[chocomouse]

Tonight we ate the last of the Celebrity and Roma tomatoes. I'm hoping the nice-looking and abundant Brandywines ripen before the first frost (average date October 15). However, the daytime highs have been and are predicted to be in the low 60s, with nights 40s an 50s, not great for ripening tomatoes. So vine ripened tomatoes are not likely to happen.

We prefer the buttercup squash over butternut -- they are sweeter and more reliably neither too wet nor too dry. However, the butternut shape is much easier to prepare for cooking. I will be planting a couple of honey nuts next summer. Thank you for your input, BakerAunt and Skeptic.

[chocomouse]

My husband had a BLT and I had leftover tomato soup and grilled chicken thigh.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, you've spoken several times about your favorite winter squash, the honeynut. I'm interested in growing some next year, because they are often described as "one serving" each. That's a positive factor, but I'm really more interested in the flavor. How does it compare to its parent squash, the regular butternut? And to buttercup squash?

[chocomouse]

We're having pasta with kielbase, peppers, and onions. I'm using some of the fresh tomato sauce I made yesterday. And today I finished making and freezing the salsa, 6 pints and 5 half pints.

[chocomouse]

I made Reinhart's Onion and Wild Rice dough today. I shaped it into one loaf and twenty 70 gram rolls. I love this recipe! Not only is it tasty, the dough is so nice to handle. It's time to stock the freezer with breads to eat with soups and casseroles.

[chocomouse]

I made another cobbler, peach this time. I tossed the sliced peaches in brown sugar and ginger, and sprinkled maple sugar on top of the dough. It is delicious. Next up? I'm thinking a fresh fig cobbler might be nice.

[chocomouse]

Nice that you get to start having fun again, BakerAunt!

Today I processed more tomatoes - the last batch of this season. I think I'll have about 5-6 quarts of sauce, and maybe 10 pints of salsa.

Our dinner was breaded fresh haddock from the fish counter, a crunchy slaw-like salad from the deli, and a baked potato. I used the air fry mode on my Breville countertop oven, with convection and the haddock was cooked perfectly -- the first time I was satisfied with the air fry results.

[chocomouse]

I just took a batch of raspberry muffins out of the oven. An early morning bake for me, but I'm leaving for a week in Maine in an hour and wanted to be sure my husband would have something special for his breakfasts. He does also have leftover citrus zucchini bars.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, you must be very, very hungry for some nice baked goods, since you've been so deprived by not being able to bake for yourself. I wish we all lived closer to you - we would share our baked goods, and you could be my taste tester. I won't even post a picture of the lemon cake/brownie type bar I made today. And I subbed Greek yogurt for cream cheese in the frosting - it worked! And I mistakenly used Lime juice powder instead of Lemon juice. I'm now calling it a citrus cake, and it is delicious!

[chocomouse]

Thanks for that information, Aaron. I didn't know any of that. Yes, I think you should just order the boiled cider from KAF.

[chocomouse]

Today I made another chocolate-raspberry cheesecake to take to a gathering of friends.

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[chocomouse]

I made a dozen burger buns. This time I used bread flour and skipped the egg.

[chocomouse]

Dinner was BLTs, again. Not many more meals of them, however. The tomato season will be over in about a month. I did freeze 5 quarts of tomato sauce and 7 pints of salsa. Tomorrow I need to cut and freeze a basket of about 12 peppers - green, red, and one yellow. Some I'll cut in half for stuffed peppers, others will be sliced, chopped into a big dice, or cut into bite-size pieces. No need to process, just toss in zip-lock bags and toss into the freezer.

[chocomouse]

Aaron, I'm thinking about the possible results of your boiled cider vs. regular cider experiment. I understand about the need to keep the total amount of liquid consistent with the recipe amounts. However, since a 1/2 gallon of cider is reduced to make 1 cup of boiled cider, that means you are reducing 16 cups to 1 cup. Therefore, you would need to add 15 cups of liquid back into the dough? No, I think not! I guess that is not what you are thinking of doing? You are not going to get the depth of apple flavor from regular cider that you would get from boiled, concentrated cider.

[chocomouse]

I'm in the middle of processing more tomatoes, will probably end up with 4 quarts of tomato sauce and 4-5 pints of salsa. I need to add peppers and onions, also from the garden before I'm done, and probably some celery also, but I don't grow that in my garden.

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