[Italiancook]

Your birthday celebration sounds wonderful, Joan. Happy Birthday!

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for weighing in on my speckly rolls. When I pulled them apart to put in the freezer, the torn edges were perfect. Thanks for the tenting suggestion.

I baked "Simple Banana Coffee Cake" from Allrecipes today. It's for breakfast tomorrow.

[Italiancook]

I baked Surprise Rolls today. The surprise is supposed to be that they're made with cottage cheese. But I received another, unwanted surprise. Does anyone care to offer a guess as to why this happened:

The finished rolls have black speckles of something on them. When I put the formed dough into the oven, I didn't notice anything black on the rolls. Somehow, these black thingies got onto the rolls in the oven. What could they be?

Otherwise, the rolls look great. Oh, btw, they're round rolls, baked in a 9" round pan.

Since I made them for the freezer and for my consumption only, I will eat them. But if I had made them for guests, I'd toss them out. The black dots are noticeable even though they don't completely cover the rolls.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I'm curious. Which butter substitute do you use for spreading, say on toast, on your new lower-fat journey? I've used Olivio since the last century. I'm thinking you may have found a better option on the shelves these days.

[Italiancook]

I have Sara Moulton's Shortbread biscuits cooling as I type. They're for the freezer until I have strawberries to go on them. Here's a recipe of hers that similar to the one she was publishing a decade or longer ago. I use 1-1/4 c. cream & 3 tablespoons sugar (I use half white Splenda & half sugar). And I reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. https://saramoulton.com/2013/04/cream-biscuits/

[Italiancook]

I don't experiment with herbs and spices, since I cook mostly from recipes.

What I remember about Velvetta is after my dad retired. The government was giving cheese to older adults, and my dad went for it. Turned out to be Velvetta, and he was happy to have it. Since he lived out-of-state, I don't know what he did with it. I just remember that after all his years of paying taxes, he thought he'd finally hit the pay-off. I don't know if the cheese was in the Velvetta box or other packaging. I just know he told me it was Velvetta.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the warm welcome, Everyone.

[Italiancook]

When I was growing up, my mother made mac 'n cheese way too often. It was horrible. Dry, with terrible taste. I could only tolerate her mac 'n cheese during the summer when fresh tomatoes were in the garden. A fresh tomato on top of the macaroni made it tolerable.

Because of so many bad experiences, I've never tried mac 'n cheese as an adult. Once, I made Ina Garten's Four Cheese Penne (or is it 5 Cheese?), and it was good. She has a mac 'n cheese with tomatoes under the bread crumbs that looks good, but my aversion to mac 'n cheese is so strong I probably will never try it.

[Italiancook]

Lunch was kielbasa with broccoli. Dinner will probably be tuna salad sandwiches.

[Italiancook]

I baked the Chocolate Chip Loaf Cake from jennycancook.com. It turned out a little dry, probably because I didn't use the nuts called for in the recipe. I didn't check on it when I smelled chocolate burning. It wasn't burnt, but it was more brown than I would have preferred. So I'm blaming the dryness on the baker, not the recipe.

[Italiancook]

RiversideLen, I had seen that grinder when I was on Amazon looking. I didn't pay any attention to it, because it didn't look like what Mike had described. I'll probably end up buying it. Thanks!

Thanks to you, too, Mike for the picture.

Like BakerAunt, I now use my Micrcoplane rasp grater for nutmeg. The way I measure the nutmeg is by where I buy it. McCormick's . . . their rep told me that 1 whole nut is about 1 teaspoon grated. So if I want half a teaspoon, I grate approximately half of one piece of nutmeg. I've never been disappointed in this "measuring tool."

[Italiancook]

Mike, I was all over the internet, including Microplane's website, and I can't find a nutmeg grinder by Microplane. I found the William Bounds Nutmeg Grinder at Williams-Sonoma (see link).https://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/nutmeg-grinder/?pkey=e%7Cnutmeg%2Bgrinder%7C95%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH#reviews Thanks, Mike.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Italiancook.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I'm trying something different for us for lunch. We love bruschetta made with fresh tomato, basil leaves, olive oil & some red wine vinegar. I have leftover sautéed mushrooms and a boule of Cuban Bread from the freezer. I'm going to make bruschetta with the sautéed mushrooms on top.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, chocomouse, for mentioning the KAF Doughnut Muffins. I celebrated Donut Day by making them. We enjoyed the nutmeg in them, although it was time-consuming to grate a teaspoon of nutmeg. The recipe calls for up to 1-1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. I may try that next time.

[Italiancook]

I baked a loaf of Banana Bread. It's going to the freezer for house guests in June.

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