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I guess we weren't the only ones to wait until after the New Year to call. Let's see if I actually have mine by next week. If I don't, you'll be sure I'll call. . .
Hi Zen,
Nice to "see" you here. I hope all goes well with the changes and moves in your future!
On Monday, I made Carrot Ginger Soup from Pia & Simon Pearce's "A Way of Living." It was really, really good! We both wished we had more than one recipe - I just wanted to make it once and the book says you can make the carrot ginger puree and freeze it for future soup. That may in my future plans. I also made Sheet Pan Fajitas, David Lebovitz's Lentil du Puy salad, and last night I made a low-carb taco skillet that was really good - it had one pound of hamburg and lots and lots of vegetables with a little cheese. It was very light and I served it over basmati rice which is acceptable on South Beach. Not sure what I'm going to do the next few days . . .
On Monday, I made KAF Irish Soda Bread, the one with currants, to go with Simon Pearce's Carrot Ginger Soup. This was a nice moist loaf. Unfortunately, my Irish Wholemeal had gone by, so I used WWW - the only whole wheat flour I had on hand. The only change I will make is to reduce the sugar a little - it was a tad too sweet for me. And I will be making it to go with my Guinness Stew next weekend. Again, I won't need to have wholemeal flour in order to make it, like I do for my other recipe.
Aaron, I don't see why clarified butter would not work. You're mixing the flour with melted butter so that it makes a paste like pan grease. Clarified butter just removes the milk solids and for that reason, it might even work better. I might have to try it sometime
I worry about using Bakers Joy for the same reason I worry about plain baking spray - what all that stuff does to finishes like non-stick and the USA pans. On my new non-stick skillet they specifically say not use spray oil on it.
I forgot to mention last week that my brother had given our name to Blue Apron for a free box of 3 meals. They did not make it clear that you could decide when you wanted your box to come or that you could skip a week. So our box for 2 people arrived on December 23rd. We were not able to get to it for almost a week. We've made 2 of the 3 meals and are not sure the third one is still fresh. If it is I will make it today. The recipes were OK, but we were not impressed. The cost is approximately $60 per week for 3 meals for 2 people. Just to note, these are designed as healthy, portioned controlled servings, however . . .
The first one we tried was Chicken with sage gravy, carrots and mashed potatoes. All the ingredients for the recipe were included except oil - the recipe said there were 2 chicken breasts. What we found were one chicken breast sliced horizontally into two cutlets (I have no problem with cutlets; just tell me it's 2 cutlets not 2 chicken breasts), 2 carrots and one potato. I was supposed to make carrots and mashed potatoes for 2 with that. I added 4 carrots and the leftover mashed potatoes from our other dinner to make sure there was enough food for my 23yo. The chicken was a little tough.
This week we tried cabbage enchiladas. I roasted the cabbage with onions and it was delicious, nice and sweet, until I added the other ingredients which made the filling heavy. It was supposed to feed 3 people (6 enchiladas), but only had 3 ounces of cheese. I added more, because, well, its cheese and not so much as I might have because, well, I'm still trying to watch what I eat. They were very filling, but not satisfying. We couldn't eat more, but didn't feel like we'd eaten, if that makes any sense.
I'm sure this works for some people, but I'm going to stick to my healthy sheet pan and crockpot dinners that cost less and feed us for a couple of days.
Oh, and I also made a chicken salad with celery, walnuts and dried cranberries with half mayo/half yogurt for the dressing. Yummy. And, will made his special hamburgers with caramelized onions, bacon, cheese and his special sauce which are always great. I had mine with no bun, reduced fat cheese and one slice of center cut bacon.
I've never had succes with the pan grease, Mike. I use a trick I learned from Cook's Illustrated which is a tablespoon of melted butter mixed with a tablespoon of either flour or cocoa powder and then brushed on the way you would brush on pan grease.
Since I was cut early today, I was reading the KAF blog about the Lemon Bliss Cake where PJ mentioned that if you have an intricate bundt pan, you should grease it right before you put the batter in so it doesn't slide and pool in the bottom. I checked before I put the batter in and mine didn't do that. But I think I'll stick with what works for me ?
I had 3 days off this week which was a pleasant surprise and allowed me to recuperate from my New Year's cold and laryngitis - not easy when you're talking to the public for 4-6 hours. However, I did manage to make 2 loaves of my version of no knead sandwich bread. Both loaves are sliced and back in the pans to freeze before bagging.
A friend gave me a huge batch of organic oranges, so I tried the Orange Pound Cake with Bourbon Glaze from the KAF site. The cake is delicious but I used orange juice instead of bourbon. However, I did decide to follow the KAF bundt cake guide on greasing my pan and that was not a success. I even called them to register my disappoint and the baker I talked to kept trying to tell me what I'd done wrong and I kept telling her I followed their directions exactly. I'm going to try to talk to someone else tomorrow. Anyway, they said if you had a non-stick bundt pan, to just grease it, so I thought they must know what they're talking about. It stuck BADLY, like the top half of the cake. I put it back in the off oven like they suggested and no go and I think it helped dry it a teeny bit. So no cake for work, but I will divvy it up for friends who won't care how it looks and I will definitely be greasing AND flouring my pans from now on!
On Wednesday, I roasted a tenderloin. The boys and I were celebrating their dad's birthday with his favorite birthday dinner (formerly our Christmas dinner). I received Foolproof from the Barefoot Contessa for Christmas and followed her recipe for slow roasted tenderloin. I used my Chef Alarm from ThermoWorks with its temperature probe. The roast was absolutely perfectly cooked! And delicious. We had asparagus, mashed potatoes and Bernaise sauce to to with it. Then on Thursday, I got a cold, so didn't cook the rest of the week.
That was easy! I called, had to wait only a couple of minutes and had a very polite man take my information and at the end he apologized for any inconvenience it may have caused me. I should have my new blade within 2 weeks.
I went to watch the newest episode on Hulu this afternoon - Hulu showed that there was a new episode available, but when I went to the "page" it showed episode 6 as the new episode, so basically the programs listed are 1-6 + 6. Silly I know but they must be waiting til after the holidays
I baked 6 dozen Best of Breed dog biscuits (KAF) for my dog sitting clients. A couple of owners were disappointed I didn't bake something for them. I won't be baking again until after the New Year.
I've been working all weekend, so yesterday afternoon I cooked the turkey I got from work (my son's is in the freezer). Just had regular stuffing in it, green beans with olive oil and salt, and a small batch of mashed potatoes - the gravy was great this year. Will and I ate it watching Christmas Vacation 🙂 I'm done for today and we're headed to my mom's "Senior Living Community" for the Christmas buffet. They have a 5-star chef who used to work at the resort where I do, so he did a great job at Thanksgiving - expecting the same. Nate's hours are crazier than mine, so he'll be joining Will and me after lunch for presents and turkey sandwiches. No dessert - we have plenty of chocolate in the house.
Merry Christmas to All!! Have a wonderful day!
I really appreciate Mike providing this site for us and all the people checking in. I hope next year brings even more people to join us.
No baking for me last week
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