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Last night I had baked oatmeal for dinner because I couldn't think of anything else.

This afternoon I made Crockpot Chicken and Andouille Jambalaya (no shrimp in mine). This is a recipe I got from the internet in 2014. I don't know the source because I lost the second page. We really like it because one thing the author did was to leave the rice out until everything else is cooked. Then you measure the liquid in a cup and add enough water to make 4 cups, make the rice on the stove and add back into the crockpot. I tried something different today as well. The recipe says to cut up the chicken breasts and sausage and mix with the other ingredients. This time I put the boneless chicken breasts in whole and the sausages cut in half. When the chicken was done (I use my ChefAlarm) and it was time to take the liquid, I took out the chicken and sausage, cut them up and added back to the pot. I will do it this way going forward and the chicken was more tender. I will be putting some in the freezer tomorrow.

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I made 2 loaves of English Muffin Toasting Bread which I have not made in forever. I also made the dough tonight for No-Knead Harvest Bread - the one with pecans, cranberries & golden raisins that gets baked in the long baker (or similar baking vehicle) I will bake it in the morning.

Very cold here all day but it's starting to warm up - it will feel like 29 tonight as opposed to 9 last night. The full moon is beautiful tonight

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I had some more of my Chicken Pot Pie Soup from the freezer with an English muffin after having a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich for lunch at work.

Everyone went a little nuts around here this afternoon when a few flakes of snow started to fall - maybe lasted about 10 minutes. We've supposedly been having light snow for the last few hours, but it's definitely not sticking. The wind is strong and very cold - currently the tem is 29 feeling like 9. After tonight it should start warming up again.

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Happy Birthday BakerAunt! Another milestone one.

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The soup might be even better tonight.

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Very nice, Joan!

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No, I just saw the article and thought it was interesting. I'm not necessarily known for my light touch 🙄

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I am not missing the snow this year - I hope you all get some relief soon.

I was reorganizing my freezer after a trip to Trader Joe's this morning (also went to IKEA). I pulled out a quart of chicken stock to make soup. I had seen a quick recipe in Southern Living which was actually Tortellini en Brodo, so I found a recipe for that. Also had tortellini and spinach on hand - this is a keeper - quick and flavorable probably because of the homemade chicken stock. It should keep me going the rest of the week

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I made tuna salad for dinner with spinach mixed in. I usually mix mayo and whole milk yogurt to bind it. This time I used the tzatziki leftover from my Greek meatballs. It was very good as I had already added Penzey's Greek herbs.

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Aaron, I'll reiterate what Mike said about the Magnet test. I had my 40 yo Cuisinart flat bottomed pans so I thought they would work when I got my induction stove. No such luck. But I was fortunate that Williams-Sonoma was having a crazy sale on a 16 piece set of the same pans (lids and pans) which was comparable to the set I had accumulated - it was something like $250, as I said crazy, but they're great.

Ditto drawers on the bottom and my cabinet maker insisted on a super lazy Susan in a lower cabinet which has a right angle cutout and snaps into place.

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Will says it's supposed to be -13 tomorrow in Chicago.

For us it's been cold with temps dropping into the 20's at night - my biggest problem is that I don't have all the warm clothes I used to have at home - it would make it easier, but I'm acclimating and walking again.

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Nicely risen Joan!

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Thanks Mike and BA. I did bake to 200-205 this time. I made the dough in the Zo and did a variation on the way you made your loaves, BA. I will definitely rest it next time and try your way. I figured that these loaves were a definite improvement and they sliced up nicely. It tastes good too.

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BA your cake sounds delicious and Joan, your dinner looks yummy!

I baked some chicken meatballs by making the ones for piccata and subbing in Greek seasonings. I served them with sautéed zucchini and the end of my spinach arugula mix and tzatziki sauce (Boar's Head). I have some more for tomorrow and I froze the rest of the meatballs for future meals.

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I made two loaves of my Harvest Grains Bread (adapted from KAF) I've doubled the recipe and use half bread flour and half WWW. This time I decided to use the 8 ½ x 4 ½ inch pans recommended. I really took the time to let it rise - because it was chilly here, it took a long time. I did put it in when it was ½ " over the rim instead of the full inch. It did rise, but looking at the slight blowout on the side I probably still underproofed it a little.

Question - should I expect a dough with lots of whole wheat and grains in it (it has the harvest grains and cornmeal) to take longer in the second proving? And should the finished temp be around 200?

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