[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I roasted my last spaghetti squash (a Golden Arrow variety), then used it to make a spaghetti squash "lasagna" (really a casserole) in which it is layered with a tomato meat sauce, then sprinkled with mozzarella and Parmesan before baking. The tomato sauce is from some I froze this summer. We had it with microwaved frozen peas. There is enough for two more meals.

[BakerAunt]

Here is the chocolate cookie recipe that I baked yesterday. It originated with the Tartine Bakery, but there are numerous iterations of it on the internet. Here is one:

Salted Chocolate Rye Cookies

My husband had one at tea time, and he--who watched my whisk mishap and helped clean up--proclaimed: These are SO WORTH IT. I'll add my review after I have one for dessert tonight.

My Review: WOW!

[BakerAunt]

We finished off the farro stir-fry for dinner on Friday. As there was not enough for two, we supplemented with roasted sweet potato chunks and microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

Len, I suspect it would be like the time I was trying to buy a new work bowl for my food processor. While Cuisinart was helpful in aiding me in finding the part number, they no longer carried it. They would have given me a 20% discount on a new food processor, but I knew that my old one is superior to the new ones, and I was able to source the part.

There appears to be a design flaw in the Cuisinart hand mixer latching mechanism that causes it to break. I'm not willing to buy another one, even with a discount. I will make do with my back-up hand mixers and think about whether a small Kitchen Aid stand mixer might be a better investment.

[BakerAunt]

I baked a new cookie recipe on Friday, "Chocolate Salted Rye Cookies," from a 2013 email from Tasting Table, a site which may no longer be in existence. I did a half recipe because the cookies are rich and I wanted to be sure they are worth the chocolate. The half recipe took 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate. While the recipe said preferably Valrhona, I used 60% Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate. I replaced the butter in the half recipe with a scant 2 Tbs. avocado oil. My only other change was to add ½ tsp. of espresso powder. For this recipe, I ordered muscovado sugar the last time I ordered from Vitacost. As the recipe calls for using the whisk attachment (6 minutes at high speed), I had to use my 7-qt. Cuisinart. It did ok on the half recipe, but a smaller mixer would work better. I also made the mistake of not changing to the paddle before adding the flour. The recipe did not mention that, and I should have ignored it and gone with my instincts. I spent far too much time, cleaning the dough out of the whisk, and I ended up kneading in the rest of the flour by hand. The dough or batter was not "loose," perhaps due to a difference in their dark rye flour and mine (Bob's Red Mill). I did not need to refrigerate it, but I did allow it to rest in the bowl for about 15 minutes so that the rye could hydrate completely. I used a 1 Tbs. scoop (Zeroll #40) and ended up with 25 cookies, which is the number I could expect from a halved recipe. I did not put the bit of flaked salt on the cookies, but I pressed the cookies down a bit. I baked the first sheet for 10 minutes, and the second for 9 minutes. We will wait to sample one until tomorrow, since I think the flavor will improve with an overnight rest.

[BakerAunt]

Thursday was a day for a baking experiment. I have had two containers of almond pulp (2/3 cup and 1/3 cup) from making almond milk last year in my freezer. I had one recipe for using them to make crackers, but I was not going to bake them at 135 F for 20 hours until crunchy. I found another recipe, "1-Bowl Vegan Gluten-Free Crackers," at the website Minimalist Baker that was a promising base recipe that offered an option for using spelt or another flour in place of the gluten-free flour. It used 2/3 cup almond meal but allowed for using leftover almond pulp from making almond milk. I did not find that I needed to dry it out in the oven, as it dries out nicely in the freezer.

Here is the link to the original recipe:

1-Bowl Vegan Gluten-Free Crackers

I set out to make 1 ½ of the recipe and made some changes, such as adding 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder, using just 5 Tbs. avocado oil, and adding 3 Tbs. Penzey's Buttermilk Dressing mix in place of salt and rosemary and garlic powder. I needed just ¼ cup plus 1 Tbs. of water to bring the dough together. I rolled it out to 1/8 inch thick, then cut it into 4 x 4 cm squares, which gave me 80 crackers. I was able to slightly separate them on a large, no sides baking sheet lined with a large piece of parchment. I baked for 20 minutes at 325 F, turning the sheet halfway through the time. I then gave them another 2 minutes. I removed the parchment and let them cool on the hot baking sheet.
Verdict on the next day when sampled: they are a tasty, slightly chewy cracker. This recipe has potential, especially with leftover almond pulp, although almond meal could be used. It is a bit too salty from the Buttermilk dressing mix, but I like the spices. I would cut back to 2 Tbs. next time.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover farro, chicken, vegetable stir-fry.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--Yes, I know that procedure, and it has been what I have used. However, the large beater no longer will hold in its place, and not the smaller beater will not do so either.

I have a whisk attachment, so I tried that in the proper slot, and it also would not attach. Thus, I have concluded that the problem is in the interior latching mechanism, which there is no way of accessing.

[BakerAunt]

The batch of applesauce I made on Sunday is not particularly flavorful, so I decided that it would work better as a baking ingredient. I froze 1 ½ cups for a muffin recipe and another cup for a second muffin recipe, and I used a cup to bake Quaker Oatmeal Muffins. The recipe comes from a Quaker Oats box, but the identical recipe appears in the cookbook from Murphy's Bed and Breakfast in Narragansett, Rhode Island, although the latter uses a maple glaze instead of the Quaker crumb topping. I alter it by using whole wheat flour, adding 3 Tbs. milk powder, cutting the brown sugar from ½ to 1/3 cup (my maximum for a muffin), and using a whole egg in place of just the egg white. I changed the mixing instructions by using old-fashioned oats and letting them soak in the applesauce and milk for 15 minutes before adding the sugar, egg, and oil, then the dry ingredients. I replaced 1 Tbs. of butter in the topping with avocado oil and used quick oats. The muffins are delicious.

[BakerAunt]

For Wednesday's dinner, I used leftover roasted chicken breast to make a stir-fry with farro cooked in frozen chicken/turkey broth, carrots, celery, red bell peppers, mushrooms, and peas. I included the kale my husband has been growing on the porch with a grow light. It was not a lot, but it added to the taste and nutrition. I seasoned the stir-fry with ½ tsp. sage and ½ tsp. thyme.

[BakerAunt]

What irritates me is that the motor is fine. It is the mixer attachments that won't stay in now. Len is right: there is no way to open the case. While I will have to trash the mixer, I will donate the attachments in the hope that someone can use them.

One of my friends had a mixer that would only hold one beater. She gave it to an artist in her neighborhood who used it to mix paints. It's nice to see a second use before the trash can. As neither attachment will stay in on mine, that is not an option.

I use the hand mixer to combine oil, sugar, and other wet ingredients when I make cakes or quick breads. It helps to emulsify the liquid ingredients before stirring in the dry ingredients by hand. For now, I will use the back-up mixer. I'm not sure how well it will handle thicker cookie dough. By 7-qt. stand mixer is just not good at small amounts.

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Tuesday. I would have made it yesterday, but I ran out of milk and wanted to wait for our regular shopping trip this morning.

For dinner tonight, we had the rest of the yellow pea soup, the Scottish scones, and the applesauce, as well as a slice of a small loaf of wholegrain pumpkin bread that I pulled out of the freezer.

[BakerAunt]

I bought that book back when I was working and baking for my office, and an office member was trying gluten-free. There was also a person who needed to curb the sugar. However, I only made a single recipe from the book, and that was to mixed reviews. I also ended up giving the sugar substitute I had bought to the person who needed to curtail sugar. I could not stand the taste.

For me, cutting the saturated fat does decrease my cholesterol, but only, alas, by about 10%. I've maintained the low-saturated fat diet, both because I want to take a lower dose of the statin, and because since starting the statin, I do not seem to do well with foods that are too high in saturated fat.

[BakerAunt]

While we're on the subject of cookie baking, the Big Nate Comic strip has the start of a cookie baking war:

https://www.gocomics.com/bignate/2024/02/20

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover roasted chicken breast, more roasted sweet potato chunks with the few that were left over from Saturday, microwaved fresh broccoli, and more of the applesauce.

Mike--I think that any change to a new way of approaching food and nutrition initially throws us for a loop, since much of the previous repertoire gets wiped out or has to be modified, and it takes time to develop a new batch of recipes. I could not find much that was useful when I sharply curtailed the saturated fat in our meals, and I ended up pulling from a variety of sources.

I've not had cauliflower rice, but it will probably be best NOT to think rice when you are preparing it and anticipating eating it. Instead, think of it as preparing and eating a known food in a different way.

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