[cwcdesign]

Italiancook, you could do that but then you'd have to figure out a way to roast all those other ingredients - onions, apples, St to infuse the squash with those flavors.

I prefer to roast the halves myself but the flavor is really good roasted this way.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by cwcdesign.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

Thanks Mike and BakerAunt for the link and information. You both confirmed what I thought and after all KAF uses a best by date. It's frustrating when that date is only a few months after you buy it. I now keep all my flour in the freezer since I just am not baking as much as I used too. Maybe some day I can bake more again.

[cwcdesign]

Italiancook, this is my favorite butternut squash soup
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-butternut-squash-soup-and-curry-condiments-recipe-1972725

It has a great texture, velvety and smooth

[cwcdesign]

I wonder if that is where Mr Bezos came up with the name for the company?

[cwcdesign]

This week I made slow cooker Buffalo chicken to serve over roasted cauliflower, a baked glazed salmon with green beans & red peppers. We were disappointed in the glaze - it used stevia which made it taste synthetic and it was thin - need to find a better glaze recipe. I also made sheet pan fajitas and last night Will and I shared cooking duties. I made burgers in the broiler folding Mark Bittman's directions - it was a great alternative to grilling in windy drizzle. He made sautéed shredded zucchini, grilled onions and a special sauce he makes. He and his friend had buns and bacon; I did not. The burgers also had guacamole- very decadent.

[cwcdesign]

Yay, Joey! Glad to see you made it in. Always sending prayers to you and DH.

[cwcdesign]

Darinna Allen of Ballymaloe uses cream in her Irish scone recipe.

[cwcdesign]

I made the sheet pan sausage and vegetables and a bowl of mixed berries.

[cwcdesign]

Happy Anniversary Mike and Mrs Mike! That is a wonderful milestone.

We returned last night, full power and water was restored Friday night and Internet yesterday. They had allowed people to return on Thursday but told everyone not to shower, flush unless necessary, do wash or run dishwashers and use the sink as little as possible - half the sewer lifts were still down county wide. So there were idiots who decided to open car washes (mine posted a notice they would be closed until everything was operational) and power wash their houses!! Needless to say the system started backing up and they had to shut the water off.

It's amazing how much clean up has been done. We arrived at dusk and the piles of debris reminded of the snowbanks left by the plows after a huge snowstorm. Fortunately we had no flooding but the is a giant tree branch that misse my sliding door by an inch and cattycornered my grill without touching it. We have seen some mega trees down and the lagoons are full and some over flowing. We were lucky that Matthew took out so many trees last year or the tree damage would have been much worse. Despite the hard work that was done by my little community to take down iffy trees this year (the arborist had come the week before Matthew to start tagging trees) - it was over a hundred - 3 trees still came down across one of the roadways.

I think the breadth of the storm really hit home when we were driving down 95 and between Ridgeland and Hardeeville, there were flooded fields stretching back I don't know how for on the west side of the highway - the median was pretty full too.

All in all, very glad to be home and in excellent condition. The resort is tentatively scheduled to reopen on Wednesday- it will be nice to get back to work.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

We will know later today when they will allow us back. Only emergency personnel allowed on for assessment purposes. No power, flooding seems to have been limited to the coast, marshes' edges and other low lying areas, some trees down, but we lost hundreds last year, so that helped minimize tree damage. Early reports indicate that where we live and my mom lives have sustained a few trees down. At least one condo in my complex has roof damage, and no structural damage at my mom's, just some ceiling tiles in the garage. They don't let us back until water,sewer and power are back on. We'll know more around noon.

I think my elder son and I are going to go to Gettysburg this afternoon since we're so close and neither of us has ever been.

[cwcdesign]

Joan, how are you how holding up now? The causeway has been closed due to flooding and there has already been a 6.1 foot storm surge and next high tide is at 1. The good news is they were originally anticipating 10-12 feet and the island is mostly at 12 feet! Our power is out and the 60% of the sewer lift stations are down.

[cwcdesign]

Joan, you stay safe. We had to evacuate but currently glad it's going further west. We're still expecting problems from storm site and wind and rain but hope that we'll be able to come home sooner than later. We ended up in PA cuz we had reservations in Milledgeville for Tuesday and when they called an earlier evacuation, we couldn't get rooms - the entire state of Georgia is booked! So, friends said to go west - glad we went North instead (free rooms at a friend's) I guess the storm is over the island now.

Today I made the mac and cheese that I was going to make to sustain us if we stayed.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by cwcdesign.

[cwcdesign]

I checked in with The Saint before the storm hit and he said they would be OK, that they were on higher ground. I haven't heard since, but I have a co-worker whose daughter's FIL had a house in the general vicinity that got flooded. I will check back in over the weekend. He had thought he might have work on Monday (last) ?

[cwcdesign]

On Monday, I made Sheet Pan Lemon Chicken and vegetables. It was really good - the chicken had a nice crust. With the leftover vegetables I made a frittata for dinner on Tuesday.

[cwcdesign]

On Friday, I made my continuing adaptation of the Barefoot Contessa's Honey Vanilla Poundcake - I'm getting closer. I bought some LorAnn vanilla bean paste at Michael's with a 40% coupon - it really amped up the vanilla flavor. I added extra honey, but forgot to reduce the sugar - it wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be but it was a little denser. And I used KAF's vanilla glaze, too. It was not as dry as it had been and it had much better flavor. Now I just need to work on the densness

Does anyone know how much you should reduce sugar if you add an extra tablespoon of honey? KAF just did a blog on substitutions, but it was about using one sweetener or another.

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