unbelievably good scones

I made this scone recipe for a meeting Saturday morning. These are incredible and not horribly difficult to make:

Cranberry Oat Scones (original recipe here)
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter, cold and in cubes
1 cup quick oats
1 cup dried cranberries
1 whole egg
1 Tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix together sour cream and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry blender (or two forks), cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in oats and cranberries. Then, stir in the sour cream a little bit at a time. The dough will start to come together.

On a clean surface, flip out the dough. Knead together the dough so that it fully comes together.

Once all the dough has become one big piece, lightly flour the counter top. Form dough into a ball and then roll out into a disc that is about 7 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick. Cut into eight equal pieces.

Place scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

In a small cup, beat together the egg and milk. Using a pastry brush, brush the scones with the egg wash (two coats per scone).

Bake in a preheated oven for 25-20 minutes or until scones are brown and a toothpick comes out clean with inserted in the middle of a scone.

Serve warm or at room temperature with butter, jam, clotted cream, or by themselves.

Notes:
1. I didn't quite have a full cup of dried cranberries, so I filled the rest with cut-up dried apricots. Not only did this taste good, it was very pretty!

2. The baking soda will cause the sour cream to expand and turn the consistency of whipped yogurt. This is awesome, but make sure you use a big enough bowl!

3. I found that the dough did not come together well in the mixing bowl, but I dumped it out onto the counter when it was quite crumbly anyway. It was extremely messy but ended up okay. I worked with it so long that I was afraid the butter got too warm, so I put it in the fridge for a bit to cool back up.

4. Cutting this into only 8 makes for really huge scones. I recommend at least 16.

5. I completely forgot to do the egg wash on top. They turned out fine.

6. These grow quite a bit while baking, so be sure to give them plenty of room on the baking sheet.

That's it! I think I will be making these for the rest of my life...

office birthday cake for lisa

currently cooling in my office (but not too much!):

Apple Cake
4 whole apples, peeled and cut up (however you like)
1.5 c white sugar
2 c flour
3/4 c applesauce
4 eggs
4 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

mix all together and put in lightly greased 9 x 13 pan.
bake in the office oven for 45 minutes at 350.
drizzle with glaze (1 cup powdered sugar + 2 Tbsp milk + splash of vanilla)
drive everyone a work crazy with how good it smells.
eat with coworkers for lisa's birthday.

original recipe here

dinner =

1 cup-ish cooked pasta
2 slices thick-cut bacon, cooked and chopped
about 6 old-school-Christmas-tree-light sized tomatoes, cut up
1 Tbsp-ish bacon grease
a few shakes of Italian seasoning
a dash or two of balsamic vinegar
a sprinkle of shredded mozzarella for kicks

(accompanied by creamy cucumbers and homegrown watermelon)

yum.

creamy cucumbers

1 cup mayonnaise (not Miracle Whip, mind you)
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
4 medium cucumbers, peeled and sliced

In a large bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, dill, and seasoned salt. Mix in the cucumber slices, tossing to coat.

(from Kristin via allrecipes.com)

mom's peach sangria

a very tasty summer drink:

1 bottle of sweet, white wine (Riesling is perfect)
3/4 c peach schnapps
2 diced peaches
seedless grapes--green or red, sliced in half (optional)

Mix, drink. It's better if you can let it sit in the fridge for a bit; the longer you do, the drunker the fruit gets.

Note: feel free to use a dry white wine, but then add up to 1/3 c sugar for balance

one way to eat frozen waffles

you'll need:

2 frozen whole wheat waffles, toasted
peanut butter
plain yogurt
walnuts
honey
cinnamon

spread, stack, shake, crumble, drizzle, eat

zucchinicakes

More summer goodness:

2 cups shredded and squeezed zucchini
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. finely chopped onion (I used red)
1/2 c. flour (which I replaced with 2 Tbsp flour and 1/3 c. bread crumbs)
1/2 c. grated Parmesean
1/2 c. grated mozzarella
1 clove minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tbsp oil for frying (but I used olive oil cooking spray with each batch)

Mix everything together and fry in a pan in heaping-teaspoon-sized patties.
Eat hot with marinara or sour cream (I had plain yogurt around and liked that the best).

yummy snack

If you're: 1) living in a house with A/C, 2) brave enough to turn on the stove without it, and/or 3) have a microwave, here's a yummy summer snack for you:

take a bunch of green beans (preferably from the market or your (parent's) garden,
snip off an end or two (and make them small if you want),
undercook them just a bit,
douse them in lime juice, salt, and a little butter,
let them cool some,
and eat them with your fingers.

:)

black beans and rice with lime

Before it got too hot around here, I made a huge pot of black beans and rice using this recipe from tastykitchen.com. I would definitely make it again, especially if I were having people over to help save me from eating it for a week (well, I had one friend over, but I still had most of the pot left). Oh, and I heeded a recommendation to double the beans...and used lime juice I already had on-hand.

Lime Black Beans and Rice
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 whole Yellow Onion, Finely Chopped
2 teaspoons Cumin
2 Tablespoons Thyme
2 teaspoons Paprika
3 cups Chicken Broth
1-½ cup White Rice
1 can (15 Oz. Can) Black Beans, Drained
1 whole Lime, Juiced
Chopped Cilantro, For Garnish

Heat a medium pot over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil and chopped onion. Saute 3 minutes, then season with 2 teaspoons cumin, thyme, and paprika. Pour in chicken broth and raise heat to bring to a boil. Add rice and lower heat to a simmer when boil resumes. Cover pot tightly. After 12 minutes, stir in black beans and lime juice. Replace cover. Cook another 15 minutes. Turn off heat, season with salt and stir to combine then let stand until ready to serve. Sprinkle some cilantro over the rice as a garnish.

Serves 6

kristin's asian chicken pasta salad

This is a really great alternative to my childhood fav, spam salad.

Kristin's Asian Chicken Pasta Salad
(originally from allrecipes.com)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 (16 ounce) package bow tie pasta
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup light soy sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
3 tablespoons white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups shredded, cooked chicken breast meat
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup chopped green onion

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sesame seeds, and cook stirring frequently until lightly toasted. Remove from heat, and set aside.

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente. Drain pasta, and rinse under cold water until cool. Transfer to a large bowl.

In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine vegetable oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, sugar, sesame seeds, ginger, and pepper. Shake well.

Pour sesame dressing over pasta, and toss to coat evenly. Gently mix in chicken, cilantro, and green onions.

Note: this makes a ton of food.
Note: I served this as lunch last week, but with greens that were lightly tossed with some of the extra dressing I had made. It was awesome.

kathy's cheater bars

For a friend's birthday not too long ago I made the following:

Kathy's Cheater Bars
1 box yellow cake mix
2-1/2 c quick oats
3/4 c melted butter
1 med jar jam (any flavor)

Mix together cake, oats, and butter (will remain crumbly), press a little more than half into the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. (I actually like to put about 2/3 in the bottom.)

Spread up to 1 jar of your choice of jam (apricot or strawberry work well) on the crust and top with the remaining mixture.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 min.

These are super, super sweet, so I suggest serving them in smaller than usual pieces.

peaunt butter goodness

The other day I wanted to bring a treat to work, but didn't want to have to turn my oven on. So I made these:

Peanut Butter Honey Balls
1 c peanut butter
1 c honey
1 c low fat dried milk
1 c rice krispies

Mix and roll into balls (whatever size you want). Some I then rolled in coconut and some in little chocolate chips (yes, the leftovers of which are currently in my oatmeal).

Chill and serve.

almond joy oatmeal

Even though it's not winter, I'm eating oatmeal for breakfast. But what I put in it is: a few tiny chocolate chips, some sweetened coconut, and some almonds. Total yum. Especially accompanied by Higher Ground dark roast Sumatra coffee in my own kitchen. :)

summer on a spoon

Call me crazy, but my idea of the perfect food for a warm summer evening is...spam salad. Yes. This is the essence of summer from my childhood (how do you feel about that, mom?). It was a particular treat on a Sunday afternoon when the house was blazing hot and we had all been freed from whatever we had worn to church that morning. There was lots of skin, and spam salad.

The stuff I made just now, however, doesn't have any spam. This time I used regular diced ham that might also do the trick. But if you're not squeamish about spam, give it a try 'for the sake of the original.

The sp(ham) salad I just made (to be freely tweaked):

1/2 box medium pasta shells, cooked and cooled

5ish oz. tiny diced ham

1/2 can pineapple tidbits (mostly, but not entirely drained)

3 stalks celery, roughly chopped

1/4-ish cup Miracle Whip

2 green onions, finely chopped

The longer you wait the better it gets, but it's good immediately as my belly is currently agreeing.

To come:

a few more soups

rice and black beans with lime, cumin, and cilantro

who knows

i know, i know

I've made food. And I have thoughts about it. Really.

ketchup

two months of it coming soon...