[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, that makes sense. the jarred sauce would have been cooked because of canning. I didn't thank of that.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, Ocean Spray's Cranberry Orange Relish that's online uses uncooked fruits. You whirr cranberries, an orange with the pith, and sugar in the food processor then freeze or refrigerate. It sounds so simple I have no idea why I have not done it long before now. I don't know how to do links, so I can't post a link to the recipe. I've read online that the recipe is on the bag of Ocean Spray cranberries, but I've never looked to see if that's accurate.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for the info, BakerAunt. My mind is blank right now. I can't recall if I make any dishes with pasta that I may want to freeze. For soups, I package them in quart deli containers. One quart will feed us for one meal -- 2 serving per quart.

[Italiancook]

I made KAF Welsh Cakes for breakfast this morning. They look and smell just like my childhood memory of them, even though my family called them cookies. They were not as dry as the family recipe, but they are still not very moist. Nevertheless, the were deliciously addictive.

When I made the family recipe, my husband did not like them. In one sitting, he ate 4 of the KAF Welsh cakes.

Using a griddle and 1 skillet would be the best way to tackle these, unless you have 2 griddles. I used 2 skillets.

The recipe says to refrigerate half the dough while handling the other half. If I make these again and have time, I'll divide the dough into 2, and refrigerate both balls for 30-60 minutes. I thought the butter was too soft in the half I cut and cooked right away.

[Italiancook]

I had planned to bake KAF Welsh Cakes, but the week got away from me. They're on my agenda for this week.

I've been obsessing over a recipe of my mother's. Cranberry Banana Nut Bread. I loved it when a child. It uses cranberry-orange relish that Ocean Spray no longer makes. Their recipe for it is online, and every October I say I'm going to make it as soon as fresh cranberries are in the grocery store. Every year, it never gets done. This year, I Googled to find out who makes this relish. Apparently no one. I ended up buying Apple-Orange-Cranberry Relish from Williams-Sonoma. When it arrives, I'm going to try it with Mom's recipe. I'll post her recipe after I try it with this relish, IF the recipe works. I've never before tried it.

[Italiancook]

Another week where I don't remember what we ate, because it wasn't memorable. Last night, I made Cauliflower & Pasta Soup from "Italian Family Recipes from The Romanoglis' Table." I had planned to package it for the freezer, but by the time it was cool enough to do that, I could barely stay awake. I put it in the refrig and will process it when I finish with this website. I know from experience that the pasta will have swelled overnight, so I'm concerned about the thawed product. I think it would have been better to freeze it last night.

I've never frozen anything with pasta, so I don't really know how it'll turn out when thawed. Some Internet articles suggest it'll be sticky and mushy when reheated. They say to freeze cooked pasta you need to stop the cooking process before the al dente state. I read those after the soup was cooked.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I routinely freeze chocolate chip cookie dough, and they turn out fine when baked. I use the recipe on the back of the Ghiradelli bittersweet chips package. I scoop the dough onto waxed paper-lined cookie sheets (the 1/4 cones so they'll fit in the freezer). I "flash freeze" them for 1 hour. Then I package 12 dough balls per quart freezer bag and put them into a gallon freezer bag. I write the baking direction on the plastic so I don't have to search for the chips bag when I want to bake them. I put them in the oven frozen and have never been disappointed with the results.

This won't work for oatmeal cookies. That dough will not spread. The end product is a cooked lump of dough. So I doubt it'd work for oatmeal chocolate chip dough.

It also won't work for peanut butter cookies made with Crisco. Someday I'm going to try it with these cookies made with butter.

This freezing method also doesn't work for shortbread-type cookies.

For all those cantankerous cookies, I bake the cookies, put them in a freezer container and heat them in the microwave to thaw them.

I don't know that baking soda or powder play a role in this. A KAF rep told me it was the butter content, but I wonder about that, because peanut butter cookies have plenty of fat.

[Italiancook]

Oh my! Thanks, Mike for this warning. I'll make sure I include this information in the letter I leave. I don't have anything that would warrant an auction, but there will be ads, tables, staff, etc. I went to an estate sale where even unopened toothpaste was for sale. It went for 50 cents.

[Italiancook]

ummmmm . . . BakerAunt I never thought about your family's experience. It's something to ponder as I check around. Thanks for sharing.

On a different subject, I'm going to make the Welsh Cakes (KAF's) tomorrow or Friday. I don't own a griddle. My parents made them in a skillet, but I can see where the work would go faster with a griddle.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, cwc, for your information. It's helpful. I posted this last night, but it didn't "take."

Mike, thanks for your input, too.

[Italiancook]

Mike, I make my Italian Beef from a recipe in the CHICAGO TRIBUNE while we lived there. It uses rump roast, but I don't know if rump is also round.

I don't own a slicer. Every meat market that has sold me the rump roast always agreed to slice it free of charge. I cook the roast, refrigerate it overnight wrapped in foil, then take it back to the meat market. They slice it paper thin. After they wrap up the slices, I bring it home and marinate it overnight. Of course, I make sure they agree to slice it when I order the meat. I've never had a butcher refuse in any city.

Admittedly, taking it back to the meat market adds a step, but I don't think I could slice it as paper thin as they do in Chicago by hand.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Italiancook.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Cwcdesign, I smiled when I read your post. Marketing is everything. If you have time, please tell me how you found the person to manage your yard sale. While I expect to live for a long time, I've been cleaning out the house of items I know I can live without. I want to leave written information for the relative about who to call to manage our estate sale after we're gone. I really don't want to look on Craigslist, and I'm unsure I'd feel comfortable with Googling for a name. Is there some other way to find an estate sale manger?

[Italiancook]

I agree with you, BakerAunt. It is cute. Interesting find for only 50 cents. I prefer estate sales as compared to garage sales. I think estate sales lend themselves to better finds.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, cwcdesign & luvpyrpom for zeroing in on the flour issue. I don't know enough about baking to have figured this out.

BakerAunt, I appreciate the KAF link.

Luvprpom, you're right the Welsh Cakes and "cookie" recipe are similar. I think I'll try the KAF recipe first to have a feel for what the right recipe tastes like. My family may have simply been making them wrong all those years. After I make the KAF cakes, I'll work with the family recipe and see where it goes. cwcdesign's suggestion of weighing the flour is probably a good idea for Grandma's recipe. It'll probably be a week or two before I have time to try KAF's recipe, but I'll report back with my results.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Today, I baked a double batch of Peanut Butter cookies and a single recipe of KAF Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies. It was my first time making the KAF recipe. Worked just fine. Recipe calls for 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips. It says you can use just a bag of chips. I had a bag of bittersweet choc. chips, so I used that. I think that was plenty of chocolate; I probably will never use the 3 cups. The recipe says this is a good cookie for ice cream sandwiches. I didn't have any ice cream, but I tend to think KAF is right on that.

Earlier in the week, I made KAF Easy Cinnamon Bread. I froze it as slices. Their recipe calls for letting the dough rise for an hour. I never do that. I much prefer the texture of baking it right after mixed.

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