[Italiancook]

I found a container of my first attempt at yellow rice in the freezer. I heated it up to go with lamb chops for lunch today. I've often heard, "We eat with our eyes first," and that's the only way to describe how much I enjoyed the saffron-yellow rice. I thought it tasted quite good. It was the color I remember from childhood, even though it didn't have the flavor. So my eyes tricked me.

[Italiancook]

This evening, I put together the marinade for "Lickin' Chicken" from Cook-Ahead Cookery. It'll be tomorrow's dinner.

[Italiancook]

Navlys, thanks for an excellent oatmeal idea. Every 6-10 days, I make Kelsey Nixon's "Slow Cooker Irish Oatmeal." It makes enough to last me 6 days. I'm the only one who eats oatmeal. It uses 2 teaspoons cinnamon. I make this so often, the taste has become humdrum. I had thought about using cardamom, but ginger will be my first try. Thanks for posting.

[Italiancook]

I made dinner rolls that use cottage cheese in the dough. Have made them before. This time, I did two things wrong: (1) For the second rise, I put the balls of dough in a muffin pan. The recipe clearly says to put them in a 9" round pan. Nevertheless, I didn't notice that. (2) I set the baking timer for hours, not minutes. I ended up with beautifully brown rolls, but they're too crusty. I saved one for my broccoli soup dinner (from freezer), and gave the rest to my husband. He likes crusty bread.

The problem with these goofs is that I had planned to freeze the rolls for guests in October. I ended up with a product I wouldn't serve to a guest. It's one thing for us to eat them, quite another for guests.

I also made blueberry pancakes this morning. I'm going to call those my baking/cooking for the day, since I did those successfully.

[Italiancook]

Bev, I think the apple cake would taste better with just a glaze, as you do it, instead of so much frosting. I've also been thinking that it'd taste good with a confectioner's frosting that was mixed with some maple syrup instead of all milk.

I used Fuji apples. I don't think the apples were a problem. It was the cup of black walnuts. But next time, I'll probably try Granny Smith.

[Italiancook]

I have country-style pork ribs in the oven, and barbeque sauce gently simmering on the stovetop for the ribs.

[Italiancook]

For the first time, I made KAF apple cake with brown sugar frosting (not the exact title). I thought black walnuts would go good with apple. Mistake. Black walnuts have too strong a taste. I didn't like the brown sugar frosting. I couldn't really taste the cake because of the black walnuts and frosting. What I like a lot about the cake is that it does not use baking powder, only baking soda.

[Italiancook]

I don't think it counts as cooking, but . . . I had 3-1/4 cups homemade chicken broth leftover that I didn't freeze. I boiled it, added rice, gently boiled the rice for about 15 minutes and called it homemade soup. Hey, it's in my best Italian cookbook. I sprinkled grated Romano cheese on top, and it was delicious soup!

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the yogurt suggestion, BakerAunt. I didn't know that but will try it when I thaw the Asparagus Soup. For anyone wanting to try this, keep in mind that I ended up with 1 quart + 3/4 cup.

[Italiancook]

I made Asparagus Soup using The Neely's recipe from Food Network. It called for a small pinch of red pepper flakes. I did that, then decided it was too small a pinch. Now that I've tasted the soup, I regret that decision. The soup is lovely, but the burn on my tongue afterward is not. Next time, I'll stick with a small pinch so I can enjoy the asparagus flavor more.

[Italiancook]

I have a pot of Cauliflower & Pasta Soup bubbling away on the stove. The recipe is in "Italian Family Recipes from The Romagnolis Table." A quart of it is for a meal. The rest is for the freezer. Around 1 P.M., I'm going to start making chicken broth for the freezer.

For dinner, my husband will grill pork chops. I have some cauliflower leftover from the soup. I'm going to try to replicate a recipe I saw Lidia do on her cooking show. She braised it with a few sliced lemons and a little lemon juice. I also have sautéed mushrooms for dinner. Not sure how lemony cauliflower will go with sautéed mushrooms, but we'll find out.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the experiment, Mike. I always enjoy seeing photos on this site.

[Italiancook]

I just checked Costco online, and didn't find King Arthur flour.

[Italiancook]

I don't seed bread. I can't stand the mess of cutting it and having seeds fly everywhere. I don't have any seeds now, but will try Cass's method sometime in the future. Thanks for sharing, BakerAunt and Cass.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I concur with BakerAunt and Rascals: Happy Birthday, Mike, and thanks for this site. Everyone is helpful and friendly. I wouldn't have a new marble pastry board if it wasn't for this site . . . and you. I hope you have great health and lots of cooking/baking projects in the coming year.

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