Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: Glazes For Doughnuts by PaddyL #5382
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      I didn't see a honey glaze for donuts in my 'cooking with honey' book.

      in reply to: How many Trick-or-Treaters did you get last night? #5381
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        I grew up in NW Illinois and have been a Cubs fan all my life, my first game at Wrigley Field was in 1956.

        But when I think of all the Cubs players and fans who were born, lived and died without ever seeing the Cubs in a World Series, much less winning one, I'm so overjoyed it happened in my lifetime.

        in reply to: Dried Bay Leaf Opinions, Please #5380
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          I don't INTENTIONALLY leave bay leaves in marinara, I just have been known to forget to take them out before I use the stick blender to turn it into a puree.

          (I also prefer to make marinara with seeded tomatoes, because tomato seeds can get bitter when cooked and stick in between your teeth.)

          in reply to: Dried Bay Leaf Opinions, Please #5369
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            You don't HAVE to remove the bay leaf; it tends to crumble into little pieces that are not very appealing, but there's nothing unsafe about it.

            I've done this a couple times with marinara.

            in reply to: Freezing Potatoes #5341
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              I wonder what the egg yolk and cream do, keep the potatoes from drying out when they're reheated maybe?

              in reply to: How many Trick-or-Treaters did you get last night? #5340
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                Nice to see you posting again, Sarah. So many people seem to have disappeared. (Cass, PaddyL, etc.)

                in reply to: How many Trick-or-Treaters did you get last night? #5339
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  Oriental Trading has a retail store in Omaha called Nobbies, we make a trip there every few years to pick up big bags of things for Halloween. (Balls, puzzles, rings, necklaces, dinosaurs, etc.)

                  Some years pencils go over big, this year they did not.

                  We also keep on the lookout for toy sales. If we can pick up a dozen Hot Wheels for $5 we'll do that and add it to the stuff on the shelf.

                  in reply to: Glazes For Doughnuts by PaddyL #5335
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    I've got a 'cooking with honey' book, I'll have to look for a glaze recipe there. I've never found a chocolate glaze that tastes like the stuff the bakeries use, though.

                    in reply to: How many Trick-or-Treaters did you get last night? #5334
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      We haven't given away candy in many years. We give away small toys (carnival trinkets), and my wife always buys some small books and other kid-safe items to give away to really young kids.

                      This started when I bought a case of colored chalk for a few dollars at an office supply auction in late summer about 25 years ago. My wife asked what I planned to do with it, and I said 'Give it away at Halloween!'. We haven't done candy since.

                      And whatever we don't use one year just goes back on the shelf for next year.

                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        The haystacks went over well, even though my wife said there were lots of desserts on the table. I sent in a big tin of them, probably about 60 of them, just one came back.

                        Her scones went over well, too, though for some reason most people seem to skip the lemon curd. (That means more left over for us, oh the horrors of it all!)

                        in reply to: Jim Leahy no knead pizza dough #5330
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          I haven't made pizza in over a year now, mostly because it's a hassle with just 2 of us, and with my wife's low-carb diet she hasn't been eating much bread, so I've cut way back on my baking in general.

                          Even when I was making it, I seldom decided on pizza far enough ahead to make the dough more than a few hours in advance.

                          in reply to: Mrs. Cindy’s Meyer Lemons #5328
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I also got a big box of them last week, and then I got a smaller box yesterday with 6 more, so Cindy may have had her assistant pick more lemons and sent some out to others on the list.

                            So far I've made a batch of lemon curd and frozen a bunch of them whole. I need to zest/juice/freeze a bunch of them today.

                            We also sent some on to my granddaughter in Pittsburgh, but given how quick they're ripening I'm hoping they'll still be good by the time they get there.

                            in reply to: Jim Leahy no knead pizza dough #5326
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              Letting the dough age for 12-24 hours seems to make it a lot easier to roll out. I'm told sourdough pizza dough also rolls out easier, but I've never made a true sourdough pizza dough. The longer you let it age, the more it is going to start to behave more like a sourdough. (I learned that testing the baguette recipe in Peter Reinhart's 'artisan' book.)

                              The type of flour you use also affects it, a flour high in glutenin is going to be very elastic and will bounce back, so you need to let it relax frequently. A flour high in gliadin is going to be more plastic and will roll out quicker.

                              in reply to: What Did You Bake the Week of October 23, 2016? #5308
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I'm not aware of any significant chemical reactions between baking powder and salt. Leavening is caused by the interaction of an acid and a base. Baking soda is the base (alkali), but a solution of salt in water is pretty much pH neutral, so you still need some acid. (With double-acting baking powder, there are two acids involved, one of them requires heat to begin reacting with the base.)

                                I've tried far too many recipes that were WAY too salty for my taste. Graduates of certain cooking schools (I'd put CIA at the top of that list) seem especially prone to develop and prefer recipes that are heavy on salt.

                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  I made boeuf bourguignon with braised pearl onions and mushrooms on spaetzle, and a bigger batch of haystacks for my wife's office Halloween celebration. She's going as Mother Goose this year, so she's been busy making a goose doll.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 7,381 through 7,395 (of 7,734 total)