Spent the morning in the kitchen.....

[Winchester]

It is cold and gusty outside today, so it was a good day to be in the kitchen. And I managed to get some things done. The cranberry relish is my mother's recipe. It's just cranberries, red unpeeled apples, large oranges, and a bit of sugar. I have enough for us, for my sister, and for my niece.

CranberryRelish.jpg

• Winchester
• Nov 20, 2016

The sugar cookies are from that imitation Lofthouse cookie recipe that I had mentioned before. They are good. I don't decorate well at all and decided to just go back and forth with the icing. We like them and I'll be making them again. I'm going to keep the recipe. Mix the dough, roll into balls, flatten, and bake. Easy (except for the decorating part).

SugarCookies.jpg

• Winchester
• Nov 20, 2016

Two loaves of sourdough bread that I'll cube and toast on Wednesday night to use in our stuffing on Thanksgiving. It seemed so silly to go out and buy a loaf of sourdough bread when I've got perfectly good starter in the fridge! The slashes don't look that great as I don't have a lame; I had to use a butcher knife.

SourdoughBread.jpg

• Winchester
• Nov 20, 2016

Rick moved things around in the living room today to make room for the Christmas tree next weekend. And then he vacuumed the house while I worked in the kitchen. Even though we didn't get outside, we still accomplished things.

 

[margecat]

Yummm!!! Everything looks delicious! And the bread looks great. You certainly were busy!

 

[Winchester]

Thank you, Barbara; I appreciate you looking at the pictures. It was busy, but I enjoyed every minute. I love working in the kitchen.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Winchester It's beginning to look like the holidays around your kitchen. Everything looks so good. I am not sure I could take that bread and make stuffing though. The bread looks so good.

 

[Primula]

The slashes don't look that great as I don't have a lame

What is a lame?

 

[Kat0121]

 
Yummm!!! Everything looks delicious! And the bread looks great. You certainly were busy!

That bread looks like heaven. It would be gone by now at my house. There would be no stuffing unless it was from Mrs Stove Top

.

I am a bread monster. I can pass up cakes, cookies, pies, etc with no problem. Bread I cannot stay away from. Plain, toasted, with something on it, it doesn't matter. Those loaves would look like they had been attacked by great white sharks before they were finally put out of their misery and (likely) eaten with room temperature Breakstone's lightly salted whipped butter. 

 

[Winchester]

Thanks, guys. I had a lot of fun on Sunday.

@Primula  , a lame is a utensil used to make slashes in the tops of the bread loaves; it's supposed to help them bake better. I don't have one and I really have no desire to get one, although I probably should. Some of them, though, can be quite beautiful. They're really sharp and I'd probably kill my hands. I used a butcher's knife to make my slashes and it was fine, although my knife could be a little sharper. Here's is a lame from King Arthur:  http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/black-walnut-lame There are things that I probably should have for bread-baking, but, you know, I've managed for all these years and I just can't see it.

It's hard to keep homemade bread in our house. I'm a serious bread-hound; I just love the stuff. We've been munching on the cinnamon-raisin sourdough English muffins, too. We get them out of the freezer, wrap in paper towels, and microwave for about 20 seconds, then split and toast. They're seriously good and it's hard for Rick to stay away from them and, to be honest, it's hard for me, too. I think I'm going to make blueberry English muffins the next time. 

I was going to use both loaves of the sourdough bread for the stuffing, but Rick and I made short work of one-half of one of the loaves, so I'll use what I have left and that will have to work. I threw them in the freezer and will get them out Wednesday morning, cube and toast them and then use them on Thursday. I really didn't want to freeze them, but I had to....otherwise we would have eaten both loaves.

I dearly love to make bread and I love experimenting with different breads and rolls. It's just so much fun and it's so relaxing.

Thanks for looking at the pictures. I do appreciate it. 

 

[Primula]

Pam, there is nothing better than photos. Would love to see your kitchen! Thanks for lame link. I love words & that was a new one for me.

 

[Winchester]

Thank you! I'm leery about posting pictures because not everybody likes to see them, but I love taking them. I think I am a wanna-be blogger sometimes. 

We gutted and did our kitchen over a few years ago. But it's still your standard kitchen, just updated. I like it though and, most of the time, it works well for me.....other than I have no really good place to roll out dough. The one thing I really wanted was large baking island. We thought we could do it, but we can't. We thought we could put a garage on the house, with a new living room on top of the garage. Make the living room into a dining room. Get rid of the table in the kitchen and install the baking area. We're too old at this point. It would have been a nice idea, but we're not going there at this point in life.

Here are some pictures from four years ago when the kitchen was first finished:  http://www.thecatsite.com/g/a/149729/final-kitchen-pictures/ Like I said, nothing exotic, but it is very bright for me. I truly do enjoy being in the kitchen. 

Those pictures don't show the new fridge. We went with a Samsung 4-door fridge. http://www.thecatsite.com/g/a/164078/new-fridge/

I have two regrets:

• We were unable to put in the baking island
• I went with stainless steel appliances (Man, they are a bugger to keep clean. Fingerprints all over everything. I wipe them and wipe them. Everything shows.)

It sounds like I don't appreciate what we were able to do and nothing could be further from the truth. The old kitchen was dark and very dreary. A tiny little window at the sink, no sun tunnels, nothing for natural light. The white floor showed every single speck of dirt, every single piece of cat litter. So this kitchen is a dream for me to work in. It really is and I am grateful. Truly. It's nothing fancy, but it's mine. I love working here.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Winchester The kitchen is wonderful. What kind of floor is that? A baking island would have been so nice for you. But you seem to get it done anyway. :nod:

 

[Winchester]

The kitchen floor is a vinyl tile floor. The tiles are grouted together, like a regular tile floor would be. We had the floor professionally done and I love it.