[Mike Nolan]

Almost anything would have to improve kale. 🙂

[Mike Nolan]

I made peanut butter cookies tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

We had tomato soup and fried cheese sandwiches today. Tomorrow I think I'm making chicken, rice and mushroom casserole.

[Mike Nolan]

Not much, as I recall, though it may have been used for things in the kitchen. Farm wives don't let much go to waste.

The unfrozen part of the hard cider is often called applejack. Depending on how cold it gets, it can be anywhere from about 50 to 80 proof, though I've been told that if it hits 20 below the applejack can get to about 120 proof.

[Mike Nolan]

What they used to do with hard cider when I was young was leave it in jugs outside, wait until the temperatures dropped below freezing and drain off the unfrozen liquid in the bottom of the jug. Wicked stuff!

https://www.ciderculture.com/5-hard-cider-recipes-get-you-through-end-winter/

[Mike Nolan]

I will use self-checkout at the grocery store if I don't have a full cart to do or produce sold by weight. At WalMart, I often don't have much of a choice, they might have just one checker working, sometimes none. That has probably impacted how much I've bought at WalMart.

[Mike Nolan]

Walgreens has pulled the digital coupon pricing only thing on me, too. Hy-vee has digital coupons but they're (in theory) tied to their preferred customer program, which they're in the process of modifying in ways that aren't clear yet.

I probably buy more things at Super Saver, which is closer and usually cheaper (chicken is one exception), but we don't like their dairy products.

We bought our turkey through the animal science graduate student association, not the cheapest option but it helps support a good group.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't plan to try the pasta maker, either, but the extended biga period makes some sense. I've never seen anything on Italian shaping techniques for rosetta rolls, so maybe they are flattened and folded at some point.

[Mike Nolan]

Leftovers here, too.

[Mike Nolan]

We had left over pot roast for supper, it still is a bit on the dry side, maybe I'll add a little beef stock to what's left.

[Mike Nolan]

I baked the last batch of peanut butter cookies on my new red mat with the grid, and they came out a bit darker on the bottom than normal, so I probably need to adjust the baking time a bit.

[Mike Nolan]

McDonalds has a new baked apple pie, not quite as good as the old fried pie they dropped some years ago, but much better than their first attempt at a baked apple pie. Both the crust and the filling have flavor and a good texture.

Taco Bell got rid of the Caramel Apple Empanada, and I haven't been to a Taco Bell since then.

[Mike Nolan]

I've now made the sourdough cheese cracker recipe 4 times, and 3 of them I forgot to add the butter until after I had shaped it and got it ready for the fridge. Fortunately, remixing it to add the butter doesn't seem to hurt the dough.

I'll bake these in a few days.

[Mike Nolan]

I was told by one of the workers behind the grocery store meat counter (I wouldn't call them butchers) that their meat comes in mostly pre-cut and pre-packaged, though they do get some things that are primal cuts or sections, but usually boneless. And, oddly enough, they grind some of their own ground beef.

About the only bone-in meat I see in the stores are ribs and some steaks (T-bone, Porterhouse and KC Strip.) Shanks and soup bones are usually available in the fall and winter but disappear come spring.

Fareway Beef gets primals and will cut to order, including bone-in steaks. (A 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inch T-bone cooks and tastes so much different than the usual 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick cut.)

There's another high-end butcher shop (featuring Piedmontese beef) that opened on the other end of town and now has a location near us, though I haven't been there yet. And there's Del Gould, which caters mostly to the restaurants.

[Mike Nolan]

I see hand dough recipes that use pate brisee, so it might depend on the recipe you used. With a hand pie, you wind up with a higher ratio of dough-to-filling than you do with a double-crust pie. Is it a dough you'd enjoy eating? Rolling a little sugar into the crust or using a glaze might help.

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