[Italiancook]

I've backed away from baking. I gained 7 pounds during this pandemic because I've been hibernating. I've been eating what I bake, since I'm not baking for others during the pandemic. I can't guarantee I'm not asymptomatic. But I sure miss baking. My husband brought home great-looking mushrooms. So I'm tentatively thinking of making Cuban bread or semolina bread Saturday to make mushroom bruschetta. I've never made this with semolina, and all the semolina bread I've made in the past was given away. So I don't know if it's firm enough for bruschetta. But I have more semolina on hand than I need.

[Italiancook]

Mike, I stalled on the Aerogarden after I read your son's caught aphids. I thought only outdoor plans could get those. I grew up in the country, but I'm now cityfied. I don't want critters to find their way into my home. But I'd sure love to have leaf lettuce.

[Italiancook]

I've been enjoying the effort of my past-Dose 2 vaccinated husband. A week or so ago, he went to the fresh produce store. I craved so many items that it's been a struggle to cook and eat them all before they can spoil. We've had hot artichokes with butter. I also tried a cold artichoke recipe in Better Homes & Garden 75th Anniversary cookbook. It suggests serving with a sour cream sauce that has a little Dijon mustard & a suggested herb choice. I used dried dill. I'm not ruling out the sauce, but next time I'll use more Dijon and more dill. We both like cold artichokes better than hot ones. As much as I'm grateful for the artichokes, I must say I had forgotten how much time it takes to prep them. The first time took the longest. Second time, I had developed a system, but still, prepping 4 artichokes is time-consuming.

I have been wanting to make Allrecipes slow-cooker pork loin & sauerkraut for quite some time. My mother-in-law believed Libby's sauerkraut is the best, and somewhere I read an article that agrees with her. No Libbey's around here. So I settled on an off-brand. The recipe calls for a 4-pound roast. I assumed that was bone-in. I had a 3.25 pound boneless butt in the freezer and used that. I cooked it for the shortest time in the recipe. My husband doesn't like this dinner, so I feasted on pork and mashed potatoes smothered in sauerkraut. I'll be enjoying this for several days.

Len has mushroom gravy, Joan has onion gravy, so I decided to make sauerkraut gravy when the sauerkraut is gone. I refrigerated all the liquid from the crockpot, and it has some sauerkraut in it. I'm going to use it as the liquid in gravy for mashed potatoes.

I have cooked broccoli in the refrigerator and roasted chicken and fresh spinach. Tomorrow's lunch will be those leftovers with wilted spinach.

I'll also make a double batch of The Neely's (Food Network) Asparagus Soup tomorrow. I'll still have Swiss Chard & great looking strawberries to process into meals and dessert. After that, I'll be ready to send my husband back to the market.

[Italiancook]

rottiedogs, Yes! that's the caramelized onions process I couldn't find. Thank you for looking and posting. I wasn't the one looking for the kringle recipe, so I don't know if that's it. I don't understand -- what's the wayback machine?

[Italiancook]

For the first time, I baked the Quick and Easy Chocolate Cake from jennycancook.com. I had recommended this recipe to a niece who wants to surprise her husband with a scratch cake. It's only one layer, but with frosting, it'll be special to both of them. I thought I better test drive the recipe before she does to see if there's anything that might trip her. She'll do fine. I'll frost it in the morning. When my husband worked in a bakery as a kid, they made all their cakes the night before they frosted them. I'll cover it with foil & put a dinner plate over that, and it'll be fine until morning.

[Italiancook]

I also had baked steel cut oatmeal this morning. I put apple slices on top. I didn't peel them. While the baked product was picture-worthy, the slices were clunky to eat. Like Mike, I will chop the apple next time. My husband and I both like this. We ate it alone for breakfast without anything else. I didn't end up with 9 servings, Mike. More like 3 or 4. I used 1/4 cup maple syrup and it was sweet enough for us. Mike, I agree with you on the salt. I halved it in the recipe I made. Next time, I'm going to delete the baking powder. I couldn't see where it did anything.

BakerAunt, you may want to try this with oil instead of butter. I substituted light olive oil for the butter -- 1-1/2 tablespoons + 2-1/2 teaspoons olive oil. It didn't hurt the finished flavor, and I didn't miss butter.

I agree that cinnamon wouldn't make a good pairing for blueberries, but it was wonderful with the apples. I think I'd use cardamom with blueberries, because cardamom has a citrusy flavor. But I also have the KABC lemon powder and may try a tad of that instead.

I also made this last night to bake today.

Mike, when I make slow cooker Irish oatmeal with the steel cut oats, it cooks on Low for 6 hours or High for 3 hours.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.
• This reply was modified 3 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I'm glad your son has electric and water. It's such a sad crisis in Texas.

[Italiancook]

It makes me smile to hear of you picking bowls of salad lettuce in the middle of winter. I've given up on my husband researching an Aerogarden for us. All his attention is on nursing a Magnolia bush someone gave us for Christmas. He wants to plant it outside in the spring. I have tentatively decided on the Farm 12. Based on an article I read, I have a small open bookcase to house it. BUt I haven't yet measured to make sure the bookcase will fit in the spot I have in mind.

[Italiancook]

I'm used to making slow cooker Irish oatmeal. Sometimes, depending on the fruit, it sticks to the crock pot in places. I dislike that clean-up. So I decided to butter my square dish for the baked oatmeal. I decided the ingredients wouldn't mix well in a buttered dish, so I mixed the dry ingredients in a small bowl before putting into dish. I probably made one unnecessary bowl to wash. I don't stock 2% or whole milk, so I used 1% and an extra large egg. Hopefully, it will set during the baking. I mixed the wet ingredients in a 4-cup measure. I barely had the 1/4 c. maple syrup -- just made it. After it was in fridge, I wished I had used 1 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon cardamom. Another time.

[Italiancook]

Congratulations on another loaf of high-rising sourdough, Joan. It sounds like your starter is doing you proud.

I've planned the baked steel cut oatmeal for tomorrow's breakfast. I'm going to start it tonight. I don't have blueberries, so I'll use a Gala apple -- the only kind I have on hand. Thanks for the recipe tip, cwcdesign!

[Italiancook]

Thanks, cwcdesign & Mike for the caramelized onions information. I'm going to try the crockpot next time, cwc, because I don't think I use my crockpot enough. Now that Mike has explained I don't need to break all the onion slices into half-rings, I won't think caramelized onions a a big chore.

[Italiancook]

Mike, did I make too much work for myself with my caramelized onions? You're right, removing the skins from the onions is time-consuming. But I found working with the onions to be the most time-consuming:

I cut each onion in half. Then, I separated the "rings" in each onion slice. Now, I wonder if I needed to do the separating. Do you? Or, do the half-rings separate themselves naturally during the cooking and stirring process?

I had searched FN, because I wanted to print and send the recipe to someone. I found their short recipe that uses sugar. In the one I follow, there's no sugar; it requires longer cooking time. Now, I think maybe I didn't find a recipe. Maybe it was an article from their magazine. Thanks for searching for it, though.

[Italiancook]

I made caramelized onions for the second time. I used a recipe I found the first time on Food Network's site. It is no longer there, and I can't understand why. It's a good, easy-to-remember process. But it does take a lot of onions to make a little finished product. I sliced 1-1/2 pounds onions and ended up with enough caramelized onions for two. I froze half and used half on top of an oven-baked potato with sour cream & canned salmon patties. I counted the onions as the vegetable.

It's a chore to slice the onions. I wonder if the slicing disc of the food processor could be used. I think I'd have to be careful how I placed the onions. Next time, I'm going to try it if I have time to experiment.

[Italiancook]

I'm glad you didn't have to begin a new starter, Joan. It's great that you weighed ingredients. I've never done that even though I have a scale. I really need to read the directions, because my butterhorn rolls would be more equal in size if I weighed the dough to cut it into thirds before rolling out.

cwcdesign, it's wonderful you and your son were able to bake together in spite of the distance.

[Italiancook]

Yes, I'm glad your healing is progressing, cwcdesign. I hope you're able to do all you want to in the kitchen in short order.

I'm teaching a niece how to bake bread via text. Her first loaf disappointed her. I think it was a combination of wrong type of yeast and accidentally having oven at wrong temperature. I've even made the latter mistake. Yesterday, she succeeded using KABC English Muffin Toasting Bread. They had it for breakfast this morning, and she's a hero! She used it to take a sandwich to her dad, and now he thinks she's a hero. And she is, because she tried again. Now, she wants to try dinner rolls and biscuits, so I'm going to e-mail recipes to her. I'm also going to have my husband make a phone video of me shaping a loaf of bread so she can try the first recipe again. I've given her information about this site.

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