[Mike Nolan]

Consumer Reports has a report on stand mixers that looks at 39 different models and around two dozen brands, but Anksarsrum isn't one of them Most of them appear to be priced below the KA ones.

You have to buy a login to their site to see the ratings, and I have no idea if the full report was published in the magazine, which we haven't subscribed to for probably 40 years.

If I go ahead with my subscription bread service, I might be looking for a 20 quart spiral mixer that can produce at least 15 pounds of bread dough at a time. I don't think the Anksarsrum and similar mixers can do more than 8-10 pounds of dough at a time (and the videos for a large batch show it climbing up the dough hook), though that'd still be over twice what I can get from my 4.5Q KA.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making a batch of apple butter using 5.5 pounds of winesap apples in my 6 quart slow cooker.

Smells pretty good already and it's been maybe about an hour, it cooks for at least 10 hours, by which time the peels will have pretty much liquified.

I looked at a number of apple butter recipes, this one seemed pretty simple, core and chop the apples, add brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, salt and clove. One of the recipes called for a full teaspoon of ground clove in 6 pounds of apples, this one only called for 1/8 teaspoon.

I also found a recipe for apple scrap jelly that's made from the peels and cores, so I'm saving them in the freezer and will make that after I finish off making things with the winesap apples.

[Mike Nolan]

I was hoping to bake the 2nd batch of sourdough cheese crackers tomorrow afternoon, but I've got something else scheduled so I might not get to them until Tuesday. The apple pie will probably be kicked to then as well. I haven't even made the piecrust yet, and it needs to rest overnight.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm going to be curious to see how it tastes cold, potato-leek soup served cold is very good, AKA vichyssoise. I'll also be interested to see if the flavor improves after a day like chili does.

[Mike Nolan]

As noted in this week's cooking thread, the parsnip soup was a disappointment.

[Mike Nolan]

We might get a frost tonight or tomorrow, so I picked a big bowl of tomatoes today, though I didn't pick everything, so if we don't get that frost I might get another picking in a week or two. I also picked the last of the full-sized spaghetti squashes. There are a couple of littler ones that may never get ripe enough to pick. But I got 4 of them that were in the 35-45 ounce range, and that's not a bad return on a $2 packet of seeds.

But I'm already thinking ahead to next year's garden plans. I probably won't grow the Porter tomatoes, and I might cut back a bit on the Fourth of July, putting in more Italian Heirlooms and Amish Paste. If I can get a better source for First Lady tomatoes, I'll put some of them in, but only 1 of 4 plants produced much fruit this year, and what I thought was a 5th one turned out to be an Italian Heirloom, either I made a (fortuitous) mistake with the seeds or with labeling.

I'll probably do spaghetti squash again, not sure I'll do melons or broccoli. I'm thinking I might order some leek plants from Johnny's and put in a couple rows of them.

The Urban Soil Improvement project will send out a different common plant for everyone to grow in 2024, this year it was zucchini. I actually liked those zucchini, so I might do them again if I can find seeds (the variety is dunja). One plant is probably enough for us, though.

[Mike Nolan]

I can't say I'm surprised, Cooks Illustrated was going downhill for a long time before they dumped Christopher Kimball, and seems more interested in selling things (including site subscriptions) than providing useful information to cooks these days.

[Mike Nolan]

Well, the parsnip-apple-coriander-cumin soup was a disappointment.

Let's start with the recipe. It says it can be made in 35-45 minutes. It took me about 2 hours and I'm not sure the parsnips were cooked enough when I blended them.

I don't think the coriander/cumin spice mixture was really to our taste, others might like it, though.

We tried adding some cinnamon, that helped. Adding some apple cider helped even more. I thought about adding some brown sugar, but sweetness wasn't really what it needed.

I finished my bowl and then finished Diane's bowl, but there's a lot left over. Diane will take some of it to the wine teacher who recommended the recipe later this week. (Monday and Tuesday is fall break at UNL.)

Followup: After sitting in the fridge for a few days, the spices in the soup have mellowed and the parsnip-apple flavor is more prominent. I'd probably want to play with the spice blend a bit (less coriander and probably less cumin) but the soup is something I might actually make again now.

[Mike Nolan]

I haven't made pumpkin pie in several years, I do sweet potato pie instead, similar flavor profile and IMHO easier to make.

[Mike Nolan]

We're having one of the spaghetti squashes from the garden tonight, with a tomato-meat-mushroom sauce, and some oven toast.

[Mike Nolan]

Use them for cherry pies, mostly. I've been buying them in pint containers at a local store, this bag should keep me in cherries for a while.

[Mike Nolan]

I had a BLT using some leftover bacon from the other day, Diane had some soup.

[Mike Nolan]

I got a bushel of winesaps and 10 pounds of frozen Montmorency cherries today, took me a little over 2 hours round trip, including time in their store.

[Mike Nolan]

I made dough for another batch of cheese crackers, doubling the amount of cheese powder. I also added about a quarter cup of rye flour.

[Mike Nolan]

Kimmell Orchards in Nebraska City (about 50 miles away) has winesaps available, I am probably going going there tomorrow to buy some plus some frozen cherries.

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