[chocomouse]

Italiancook, that is one of my most favorite recipes ever! I love the lemon juice powder - it's better than any combo of zest or oil. And I have cut the streusel by half also. If you add a cup and a half of fresh or frozen blueberries, it's even better!

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, when you were younger, didn't you always eat an ear off your chocolate bunny first? Is there a connection?

[chocomouse]

I bought several Fat Diddio pans last year, and the reason I ordered them was they were odd sizes and had straight, high sides. I don't use them often, but each has a purpose.

[chocomouse]

I live in a pretty rural area, the nearest restaurants and grocery stores are about a 25 minute drive north or south, and in those two area are many chain stores as well as local family owned places. Almost all the restaurants and coffee shops are doing curbside pickup for take-out, although quite a few have reduced hours, and almost none have closed. All the other retail stores ("essential" only are allowed to be open) are doing call/email your order for curbside pick up. And some organizations, such as fire departments (volunteer) are picking up curbside and delivering to the homes of the elderly, at-risk, etc. residents. Also, residents are making large donation, like $50-100 each, to restaurants to have meals delivered to fire, police, hospitals, etc. Excess food goes to schools, (making and delivery meals via school bus, to all students under 18 in their district), and to the food banks and homeless shelters. Also, many towns have "Road Captains" who contact all residents in on their assigned roads on a regular basis, and manage "Give help - Get help" lists. My sister is sewing masks for everyone on her road, and putting them in bags hung from her mailbox at the end of her driveway for neighbors to pick up. I'm not sure a lot of this would work in more urban areas, but it's amazing to watch the daily creativity and generosity of townspeople. We no longer have large dairy farms in our area, but it's sad and confusing to read that farmers are dumping milk, yet the dairy section in the local grocery store was almost empty when I went shopping on Tuesday. No cheese, except the imported brands in the deli case, almost no yogurt, cottage cheese, milk.

[chocomouse]

Dinner tonight was salmon patties, green salad, and cornbread. I'd never made salmon patties before -- canned salmon, celery, onion, eggs, crumbled saltines, sauteed in olive oil. They were OK, a nice change on a chilly evening.

[chocomouse]

I made two whole grain sandwich loaves today. They took forever to rise because the house was chilly. We got a little snow early this morning, but it didn't amount to much.

[chocomouse]

We had cornbread and bean soup for dinner. I added 1/2 tsp of Penzey's Salsa & Pico seasoning (thanks BakerAunt; we both had the name incorrect!) which improved the flavor a lot. Interesting that I had used all the same spices in the soup that are in the Penzey seasoning, except no jalepeno or cilantro. Adding the 1/2 tsp was perfect.

[chocomouse]

I am baking corn bread, the sweet "northern" kind. Although it is not really sweet; I use 1/4 cup of sugar (sometimes honey or maple syrup) to go with 1 cup stone ground corn meal and 1 cup flour.

[chocomouse]

I've been wondering how to use the Pico de Gallo seasoning. I haven't liked anything I've used it in. I think I'll add a little, maybe 1/2 teaspoon, to the bean soup I made last weeks. It needs a little something.

[chocomouse]

I made chocolate chip cookies today. Yesterday I made buns - 6 hamburger and 6 hot dogs.

[chocomouse]

We will do our usual meal, just my husband and myself. I bought a spiral sliced ham yesterday, and that will also make sandwiches for DH for weeks! Not sure what we'll have for sides, probably scalloped potatoes, mapled carrots, maybe a broccoli salad, and for sure maple cheesecake.

[chocomouse]

ItalianCook, these were soft on the inside, but crisp on some of the outside. The "fans" separated at the top, above the muffin tin, and those were more crisp. I baked the first batch 20 minutes and the second batch for 25, but 23 minutes would be good, I think. This dough rose a LOT, and quickly; I would not use the same dough recipe again for this style roll, but would use a lean dough. If you are a "fussy" baker, and want everything to look perfect (that's me, usually) shaping these will be frustrating for you - you have to let go of the perfectionist model. I won't use a t-square when rolling and cutting my dough! (no offense, Mike!) I imagine these would be really good with a cinnamon-sugar filling, sprinkled with candied orange peel, or ...

BakerAunt, those were the days! Everything was betta with more buttah! I may try a little parmesan on my next batch.

[chocomouse]

Do you remember "butterflake" or "fan" rolls from the 60s? They were in a refrigerated can, Pillsbury dough boy maybe. Today I made an enriched dough (egg, sugar, milk) and shaped it into fans. I rolled the dough out rather thin, maybe 3/8 inch, spread it with melted butter and sprinkled with a mix of herbs, dried garlic and onion, and coarse salt. I used my pizza cutter to cut strips about 2" wide and stacked them 4 strips high. Then I cut crosswise, also 2" wide. I put each 2" x 2" square on it's side, sort of standing up, into an oil sprayed muffin tin and let rise about 30 minutes. If you made the refrigerated dough rolls years ago, you can probably picture this.Then I baked at 350* for 23 minutes. I had 18 rolls total, but for the second tin, I used a stack of only 3 squares of dough. The flavor was fantastic, although a bit too salty. The stacks individual layers separated too easily, so next time I would use less melted butter. These were so good, and you can customized whatever you prefer for herbs and spices. And you could save a lot of calories, etc, by using a leaner dough!

[chocomouse]

Mushroom soup and birdseed rolls.

[chocomouse]

We had ribs, cole slaw, and potatoes roasted on the grill with Penzey's Fox Point seasoning. 55* here.

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