BakerAunt
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Yum, yum, Joan!
For Thursday night's dinner, I made pecan coated boneless pork slices. I also cut up a honey nut squash, cut it into chunks, tossed it with olive oil, then roasted them in my countertop oven. We had microwaved peas with the meal, as well as applesauce, from last year, from the freezer. It was an easy meal, which was needed, as we did our big shopping run to the very small city about 30 minutes away, then in the afternoon, took our dog Annie for a walk.
I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them next week.
I made chicken broth on Wednesday from accumulated bones from chicken breasts.
We had leftovers from last night, as well as a few leftover roasted potato chunks from the night before.
I'm glad to hear that your weather is now above freezing, Joan!
On Tuesday, I baked Soft Ginger and Molasses Cookies, a recipe that I adapted from King Arthur to use avocado oil rather than butter. I also use white whole wheat flour and add milk powder. It made 34 cookies, so I hope that they will last a week. Three are already gone, as I had one and Scott had two for dessert.
Joan--I think that your weather was colder than ours!
I made yogurt on Tuesday morning. For dinner, I used the leftover roasted chicken in a rigatoni pasta dish. I used most of our last cherry tomatoes in the sauce. I sauteed red bell pepper, green onion, sliced celery, carrots, and mushrooms in olive oil. I added ¼ tsp. of Penzey's Ozark Blend and some garlic granules, along with freshly ground black pepper. We had an open container of crumbled goat cheese, so I stirred it in at the end. Scott and I both liked this creation, and we have enough for leftovers tomorrow night. Like Joan, we do not get tired of eating the same food.
CWCdesign--When I use my Emile Henry baking dish to bake bread, I grease it with Crisco then coat it with farina (cream of wheat). I have no problems with it sticking. You can also use semolina, but the farina is less likely to overbrown or burn.
On Monday, I baked my Spiced Cider Pumpkin muffins for breakfast. I did not have cider, but I had some frozen apple juice from when I made applesauce last year, so I used that.
I also baked three loaves of my Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread. Three loaves is a bit risky since two will need to be frozen, and we are planning a big grocery run for later this week that will perhaps involve a turkey that will need to go into the freezer. The loaves took about 15 minutes longer for each rise due to the colder weather.
Len, I once cooked a chicken in a regular pot and was disappointed. Roasting just gives it better flavor.
We had leftover roasted chicken on Monday, but I roasted potato chunks to go with it. We also microwaved the rest of the cauliflower with the rest of the broccoli. We had more lake effect snow, and Scott had to knock the snow off of some of the tree branches as some trees still have a lot of leaves.
I made turkey and butternut squash chili on Sunday for lunch from a recipe I adapted a couple of years ago. I made a double batch, which was almost too much for my 6 ½-quart Le Creuset pot. For the doubled recipe, I used 2 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp. allspice, and 1 tsp. Penzey's Resist blend. I also used three cans of Del Monte chopped tomatoes with Hatch chilies, so that is just enough heat for me. Scott, of course, is not eating this chili. I also used a can of chopped tomatoes and a can of tomato paste, and a cup of chicken broth from the freezer. I used two medium-sized butternut squash, two long red bell peppers, celery, and onion, as well as 30 oz. of black beans and their broth that I cooked yesterday. I had some for a late lunch, and it was wonderful, especially as we are having the first snow of the year, and it has been heavier than predicted. I froze six one-cup servings for future lunches and put the rest into a container for lunches during this week.
For Sunday dinner, I roasted two bone-in chicken breasts, seasoned with Penzey's Justice blend. In the countertop oven, I roasted two, cubed honey nut squashes. We had some fresh cauliflower from a previous farmers market, so Scott microwaved it to go with the dinner.
CWCdesign--Nothing says feeling better than contemplating baking bread!
I did not get the bone-in chicken breasts out of the freezer and into the refrigerator until yesterday evening, so they were not ready to be used for Saturday night's dinner. Instead, I pulled out a recipe that I printed from when I subscribed to the Washington Post, "Orzo Skillet with Salmon, Peas, Dill, and Feta." The recipe called for 1 ½ lb. salmon fillet cut into 1-inch chunks. That seems to me a waste of a salmon filet, which I did not have anyway. I decided to make a half recipe and substitute a 14.5 oz can of salmon. I had a little less than the cup of fresh spinach that I needed. I deleted the onions for Scott but used 1 tsp. dehydrated. I think that green onions would have been a better choice. We have some dill in the freezer that we have been using for pickles, but now that pickle season has ended, I used some of it for this recipe. The recipe comes together fast and only uses one pot, which is always a plus, but the result was an okay fast meal but not an impressive one. Maybe that is because I did not use the fresh salmon, but as I said, I can think of other uses for a large salmon fillet. The recipe makes just about three servings. Scott will happily eat the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.
Earlier in the day, I cooked a large pot of black beans. I refrigerated 30 oz. with some of the liquid, and 25 oz. which I froze with the broth. I also cut, peeled, and chopped two butternut squashes, which I refrigerated until tomorrow, when I am planning on making chili with them and the black beans.
We finished the stew on Friday. Most of the rolls are gone. I will need to cook again tomorrow.
Chocomouse: This is my favorite English muffin recipe. I use a cast iron griddle and a Le Creuset griddle. I haven't made them in a while. I used an infrared thermometer to check the temperature of the baking surface. That thermometer's batteries leaked, since I used it infrequently, so I don't have one right now. However, I've been thinking about the recipe, so maybe I will see about getting another one.
I hope that you feel better, CWCdesign.
We repeated the beef stew and the rolls for Thursday night's dinner.
On Thursday, I baked my Maple Cookies without butter, but this time, I replaced the white whole wheat flour with whole wheat pastry flour. I wanted to see if I liked the texture better, which it turns out I do, and since I bought 8 lbs. of whole wheat pastry flour, forgetting that I still had another 5 lbs. in the outside refrigerator, I have been doing more experimentation. I did not have to add any water, as I do when I use white whole wheat flour. I used my Nordic Ware Autumn cookie stamps, which are square instead of round, like the rest of their line. I initially rolled out the dough with the idea of stamping them, but it did not work well, so I used a Zeroll #16 scoop (1/4 cup). After I flattened them with the stamp, I used a pizza cutter to trim the edges. The Nordic Ware stamps are somewhat of a disappointment. The maple leaf left an excellent impression, the pinecone left a somewhat good impression, but the acorn was disappointing as the design was faint. The taste of the cookies is good, based on a small leftover piece of dough that I baked, for a shorter time, as a small cookie and ate with my tea. It had the more tender crumb, but I will need to check when the regular ones have cooled, as this one was slightly warm. I did a double recipe, which with the larger square stamps, gave me just eleven large cookies.
We each had a cookie for dinner. The taste and texture are excellent, so from now on I will use whole wheat pastry flour along with King Arthur AP.
Navlys, it is always good when we think that we are staring into baking disaster to find out that we have instead achieved a triumph!
I baked my version of "Dutch Oven Dinner Rolls," from King Arthur's site. I make mine with two-thirds whole wheat and use 5 oz. water. I use ¾ cup of buttermilk. I reduce the salt from 1 tsp. to ¾ tsp. I add a tablespoon of flax meal. I use malted milk powder, which I increase from 2 to 3 Tbs. I replaced 4 Tbs. butter with 4 Tbs. olive oil. The rolls bake in the Emile Henry round Dutch oven, which I grease and coat with farina to prevent sticking. The rolls are perfect for sopping up any leftover stew broth in the bowl, as they are soft.
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