[chocomouse]

Yes, we love cole slaw, and when you buy a six-pack of cabbage seedlings for your garden in May, you have a lot of cabbage to eat in July! I shred the cabbage quite thinly, shred carrots, and thinly slice onions. I can't tell you the proportions - maybe half a large cabbage, a couple of 6" long carrots, a largish yellow onion. I often add chopped apples in the fall, and usually then add caraway seeds too. The dressing makes the difference. We like ours rather tart and "spicy". I use mayo, light is OK, your preferred brand, sugar, stevia or other sweetener, cider vinegar, celery seed, sometimes chopped or dehydrated onion. I don't measure, just eyeball and taste. I'd guess for about a cup of mayo, I'd use 2-4 tablespoons of sugar, 4 tablespoons of vinegar, a tablespoon of celery seeds. The key is to let that set while you shred and chop, and TASTE it before you add it to the veggies. Adjust the ingredients per your personal tastes. It might seem a little dry at first, but after it sits in the fridge for a couple of hours for the flavors to mingle, it will thin out quite a bit. Sorry I can't be more helpful!! But do give it a try; you probably have a good idea what you'd like for flavor.

[chocomouse]

Leftovers are great -- they give you a break from cooking, even if you love to cook, and time to plan some meals of foods you haven't had for ages or foods new to you.

I have a huge pot of baked beans cooking. Dinner tonight, and the rest will go in the freezer for meals for my husband while I am gone for two weeks. I'm hoping there will be some leftover for dinner the day I get back home, so I don't have to cook then.

[chocomouse]

Early this morning before it got hot, I made a batch of sandwich thins for the freezer.

[chocomouse]

I'm going copy and paste what you did and save the info in my recipe file, BakerAunt. I trust your judgement - if you like them when you cook them, I'll try that method next year. Thanks for sharing all your cooking and baking "experiments" with us.

[chocomouse]

We had ground beef patties, corn on the cob from a local farm stand, and the first two zucchinis from our garden. Then we went out to a nearby ice cream stand for soft serve cones. We also have bowls of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries to snack on - the peak of summer.

[chocomouse]

Tonight we had pork chops and potatoes roasted on the grill, with asparagus and a green salad with container tomatoes from the pot on the deck. The first of our 2019 tomatoes!

[chocomouse]

I have not frozen beans for years, because we didn't like the results. I always blanched them, don't remember for how long. And I put them into bags or freezer containers immediately, while still wet. They always turned out soft and mushy, not a good texture. I never got any beans planted this year, but I'll try to remember next year to freeze some and do a little experimenting. Fresh beans are so good.

[chocomouse]

Their corporate offices are at the warehouse, also; I've been there numerous times. Norwich is a small town - I grew up there, and now live in the country about 10 miles away.

[chocomouse]

Hi Skeptic!
What a great weekend to visit – the weather should be perfect! I cannot recommend any place to eat lobster rolls in Vermont; we go to Maine to get ours! As you know, Vermont is landlocked, no shoreline. Indeed, I am leaving tomorrow for six days in Maine! We will eat lobster rolls, and also have reservations on a cruise to an island in Boothbay Harbor for a clambake.
Your first stop in Vermont on Interstate 91 north should be the Vermont Welcome Center, soon after you cross from Massachusetts into Vermont, around mile marker 5. We usually stop there for a potty break and to stretch our legs and look at the displays which change seasonally. You will get ideas for places to visit throughout the state from all the displays. It is a beautiful venue and well-maintained, but there are no services (food, gas). So, generally, working my way northward on 91 are the following:
Vermont is well known for craft beers, with many breweries open to visitors. The Harpoon Brewery and Beer Garden is just a mile or two off 91 in Windsor. Although I don’t like beer, my retirement party was held there! River Roost Brewery is in White River Junction, and I’m pretty sure a couple more have started up in that same town in the last few months. There are also many small restaurants in that neighborhood, if you like ethnic foods, although I think you do have access to that where you live.
Small artisan cheese factories are a growing industry in Vermont. Grafton Village Cheese Company is in Brattleboro, but I don’t know anything about it. Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company is in the same park as the Harpoon Brewery, but I think they do not have a workspace that you can visit, just a market to purchase cheese. Cobb Hill, a modern “commune” in Hartland, also has an interesting cheese-making facility.
In Norwich, a few feet off 91 and a mile from King Arthur Flour is the Montshire Museum, a science focus with many first-rate hands on activities to try. The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury (an hour north) is a fascinating place.
You mentioned “Woodchuck”, but I think it was auto-corrected from Woodstock? It is a lovely, quaint, Vermont town well-worth a visit, but about 20-30 minutes from I91 on a sometimes slow 2 lane road. Some places to visit include The Rockefeller estate, glass blowing at Simon Pierce, Billings Farm and Museum. If you are interested in books, this weekend is the annual event variously called “bookstock literary festival”, “bookfest”, etc. There are readings, art exhibits, music, workshops, and a huge book sale, all on the green and in buildings around town. You do need reservations for some of the events.
I don’t know your interests, or how much time you’ll actually have to play tourist. I would say you should spend 3-4 days visiting along 91 from one border to the next. The southern part of Vermont is quite populated, from the Welcome Center north to Norwich, about a one hour drive. From there to Derby Line at the border, is about two hours. That area is called the Northeast Kingdom and it is pretty barren, small towns, miles between interstate exits, but gorgeous views of mountains and rivers and lakes.
I hope you enjoy your trip! And let me know if you have specific interests or things you want to see.

[chocomouse]

Chicken breasts marinated in Greek dressing, leftover potato salad, and a green salad.

[chocomouse]

We had ham steaks on the grill, with potato salad and a green salad with the greens and herbs from a huge pot on the deck.

[chocomouse]

Today I made Len's bread recipe again, and this time shaped it into buns. I didn't get the oven spring that I've had with the sandwich loaves, but they did rise nicely. They shriveled (the tops wrinkled) up a bit as they cooled. I had to make some substitutions: I was short of semolina, and I had used the last of the medium rye earlier, so I used pumpernickel. No more baking this good bread/buns until I make a stop at KAF for pumpernickel, medium or dark rye, and semolina.

I can buy five-pound bags of their main flours at any local grocery store for around 4.29. But I can get the specialty flours only at the KAF store, and pay the regular price, which is what you see on-line. And I have not found a local store that consistently carries any other brands of the specialty flours.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

Dinner last night was salmon and potatoes cooked on the smoker/grill, and cole slaw. Tonight we're having egg salad sandwiches on Len's bread, with assorted raw veggies, cherries, and grapes. It is 97* here, and very humid; a heat index of 107, a rarity for this area. Luckily, we have a heat pump, so the whole house is air-conditioned.

[chocomouse]

I have two loaves of Len's Semolina-Rye-Whole Wheat bread rising. I'm about to make a sheet cake so it will be baked just before the bread needs to go in. And then I will make raspberry jam, some of which will be used to make the raspberry poke for a potluck tomorrow. I need to get all the baking/cooking done before the temperature rises to the 90s around noon.

Baker Aunt, you must be having so much fun putting away books and dishes! Does this mean you are moving things from your temporary quarters, or are you unpacking things that have been in boxes for ages?

[chocomouse]

No cooking here tonight either! Husband had a dinner meeting, and I had a late afternoon medical appointment. So I stopped at a local ice cream stand and got a dish of lemon home-made ice cream. No calcium deficiency here!

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