[Mike Nolan]

we had leftover chili for supper, it gets better on day 3, too.

[Mike Nolan]

King Arthur has a European Style Hard Roll recipe I'm going to try, I'm looking for some dinner rolls for Thanksgiving. It uses an overnight sponge or a sourdough levain. You shape the rolls, let them rise, then refrigerate them so that they go into the oven cold, that helps keep the crust thinner.

We won't have family here on Thanksgiving but we will have one or two friends dining with us. We may have family here for Christmas, that's still kind of up in the air.

[Mike Nolan]

We had the chili I made last night, it was great. And there's still about 6 quarts of it left, half of which will likely go in the freezer.

[Mike Nolan]

I started some lettuce plants in the Aerogarden today, some black seeded Simpson, some Rouge d'Hiver, one romaine, all from Aerogarden. I also did some self-planted buttercrunch lettuce, parsley and spinach. I don't know how well they'll do, but its better than having empty slots.

I was going to start them last week, but when I set up the Aerogarden after moving it, the right set of lights weren't coming on correctly. Fortunately, it was still under warranty (until the end of November), so I had to wait until a replacement console arrived, then I spent 2 hours taking off the old one and putting on the new one. Those things are solidly built.

[Mike Nolan]

I think we're finally going to have a real frost here, the predicted low is down to 21 and the high for the day was maybe 40, with high winds and a wind chill well below freezing. We had a few snow flurries this morning.

I think some of the plants died last night or during the day due to the wind chill, the rest should be gone by morning.

But it was a pretty good garden season and I still have over 10 quarts of tomato juice and 4-5 quarts of tomato relish. The juice will probably be gone by Christmas, hopefully the relish will get us through to next spring, but it'll likely be late July before I'll have enough tomatoes to make more.

[Mike Nolan]

My wife's stepmother's 'football chili' is easy to make but never wins chili contest awards, in part because it doesn't fit into the usual categories for judging as it does not have any chili peppers in it and it has both meat and beans.

But everybody always wants a second bowl of it. It is tasty and mild.

I'm making a pot of it tonight, it is better the second day so I'll cook it for 3-4 hours tonight then put it in several large containers.

[Mike Nolan]

When I blind bake a pie crust, I find I usually have to use a pie shield around the outside to keep the top of the crust from getting overbaked.

[Mike Nolan]

We had tomato soup and fried cheese sandwiches for supper, a nice warm meal for a cold rainy evening.

[Mike Nolan]

Making the pie filling in advance is something I learned at SFBI. I find it is easier to make a large batch of it than enough for just one apple pie. I do the same thing with pie crusts, I usually make enough for 2 or 3 pies, freezing what I don't use right away. That way I can have an apple pie ready in about 24 hours.

If I was making enough for one pie, I'd want about 1 kg of sliced apples, probably around 3 pounds of whole apples, depending on the size.

The formula is:

Apples: 100% Winesap is my favorite pie apple, Jonagolds work well, too. I will use Golden Delicious if I have to. Granny Smith apples are dreadful these days, IMHO.
Sugar: 20%
Salt: 0.15%
Cinnamon: 0.15% (but I usually increase it by about a third)
Nutmeg: 0.05%

Cook the apples until they're soft enough to bend then strain off the juice.

Boil the juice then stir in a cornstarch slurry (2.4%), cook it for about a minute, then pour it over the apples. Add lemon juice (1.46%)

For my latest batch I peeled, cored and sliced enough apples to fill my 16 quart pot about 2/3 full, about 4.6 kg after peeling and coring, enough for 4 pies plus some extra. I could probably have gotten 5 pies from this batch but my wife likes the filling all by itself, and so do I. It also goes good with cookies.

Cool filling before using it. It freezes well.

I use 1100-1200 grams of filling for a 9" pie. Put a few small pieces of butter on top of the filling before putting the top crust on, brush the top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with sparkling sugar. Cut some vents.

I start it on a convection cycle at 385 degrees for 20 minutes, then switch to regular oven mode and drop the temperature to 350. It usually takes another 25 minutes or so. There should be filling bubbling through the vents and the crust should be nicely browned.

I've also used this filling for Irish Apple Cake.

I just added this recipe to the recipe section of the site.

Today's pie. It leaked a little, as it often does, which is why I put a larger pan underneath to catch spills.

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[Mike Nolan]

I also made enough pie dough for 3 double-crust pies, I'll probably make one on Monday, the other two will go in the freezer for future use. Leave them in the fridge overnight, along with the apple pie filling and I can have an apple pie ready for supper.

[Mike Nolan]

Nobody seems to know when Ball canning lids will be back in stock in local stores (you can get them on Amazon but the prices are ridiculous), so I went ahead and ordered 200 of the Konblimc lids on Amazon, at about a dime each. I'll do some tests of them and report back, but they seem to fit my regular jars properly. I think they're made in China.

[Mike Nolan]

We had takeout pizza/lasagna for supper last night, so we've got leftovers of that for supper, plus some beef stroganoff. I'll probably make pie dough this evening so I can make a pie tomorrow, but otherwise I'm done cooking for the day.

[Mike Nolan]

This is kind of pre-baking, I made apple pie filling today, enough for 4 pies plus enough left over to snack on for a couple of days. My wife discovered that the apple pie filling goes very well with Pepperidge Farms Bordeaux cookies.

I still have enough Winesap apples left to make another batch of pie filling plus a couple of apple strudels. I've got them in the garage where it is cool and they keep fairly well. I picked them 3 weeks ago and when I was processing them today I only found two that had to be thrown out.

[Mike Nolan]

USDA recommends that you use clearjel rather than starch (cornstarch or wheat flour) when canning pie filling.

I don't think I've seen them in stores, at least not lately, but I do see 3 cup (24 ounce) Ball canning jars on Amazon, but not at a price I'd be willing to pay. There are some 20 and 22 ounce jars, probably from China, on Amazon, but the reviews on them aren't very positive and the jars may not be compatible with Ball/Kerr lids and bands.

[Mike Nolan]

We're having beef stroganoff on toast for supper.

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