King Arthur pumpernickel bagels on my "to bake" one of these days list.

This evening, I baked another loaf of Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina bread.

[BakerAunt]

Len--It's always great when a spice blend meant for one purpose (stir-fry) works well in an "off market" application such as with your salmon.

We had leftover roasted chicken thighs with microwaved broccoli and the last of the corn muffins for dinner on Friday. It was an easy meal after an afternoon hike at Fort De Soto State Park.

I did cook a pot of black-eyed peas in the evening that I will use for tomorrow's dinner.

[BakerAunt]

Not only does your food look delicious, Joan, but you arrange it so nicely on the plates!

For dinner, we had roasted chicken thighs sprinkled with Penzey's Justice blend. (I brought my own baking sheet, which I purchased here when we made our first trip in 2018.) We also had microwaved fresh broccoli and cornbread muffins.

[BakerAunt]

We finished the Farro Stir-Fry on Wednesday, had some more cornbread muffins, and we also had a salad of spinach and vegetables.

[BakerAunt]

I baked cornbread muffins on Tuesday, using dry ingredients that I mixed together at home and brought with us. I brought two 6-well muffin pans, and paper liners, which was good, because this unit did not have muffin pans, unlike the one next door where we stayed last year.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you for your efforts, Italian Cook. I suspect that most people do not like cleaning fine mesh sieves or colanders. (I clean by using a brush on the outside and strong water pressure.) I have a lovely large one at home that I purchased years ago from Williams Sonoma, but it is too big for transport. However, I have some smaller ones, not quite as fine that might work, at least for rinsing the farro and catching more of the chicken bones. I might be able to pack a small one inside the rice cooker I use for warming up soup in motel rooms and for making rice at rental places. The cheesecloth is a good idea. I just hate losing any of my lovely broth that it might soak up.

For dinner on Tuesday, we had more of the farro combo from last night with cornbread muffins.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Monday, I used the bones from the rotisserie chicken to make broth. I cooked faro in some of the broth, while I sauteed chopped carrots and celery, and sliced green onions and mushrooms. I added the leftover broth to the vegetables, along with the leftover chicken. As the farro neared the end of its cooking time, I added some frozen peas. I then mixed the chicken and vegetables in with the farro mixture, along with a bit more poultry seasoning.

I had two challenges. I needed to rinse the farro before cooking, and the holes in the colander were too large. I ended up swishing it in a bowl, then carefully draining, using my hand to keep the farro from falling out. I also needed to strain the chicken broth, and again, the colander's holes are too large. I still strained it and was careful about bones, but I told Scott to eat carefully. We set some broth and chicken aside for Annie to make sure she did not get any bones. I think that I need a collapsable fine mesh strainer to take on trips. I will have to do a Google search to see if anyone makes such a kitchen device. If no one does, I will suggest it to the nice people at Joseph Joseph.

[BakerAunt]

I baked Whole Wheat/Rye/Semolina bread from Len's recipe. Yep, I brought my smaller bread machine with us to Florida, although I still use it just for mixing and kneading. The oven in our apartment seems to be just 5 degrees too hot, which is very good for an oven in a rental.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the rotisserie chicken and potato salad, although we put the potato salad on some mixed greens. We made a short trip to the Botanical Gardens this morning, but it has been raining a lot in Florida today. The Botanical Gardens looked dry, so the rain is greatly needed.

Joan--Did you get my email from last week? Would it be better to text you? If you are available, Scott and I would love to see you when we head back from our vacation.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--Thank you for the compliment on the Golden Wheat Dishes. You are correct; they came in boxes of Duz detergent. When I was a little girl, my grandmother, my aunt, and my Mom decided that they would collect a set for me for when I was an adult. I've added a few from Thrift stores, etc., over the years. I like to use them with the Fire King Golden wheat. One funny thing about the dishes, was that when they were doing salad plates or soup dishes, almost all we got were soup dishes, so I only have about seven of the salad plates, but the soup dishes make great salad plates, as they are so shallow. I've kept my dishes in good condition by never putting them in the dishwasher, as the soap destroys the design and the gold rims.

Our Saturday night dinner was rotisserie chicken and potato salad, because we are now in Florida for a vacation, and after three days of driving, cooking was low on the list.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--I'm sure that your cookies are more than worth the price of an oil change!

Aaron--Those little apple-filled cookies in muffin tins sound delightful.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked oil-based mixed fruit and nut scones, using half whole wheat pastry flour and adding 30 g of King Arthur's Cinnamon bits with the fruits and walnuts.

I also baked my version of Ellen's buns as twelve rolls.

[BakerAunt]

We got another three inches of snow overnight from Monday into Tuesday. That snow is not the problem; it's the ice layer that developed underneath from the storm from Saturday into Sunday. We are getting a taste of real winter, which we have not had for a few years.

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