The only food involved, by the way, is what they can buy at the track. Track food. So essentially, it’s an event without food. No offense to you beer and hot dog lovers.

Even before MrMacho left I began baking, testing some new recipes: Orange Poppyseed Bundt, Cinnamon Streusel Coffeecake, basic coffeecake for seasonal fruits, and a Five Flavor Poundcake. I didn’t want MrMacho thinking I was happy that he would be gone, but really, being alone with my puppy in the kitchen is not a bad place to be. Surrounded by a few cakes isn’t too bad, either. And the daily winner is…

Five Flavor Poundcake, yessirree.

I’ve made so many baked goods recently, my freezer is full, so I’ll be taking them along to the classes I teach. Five Flavor Poundcake will be guest of honor at “Start and Run a Home-Based Food Business” in the Columbia-Greene class next Saturday.

All this baking drove puppy crazy. She sat at the kitchen doorway, drooling.

So what’s a food person to do on a lovely September Saturday when she wasn’t invited to the races? Did I mention it was in the mid-70’s with a clear blue sky and full sun?

I went to the Kingston Farmers’ Market. Twice a month they have Crafts on John Street.

Monica Noll-Donnelly owns Mother May I?

A very tempting display.

Monica sculpts food (cake slices, cupcakes, pizza, and more) using polymer clay (don’t eat) to create non-edible (really, don’t eat) jewelry and magnets.

Look what I bought! A candy magnet.

For more info about Monica and her yummy non-edibles.

So that’s all for today. MrMacho will be home soon and I want to bake him a cake.

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We piled Cecelia's tomato preserves on fresh sourdough bread. Tart strips of lemon are a delicious surprise.

Next door neighbor Cecelia had a bumper crop this year and brought me a jar of her tomato preserves. (Then two more, thank you very much.) Cecelia uses the recipe recall method. No written instructions but a keen memory and a willingness to adjust for taste.

Tomato Preserves
12-15 medium tomatoes, blanched, skinned, and chopped
2-3 lemons, sliced thin
2-3 cups sugar

1. In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine tomatoes, lemons, and sugar. Cook and stir until thickened. Adjust sugar for preferred sweetness level.
2. Cool and pour into sterilized jars. Refrigerated, this conserve keeps for about one year, or until your next crop arrives.

Cecelia suggests serving with meat. I think a spoon is all I need… and maybe another jar or two.

This recipe is a quick fix. Especially if someone else does the fixing. Thank you again, neighbor!

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Join them at the Kingston New York Farmers' Market.

Meet owner Elise Pittelman and her husband. And view their beautiful display.

Chocolate Revolution sells raw chocolate morsels sweetened with agave.

And what great customer service! I bought a chocolate bar on a hot day and they gave me an ice pack so the chocolate would make it safely home.

Contact Elise for more information. Elisepitt@yahoo.com

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These pretzel rolls are dense, chewy, and moist. Perfect.

Last Sunday we zipped down to Saunderskill Farm to get more corn. MrMacho wants to eat enough corn this summer to sate his corn habit. “Where else would you like to go?” he asked on our way home.

Thank you for asking! I’d been thinking about those pretzel rolls ever since I ate one from Twisted Bread, at the Rosendale Farmers Market.

Twisted Foods bakes in a local commercial kitchen and sells at several farmers' markets.

Last time the lovely pretzel ladies were sold out of all but the plain.

This time I bought several to eat with all those tomatoes tumbling from the top shelf in my fridge. (My veggie crisper is full.)

And I never leave the market without one of Jody’s pies. Cherry. Get there early.

Get there early. Jody often sells out before noon. The Rosendale Farmers Market in Rosendale New York.

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Another Breadbaking Day delight, Cinnamon Comfort Buns

Our August assignment for Breadbaking Day #33 was to make yeast bread using liquor. I made a sweet dough in my breadmachine, replacing part of the water with Southern Comfort, a fruit and spice flavored whiskey.

My Cinnamon Comfort Buns have Southern Comfort in the dough and in the icing and then served with a hard sauce. “What’s hard sauce?” you ask. More on that, later… Follow the recipe below, and no sampling before the buns are finished…

Hey y'all, I selected Southern Comfort because I like the name. Go figure. But use any liquor you want.

Cinnamon Comfort Buns
Yield: 9 buns
¼ cup Southern Comfort (or any favorite liquor)
½ cup water or milk
2 eggs
4 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
½ cup butter, very soft
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon yeast

cinnamon sugar and butter for spreading on dough
1 cup mixed currants, raisins, and nuts, optional

White Icing
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 cup (approx) confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon Southern Comfort
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Add the first eight ingredients in the order listed; use the dough cycle.
2. When done, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a large rectangle.
3. Spread with soft butter, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, add nuts or raisins if you like.
4. Roll up, pinch along the seam, cut into equal-sized pieces. I used nine to fill this 10×10 casserole dish. The finished buns bake together keeping the sides soft and moist.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Let dough proof until double in size.
6. Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until deep golden brown. Cool before icing.
7. For the icing, combine melted butter with the confectioners’ sugar, Southern Comfort, and extract. Adjust until the icing is stiff enough to hold its shape. Drizzle over buns.
8. For the hard sauce, combine all ingredients and spoon onto bun before eating. Hard Sauce, usually made with rum or brandy, is a traditional American way to serve bread pudding, a comfort food. So of course these buns needed a Comfort hard sauce.

Hard Sauce
½ cup butter, softened
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons Southern Comfort

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Watch your slowrise bread as it's baking!

Nashoba Brook Bakery in West Concord MA  created their sourdough starter using local, wild Concord grapes. The breads take almost 24 hours from mix to cooling rack.

We’d had a long day and stopped for a snack.

A window looked down upon the production area with a huge brick oven in the back.

I always ask permission to take pictures. "Would you mind?" I asked.

She smiled back.  “You mean right here or in the baking area?” Geez, you mean I can go down there? (And touch the brick on that incredible oven?)

Bakers were scaling dough

and shaping bread.

One baker was checking loaves just before removing from the oven. The rack on right had loaves waiting to be loaded and baked.

Here, he was double-checking the loaves when I realized my snack was waiting.

We had picked out a luscious pear tart so I hustled back.

Then we chose some bread and treats for home.

Dinner included a baguette and sourdough. Dinner and a show - Excellent!

Read more about that incredible oven and slowrise bread from the Nashoba Brook Bakery.

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Fruit smoothies are the easiest and most delicious recipes to make with kids.

You actually don’t need a recipe, just a general idea of the ingredients. I like to use milk, yogurt, and fruit. Use any proportion you like. Frozen fruits are best. They make an extra yummy frosty drink. If you like sweeter drinks add sugar or honey.

I buy lots of fruit when it’s on sale. To freeze bananas: let them ripen (riper = sweeter) then peel, cut into chunks, and freeze. To freeze strawberries, peaches, nectarines, mangoes, blueberries, and most fruits: clean and cut into pieces, then freeze. They’re all great for making smoothies. Use freezer-safe bags and they’ll keep for months. If you can wait that long…

Banana smoothies - frozen bananas, milk, and yogurt.

Vanilla smoothies - milk, yogurt, and more yogurt.

Strawberry smoothies - frozen berries, milk, and yogurt.

For kids of all ages, it’s a great way to introduce the topic of nutrition and what makes a healthy daily diet.

For breakfast or snack, try vanilla smoothies with whole wheat gingerbread.

These are a great quick fix. If you’re selling smoothies it’s important to follow your portion guidelines so expenses remain constant.

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If you don’t want to spend time hauling out a mixer and then cleaning up later, just use a bowl and spatula.

Take any favorite cookie recipe and instead of scooping individual cookies, press the dough into a sheet pan.

Bake until golden brown and cool before cutting.

Cut into squares and you’re done.

Even if you need to package and label, these pan cookies are a quick fix.

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I love visiting family but the drive can be boring.

Beautiful, but boring.

So I decided to take my own advice. Before driving home I researched and found numerous bakeries along my route. I selected two for a self-guided bakery tour.

My first stop was at Cakewalk Bakery in Lee, MA.

Lee is touristy-cute with a people friendly main street. It was a very busy downtown but still I saw numerous parking spots. And just as many crosswalks with posted signs: Stop for Pedestrians!

"What do you recommend?" I asked. The clerk was sweet but didn't like the camera. No lipstick! Other customers intervened. "Stop complaining and smile," they said.

My next stop was Our Daily Bread in Chatham, NY.

This bakery floods numerous farmers markets every week with huge displays of uncovered products. Their baked goods always look tempting but I’d never purchased any because of how they were displayed. This store visit was my big chance!

The retail area was somewhat untidy. But I bought the most delicious morning glory muffin.

At least all the products were covered. Except for the breads on shelving behind the display cases - so customers couldn’t touch or drool on them.

Chatham was also a cute town, but I didn’t linger – I was anxious to be homeward bound. I’d left MrMacho home alone. Oh, no!

MrMacho was anxious, too. “Where’ s the knife?” he asked, then began cutting the treats apart.

Box on right is from Cakewalk. Box on left and bread in front is from Our Daily Bread.

Box on right: I bought a couple of croissant pastries (lemon cheese, front left; and almond roll, middle right); Rose (back left) a cinnamon-type yeast bun; Rocky Road brownie; cookies (one chocolate, and one called Main Street); and a lemon ginger scone.

The lemon cheese croissant had a lemon curd that made the pastry amazing - most bakeries just use a factory made filling. The Rose was exceptional, with a soft interior and a crusty cinnamon outer layer; it was the best pastry ever! The Rocky Road brownie was minus the marshmallows so I don’t know if the clerk made a mistake. The scone was the ugliest one I have ever seen – the top was concave, as if the baker pushed together end pieces of dough to squeeze out another product. And it was soft, soft, soft, with no scone-texture. But it was definitely tasty. Everything was fresh. Really fresh, nothing day-old.

Box on left: I bought a morning glory muffin (back right), an apple-raisin scone (back left) and an apple-filled pastry (front).

The apple pastry was severely under-baked; the scone was okay without much flavor; the muffin was delicious. It was also the ugliest muffin I’ve ever seen with a ridge around the rim and a flat glossy-black center. Ugly yes, but it was moist and delicious. The loaf of grain bread was dry and tough. After two slices I turned it into croutons.

These side trips made the travel home an enjoyable journey and only added an extra ten miles. Can’t wait for my next road trip.

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Cinnamon Crown Cake, one of many samples

SUNY Ulster open house for Continuing and Professional Education
Wed Aug 18 4:00-6:00 pm – Business Resource Center, Albany Ulster Ave, Kingston, NY

Come learn about new classes, speak with instructors, attend workshops, and enjoy samples from my upcoming cookbook. No calorie counting allowed.

Recipe testing in progress

PLUS come chat about my two new courses this fall.

MOVING YOUR DREAMS FORWARD
Do you feel stalled and need help moving forward? This class is for people who have already taken “Start and Run a Home-Based Food Business” and need some specific help starting up. You will review the process, create a personal check-list, and discuss ways to handle various issues. October 2 Saturday, 9 am - noon

GROWING YOUR HOME-BASED FOOD BUSINESS
Where are you now? Where are you going? This class is for owners of home-based food businesses who are ready to expand their current business. The class will talk about techniques to increase customer base, add value to the products you already produce, develop marketing strategies, and more. Now that you have the basics, where do you want to go? October 2 Saturday 12:15 - 3:15 pm

For more information about the Open House call (845) 339-2025

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