Philotic Web

Not really a smell, but I made a frozen banana-almond milk-peanut butter milkshake. Yum yum yum. Since I used unsweetened pb and unsweetened almond milk, next time I think I'll add brown sugar.

Oooh, maybe I'll try freezing my bananas! Also, I usually add a bit of cocoa powder Honey is a good sweetener as well.

wow. I've never thought to try freezing the bananas... I usually just add an ice cube or two...

Ugh, I never put ice in smoothies, it melts and ruins them. If I'm not using frozen berries, I just rely on everything else being refrigerated to begin with.

Also, I finally killed off the last bit hubbard squash soup I had frozen from the fall. just in time to graduate.

I always have a few bananas in the freezer, because New York markets just cannot provide bananas that last more than a day or two before going bad, but I can never resist picking up a bunch at the store. I eat them plain all the time, I love the texture-- just like a bar of ice cream! But they're great for smoothie fixes too Honey is a great idea for a sweetener next time! I'm gonna try that.

So I'm heading to Seattle tomorrow afternoon (after watching a make a wish kid play the Portland Timbers with his soccer team!!!!) to go see my Dr and go on a yarn crawl with my Mother in Law. I'm leaving my poor husband home alone for three whole days and he doesn't cook... So I made him a HUGE pot of beef stew and a fresh cottage loaf to feed himself until I get back. That and when I get home a friend from TN is flying in and I wont have time to cook so hopefully there will be leftovers for us to eat Friday night.

Ugh, I never put ice in smoothies, it melts and ruins them.

Yes, I've been told I eat too fast many times... but at least my ice never gets a chance to melt!

thoughtreader: that looks amazing! Especially right now, because it's COLD outside and it looks sooooo warm and comfy

thoughtreader: that looks amazing! Especially right now, because it's COLD outside and it looks sooooo warm and comfy

Thanks! I actually only tried a bite (it was a good one) because it was 1 am when it was finally finished and I just wanted to go to bed

Smell not actually from my kitchen but the best food cart in Portland and best cheese steak I have ever had.... and I've been to Philly!

when I get home a friend from TN is flying in

Llama?

when I get home a friend from TN is flying in

Llama?

Sadly no just an old co-worker.

I love to indulge in the great gamble that is frequenting each and every food cart and truck I come across! It will probably kill me someday but what a way to go!

Morels are on ! had some fresh on a steak last night "WOW"

lol. if ONLY I were a muchroom guy I might be drueling... as it is, I'm just sorta "yeah! good for YOU!" haha.

Had Lahvosh tonite for the first time... quite nice with bleu cheese, chicken and caramelized onions

Alright, bread friends! Help me out!

I took some time off from making bread since I was miserable pregnant, recovering from childbirth, in the hospital with illness, etc, so it's been awhile since I've made any. I'm finally in a place where I can dive back in and I'm super excited to do so! I pull out my trusty everyday recipe and I get to work.

The loaves have no oven spring.

So I try again a few days later. Same result.

I wait a few weeks to regain some confidence. Same result.

I try it with all bread flour, no wheat flour. Same result.

I'm using the exact same recipe as I did before and I NEVER had problems back then. I know my yeast is fine, since I've made pizza and naan bread successfully several times in the last few months. The dough rises nicely in the pans, but the top deflates and becomes very flat while baking.

What am I doing wrong?!? I'm SO frustrated!!! I miss my homemade bread and I'm tired of feeding cheap crappy bread to my family!!

How old is your yeast, and have you checked to make sure it foams?
Does your oven possibly have cold spots?

Is it over-rising on the counter? If you know the yeast is good, I'd try cutting the rise time down some. Sometimes I forget about my dough and it rises too much. It usually deflates a bit in the oven when that happens.

The yeast is new and it's foaming properly and working in other things properly. So I don't think yeast is the problem.

I need to get an oven thermometer to see if my oven is a lower temp from a year ago.

I didn't think I was raising it extra long. But you may be right, since from looking around online, it's possible I'm not using enough flour, so it's rising too much for the amount of flour I have been using. (I usually try to use the least amount of flour I can get away with, so my bread is softer. Maybe I'm just out of touch for how sticky my dough should be.)

In any case, thanks for your suggestions. I'll try testing the temp of my oven and making sure to not over-rise and I'll report back!

Thanks, friends!

(I love knowing so many people who make bread, all in one place!!)

Other thing that I thought of: are you guys high altitude?

Technically, I am on the border of high altitude. It usually doesn't affect my baking at all. How would I adjust bread for high altitude? Less yeast?

Today we had Caesar salad for lunch with homemade dressing (Rei says it was my best batch yet!) and blackened tofu/anchovies. For dinner I made a vegetable chowder but then added some tuna at the end.

It's been a fishy day here, I guess.

Not a smell yet but there are a BUNCH of free cookbooks on amazon for kindle today.... go search cookbooks then list by price low to high and you will fin TONs of them if you are interested. I will report back with smells soon

Tonight, I am eating Noah Solver's turkey sandwich and beef chili (I HOPE it's beef chili...it certainly LOOKS like beef chili) that he accidentally left in my fridge when he and Darian came over to discuss a particular music video...

Scones, mocha shortbread, earl grey shortbread, rosemary and olive oil coffee cake, baba ganouj.

Today will have falafel and koftesi and kashata and pirokopita. A bit of an "ethnic" spread for a party tomorrow.

This is from last week and some of you might have seen it on FB but I made my Grandma Mary's Picadillo and fresh home made tortillas. IT was SO yummy. Nothing tastes more like home for me than fresh tortillas

Tortilla dough resting before I roll it out


Cooking on a hot cast iron griddle. (The only correct way to cook/heat a tortilla)


All cooked and still warm to serve with dinner



Grandma's Picadillo recipe incase anyone wants to try it.... I added more cumin because I like it Its really simple and very yummy and filling food so try it!


Cooking


Ready to eat Yuuuumm

This is from last week and some of you might have seen it on FB but I made my Grandma Mary's Picadillo and fresh home made tortillas. IT was SO yummy. Nothing tastes more like home for me than fresh tortillas ... Ready to eat Yuuuumm

that looks AMAZING. I haven't made tortillas in such a long time

the only smell coming from in my kitchen at the moment is coffee - but do not underestimate the power of coffee!

That looks soo good! Never made tortillas before, PS good marks for using the cast iron!

Homemade tortillas are yummylicious! Also, made some rhubarb crisp a couple days ago. It was yummy!

I made some pretty decent pad thai this week! Go me!

Hopefully, this weekend my kitchen will smell like ice cream. I'm just itching to break out the ice cream maker and try some of the recipes in the couple of ice cream books I've acquired over the winter.

Julie and the girls all went up to Green bluff day before last to pick strawberrys and OMG the house smells so good! Everything good is happening in that kitchen, I even got a big warm strawberry cobbler ( something new) that really perked me up.

The last thing I made was a toasted turkey and pesto sandwich made with homemade basil and pecan pesto, basil for which grew on my porch. (Which was accompanied by brie and crackers and a mint julep made with mint that I grew on my porch, and was all enjoyed sitting on my porch on the last comfortable day of summer.) (I'm guessing on that last comfortable day part, but the [sarcasm]lovely[/sarcasm] southern summer seems to be here now.)

Blueberry pancakes for dinner, with blueberries that I picked this week.

That sounds amazing! I had spaghetti and meatballs, but I would kill for some pancakes.

I'm in charge of lunch/dinner this week since my parents are working. So far

-shrimp scampi
-capresi (spelling?) tarts
-arugula salad
-kale chips
-pot-stickers
-green onion pancakes
-miso soup
-black bean brownies (recipe from Melisa de Arabian, food network, she's amazing)
-BLA (bacon lettuce avocado) sandwiches

I'll be looking through this thread for a bit since I'm starting to run out of ideas

When it get this hot I eat late if at all when its cooler and it's 10 pm and I royally smelled up the house with garlic n olive oil pasta with a lot of the garden in it , Finally had a few ripe tomatoes to go in it . I so miss good garden ripe tomatoes, store bought just dosen't cutt it!

Pork dumplings with coconut peanut sauce. Also fresh raspberry jam.