I hate my big oven so much! It’s a Viking wall oven and after it’s used, the cooling fan stays on forEVER and it’s LOUD! The kitchen is supposed to be my happy, peaceful place and that’s why I’ve learned to bake almost everything in my toaster oven… my nice, quiet, less-energy-using toaster oven. Here’s what I cooked this week:
Crispy apple tart (in my toaster oven!)
Tomato soup
Vegetable fried rice with Asian salad
Chicken & spinach skillet pasta
Chicken salad
Granola bars
Vegetable chili
No knead crusty rolls (gotta have them for chili!)
Chocolate pudding
No knead whole wheat fruit & nut bread
Pizza with peppers, onions, and mushrooms + tomato & cucumber salad
Egg salad
Tortillas
Pasta fagioli
Pesto pasta with meatballs + salad
Peanut butter cookies
I woke up mad at my husband for something he did in my dream. Is that wrong? As usual, he thinks I’m overreacting. 😵💫
I don’t know how I’m so busy – I’m retired! But there’s always something to do. A lot of it’s grocery shopping because when you cook with so much produce, fresh is always better, plus some stores have better looking berries, while others have better looking baggers! 😀 Here’s what I cooked this week:
Creamy chicken & broccoli pasta (will be posting soon…)
The last four items (ribs, sides & cake) were all for my husband’s birthday. ❤️ He is younger than I. He says I should try to get more people to find my recipes and I had an idea. I have lot of pans: baking pans, frying pans, pizza pans, round pans, square ones, sauté pans, sheet pans… I could broaden my horizons by borrowing another social media platform idea, but mine would be called OnlyPans! 😀 Thoughts?
Wait…What!?! BUGS in my FLOUR?!? I debated on sharing this, especially the picture, but I want to alert all my fellow bakers to check your flour before using it. I’ve been using organic King Arthur flour for years but yesterday, when I opened a new bag, it was crawling with bugs! I was stunned. I closed the bag up and taped it shut. I immediately called the store to ask the manager to check the other bags.Then I emailed the King Arthur company (yesterday was a holiday – the 4th) and I received an automated reply:
“Wheat, like all plants, has naturally occurring insects and other organisms present in its environment. Once the flour goes through our pest mitigation processes and leaves our milling facility, it can be difficult to determine where/when/how insects get into the flour. There are some grain insects that can chew through the bags, and even some who can work their way in through the folds of the top & bottom of the bags.”
My first thought was, ‘if they have an automated reply, how often is this happening?’ I suppose it’s always a possibility but you need to know to check your flour before routinely using it in case the bugs are not as easily visible as mine were. Mine were having a family reunion!
I wondered if organic flour might be more appealing to weevils? I also wondered if they were more common years ago and that’s why sifters were invented?? The store manager told me it does not happen often with flour but that it does happen more with dried beans. This is not to freak you out but to make you aware that this can happen. I took the picture in a hurry so it’s kind of fuzzy, but you’ll thank me for not being able to see these ugly bugs clearly.
I can’t think of anything worse than seeing bugs in your flour… except maybe ants in your pants!
