BakerAunt
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Your cheese bread sounds delicious, Skeptic.
I needed to use the last of my Cara Cara oranges, so I found a quick bread recipe, "Barley Orange Bread" in Bernard Clayton, Jr.'s New Complete Book of Breads (expanded 2nd edition, pp. 177-179). It uses just barley flour, which appealed to me, since my husband and I are both fond of barley. I baked it, with a few changes on Thursday. I reduced the baking powder from 1 Tbs. to 2 ½ tsp. because the larger amount always seems to me to leave an aftertaste, and I find that the Bakewell Cream baking powder outperforms other brands. The rise was fine on the baked bread, but the center of the loaf has a slight depression. I wonder if 2 tsp. baking powder and ¼ tsp. baking soda (to offset the acidity of the orange juice) would correct that slight defect. (Cass would have known!) The recipe has a complex boiling of orange rind and creating a kind of syrup with it and half the sugar, but the headnote in the 2nd edition of Clayton's book, unlike in the 1st, says that you can skip that if you do not mind assertive orange flavor. However, he does not say how to compensate for the syrup. I decided to cut the amount of water used to make the final syrup (which I did not make) in half, as I assume at least half would have evaporated in the 25-minute cooking time. I added 1 Tbs. milk powder, and I replaced 3 Tbs. of butter or shortening, melted, with 3 Tbs. avocado oil. I altered the mixing instructions to mix the wet ingredients first, along with the sugar into which I had mixed the orange zest. The pans called for were either a 9" x 5" or two 7" x 3". I used three 2 ½" x 5" loaf pans. I baked for 38 minutes but perhaps should have taken then out after 35, Once they have cooled, I will wrap up two for freezing, and the other I will wrap and allow to rest for a day or two, as Clayton says a richer flavor will develop if allowed to rest for at least a day. As we have dessert for the next two days, that works perfectly.
We went for a picnic lunch and hike at the Indiana Dunes on Wednesday, so I knew to plan an easy dinner for when we returned. I made Salmon and Couscous with Penzey's Greek Seasoning, which we had alongside microwaved fresh broccoli.
We finished the roast chicken breast meat tonight. My husband had his with the rest of the bulgur stir-fry, and I had mine with curried butternut squash soup from the freezer. I froze a lot of that soup; it is very handy to pull out a container whenever I want it.
We had leftovers from last night for dinner.
I like all the cookout foods mentioned. I might add a pasta salad.
On Sunday, I baked a double recipe of my no-butter drop sugar cookies and rolled them in red sugar in honor of the Memorial Day weekend. The cookies are soft enough that Scott will be able to eat them.
I made yogurt on Sunday.
My husband wanted to try chicken for dinner tonight, so I roasted two bone-in chicken breasts. I made an accompanying stir-fry with cooked bulgur, mushrooms, red bell pepper, and more of the kale from the pot my husband has growing on the porch. The meal worked for Scott, although he still is chewing mostly on one side.
We are also not doing anything special meal-wise for Memorial Day.
You make good points, Navlys. The first Girl Scout cookie sales, many years ago, consisted of troops baking their own cookies and selling them. At some point, it was commercialized, and it morphed from there into the large enterprise it is today.
I baked Asparagus, Scallion, and Goat Cheese Quiche on Saturday. I had a slice for dinner, while Scott, who does not care for asparagus, finished the pea soup and cornbread mini muffins. For dessert, we had fresh strawberries from the farmers market.
Lovely cake, Joan!
Mike--I agree about having the ability to close off the kitchen when there is a pet. With some projects, I do not want the dog in the kitchen because either she or I might get hurt. Of course, I am in the camp of the no open concept kitchen, even though I ended up with one.
I had a beloved Siamese cat for many years. She considered it beneath her to get on tables or countertops. She preferred the back of an armchair near my typewriter. (Yes, that was before computers.) Most of my family's cats happily jumped up on countertops. One slurped tea from my mother's unattended large mug--but only if she put milk in it. A favorite place was on top of the refrigerator--back in the days of non-enclosed refrigerators. One cat once jumped up to the top, noted that another was already there, seemed to freeze in the air, just as in the cartoons, then sailed over the refrigerator and onto a table. I did not witness this acrobatic routine, but my mother did and told us about it.
It's a good sign that your cat wants to explore the house, but as you note, it will require some rearranging to prevent problems.
We were out and about this afternoon, so we were glad to come home to a Friday dinner of more peas soup and mini cornbread muffins.
Beautiful pumpkin pie, Joan! I'm hoping to bake one soon.
Thursday's dinner was more pea soup and mini cornbread muffins.
Because we need another Girl Scout Cookie Joke:
I had to chuckle that Violet forgot that the cake would not assemble and frost itself, but good for her going into the kitchen and baking the cake for her brother. I got my start in baking when I realized that if I wanted cookies available, I would need to be the person in the family who baked them.
King Arthur recently had a 20% off sale on baking pans. I decided to buy a mini-muffin pan, since baking the mini-banana mini-chip muffins ten days ago has opened my eyes to possibilities. If I make the banana muffins again, I want the correct size for the extra batter. I'm not positive that the King Arthur deal was all that great with shipping and taxes, but I knew it would be a good heavy pan. It arrived today on Wednesday, so I washed it, then baked mini-cornbread muffins to go with the soup I made for dinner. The small size works well for my husband as he continues to recover from the oral surgery. I can also see the mini muffins being good for the grandson when he visits. Indeed, mini muffins probably would travel well for adults who need snacks on the plane or on the drive home. I had three with my soup, which is less than if I had eaten two regular muffins.
My mini-cornbread muffins baked in 13 minutes. A Zeroll #40 scoop was perfect for filling the muffin cups.
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