chocomouse

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Viewing 15 posts - 646 through 660 (of 2,681 total)
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  • in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of March 26, 2023? #38867
    chocomouse
    Participant

      I made 2 loaves of Walter Sands bread, subbing whole wheat for some of the AP flour.

      in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 26, 2023? #38865
      chocomouse
      Participant

        We had BLTs with fresh bread.

        in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38858
        chocomouse
        Participant

          Today I made Olive-Gruyere Rolls, based on the KAF recipe for Crusty Gruyere Rolls. I added a cup of chopped olives to the filling, and brushed the dough with olive oil and Penzey's roasted garlic. Then I rolled and cut them like cinnamon buns. They're perfect with tomato or veggie soup.

          in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 26, 2023? #38852
          chocomouse
          Participant

            Today I made corn chowder for supper.

            in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38846
            chocomouse
            Participant

              Thanks, ItalianCook, I will try these. I'll probably use lemon juice powder too. I'll follow the recipe the first time around, and if I like them, I'll likely try to cut back on the butter and sugar by subbing oil and/or apple sauce and cut the sugar to 1/2 a cup.

              in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38827
              chocomouse
              Participant

                The lemon oatmeal sugar cookies recipe is from Taste of Home and available on line; google it. I used a 2 teaspoon (?) scooper and got about 4 dozen cookies. I think about 10 minutes is the best baking time in my Breville oven. I love lemon and like a very strong lemon flavoring; my favorite is the KAF lemon juice powder but I'm trying to use up some older ingredients so I used Boyajian lemon oil and lemon zest. I also threw in the remainder of a bag of lemon bits, a handful or two, maybe a 1/4 cup. I'll make these again, and am thinking about using lime flavoring. They are pretty rich, but I'm convinced the oatmeal makes them healthy!

                in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38820
                chocomouse
                Participant

                  Today I made a new recipe - Lemon Oatmeal Sugar Cookies. They are very good, but loaded with butter and sugar. I scooped and froze about half of the batter in a zip-lock bag for when I really need a couple of cookies.

                  in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38819
                  chocomouse
                  Participant

                    I'm cooking my version of a sort of chicken cacciatore for dinner - chicken breasts, bite size chunks of onion and sweet red peppers and celery in a tomato sauce of last summer's tomatoes, served on rice. With it we'll have a salad using mixed lettuces from under the grow lights. We'll have plenty of leftovers as a stew next week.

                    in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38814
                    chocomouse
                    Participant

                      I made seafood salad, macaroni salad, and marinated bean salad for dinner. We're in the middle of sugaring season now, and I never know when my husband will get home from boiling; it was1:30 a.m. one night last week. So I try to have something quick to heat up. Summery salads are a nice change from that.

                      in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38807
                      chocomouse
                      Participant

                        We had burgers on the grill.

                        in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 19, 2023? #38805
                        chocomouse
                        Participant

                          Monday night I cooked baked haddock, fries, and cole slaw.

                          in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 12, 2023? #38760
                          chocomouse
                          Participant

                            Today I made orange muffins, using a chopped up orange and Tang added to my usual muffin recipe.

                            in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of March 12, 2023? #38745
                            chocomouse
                            Participant

                              We had pizza tonight, made with Italian flavor venison sausage. It was very good.

                              in reply to: Maple Sugar and Maple Syrup #38743
                              chocomouse
                              Participant

                                I'm not sure of all the chemistry behind the darkening of maple syrup, but I believe it is related to the development of microbes in the sap over time.

                                The taste of pure maple syrup varies depends on environmental factors (terroir). It depends on the soil, genetics of the trees, the weather (throughout the year and during the sugaring season), when the sap is collected during the season, and how it is processed. So the flavor will vary from producer to producer and from year to year, or even day to day in the same sugarhouse. Generally, the first few gatherings of the season will make the lightest syrup. As the season progresses, the syrup becomes darker and stronger. The appearance of leaf buds on the trees signals the end of the season, as the flavor of the syrup becomes stronger and eventually very bitter.

                                The issue of climate change and sugaring is not just the warming temperatures, but the need for alternating warming and freezing that makes the sap run in the trees. It can get so warm out that the sap stops running during the day. Or, sometimes, if it doesn't freeze up again in the night, the sap will run all night.

                                in reply to: Maple Sugar and Maple Syrup #38740
                                chocomouse
                                Participant

                                  Lots of interesting things happening these days with maple sugaring!! Yes, the warming temperatures will definitely affect the production of syrup. Sap flows inside the trees when the nights are below freezing and days above freezing. If we no longer have nighttime below freezing temps in our world, the sap won't run the next day. No sap, no syrup.
                                  The sap usually runs for about 6 weeks, mid-February through March. This year, the night temps were below freezing in November, and during the days were above freezing, so the sap ran. Some syrup producers started gathering and boiling then and made hundreds of gallons of syrup by the end of the month. Then the weather changed. We never did have any "winter" until late February, although there were periods of a few days when the temps were right and the sap ran and some producers made more syrup. The question now is will maple trees continue to produce sap from Nov-March? How long might we be able to make syrup? And how does that affect the long-term health of the trees?
                                  Many producers did not tap last fall, and waited for more typical weather in March. We just made our first gallons of syrup on March 12.
                                  Ponder this: All trees have sap. Birch sap is being made into a drink; it's carbonated, and sold in cans. It does not taste sweet, like maple.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 646 through 660 (of 2,681 total)