Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: A Chocolate Question #21602
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      Chocolate can be mixed with oil, the better the grade of chocolate (ie, how much cocoa butter it has) the less oil you'll need to add.

      in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 23, 2020? #21600
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        The problem was they had so many toppings at the time that they wouldn't all fit on the bun, so I though--why not have one with JUST the toppings? It had chili so it wasn't totally meatless. It was pretty darned good, too, but a bit sloppy to eat.

        in reply to: Adventures in Steam #21589
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          When we moved here in the 70's, Lincoln was a city with three major pizza chains (Valentino's and Godfather's, both companies started in Nebraska, and Pizza Hut and a small handful of local shops. Now it seems like there are more pizza places than gas stations.

          The local paper recently did a 'top 25 pizza places', without mentioning any of the chains and missing at least a half dozen places. Casey's (a convenience store chain) may have more outlets in Lincoln making pizza than anybody else these days, as Godfather's is down to I think just one or two locations. (But Casey's pizza is incredibly greasy, and I don't think their small countertop ovens are hot enough.) Domino's, Papa John's and Little Caesar's have numerous outlets around the city, too. Marco's has 3 places in Omaha but none in Lincoln yet. Fox's Pizza Den opened one store near us, but it didn't survive. (That same storefront also failed as a bakery and is now, I think, a pet grooming place.)

          Unfortunately, nearly all of them put garlic in the sauce if not in the crust. We have found a few that we can order pizza with no sauce but double tomato chunks. And my wife can tolerate a LITTLE garlic, so we do order Vals from time to time. Making pizza for two is just too much work.

          in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 23, 2020? #21587
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            I checked the Poochies website, they've cut back on the number of toppings they offer, but still offer 9 of them, including grilled onions.

            And speaking of onions, the house smells heavily of them today, as I have 7 pounds of onions in the oven caramelizing for tonight's French onion soup.

            in reply to: Daily Quiz for February 24, 2020 #21584
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              My younger son has developed an allergy to shellfish, and will sometimes react to things made with fish sauce, so he pretty much avoids fish dishes these days.

              in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 23, 2020? #21583
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                We have several 'non-stick' mini-muffin pans; they weren't all that non-stick to begin with and I'm sure some of that coating has worn off over the years. (I've pretty much stopped buying non-stick pans, because when the coating comes off, it probably means we're eating it.)

                I need to start experimenting with ways to get mini-muffins to release better, melted butter just isn't working these days. I won't use the sprays, because they leave a residue that builds up on your pans. I tried the pan grease once, it didn't work very well for some reason, maybe I should try it again. A flour/butter paste might be worth trying, too.

                With mini-muffins, after they've cooled I just pop them in a zip lock bag and freeze them, my wife likes taking 5 of them in a small sandwich bag, that helps her get through the day without blood sugar spikes or crashes. I've been known to eat them straight out of the freezer, but they defrost in 3-4 minutes or a few seconds in the microwave.

                in reply to: Adventures in Steam #21582
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  I haven't tried any of the cauliflower pizza crusts yet, though I hear it is hard to tell the cauliflower is in it.

                  I think it is possible to get whole grain durum wheat flour, but I don't think I've ever seen it in stores and if it came up in a web search I just did it wasn't obvious.

                  in reply to: Daily Quiz for February 24, 2020 #21578
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    I don't eat much shrimp because I had a bad reaction to some creole shrimp years ago. I can usually get away with a little shrimp if is is mixed in with other sea foods, but things like shrimp cocktail or fried shrimp (both of which I used to love) are out.

                    in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 23, 2020? #21577
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      About the only muffins I make are banana nut mini-muffins, and they're not low carb.

                      I don't generally buy muffins from bakeries because they're too sweet and they tend to be HUGE, they'd be a boatload of carbs even if they weren't so sweet.

                      I may have to experiment with triticale in muffins. Steve, the wheat breeder, told my wife he could get more triticale for us any time. I'm also going to try putting triticale in the KAF whole-grain hot cross buns recipe I like.

                      in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 23, 2020? #21576
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        It should be back, it got tagged as spam again. I don't know why this only seems to happen to you, it must be something your computer is doing.

                        I like Akismet (the anti-spam tool nearly all WordPress sites use), but it isn't very informative about what it calls spam.

                        in reply to: WSJ article on low/no carb breads #21575
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          I have more sympathy for those who have medical reasons why they cannot eat wheat bread or other foods than I do those who do so as a lifestyle choice, but don't want to give up their previously favorite foods. If you are eschewing meat, you shouldn't be chewing on plant burgers that have far more 'processed' ingredients in them.

                          Carbs are necessary as are fats and proteins, the trick is to eat them in reasonable proportions and quantities.

                          in reply to: Adventures in Steam #21574
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I've been making Hamelman's semolina bread recipe a lot lately, but semolina is NOT a whole grain product. Triticale might help here, it has the nuttiness you get from durum wheat (not surprising since it is a cross-breed between durum wheat and rye), and so far I didn't notice much bitterness in it, and I'm using whole meal triticale, though the first batch was only 10% triticale. I may try doubling that this week.

                            in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 23, 2020? #21554
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              Grilled onions are great on hot dogs. There used to be a hot dog place near us in Evanston that had about 18 different toppings. I talked them into selling me a dog with everything--hold the hot dog, and it wound up going on the menu.

                              in reply to: Adventures in Steam #21547
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                The honey wheat recipe I have posted is one my mother-in-law used years ago and it was one of my wife's favorite breads growing up. I adapted it to use oil instead of lard. I've done it with butter, liked it better with the oil. Our younger son, who was on his own time schedule the last few years he lived with us, would make sandwiches with it twice a day.

                                It is about a 50-50 blend (I vary the proportions from batch to batch), and it has honey in it, so it is on the sweet side. I usually make it free-form but it does well in a loaf pan, too, you just have to be REALLY patient because it'll take 90 minutes or longer to rise, and some days it seems like it'll never get going. Sometimes I'll shove it in the oven with the light on to hurry it up a bit, but I can taste a difference when I do that.

                                in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 16, 2020? #21536
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  Tonight we're having potato-leek soup using half of the chicken stock I made the other day, the plan is to make French onion soup on Monday with the rest.

                                  I made croutons from one of the baguettes I baked the other day for tonight's soup, the other one I sliced into rounds that will go on top of the onion soup.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 4,666 through 4,680 (of 7,569 total)