[chocomouse]

We have a major building project going on here (a new sugarhouse) and I am trying to keep the construction crew warm and happy. I've made chili, bean soup, and today am making baked beans. I also made buns and Special K peanut butter bars. And, I made mushroom soup, for myself.

[chocomouse]

Last night we had the split pea soup, loaded with ham and vegetables, and maple-cinnamon bread. This morning it is -15* although the sky is a cloudless bright blue.

[chocomouse]

Dinner last night was scrambled eggs and English muffin for me, and grilled cheese sandwich for my husband. I'm making split pea soup from our Christmas hambone for dinner tonight.

[chocomouse]

I made turkey soup, using broth and veggies from the freezer, plus orzo. It hit the spot on a cold, windy night with off and on blowing snow.

Joan, my son is also 45, and still my boy, always will be. He lives about 15 minutes away, but with three teen-age daughters, he's busy and I don't see him very often.

[chocomouse]

This past week I have made bread using a new (at least to me) Whole Grain Flour Blend from KAF: white whole wheat, barley, pumpernickel, sorghum, oat, millet, amaranth, teff, and quinoa flours. It made wonderful bread. I also used the Super 10 Blend for more bread: spelt, millet, barley, teff, buckwheat, amaranth, sorghum rye, quinoa, chia seeds. Again, excellent bread. And, a loaf with my oldest favorite, Harvest Grains Blend:whole oat berries, millet, rye, wheat flours, and flax, poppy, sesame, and sunflower seeds. Another superb bread. I cannot find the Super 10 or Whole Grain blend on their website. I also do not see the Ancient Grains, another great blend I have used, on the website. I suspect they have renamed some of the flours, just as they have renamed other products, or possibly made a few minor changes to the ingredients. I used to mix up my own blends, using a variety of flours and seeds, But I've now decided to finish off my assorted jars of ingredients in the pantry and just buy whatever they are selling at the moment.

[chocomouse]

It sounds to me like your son was really pampered, and I'm sure he enjoyed it. Does he visit you often?

[chocomouse]

I used my spiralizer to make curly sweet potato fries. We had a 10 minute delay between cooking my fries in the hot oven and my husband cooking burgers on the smoker, so the fries became soggy. For crisp fries, you really need to eat them immediately out of the oven! Next time, I would keep the oven turned on to 400*, ready to put them back in for a couple of minutes before eating.

[chocomouse]

Today I made DIY: Homemade Sandwich Thins, a recipe by Shawnda that I Googled. I'm still on a searchto imitate the Arnold's brand thins, which have wonderful flavor, come in whole wheat or whole grain varieties, but are relatively expensive. I followed the recipe exactly, and weighed the dough into 16 pieces shaped into balls. I got these thinner than past recipes, mainly by increasing my patience. I had thought about using my tortilla press to flatten them, but discovered it is not flat, but has divisions, like for quesidillas. I ended up very carefully using a rolling pin to flatten them on the baking sheet - after I waited 15 minutes to let the dough relax. I will make these again, and probably will cease my search for another recipe. Mine will never look as nice and perfectly shaped and thin as store-bought, but they taste good, cost less, are at least as healthy, and work perfectly for a small sandwich.

[chocomouse]

I made two loaves of pumpernickel bread, to use with the leftover Christmas ham.

[chocomouse]

I used my new spiralizer to make thin onion slices and zucchini and yellow squash noodles, which I sauteed and tossed with olive oil, sliced black olives, and parmesan. The food was excellent, and so much easier to prepare than using my old, hand crank spiralizer. We ate it with pork steaks and mashed potatoes.

[chocomouse]

Dinner on Christmas night was shared with my husband, my sister and her husband, a quiet evening. We had roast beast, mashed potatoes with gravy, dinner rolls, roasted Brussels sprouts, and broccoflower salad. We had dinner with our children and grandchildren on Sunday evening, due to individuals' work schedules. For that, we had ham, pineapple, mashed potatoes, corn, maple candied carrots, broccoli salad, dinner rolls and garlic knots. Dessert was a cookie tray. We had as much fun watching five teen-agers, ages 16, 16, 17, 18, and 20, chat and open gifts as we did when they were toddlers ripping open packages!

[chocomouse]

For Christmas dinner, I made a Chocolate Caramel Tart. Everyone else liked it, but I did not. It was way too sweet and rich for my tastes. It was difficult to serve, as the caramel softened as soon as it was removed from the refrigerator. I think it would work better if made into mini-tarts, although I probably won't make it again.

[chocomouse]

There is a UTube video showing how to make this star, but I can't find it right now. I watched it quite a few years ago, before KAF came out with their recipe. The ladies are speaking a language foreign to me, but it's easy to see what they are doing. I've also made it with a thin layer of raspberry jam, and it was delicious.

[chocomouse]

I've spent the last few days baking for my cookie trays, since we'll be doing our Christmas celebration tonight. I also made cinnamon buns and tins of cookies to send home with the kids. I've made Buckeye Bars, Crack!, molasses cookies, Cranberry-Coconut cookies, Chocolate-Orange Cookies, and Pecan Tassies (recipe from lsb of the old Baking Circle).

I wish all my baking friends a joyous season and hope you will be able to spend time with friends and family!

[chocomouse]

Right now I have dough for Mrs. M's Cinnamon Buns rising on the kitchen counter; these will go home with our two children and families for their Christmas morning breakfast, a nice tradition we started a few years ago.

Yesterday I did a Bake for Good pie class at KAF. They gave us the ingredients and instructions and supervised/coached us making the crusts, and the class was free. The recipe was their classic, all butter crust. The instructor stressed that it's all about keeping the butter cold! We mixed the butter and flour until it was all crumbly, one size pieces, quite small, about 1/4 of an inch. They had prepped the apples, saving us a lot of time. We actually made crostatas, not double crusts, which was disappointing because I was hoping to get some tips about crimping the edges. KAF bakes the pies and takes them to a local homeless shelter/food shelf. They have similar classes for cookies, cinnamon buns, and rolls. Next year I will try a different class.

[Author]

Posts