[Mike Nolan]

The sweet potato pie was good, my wife says we may never make pumpkin pie again. It has the spice flavors of a pumpkin pie but without the pumpkin taste. Maybe a touch more cinnamon next time.

I made this one using 1/2 cup of cream, which I don't always have on hand, and 1 cup of 1% milk, plus a full stick of butter and about a third of a cup of light brown sugar. Next time I might increase the sugar to a half cup, the brown sugar and the butter combine to add a butterscotch-like flavor. I might also try dark brown sugar.

[Mike Nolan]

Isn't there one of the cheese companies that disses an unnamed competitor for using cellulose in their grated cheese by calling it 'adding sawdust'?

[Mike Nolan]

Brown sugar is sugar with molasses in it, toasted sugar is sugar that has been slowly baked to partially caramelize the sugar but without destroying the crystalline structure.

See Toasted Sugar

I've never made or used it, so I can't speak to its taste or other aspects, but it might be interesting to sprinkle some on an apple pie.

[Mike Nolan]

I need to see if I can still get Jonagolds, they made a pretty good strudel and a GREAT apple pie. They don't store well, though, so they're usually not in the stores for a long time, and I've only seen them at one of the stores we shop at. There are some other varieties I'm unfamiliar with in the stores this year.

[Mike Nolan]

Here's a shot of my wife holding her trifle.

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[Mike Nolan]

Here's my sweet potato pie, haven't tasted it yet. (I'm not a big fan of pumpkin pie, and don't eat a lot of sweet potato, either, but I'll probably try a piece tomorrow.)

The crust was getting too dark (I think I had the oven too hot), so I put a pie shield on it, and the pie rose up to the point where it touched the shield, so that's why there's a ring about a half inch from the edge.

The recipe was sort of an amalgam of the recipe on this site and two other recipes, we baked the sweet potato rather than boil it, I used some cream, some milk and lots of butter. I only used about a third of a cup of brown sugar. The spices were cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and a pinch of clove.

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[Mike Nolan]

I made the sweet potato pie today, we won't cut into it until tomorrow. My wife also made a trifle. So we're covered for desserts for the holiday. 🙂

[Mike Nolan]

Today I made a double batch of Pastry Cream which will go in a trifle for Christmas Eve.

I made it using my induction burner and it thickened MUCH faster than it does over a gas flame, not sure why, but that's what happened when we made pastry cream in pastry school, too, even though we were making about four times as much as I was making today, so it must have something to do with how the heat is distributed in an induction pan.

We also have several sweet potatoes baking for a Sweet Potato Pie, which I'll probably make tomorrow.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm going to give our grow lights another trial some time next year, I don't think we used the right type of potting soil. We also didn't fertilize it and probably didn't water it enough, either. We did get several tomato plants that were big enough that we took them outside to get natural sunlight for a week or two before we transplanted them into the garden, but I think the tomato plants that bore the most fruit for us this year were from plants we bought from nurseries.

I wish I could find the older First Lady tomato plants, the First Lady II seeds that are their replacement have never impressed me like the First Lady plants we used to get from a local nurseryman who, sadly, passed away a few years ago. Those bore fruit like no tomato I've ever grown, but it was also a great year for tomatoes and the last few have not been for this area of the state, even the pros were having yield issues.

[Mike Nolan]

Sometimes lost items never surface, I lost the silicone mat I was using to roll out pastries earlier this year, I finally gave up and bought a new one that has both concentric circles and rectangles so I can use it for pies and things like cinnamon rolls.

I made a batch of bagels today. I'm currently looking at recipes for a sweet potato pie that I hope to make on Christmas eve.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't have the skills or patience to decorate cookies, my wife bought some at Hy-Vee yesterday, but I might make a batch of chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, not exactly 'holiday' themed but it was my mom's recipe and it reminds me of home.

It's going to be a Zoomy Christmas, but that's better than gloomy.

[Mike Nolan]

King Arthur went 'green' and dropped a lot of items that didn't meet their guidelines for preservatives and other additives. I think that's also why they stopped making their cake flour.

[Mike Nolan]

I found a turkey breast that wasn't loaded with brine or salty stock, so that's what I'll make on Christmas, with potatoes, stuffing and gravy.

[Mike Nolan]

I made semolina bread today, they smell great!

[Mike Nolan]

According to King Arthur, the harvest grains blend has four grains (whole oat berries, millet, rye flakes, and wheat flakes) and four seeds (flax, poppy, sesame, and sunflower).

The Bob's Red Mill 10 grain cereal mix has whole grain wheat;corn;whole grain rye;whole grain triticale;whole grain oats;soy beans;whole grain millet;barley;whole grain brown rice;oat bran;flaxseed, which isn't very close.

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