[Italiancook]

wonky, I would never have thought of making French toast with the raisin bread, but it sound delicious. I'm going to make that for supper tonight. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Italiancook]

I did more baking than usual so I didn't cook much. The most exciting unexciting meal I made was my mom's baked chicken. Before church, she would cover bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts with salt. They baked while we were gone. Not sure what temperature she used, but I bake them at 350 degrees and would never leave them in for more than an hour. I use a liberal amount of seasoned salt on mine instead of plain salt.

[Italiancook]

I had houseguests that included 2 children. I taught the kids how to make Martha Stewart's Sugar Cookies from her book, "Entertaining." They had great fun rolling out the dough and using Christmas and Easter cookie cutters. I gave each child 1/4 of the dough. I put the other half in the freezer.

After they left, I made Banana Bread for the freezer. I slice it, then wrap each slice in an inexpensive fold-over-flap sandwich bag. I put the slices in a freezer bag, label it, and I have breakfasts or snacks.

I was going to the meat market, so I made Double Chocolate Brownies for the guys there. My husband offered to do that errand. I forgot to send the goodies with him. He inherited the brownies.

I also made Wonky's Raisin Bread that I wrote about in another thread. Thanks, Wonky for the delicious bread!

[Italiancook]

Wonky, a thousand apologies! I obviously don't know how to read the threads. So sorry, but so grateful for the Raisin Bread recipe. I haven't cut it yet. Put it in a plastic bag for tomorrow's breakfast. Will let everyone know how it turned out. The sides seem squishy. I wonder if that's the way the bread is supposed to feel, or if it's from my mistake. Will know in a few hours.

BakerAunt, thanks many times over for setting me straight on whose recipe it is. I appreciate the education.

Mike, your way of making raisin bread sounds interesting. I may try it next time.

[Italiancook]

wonky, I have questions that you may have answered in the KAF site. I'm curious. How do you bake so many loaves in one day? Do you have a slew of bread pans? Or, do you bake a couple of loaves, wash the pans, then bake again?

I'm thinking you have to be extremely organized to bake so many loaves in one 7 hour period. I don't think I could do it, and I have 2 ovens. I own only 2 bread pans. So you amaze me! And inspire me.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I understand your frustration. You've worked hard putting recipes on this site. Maybe people are busy with out-of-town guests. I've spent the last 2-1/2 weeks getting ready for guests and entertaining them. I think that for northerners, summer is a busy guest season as people don't want to travel when there might be snow or ice.

I bake as much during the summer as I do the rest of the year. But I bake in spurts. I may bake a lot (for me) in one week and do no baking the next. As for cooking, I've been in a lazy streak and have made do with simple foods that really don't qualify as cooking. So I don't always have something to contribute to the What Did You Bake/Cook posts, but I sure enjoy reading what you and others have been doing. Those posts motivate me.

[Italiancook]

From ATK's "The Complete Cooking for Two Cookbook," I made Minute (Cubed) Steak with Garlic-Parsley Butter.

I also made my second favorite meal -- beef liver with mashed potatoes 'n gravy and tomatoes. Bought the tomatoes at the farmer's market, and they tasted good.

My favorite meal is the liver, gravy & mashed potatoes with slow-cooked green beans. I bought the green beans at the farmer's market, but by the time hubby brought back the cottage ham from the meat market, it was too late to start them. I'll cook them today.

[Italiancook]

I had a bag of limes, so I baked Lime Meltaways from "Martha Stewart's Cookies."

[Italiancook]

Cass, I am inspired by the grateful attitude you display in your post. Thank you for sharing.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for your expertise and recipe suggestions. Like you, I use pearl barley in soups. I appreciate you for giving me a source for barley flour. I probably would not have known about refrigerating/freezing it if you hadn't told me!

[Italiancook]

We haven't officially "met," KidPizza, but I enjoyed and learned from your posts on the BC. Didn't post; just read. I also wish you a Happy Birthday!

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for the lemon curd cake filling thread. As a result of your recommendation, I've ordered "The Perfect Cake." I want to make the lemon cake.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I didn't know about this technique. Thanks. I'll try that next time I want a lemon curd filling. As the top layer was slipping and sliding off the plate, I thought, "There has to be a trick to this." Now I know!

[Italiancook]

I haven't cooked. Been eating prepared meals from the freezer. My only from-scratch endeavor was tomato-basil bruschetta for dinner last night. Delicious! Hubby planted herbs in containers on the patio. It was great to harvest fresh basil. For some reason, we kill off all the herbs we try to grow in the house.

[Italiancook]

Banana Bread.

From "Martha Stewart's Cakes" I baked Vanilla Layer Cake. It was my second time baking it. The icing for it suggested in the cookbook is delicious, but I prefer chocolate icing on white and yellow cakes. So this time, I used lemon curd between the layers and didn't ice it. The problem was that the top layer slid off the bottom because of the slippery curd. I cut the cake into serving pieces and "flash froze" them before putting them in a freezer bag. Of course, when microwaved to thaw, the top will slide again. But it's a good cake that's quick to pull together.

Wonky, I didn't make the Raisin Bread. I cut my thumb and didn't want to put it in bread dough. Instead, I made Peanut Butter Cookies for a family with children. I didn't have to touch the dough. For the first time, I used a recipe that calls for Crisco, not butter. I disliked the dough. I don't think it had enough fat. Next time, I'll go back to my tried and true recipe that uses butter. But, the cookies tasted good, and the children will enjoy them.

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