[BakerAunt]

Mike has a recipe for gluten-free cornbread which he says they prefer over the gluten varieties, even though they do not need to be gluten free. I'm unsure if it is posted here.

CWCdesign--did you leave the milk out of the original recipe? If so, was it buttermilk or regular milk? You could probably reduce or eliminate the baking soda if it was regular milk. Too much baking soda can give a bitter taste.

Dairy-free and gluten-free, with some nut allergies thrown in, is a difficult combination. I would definitely try it with water, especially since it includes 1/2 cup sugar. I use minimum sugar in mine (1 Tbs.), but I was raised on a more southern-style cornbread. A stone-ground cornmeal has a natural sweetness to it. I like the Bob's Red Mill medium grind (at least until the Indiana State Park at Spring Mill gets their grist meal repaired and can start selling their medium grind).

[BakerAunt]

I had to add this link for our favorite maple syrup producers:

https://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2023/09/17

[BakerAunt]

My sister and her husband just celebrated 40 years of marriage, and they also married in September!

To go with the rest of the leftover roasted chicken thighs for Saturday night dinner, I roasted a combination of red potatoes, patty pan squash, and carrots that I had tossed in olive oil. After 50 minutes at 400F, I sprinkled Penzey's Sunny Paris over the vegetables and roasted another ten minutes. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli. Every vegetable tonight was bought at the local farmers' market.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover roasted chicken, leftover noodles and mushrooms, and fresh green beans from the garden. I had the last slice of cantaloupe, and my husband had a ripe pear from last week's farmers' market.

I also made some tomato sauce from some of our tomatoes that I will freeze.

Hugs to Joan.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Thursday was roasted chicken thighs with noodles and sauteed mushrooms and microwaved fresh broccoli. We had some sliced cantaloupe as part of the dessert but did not neglect the pumpkin snacking cake.

[BakerAunt]

Our Wednesday dinner was also a repeat of Tuesday's black-eyed peas, farro, and ham.

[BakerAunt]

I had a day of baking on Wednesday. I am thankful that my husband helped me with the dishes. I baked my Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough Bread (made the levain last night), using the cloche top and the Rommerhof bowl. I did three shapings of the loaf, with 5 minutes between each time. Next time, I will do just two, as the dough becomes harder to form into a nice-looking round after the second time. The bread still baked well, and I look forward to slicing it tomorrow.

My second project was the wholegrain Pumpkin Snacking Cake, using a cup of peanut pumpkin that I had frozen last year. I am mindful that I need to make room in the freezer for this year's pumpkin bounty. The vendors have gotten to know me and have promised to save back a peanut pumpkin for me when they are ready.

My final bake on Wednesday was a recipe for Applesauce Muffins, from a Los Angeles Times Magazine piece featuring three muffin recipes from the 1990s titled "Muffins are Back." I recall at the time thinking that I had not known that muffins had ever gone away. I had cut out the page with the recipes and found it a while back as I was sorting some of my stacks of recipes. I had some commercial applesauce to finish in the refrigerator, so today was a good time to try at least one of the recipes, and the oven was already warm. I made some adjustments in that I used white whole wheat flour instead of AP, added some milk powder and flax meal, and added a bit of water as I did not have enough applesauce. I replaced the dried apricots and raisins with some dried fruit mix from King Arthur that I wanted to finish, and I microwaved the fruit with water to liven it up. I baked the recipe as six large muffins and will probably freeze a couple for quick breakfasts.

[BakerAunt]

As the weather has turned cooler, and since I have fed my sourdough starter twice within a week, my mind had also turned to sourdough bread to bake in a cloche. I have been adapting the Kind Arthur Rustic Sourdough recipe to make it more wholegrain, so that is the recipe I am using. My starter is my trusty milk-based one that I started around 1991. I like it because it is willing to let me ignore it for several weeks, although with my husband's love of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, it is now gets fed at least every two weeks.

[BakerAunt]

Now that the leftovers are gone, on Tuesday, I used some cooked black-eyed peas from the freezer and combined them with sauteed celery and yellow bell pepper, some ham, and cooked farro, along with some dehydrated onion, thyme, and freshly ground black pepper. We had it with the rest of some leftover applesauce.

I also made yogurt today.

[BakerAunt]

That slice looks great, Mike!

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover pizza and bean salad.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them at the end of the week.

[BakerAunt]

Later this week, I might see if I can engineer an oil-based version of the Soft Barley Cookies in the King Arthur Cookie Book. I had to stop baking them due to the butter content, but I, and particularly my husband, think longingly of them.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover pasta and some more of the Green Bean salad for dinner tonight. We took my bonus daughter and boyfriend to the airport--a 6-hour round trip for us with traffic, and a train that stopped across the tracks when we were not far from home. I wish that a company would re-establish bus service to and from Midway from Michigan City or another mid-sized city that is closer. Finishing the double tracking of the South Shore Line, would also help.

[BakerAunt]

Tomorrow, my bonus daughter and her boyfriend head back to San Diego, so for our last dinner of the visit, I made sourdough pan pizza with homemade tomato sauce and the usual toppings, except that I left off the black olives and green onion.

Earlier in the day, I baked blueberry cobbler for dessert. It is traditional that she will eat some for breakfast tomorrow.

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