[chocomouse]

I made bagels, and use AP flour instead of Bread Flour. They are a little too soft, not chewy enough, so I will go back to using Bread Flour.

[chocomouse]

I roasted a pork loin with potatoes, carrots, onions, and apples. There is plenty for another meal or two.

[chocomouse]

Dinner was chicken thighs, buttercup squash, and roasted root vegetables. We ate some of the raspberry ice cream - excellent flavor. The frozen whole berries crumble when you bite into them, so they are not too hard, but not mushy like when you start with fresh or thawed berries.

Len, you should try a coconut ice cream, I think it's a Ben and Jerry's recipe I use for that, I'm sure you can find it with a little help from Google. It uses canned cream of coconut. I use rum in that - super good!

[chocomouse]

This morning I made raspberry ice cream! I know -- we have about 8 inches of fresh snow here, and it was -1* when I got up. But dear husband drew that from his "Treat Jar" slips. I used raspberries we grew and froze individually on trays, and raspberry cordial made from our berries also. I always add a tablespoon or two of some kind of liquor/alcohol to prevent the ice cream from freezing so hard you can't scoop it. I made the custard yesterday, so it was ready to freeze in the ice cream maker this morning, and now is firming up in the main freezer. I'm going to make cookies to go with it.

[chocomouse]

We had burgers and fries. Grass-fed, local beef was excellent, and we plan to order more of it. Guess they're not going to get much grass starting tomorrow night -- our forecast is for 8-12 inches of snow into Friday.

[chocomouse]

Today I made egg muffins for the first time. I sauteed onions, red pepper, celery, carrots in olive oil, and browned some hot sausage. I got shredded sharp cheddar from the fridge. I whipped up a dozen eggs. Then I layered the ingredients into well-sprayed muffins tins: about 1 teaspoon of sauteed veggies, a teaspoon of sausage, a generous teaspoon of cheese. I poured the eggs over the top, filling the tins almost to the very top (the recipe said no more than 3/4 full; I was afraid they might overflow and make a mess in the oven, but they just puffed up nicely). This made 12 egg muffins. I baked them at 350 for 18 minutes. Delicious! Next time, I will check them at 16 minutes; I prefer my eggs a little on the wet side. My husband will grab and go with a couple of these on his way to the sugar orchard in the coming weeks.

[chocomouse]

My asparagus will be up mid-May, and I can't wait!! It means gardening season is starting. And, it's the only human food my cat will eat. He sits in front of the microwave watching it cook - and waiting.

[chocomouse]

We had split pea soup from the freezer, and tuna sandwiches on Harvest Grains bread.

[chocomouse]

Wednesday dinner was boneless pork chops, smashed potatoes, and buttercup squash.

[chocomouse]

Today I made olive-gruyere rolls, based on the KABC recipe. Instead of rolling the dough, filling, and cutting it into 4 small "loaves", I slice it into 12 pieces about 1" thick, similar to cinnamon rolls. I put them into greased muffin tins to bake, and this time I put them into the burger bun pan. I did use gruyere cheese this time, although I am more apt to use a cheaper cheese or one that I have on hand, such as Swiss, fontina, cheddar, mozzarella.

[chocomouse]

Somewhere recently I saw a recipe for carrot cake cinnamon rolls, and made note of where it is. I'm not sure I'd like it, but think it would be fun to try it. I can imagine the flavors, but the texture of cake compared to the texture of a risen, fluffy roll dough is not imaginable to me! But with a cream cheese frosting - it's gotta be OK.

[chocomouse]

Mine was Philadelphia, full-fat, and at room temperature.

[chocomouse]

Joan, I followed the instructions exactly - I even used a timer for the 5 minute wait on the butter and sugar. I did skip the vanilla in the brownie batter; maybe that made a bigger difference than I thought it would. My cream cheese had been in the freezer, so perhaps that affected the liquidity, but it was very very runny. I'll try them again, in a month or so, and let you know how they come out.

[chocomouse]

I baked the Creamcheese Brownies that Joan posted a link to yesterday. I was concerned because the brownie dough was very, very dry; it was difficult to spread in the pan. And the creamcheese mixture was very wet, more like a thin cake batter. Now that they have cooled and set up, the consistency is better, but still not what I would expect. I reviewed the recipe, and believe I did not omit anything, and measured correctly. Were your's like that Joan?

[chocomouse]

I did a lot of cooking this morning. First, I browned about 2 1/2 pounds of ground beef. Then I used a pound of it in a big pot of chili for the guys running the ice fishing derby tomorrow, when it is predicted to have a high temp of 20*. I'll send the Burger Buns I also baked this morning along with the chili. Then I made an even bigger pot of tomato sauce, using 3-4 quarts of tomatoes from last summer's garden. I will freeze some of it plain, and to some of it I will add some of the cooked ground beef. I will end up with several containers of pasta sauce, ready to heat and eat, with or without meat - restocking the freezer. For dinner tonight, we'll have the sauce with rice, which we called "Spanish Rice" when I was growing up.

[Author]

Posts