[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Wednesday.

Best wishes on the cataract surgery, CWCdesign.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron's challah experience reminded me of a pastor at a church I attended before moving here. He built an important sermon point around his idea of barley bread as "the bread of the poor," in a sermon on the New Testament story. (I think it was the feeding of the 5000.) I told him he was incorrect because "barley" is listed as one of the wonderful attributes of the promised land in the older scriptures. He was basing his argument on the white bread vs. whole grain breads of the Medieval and later periods.

At that church, people baked bread for communion. He decided that we should experiment with all kinds of bread, including cornbread. At that point, I suggested that he could vacuum up the crumbs, of which there would be many.

I was a member of Altar Guild, and I did bake a nice wholegrain bread that held together well when it was my turn. However, I ended up resigning when the woman who was in charge of Altar Guild decided we had to move to unleavened bread during Lent using her recipe. (I'm not sure if the pastor was behind this decision or not, as he never mentioned it.)

When I told the story to a Jewish friend, also a baker, she laughed, as she had a Catholic friend who had resigned from her Altar Guild due to a similarly controlling head. My Jewish friend got out of her temple's Latke brigade during Hanukah due to the dominating woman who headed up the endeavor.

My friend did stay in the knitting group, however, in spite of the criticism of a woman about my friend, who knitted in the European manner. That woman could only grumble and had no power to force compliance.

I'm not sure what it is that brings out the would-be dictator in some people when it comes to the internal groups in a place of worship.

[BakerAunt]

Yum to blueberry bread!

I made dough on Tuesday for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I'll bake them next week.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the turkey--zucchini loaf, along with microwaved fresh broccoli. We decided not to add a starch tonight.

[BakerAunt]

Len, I don't think the liner would work, since I would use a stick blender after the apples cook down.

I also worry about what is in the plastic liners.

Sigh. I tried googling the question about scratches, but Google did not offer me any answers.

[BakerAunt]

I should have clarified that it is not metal but is the standard removeable crockery dish that goes into the metal slow cooker. I had not known that it was possible to scratch the interior. The scratches look like a light white film, which is why I thought it was food residue.

Mike--I now have two ceramic frying pans (Green Pan), a 10-inch and an 8-inch. They are wonderful. Both replaced non-stick coated pans, one of which had built up residue, and the other, a small Teflon skillet from my husband's parents that worried me because of new info on Teflon coatings.

I'm not big on crock pots, but that apple butter recipe is really good.

[BakerAunt]

When I bought this used crock pot, I was not worried, since this thrift store has had a record of making sure appliances work, but that may have changed. I haven't tried it yet, but I was washing the interior, and what I thought was food residue actually is where something sharp has removed finish at spots around the sides, about three inches up. I'm wondering if it is still saft to use with that damage.

Any thoughts?

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--yes, an emptier nest can curtail the baking. I hope the project to get people to bake their own challah is successful, but I agree that when one is an expert, it is irritating to have one's expertise ignored. One possible problem with the current plan is that a lot of people need help with the actual baking.

We used the last of the bread today. Given the cooler temperatures, I baked my variation of the Pompanoosuc Porridge Bread from an old King Arthur recipe. (It's no longer on their site, as they stopped selling the porridge.) I bake it in a 12 x 4 x 2 ½-inch Kitchen Aid loaf pan, which makes for narrower but taller slices. It is too much dough for the King Arthur bread bowl, but not quite enough to fill the Emile Henry long baker.

I used maple syrup for the sweetener this time.

[BakerAunt]

Monday night's dinner was Turkey-Zucchini Loaf with Peach-Dijon Mustard Glaze, more of our potatoes cut into chunks, tossed in olive oil, and roasted, and the rest of the Green Bean, Cherry Tomato, and Feta Salad.

[BakerAunt]

I had my last turkey bacon-tomato sandwich for lunch today. We only have a few tomatoes left.

Sunday night's dinner for us will be the rest of the chicken salad, either plain or as an open-faced sandwich, and more of the green bean, cherry tomato, and Greek cheese salad.

I had planned on making spaghetti squash "lasagna," but the spaghetti squash I was planning to use had gone bad from a break in the shell. I'm not sure if it were an insect or damage. I put it out in the yard to see if the chipmunks will eat the seeds.

[BakerAunt]

I'm wondering about doing a group challenge here at Nebraska Kitchen where a couple of times a year or so, we each grab a cookbook that has been sitting on our shelves and cook or bake a recipe from it that is new to us, even if we do some modifications of it.

[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.

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