[chocomouse]

This morning I froze 6.5 quarts of tomatoes, mostly Romas and a few Celebrities. I think I'll get another batch of around 6 quarts, plus a few BLTs and maybe another tomato tart. But that will be it for this season. I have not kept track, But I think the total is around 25-30 quarts, which is plenty of soups and pastas for the two of us.

[chocomouse]

Today I baked two loaves of bread, a recipe I just made up as I went along, but pretty basic - 2 cups of whole wheat, 3 1/2 cups of AP, the usual remaining ingredients, plus a lot of garlic and herbs, some fresh and some dried. The first rise was great, and a little quick. Same for the second rise (in the Proof function of the Breville) so I aborted the rise and started baking it. The oven spring was tremendous - and the top of the loaves burned on the heating element. I already have the rack on the lowest level, so guess I'll need to cut back on the amount of flour. It smells delicious, but we haven't cut into it yet.

[chocomouse]

I'm back from my last vacation in Maine for this summer -- and eager to get into the kitchen! Tonight we had grilled chicken breasts, potato roasted on the grill, and steamed summer squash and zucchini. My husband picked 3 huge baskets of tomatoes, mostly Romas, so I'll be making sauce for most of the day tomorrow.

[chocomouse]

Congratulations, Joan!!

[chocomouse]

Our dinner was a white vegetable lasagna and grilled kielbase. I used zucchini, yellow summer squash, mushrooms, carrots, sweet red peppers, and red onion.

[chocomouse]

I processed 4 quarts of tomato sauce with peppers and onion, for the freezer. I think I'll have enough tomatoes for another 4 quarts when I return from Maine next Monday. I still have some peppers to freeze, but everything is slowing down with the cooler temperatures. Today I pulled up most of the green, yellow, and purple beans, and some of the summer squash and zucchini. My husband is picking 4-5 quarts of raspberries every other day. The deer are here morning and night to eat the apples that have fallen to the ground, so it is time to make cider. Summer 2021 is over!

[chocomouse]

I looked up "soft corn tacos" on Google - yes, everyone seems to be saying they need to be lightly fried before using. That will prevent them from falling apart or cracking. It does not say anything like that on the bag, and I had not read it anywhere when I was looking at recipes using corn tacos. I'll try frying some later today and see what happens. Unfortunately, the makings for the shrimp tacos are gone - we ate them like a salad.

[chocomouse]

Len, there were soft corn tacos, not the hard shells, not the crunchy kind. They are more than pliable - they are soft, very thin, and simply fell apart. Is that the kind you are talking about too? I'll take a picture tomorrow and post it.

[chocomouse]

We had shrimp tacos for dinner. It's the first time I've used soft corn taco shells, and I was so disappointed. They completely fell apart as soon as you touched them -- just crumbled, no way you could fold it in half or pick it up. I don't know if this is typical, or did I get an old, stale package of shells? I think I won't be buying any again, but will use my masa harina to make them. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[chocomouse]

Ours is an Insinkerator, and it has worked perfectly for 36 years - I highly recommend that brand. My husband had some trouble putting it in; with 2 replaced knees, one of which still does not work right, he could not get into the needed position under the cabinet and have the strength to do it. So, my son came and had it in within less than 10 minutes.

[chocomouse]

Rottiedog, your Sir Lancelot recipe, titled "Bagels" is the same as the "Bagels" recipe posted on KAF which is my go-to bagel recipe!! Yours calls for Sir Lancelot flour and 1 1/2 cups of water and the posted recipe calls for bread flour and 1 1/3 cups of water. I often substitute 1 cup of whole wheat for one cup of the bread flour. This time I used 2 cups of bread flour and 2 cups of high gluten. I still used the 1 1/3 cups of water, so I assumed the difference in dough structure was the high gluten flour did not absorb as much of the water (and it was not a humid day, but rather dry).

Mike, if you go to the main store in Norwich, you can get 50 pound bags of Sir Lancelot, at least you could about a year ago. I've bought it for many years. If you ask one of the roving employees working the floor, they can get you most anything from the back room - and load it into your car!

[chocomouse]

My garbage disposal is replaced! Now I can use my dishwasher again - good thing, as I was running out of clean plates and silverware. Also, this week the replacement part for our heat pump arrived and was installed so now we have AC and heat, although the temp last night was 46* so we didn't need either. Please don't tell me things happen in threes!

[chocomouse]

I take back what I wrote in my previous post about not finding anything on the KAF site about the High Gluten flour!! There is quite a bit, and specifically in several recipes for bagels. I'm not sure why I didn't find these when I did a search for high gluten. Anyway, I'll be reading those blogs and recipes and the comments for insight.

Thanks Rottiedog! I used to buy the Sir Lancelot in 50 pound bags - didn't realize it was high gluten! I'll check out that recipe.

[chocomouse]

I agree with you Mike, that hydration is the issue. I had added more flour, but I guess not enough. I ate a bagel this morning - the flavor was good, texture good, it was crisp on the outside, and very chewy. The only real problem was the looks (wrinkly and lumpy) and the "floppiness" of the whole thing. It's odd that KAF advertises using the High Gluten flour in bagels -- but doesn't seem to have a bagel recipe that says to use it, or that lists it as an option. And I cannot find anything on the website about how to substitute high gluten for bread flour or AP. I don't find much at all about the high gluten, except what's on the product page. I'll call them Monday.

[chocomouse]

Dinner tonight was ham steaks, cole slaw, summer squash, and brown and wild rice from a prepared packet. We used to eat that quite often, but haven't had it for several years. I rarely used pre-packaged or prepared foods at all these days - too many ingredients that I cannot pronounce. It was delicious, a nice change, and I think we'll have it or something similar more often.

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