Chewy Granola

Mashing up some basil. Love this thing for little jobs. Ordinarily I would have pulled out my blender smoothie cup, but this is so much better.

Bit of an experiment… oat flour pumpkin muffins with monkfruit sweetener instead of sugar. They deflated like crazy when cooled. I also underbaked them so they were a bit mushy - not sure if that’s normal for them or just the fact that I accidentally added too much milk to the batter. The taste was not bad though. I’ll have to try the recipe again.

The color range of pumpkins. 😊 Three pumpkins roasted yesterday of varying size and color. I’m ready to start some baking of pumpkin desserts and pumpkin spice syrup!

I love pumpkin. We all know I’m one of “those” people. Here’s the thing though, this pumpkin is from last year and still fresh. That’s right. Such an amazing thing about winter squashes - keep the skin intact and store in a cool, dry place and they stay good. Love it! Off to roasting!

A few days ago we made some biscuits and gravy. These are the biscuits. Homemade and super simple using my premade baking mix and the Bisquick Rolled Biscuits recipe. I probably needed to roll them out thinner because they got super fluffy (it’s possible my mix has more leavening than Bisquick). Also, the recipe recommends using a 2.5” circular cutter, but I think it makes them a bit on the small side. I’ll probably use at least a 2.75” cutter next time.

It’s been a long time, but we made some biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Mostly because I felt like having some biscuits to see how they would go with the apple syrup I made (fantastic, by the way) so I made biscuits. My kiddo decided he wanted gravy to go with them, so I guided him through the process of making it. He didn’t appreciate that I didn’t have measurements for him.

I forgot to post pictures but the other day I processed a ton of apples I had received from my boss. I cooked down the apples themselves in the pressure cooker. I strained off the juice and set that aside - yum! The remaining apple got puréed into apple sauce. I also cooked down the peels in some water and added sugar to offset the the bitter flavor from the peels - it made a weak but pretty convincing juice. I used the peel juice as a base for some apple cinnamon syrup using the cinnamon syrup recipe I have (also used for pumpkin spice syrup). The syrup is great for coffee, pancakes, and more.

Anyone know if double yolks affect baking? I’m about to find out…

Can’t believe I have two teenagers now. Chocolate on chocolate was the request. Just a single layer on this one, but it’s the winning chocolate cake recipe I have that makes enough batter for a three layer cake. I never make them that big so the leftovers get saved for cake balls.

An awesome sale on strawberries means a return to mass processing. Well, within the purchase limit. I hope the harvest is good this year as I love keeping frozen strawberries on hand for compote and fruit leather. Not something I was able to do in Guyana where strawberries were usually about. $20/lb. Here, at less than $1/lb., I stock up!

Easter bread! Or as my nieces call it, “egg bread.” This is made from a Herman starter. It’s braided, but you wouldn’t know it from how fluffy it got. Then it sank. At least it tasted good. 😊

I’ve been off my habits of planning ahead and baking, but I finally pulled it together for a tradition from my family and made Irish Cottage Bread. I think it’s technically supposed to be “soda bread” but this recipe is far simpler than others I’ve seen for soda bread and it calls for baking powder rather than baking soda. I’m not sure where the original recipe came from, but it has always been a family favorite from when I was little.

Late in posting and I gotta admit, I’m a bit embarrassed. This year’s gingerbread house was finished in a sleep deprived stupor. Not my best work, but I got it done and at least it was tasty.

Terrifying image going into Thanksgiving week. Fortunately, I did know this was coming. Sam’s Club has my back. Restocking to commence immediately.

I did a thing. I made pumpkin spice syrup. 😁 I am beyond thrilled with how it turned out. I used a recipe for cinnamon syrup but substituted the water with pumpkin juice I reserved from straining the pumpkin purée and substituted pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon. It is so good. Great in coffee and I’m excited about other possibilities!

Guess what time it is?

I’m mixing up my own pumpkin pie spice from a recipe I got at My Baking Addiction. As I’ve mentioned before, I often prefer making my own spice blends because it helps with better turnover rates for spices I have on hand anyway.

This is me foraging for food. And also decor. After Halloween, so many people are ready to get rid of their pumpkins and I’m happy to take them! This year, I collected a wide variety including some of the more common medium and large orange variety often used for carving. All of these are edible. I love keeping warm cozy décor throughout November, so these guys will be decorative since they tend to last longer and I’ll roast up the larger ones first. Then, later in the month these will be roasted as well.

Restocking!! Whaaaaat?!?!? Since moving back and having a crazy schedule, I still feel like I’m moving in and stocking my kitchen in the first place so restocking has just not been done, but I need to get some basics in place so I feel more situated and can come up with quick easy meals that aren’t air fried nuggets - though let’s be honest, those meals happen, but we don’t need that every night, amiright? So finally, I got the time and inspiration to do a little bit. Baby step, but hopefully I can get back into the swing of things because it helps me so much to have stuff prepped ahead of time.

My youngest youngster is 12. This was from several weeks ago and I’m just now getting the photo up. I made a few changes to the icing. Like normal, I used butter, milk, vanilla, cocoa, and powdered sugar (measured with my heart), but unlike usual, I added some heavy whipping cream and mixed it with my whisk attachment instead of just the paddle attachment for my mixer. It turned out way smoother than my normal icing so I’m thinking I’ll stick with that method. Measuring doesn’t exist when I make icing, I just keep adding bit by bit and tasting along the way until it has the taste and consistency I’m looking for. It was a touch soft for the piping, but otherwise, it was perfect!

This year’s Easter bread ended up super fluffy!

It’s Pancake Tuesday, y’all. Mardi Gras tradition from my childhood. I couldn’t use my regular recipe since it calls for my Herman sourdough starter which isn’t ready yet, but this recipe works in a pinch. Not stellar, but a good basic recipe. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018180-perfect-buttermilk-pancakes?smid=url-share

I’m one of “those people” now. Yep, seems like overkill to have two Instant Pots, but as it turns out, I’ll use them both simultaneously. I’ve had two for less than a month and have used both at the same time on at least half a dozen occasions. Is it a need? Probably not, but if I have two, might as well take advantage, right?

Badly decorated cookies probably taste better because consuming them doesn’t come with the guilt of destroying a masterpiece. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.

I finally finished this year’s gingerbread house.

Every year I have issues with my pumpkin pie, so why did I make two? Burned crust on one and whether or not the other will set up is still in question. 😔