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I made corn chowder for dinner, and we had the last of the ciabatta from the When Pigs Fly Bakery.

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Dinner last night was brats on sandwich thins with garlic aioli. Not at all good for you, but good tasting!

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Happy birthday, Joan, and many more to come! Sounds like you had a great day!

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I made sandwich thins again today. I really like the flavor of this recipe and have figured out I can use a rolling pin to roll them out quite thin. However, I goofed this time, misread the recipe to make 8 instead of 16, and they are too large. But my husband ate one with his chili for dinner and liked it.

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I remember seeing government issued cheese in the school kitchen in the 80s. It was shaped like the Velveeta in the box, but much larger, and not a yellow box. I like it in Duchess soup -- I love that it melts so easily. I had a wonderful cheese last weekend - Red Dragon. It is a cheddar with mustard seed and ale. It's a touch on the warm side, but delicious. I've been trying to locate it on-line, and see that it is carried at Walmart. I think the Walmart near me doesn't have any cheese; I rarely shop there, but will stop by sometime to see if they have it.

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Mike, one of the most interesting uses of spices that I have found is in Moroccan cooking. I discovered this when learning to cook in my tagine, and I thought I would not like the spice combinations. Common in those recipes (usually chicken and vegetables) are garlic, paprika, cumin, turmeric, coriander, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg. The flavor is quite different, but very good.

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Dinner tonight was rigatoni with Italian sausage, big chunks of belle peppers and onion, and home-made tomato sauce. One of our favorite meals.

I will eat only one kind of mac and cheese, and it is the most simple process possible: boil macaroni pasta to the desired "al dente"; stir in one can of condensed tomato soup (do not dilute), then add cubed Velveeta cheese, to the desired cheesiness. My kids and grandkids love it, and call it "soup and noodles and cheese". My brother and sisters laugh at me. It is what our mother made, but not often. She also used a can of tomato soup as her spaghetti/marinara sauce! We didn't have any herbs or spices in the house, other than salt and pepper, which were rarely used. You might wonder why my siblings and I love to cook/bake and are all good cooks!!!

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Thanks Mike! I have both of those books, so will read over what he has written and probably try both recipes. My plain bagels look a lot better than the raisin-cinnamon version -- there are lumpy raisins sticking out all around the bagel! I made 18 bagels instead of the 12 the recipe called for, since we want them smaller than the usual bakery bagels. I shaped the dough into balls (for once, I let go of my OCD and just eye-balled the dividing instead of using the scale) and let it rest, then flattened and did not let it rest again. I guess maybe I need to be more particular when I poke and twirl. I did use the malt powder in the water bath, as the recipe called for it. I'm pretty sure I have some barley syrup in the pantry, although I don't know why, so I'll try that at some point, too. So you sometimes use just plain water for the boil?

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I'm back in the kitchen and baking! For many years I've been saying "No, I'm not going to start making bagels; I don't need bagels, etc" So, my sister suggested we take a bagel class at KAF, wouldn't I like to do that?" Hahaha! I said "Sure, I'd love to. But we should really try making some on our own first, so we know what to look for and what questions to ask in class." On my way home from Maine, I stopped at KAF and bought nondiastatic malt powder. Today I made the bagels, using the Water Bagels recipe on the KAF website. I made half the dough into cinnamon=raisin, by kneading them into the dough just before shaping. The other half I sprinkled with seeds, onions, garlic, salt just before baking. I shaped half of them as suggested in the recipe (make a ball of dough, poke your finger through and sort of twirl and stretch) and half of them I patted out the dough and cut with a doughnut cutter. They smelled wonderful, but look terrible! Both varieties taste great. I need to work on the shaping; it will get better I know. The insides are dense but not tough chewy. The outside is very chewy, too chewy for my preference, I'd like to keep my teeth a few more years! I'll do some research on line to see what I can do to soften the outside. I used bread flour, so I know I could lower the protein by using AP. But I don't want to lose the denseness and chew of the inside. Maybe use less of the malt powder in the boil, or maybe bake for less than 20 minutes. I might also call the KAF chat line and ask. It will be a couple of months before they have a bagel class. Anyone here make bagels? Novice or expert help would be fine!

Baker Aunt - I neglected to tell Joan that she should consider cutting the streusel amount in half! I usually make the full recipe, but freeze half for the next bake. So thanks for sharing that information!

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Joan, if you like blueberries, lemon, and coffeecake (! and who doesn't?) you might like to look at KAF recipes for:
1. Blueberry Lemon Coffeecake. I've made this many times, but with a change to the streusel. I use lemon juice powder in place of all the lemon zest, oil, etc. And, I like the flavor best without any brown sugar. I've only seen it at KAF, it is a little expensive, and I haven't found a substitute for it. But, if you want lemon flavor -- this is it! And it's perfect with blueberries.
2. Lemon Streusel Coffeecake. This recipe uses the lemon juice powder in the streusel, but it is made with brown sugar, and I prefer white sugar. But it does give you a sense of using the lemon juice powder.

I'm going to take a peek at the buckle you made.

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We had meatloaf, baked potatoes, and squash from the freezer. Tomorrow I'm leaving for a week in Maine, and my husband will be happy to stay home and eat meatloaf sandwiches on a variety of home-made breads!

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So good to hear all this! I've heard medical folks saying the healing is faster when the patient is home and comfortable and happy.

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I browned boneless pork chops in a cast iron skillet with sage and Penzey's Mural of Flavor, then added sliced apples and made a thin sauce of boiled cider and spicy brown mustard.

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Sara, I did not know that; I've often wondered how she was doing. We lost contact after she moved from San Francisco to be near her sister, in Oakland maybe? Such a talented lady, a baker and a quilter. She was always up for a new bread baking adventure! Thanks for sharing. How is your husband doing now that he is at home? And I hope you are taking care of yourself, too.

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I don't remember a group baking from the cookie book. But I lost touch with the baking circle about when KAF shut down the "old,old" baking circle, the first one they shut down. I got busy with real life and my password didn't work and they were no help to getting that problem fixed. And then I think they shut down the baking circle they created from that group, part of their website, in about 2010. I joined the original Baking Circle in 2002, and the group baking the same breads was most active in 2004. I sometimes wonder what those ladies are doing now. I know Sara W was part of that old baking circle, too.

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