Kim Shook

The sliced loaf turned out beautifully: Great crumb and it tastes wonderful. I'll be using it later for BLT's at lunch.

Did a loaf of CI's American Sandwich bread in the CSO this morning. Did my 1st rise in the regular oven by their method. You bring the oven to 200F, leave it on for 10 minutes and then turn it off. Did my proof in the CSO. Worked beautifully: Though I never get my dough as smooth as I'd like. I forgot that I read here about shielding the loaf with foil partway through baking, so it got a little dark - not really burned, though, so it should be ok. Smells wonderful. I'll post a picture when I slice it. I wish I could find somewhere other than my attic to store my bread machine. It would be easier to mix, knead and do the first rise in that and just transfer to a pan for the CSO. @Okanagancook - I have a "thank you" for the wonderful spreadsheet of CSO times and temperatures that you put together. What a wonderful timesaver - thanks for sharing your hard work on it.

First BLT of the summer: Farm stand tomatoes, Benton's bacon and Duke's mayo. Heaven.

How utterly beautiful! This morning was sweet rolls from a favorite local bakery, Benton's bacon and some very sub-par local white peaches:

Yeah, I saw that. I put the Chicago Metallic pan on my wishlist. $15.53.

I love Panera chicken salad, too. I do find sometimes that they have used onion that is a little aged - very strong.

It was an 8x6 glass dish. I did them at 350F for probably an hour. I would have let them go longer to get them like I like them, but the edges were in danger of burning.

Simple dinner tonight – veggies: And sous vide chicken sandwich: Tender and moist even when cold.

Made brownies today: Too gooey for me: I like a super chewy brownie - much drier than this. I think the problem was the pan I used. I somehow don't have a square pan and used a fairly small glass casserole. It made them too thick, I think.

Made (Ghirardelli) brownies in the CSO for She Who Must Be Fed (my mother, who made it clear that Fig Newtons and graham crackers were not acceptable sweets): Too gooey for me:

I did a chicken, broccoli and rice casserole last night. I sous vide the chicken breasts. I did it to 150F this time instead of the 145F I did last time. We preferred the texture of the 150F chicken.

Add a smear of mayo and that would be what I had for lunch most of my childhood summers. I rarely find a tomato these days that holds up to my memories of NC tomatoes picked and eaten still warm from the garden.

See, that's why I DO share recipes - complete ones, with all the notes and hints and changes I've made over the years. It's why I have an online cookbook of all the recipes I've tried over the years (over 1500 and counting). I am so honored when someone likes my cooking enough to want the recipe. I think food evokes so many important memories and feelings. I mourn the lost recipes of my family. Things that people remember eating, but somehow never got the recipe for.

@HungryChris – did you ever post the recipe for the Love Salad? I seem to serve the same salad every night and that one looks like something we would love. Dinner last night started with a dressed salad: Just my usual salad, but I dressed it in the bowl with EVOO, red wine vinegar, a pinch of sugar and S&P. This is what my mom always did. No bottled dressing and no mixing the dressing separately. Just tipping stuff onto the salad in the bowl and tossing and tasting until it was right. I need to do this more often. We rely too much on bottled dressings. Chicken, broccoli and rice casserole: This was a Tricia Yearwood recipe that I saw her make on Food Network last week. Gooey, cheesy comfort food. We liked it a lot.

Made “Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Bread” in the CSO: It turned out well. I didn’t have any chocolate chips, so I used peanut butter ones. Fantastic substitution. @rotuts suggested it be called The Elvis. I'm thinking of adding some bacon grease to The Elvis!

Hi, WA Guy! Welcome to eG. I'm looking forward to your posts!

Especially if I use a little bacon grease. Which, now that I think about it, is not a bad idea.

I used my recipe. So, next time I'll go with the time on my recipe. But should I still lower the baking temp 25 degrees? I've always heard that when you cook with convection you should do that.

Sorry - the bread took a long time to get to 200F. I never trust a toothpick with things that have chips in them. They always come out gooey and you don't know if it is batter or melted chocolate.

Trying to make banana bread this morning. Timing has been a bitch! My original recipe called for 350F for 55-60 minutes. This recipe which is specifically for a CSO, said 325F Convection-Steam for 35 minutes. I did not notice the "steam" part until AFTER the thing finally finished cooking and I'm wondering how much missing that "steam" had to do with my problems. It took forever to come up to 200F! It probably cooked for over an hour. I did tent it with foil halfway through and it is gorgeous, but why did it take so long to cook? I'll post pictures later when it has cooled and I cut it. So, it turned out well. Tasted very good and had a nice texture. Still confused about why it took so long: I didn't have any chocolate chips, so I used peanut butter chips. Good idea!!

Mr. Kim decided that he wanted to make grilled flank steak the other night. Started with The Salad and bread: The flank steak: Marinade was soy sauce, olive oil, honey, rosemary and garlic. It was delicious: Mushrooms, corn and Parmesan noodles to go with: Everything but the corn was great. It was so tough – like cow corn.

Breakfast this morning was a freezer gift: I discovered some of my MIL's hot cross buns in there and paired it with sage sausage. They freeze so well. Still have a couple left in there.

Egg and bacon on brioche roll:

I agree - torn croutons are wonderful!