[chocomouse]

It sounds like my area is doing really well in comparison. I find pretty much all employees and shoppers are wearing masks. A few nearby towns have mandated masks, but most stores just have signs politely requesting that masks be worn. I always wear a mask in public. I do not shop at the big box stores in a distant town. And I shop early in the morning when there are no crowds. But I rarely go anywhere. In the past month, I've been to 3 medical appointments, the pharmacy twice (once for the booster) and twice to the grocery store. I do shop at a chain grocery. We don't have many "needs", but if there is something, I order on-line. Our cases are way up, and my hospital (a large teaching hospital associated with a local college) has stopped doing elective surgery and does not allow visitors to in-patients or to accompany out-patient appointments.

[chocomouse]

I made cookies -- chocolate chunks and whole peanuts, with peanut butter in the dough. Very good.

[chocomouse]

I also bought KAF AP on sale, 2 for 5.00, unlimited purchases. What I really wanted was the whole wheat or bread flour for that price. BJs 12 pounds of AP for 7.59 now. Eventually, I'll buy another 50 lbs at the KAF store for whatever the wholesale price is for the day, $28-$30.

Today I made beef stroganoff with mushrooms and onions, and broccoli from the freezer. I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, and there was very little difference in taste.

[chocomouse]

We had leftover Shepherd's Pie.

[chocomouse]

We had shepherd's pie and from the freezer more onion and wild rice rolls.

[chocomouse]

For dinner we had leftover ham steak and vegetable lasagna that I pulled from the freezer. So nice to see slices of zuchinni, summer squash, carrots, mushrooms, onions, sweet peppers! And tasty.

[chocomouse]

Leftovers - again.

[chocomouse]

Today I made bagels, using KABC's high gluten flour. I've used that flour only once before, in the same recipe, and the bagels were awful. No structure at all, quite a wet dough, very slack, and frankly, no flavor. This time - they came out great! They are a little more dense than I like, but the purpose of the high gluten flour is to make them chewy!

[chocomouse]

I had a turkey sandwich on maple oatmeal bread with cranberry sauce on the side for lunch. My husband had a turkey sandwich and pecan pie for dinner. I had a fresh toasted bagel with cream cheese and Everything Bagel for dinner.

[chocomouse]

I put my 20 lb turkey in the refrigerator last Wednesday afternoon, and it was defrosted by noon today. So, that was 7 1/2 days. I'll roast it for 4 1/2- 5 hours; it should be done in another 1/2 hour or so. That means I'd better go peel the potatoes! Everything else is ready.

[chocomouse]

I figured out the mystery rolls!! Peter Reinhart's Wild Rice and Onion Rolls!

[chocomouse]

We had leftover mushroom soup and clam chowder, along with some really good rolls from the freezer. Unfortunately, I don't remember what recipe I used and can't figure it out from my files of recipes. I do know they did not rise very much, so are a little dense but have excellent flavor - of what I don't know!

[chocomouse]

Kudos to BakerAunt for even trying that blueberry cake recipe!! I've changed my mind after reading the comments; I'm not going to try that recipe, at least not for a while. It appears that the results are very inconsistent, and there are lots of questions/comment about possibly ingredients "missing" from the list. Maybe another time when I'm feeling more adventurous...

[chocomouse]

I've spent the last week mostly in bed, a result of the Moderna booster. I was in bed for 3 days and am now on day #6 and think I am back to normal. For 3 days I was dizzy and nauseated, and felt like I had a fever although I did not. But mostly - I was exhausted. After those 3 days, I'd sleep 10 hours at night, get up for half an hour, and then sleep for another 2 hours - a pattern that repeated all day long. Luckily, I am retired so don't have to do anything, and Thanksgiving will be just my husband and me so I have almost no work to do, except cook. I've been getting flu shots for over 50 years and I've never had a reaction other than a slightly sore arm. I guess it's still better than getting Covid.

[chocomouse]

I did lots of prep work but no real cooking today also. I cut up 3 small butternut squashes, 5 pounds of carrots, 2 pounds of parsnips, a couple of white potatoes and a couple of sweet potatoes. Half the carrots went into a pot with maple syrup and butter to bake tomorrow for candied carrots - a tradition in my husband's family. The rest of of everything I parboiled for 3 minutes and have in the fridge to be frozen in meal size containers for roasting later this winter. I've not tried this before, I've always used fresh, but I don't always have all the ingredients on hand so I'm hoping it works.

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