[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 4 years, 11 months ago by Italiancook.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 11 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.

[Italiancook]

Now I know Hawaiian rolls have pineapple in them. Thanks, Joan. You have a blest sister-in-law for how generously you share with her. Your Hawaiian Rolls made me thirsty for pineapple juice, so I'm enjoying a glass of it now.

[Italiancook]

This was the first time I'd heard of lebkuchen. I looked up the recipe on KABC, but it's not something I'd try. I don't like ginger. But it was fun learning about a new (to me) recipe.

[Italiancook]

I baked my grandmother's chocolate cake. It took more time than the mug cake, but I have many more servings. It really wasn't a lot more effort, but I did run into a problem opening a 10 pound bag of sugar. It poured out in clumps that I had to take the time to break up. I'll freeze most of the cake after it's frosted.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 12 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

My husband will soon have his second dose. I can hardly wait. Once he's immunized and 2 or 3 weeks have passed, I'm sending him to the market that sells fresh, seasonal produce. I'm really weary of eating frozen veggies, although the ones we buy are good. I think we missed artichoke season, but it will come around again, and I'm eager for artichokes. I'm also looking forward to fresh asparagus for Asparagus Soup.

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