[Italiancook]

Your experiment sounds delicious, Mike.

I wouldn't call what I did today much in the way of cooking, but it's the most I've done in a while. Been eating food from the freezer. I made Blueberry Pancakes with cinnamon chips and cardamom for breakfast and for the freezer. While the pancakes were cooking, I put together Kelsey Nixon's (Cooking Channel) Slow-Cooker Irish Oatmeal. Her recipe calls for 3 bananas, but I don't like that texture. I use one banana, raisins, and one other fruit exchange. Today I had blueberries.

[Italiancook]

Thanks all for the replies. BakerAunt, I didn't know buttermilk can be frozen. I'm going to use some of it to bake tomorrow, then I'll freeze the remainder. In the bottle. There's enough gone that it shouldn't break. I'm going to put a label on the bottle that states what day I tossed it into the freezer. That way I can judge how long to keep it after it's thawed.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I searched every vendor I could think of for cappuccino chips, as you found, they're all out of stock. We probably looked in the same places. So I Googled various questions about whether there's a cappuccino chip shortage and didn't come up with an answer that there is. If you're still curious and have time after you bake, you may want to call one of the vendors' customer service and ask them whether there's a shortage, or if these are no longer being manufactured. KAF should be able to tell you this. If not, Amazon.

[Italiancook]

I roasted a pork tenderloin. Thanks, Mike, for your input on this. I roasted it at 350*. I had cut it into two pieces. The thinner section was ready in 20 minutes. The thicker at 25 minutes. I want my pork so it's white, not pink, so I aimed for a temp of 165. Ended up with 169, and the meat was white and juicy. I diced the thicker section and will use it to invent (for me) Pork & Ramen Noodle Soup on Friday.

[Italiancook]

After all the talk about buttermilk recently, I bought some. I thought I'd make a yellow cake, but that hasn't happened yet. So I checked online for buttermilk roll recipes, and yes! they're there. I was surprised that Whole Foods has a recipe online. It's for cloverleaf rolls, and rolling smooth balls of dough is not my strong point. So I used "30 Minute Buttermilk Roll Recipe" from ihearteating.com Still had to roll dough balls, but only 12. I will serve some of the rolls with Butternut Squash Soup from the freezer. The rest will go into the freezer. The rolls feel like they're light and soft inside. (It took me 60 minutes to make these. If I make them again, I think I can come in at 45 minutes. I never can make timed recipes finish in the allotted time!)

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Italiancook.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I baked Rainbow Trout. Had it with sautéed mushrooms.

I took a pork tenderloin out of the freezer this morning but have no idea how to cook it. My son used to grill it, and it wasn't dry, but I no longer have a grill pan. Also have only normal pantry ingredients in the pantry and fridge. Anyone know how I should cook this?

[Italiancook]

I baked KAF's Banana Cupcakes. I'll frost them with their recipe for Peanut Butter Icing -- it's part of the recipe. The recipe makes 12.

[Italiancook]

We are really sold on Moomie's burger buns now that we've eaten them. I had a medium-sized one with BBQ Hamburger, and it was delicious. This evening, my husband used a large one for a fried egg & capacola sandwich. He waxed enthusiastically about the taste and texture of the bun.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Swirth for the link. I'm definitely going to make a loaf of bread from this dough now that I've read that suggestion. When I do, I'll post how it turned out.

[Italiancook]

Thanks to Mike, BakerAunt, and Aaron for telling me about hand-stretching the pizza. I'll try that next time.

[Italiancook]

I made Moomie's Burger Buns for the first time. I used the recipe from KAF, which goes by a different name, but they credit it to Moomie. As far as I can see, it's the same recipe both places. I made 4 large and 8 medium-sized buns. My husband will use one for lunch for a ham/swiss sandwich. I'll use 2 for BBQ Hamburger for lunch & dinner. Put the rest in the freezer.

[Italiancook]

I'm pleased to report that the lunch pizza I made was delicious! It was KAF's Thin Crust Pizza, but with mozzarella and only a tiny sprinkling of Parm. The Parm was for my husband. I was uncertain about rolling out the dough. KAF says to roll it between 2 oiled pieces of parchment. I was afraid the paper would slide around on my marble pastry board, but it did not -- at least not enough for me to notice. The problem was the olive oil on the top parchment made it difficult to see how thick I was rolling. I ended up with uneven thickness, but it didn't detract from the pizza.

I'm also happy to report that I may have climbed up the pizza learning curve. From the time I put the sauce on the stove to heat until the pizza was ready to cut, it took 1 hour. That's the shortest time I've had making pizza. It was worth the time. My husband and I both agreed it was much better than any of the pizzerias around us. So, yes, I'll keep climbing the learning curve.

[Italiancook]

Have any of you ever calculated to materials cost of a homemade pizza vs. a delivered pizza? As I was portioning out 2 lbs. of mozzarella this morning, I wondered if it's cheaper to make a pizza or, if it's cheaper to buy one delivered. I think making pizza is labor-intensive, but that may be because I'm climbing up the learning curve. So I'm not curious about materials plus labor, just the ingredients that go into the crust and on the pizza.

I think most food is less expensive to make at home as compared to restaurants, but I'm unsure about pizza.

[Italiancook]

I don't know whether this will work, but I made the dough for KAF Thin Crust Pizza this morning. I put half the dough in the freezer and half in the fridge. I'm making the pizza for lunch. I knew the pizza wouldn't be made unless I did the dough early. The recipe is doesn't call for a rise unless you want a thicker crust, which I don't. So I'm hoping the dough in the fridge won't rise in the next 4 hours. Unsure what to do if it does. I guess punch it down.

KAF's recipe says to use tomato sauce and parmesan only. I don't like parm on pizza, so I'm going to use mozzarella and hope the weight of it will work with a thin crust pizza.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Mike, most of the recipes I've tried from the book use garlic. Some of them pull the garlic out after a short time, but it's still garlic. Regrettably, the cookbook wouldn't work for your wife.

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