[cwcdesign]

We are going to friends for Thanksgiving. im going to try my hand (bread machine) at making the cranberry-pumpkin rolls from KABC that were in last week's newsletter. Will is making pumpkin pie.

[cwcdesign]

I went to Harris Teeter on Sunday to be sure I could get a turkey breast. The freezer was pretty empty. I asked the butcher the million dollar question - were they going to get in more of the Empire brand and he said no. I went with Shady Brook - it had less stuff in it than the Butterball. They also had Plainville organic but the breast (frozen also) was $46!

The Shady Brook package said to thaw in the fridge for 3-4 days. Since we are going to some friends’ house on Thanksgiving, we’ve decided to cook the turkey Sunday after. Ina;so gave a crazy week at work next week so it will be nice not to have to worry about it.

And, I bought 4 cans of pumpkin purée on sale - there wasn’t very much left. I’ll be interested if they get more in

[cwcdesign]

On Monday, I made a pasta dish with a triple lemon sauce - zest of two lemons, 1 cut in quarters, seared in the pan and then the juice squeezed. It was a nice light sauce with cream and pasta water. I added spinach. The pasta was from the market where I work - it was pricey and really delicious The shape/flavor is called Nastri - long ribbons in different colors - pretty on the plate too.

[cwcdesign]

I only have one clock that needs adjusting - the rest are on all my devices and are automatic - I did that one last night before I went to bed.

We will be having leftovers tonight and for another day or two. Last night I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It has been a couple of years since I made meatloaf and seemed to have forgotten ingredients and timing. I usually just throw everything into a bowl and mix it up, but this time I seem to have shortchanged us on the liquids and breading - the flavor was OK, but the meatloaf was dry (I also went a few degrees over on the baking). I usually cook it in a loaf pan but this time, I patted into shape and put it in a casserole. I know that mine always has taken longer than recipes say, but I second-guessed myself. I have found that 375º is a better temperature for me and takes about an hour. I saw two recipes from people I normally trust and they both said from 40-60 minutes at 350º. Mine was nowhere near done at that time or temp. But, then when it was 30º below target temp, I went 15 more minutes and it was overdone. I have to trust myself more.

[cwcdesign]

I grilled chicken tenders in a marinade I made from Penzey’s fajita seasoning, garlic powder, s&p, lime juice and olive oil. I also made a farro salad with, apple, dried cranberries, pecans and crispy shallots. I used a honey apple cider vinegar dressing from Southern Living, but used half the oil the recipe called for - it was perfect. We also had sliced tomato.

[cwcdesign]

The Vidalia onions we get in the store, I always assume to be equal to 2-4 onions depending on whether the recipe calls for medium or large.

Regarding cooking time on the stovetop - this is in real time - when a recipe says to bring something to a boil and lower the heat to simmer, they often say to lower the temp to low - if I do that on my stove, it will just be warm water. I’m simmering some farro right now and it’s between medium and medium low. If I have to simmer a large quantity, I use medium.

But, the other day I made my favorite vegetable barley soup and you put the lid on for an hour - it was bubbling hard on low - can’t wait to get a new stove.

[cwcdesign]

I made BakerAunt’s oven fried fish and chips. I found frozen sustainable cod at Publix - a 10 ounce bag had 2 perfect servings. I reduced the amount of panko I baked and would have been fine at 4 minutes instead of 5. I made sweet potato fries as that is what we had and sautéed some yellow summer squash. We laughed at our plates because it was Halloween colors. And, I did make the tarter sauce with some of Will’s homemade relish.

This meal is a winner! Thank you BA.

We liked the crispy panko so much that we’re going to try it on our oven fried chicken tenders - they usually call for plain panko, but I think we might get similar results to the fish.

[cwcdesign]

Yes, KathyD, it is Claire’s - my son gave me Dessert Person for Christmas because he watched her on Bon Appetit when she worked there. We’ve made some delicious things from her book. And, I love watching her in her apartment kitchen.

[cwcdesign]

Chilling the dough makes it less sticky so it’s easier to roll into balls for rolling in sugar and baking. Claire is a baker I trust and there is plenty of sugar, molasses, butter and egg in her recipe - mine did not look like hers when they came out of the oven - that’s how I know it was user error(s)

[cwcdesign]

Thanks chocomouse, but I did cook them for only 12 minutes turning the tray halfway through. My oven is hot and I always set it 14º below the recommended time - I used my chef alarm to determine the oven temp way back when I was overcooking just about everything.

Of course, Claire posted her video a week after I made the cookie dough 🙄 The issues were definitely in the mixing as I could see what the dough looked like in her mixer. She also talked about the actual making of the dough balls and I probably let them get too soft. She does say, in the book as well, that you should refrigerate the dough at least one hour.

[cwcdesign]

I need to go back to the drawing board with my ginger molasses cookies. Mine came out dense and puffy, not flat and chewy - the flavor is good though.

I think I must have over mixed it because of the directions, I went by her description rather than her time and that took way longer than the time she said. I also might try making them all in one day instead of freezing the cookie balls.

Another mistake I probably made was she said you could refrigerate the dough up to two days. I did that and then created the balls and froze them.

[cwcdesign]

Great article and on point!

I am slow at chopping and I have come to assume that these recipes are the cooking time not the prep - I love the ones that say 10 minute prep - you'd better have "meal prepped" all your ingredients ahead of time as it takes 10 minutes to gather them!

They also don't take into account the vagaries of various stove tops - I finally learned to up the time and temperature of Pioneer Woman recipes - after all she has a fancy gas range that can heat up and cool down in seconds - mine never cooked in the short amount of time she gives - I have an old glass flat top that does not behave well at all. If a recipe says medium heat, I usually start at medium high, or I'll be there all night.

[cwcdesign]

I got my booster (Pfizer) on Saturday - my arm was a little sore and I had a minor headache but that was about it - the injection site is sore tonight, but we had a busy day at work.

I was in Harris Teeter yesterday. I’m surprised at some things that aren’t available right now, like my favorite flavor of salsa - they had the other flavors from the same brand. The pasta shelves have plenty, but not completely stocked - no orzo and hasn’t been there for a while. I needed AP and bread flour. They had KAF AP, WWW, organic bread flour and organic AP - no whole wheat or regular bread flour. I bought the regular AP and the organic bread flour which was a dollar off the price.

And, they didn’t have my favorite whole milk - organic valley

[cwcdesign]

BakerAunt - Shipyard Galley was our favorite sandwich place at home - Jan made great bread back in the day when bakeries were scarce - chocolate chip cookies and Will lived on their chicken salad at school. Thanks for the memory!

[cwcdesign]

6 cups of bread flour

[Author]

Posts