[cwcdesign]

I like salt, but I have found recently that I have been cutting back, just trying to use it to enhance the flavor rather than blindly throwing it in. I find that Ina Garten uses a lot of salt so I almost always halve the amount in her recipes.

I also use kosher salt a lot, even in baking, but if a recipe calls for a teaspoon of salt, I’ll do a teaspoon of kosher salt, even though “they” say you should use more kosher because of the size of the crystals. I haven’t checked the nutritional values but I wonder if a teaspoon of kosher salt has less sodium than a teaspoon of table salt. It probably wouldn’t be much, but hey

[cwcdesign]

RiversdeLen your bread is gorgeous!

[cwcdesign]

I tried a new sheet pan recipe the other day that had a balsamic and herb sauce. We liked the flavor, but not her choice of vegetables - some worked with the marinade, some did not. It called for two sheet pans, but next time I’ll do what I do with my sheet pan fajitas - cook the chicken separately from the Vegas cuz the chicken got over cooked.

[cwcdesign]

I started the dough for Mrs Cindy’s cranberry walnut bread on Friday but I didn’t get started until the afternoon and I didn’t have whole grain bread improver which she said helped with the amount of fruit in it. On Sunday, I took it out of the fridge at 7 to let it come to room temperature. I got it in the oven about 1 and then got a text from one of my Mom’s friends who said I had to get her to the ER because she was dehydrated. I had taken her to immediate care on Monday for her flu like symptoms which she didn’t have. I left Will with instructions for taking it’s temperature and it was coming up so slowly I told him to take it out. I tasted it when I got home and it would have been good, but what I learned is that next time, I will use whole grain bread improver and start early enough in the day that I can let everything rest as long as it should. This is a recipe that definitely needs the bread machine for kneading. It’s a 2 page recipe that I will Post if anyone is interested.

As for my Mom, they ran a full battery of labs, an EKG and CT on her head. Everything was normal. She had a respiratory virus so the gave her a full bag of IV solution and 5 days of steroids. She sounded much better on Monday. Last week Will had the flu and they were able to give him tamiflu. He went back to work Monday. I have been valiantly trying to fight it off. I even started on Mucinex on Sunday night, sprayed my car with disinfectant and both trips with my Mom and have been wiping down surfaces. Sadly, I got symptoms of a cold last night. I’m hoping to keep in my nose and head. I have 2 days off today and tomorrow, so I’m hoping I’ll be better tomorrow to run my errands I had planned.

[cwcdesign]

Me three - welcome back Mike!

[cwcdesign]

I tried something new with my turkey soup this year. I needed to make it but was not going to be home all day to simmer on the stove I decided to try making it in the crockpot. Obviously I couldn’t put the whole carcass in so I layered in my vegetables and broke up half the carcass. Then I tossed in the leftover gravy and added 2 quarts water. I set it on low for 10 hours. I think it’s my best stock ever. It never boiled and it had a lighter flavor, but definitely turkey. I find that turkey stock can sometimes be too heavy.

On a side note, I did not add any salt, either to the stock or the actual soup with vegetables, herbs, noodles and turkey. I figured there was enough from seasoning the turkey when I roasted it - I was right.

[cwcdesign]

I ended up having to go into work yesterday, so didn’t get to make the dough. Going to make it tomorrow and then bake on Sunday. That will be 2 nights, so I think it should be ok. The recipe calls for whole grain bread improver which is supposed to help, but I don’t have it. It’s not actually necessary.

[cwcdesign]

Navlys, I hope you are plannng to go to a warmer clime than SE Georgia. We’ve had freezing temperatures for the last few days- 18 degrees yesterday - that’s Massachusetts weather to me! Lots of ice and black ice here, loss of power. People couldn’t get over the causeway to come to work. We had to close the Market where I now work and head over to the hotel to fill in. We were supposed to get flurries but they haven’t appeared - it snowed in Savannah and Jesup, GA which is just NW of us. It should be back in the 50s next week.

[cwcdesign]

I haven’t had a chance to taste it - I had to leave work to take my mom to Immediate Care. My coworkers who tried it, warmed it and said it was really good, not too sweet. I think it should be fairly soft - the dough was.

Edit: Will and I both had a chance to taste it. Will said I nailed it and brought some home. I tasted a small piece and it is definitely good, but would have benefited from being warm - but then I tend to be more critical of what I bake.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

chocomouse, will likes this recipe cuz it’s not as sweet as others

[cwcdesign]

Good luck Mike. I’m sure you will do well.

I’m just trying to get back into the good eating habits I learned while doing South Beach. One of my big goals is always to try to drink more water. The other is to get back into a regular routine of walking. I have a yoga class once a week , but would love to be able to fit in more.

The one thing I’ve put into my planner is my shoulder, neck and hand exercises 3 times a week - they only take about 15 minutes, so I should be able to stick to it. My therapist broke them up into 3 different routines, so I won’t get bored.

I wish everyone a Happy And Healthy New Year.

[cwcdesign]

I tried a new recipe that I had bookmarked from skinnytaste.com. It’s a slow cooker Moroccan Chicken & Olive Tagine. It’s a definite keeper. I used chicken breasts instead of thighs and after they were cooked, I chopped them up and tossed the chicken back in the sauce. Lots of healthy cooking on that site, so I’m planning to explore the site some more. Tuesday, I need to start my two week refresh on South Beach to get back on track.

[cwcdesign]

I made the star bread! Made the dough in the Z, lightly oiled the mat and rolling pin, cut everything according to the directions, twisted and pinched, let it rise and baked it. My circles weren't quite round, so it's a little off symmetrically, but it looks surprisingly good. It baked up larger than my largest circular platter so it's on the parchment on a pizza pan. We'll see how it tastes tomorrow.

note: I'm a little frustrated by the file upload. Each time I reduced the photo to the appropriate size on my computer, WordPress said the file was too big. For example, the one I just uploaded is 481 here, but 427 on my computer. When mine said it was 492kb, WordPress said it was larger than 512 - a little confusing to say the least.

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[cwcdesign]

Yesterday I made my first batch of bread dough for pan de mie in the Zo. The cycle was finished after my mom left and it was the nicest dough I’ve made in a long time. I don’t think I took quite enough care putting it in the pan and on the rise - it overflowed just enough to glue the lid to the pan. Then when I baked it the additional time without the lid, I took its temp and it was 181. I made the mistake of cooking an extra 5 minutes instead of 2 so it got up to about 204 (it was supposed to be 190). It then sagged in the middle. Will says it’s still delicious and he’s glad to have Mom’s homedmade bread again.

[cwcdesign]

On Christmas Day I roasted the turkey to go with the broccoli casserole and the stuffing (blue bag) and scalloped potatoes that my mom brought. Now we have leftovers for days!

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