Buttermilk cranberry scones

I look for recipes everywhere...you never know where you might find something yummy..or the base for something yummy, and then add your own touches to it.

As I was siting in the walk-in clinic a few weeks ago, while I was suffering from the plague, oops flu, going around, I was flipping through Good Housekeeping, and came across this recipe, called a 'celeb dish', and entitled "Courtney Cox's Currant Scones". It sounded yum, so I thought I would give it a go. I didn't have currents on me, so I replaced it with dried cranberries, which I always seem to have.

Here is the recipes with my changes:

3 C flour (I used 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat)
3 T sugar (I used raw sugar)
1 t baking soda
6 T cold butter, cut up
1/3 c dried cranberries
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 C, plus 1T buttermilk

1. Pre-heat oven to 425'

2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and baking soda. Add butter, blend until mixture resembles fine meal. Mix in egg and 3/4 cup buttermilk to form soft dough.

3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Pat dough 3/4 inch thick. With a 2 1/2-inch round cookies cutter (I used a glass turned upside-down) cut as many rounds as possible, gathering scraps together to use up all the dough.

4. Place rounds on lightly greased cookies sheet. Brush the tops with remaining buttermilk. Bake scones about 18 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Makes about 12 scones.

Serve plain, or with warm butter and jam.


I am about to make some, so we can have them for breakfast tomorrow.

Enjoy!

Where is spring?

It has been a while since my last post. After getting back from England in February, and me getting the flu, and then Zoë being the lucky one, and her birthday following, we have kept pretty busy.

Just last week when I thought I might be able to start doing some stuff in the garden...like getting the mulch delivered, and seeing what survived the winter....it snowed over a foot! So, now it may be a couple of more weeks. Though, I do think that this weekend, I am going to start some seeds indoors. I have been saving toilet paper/and paper towel rolls to use as little pots. I definitely want to start herbs soon, so that I will have a full, fresh supply through the summer. It will be a fun project for Zoë and I.

When I last posted about a couple of dishes I was going to make....fish pie and Cincinnati chili, I never had the chance because of our unexpected and sad trip back to England. Now that we are back in the swing of things, I will try and do that this next week.

One thing, I did manage to do before my lovely daughter turned 3 and my mom and sister came to town, was to paint our dining and living room. Now that I have done it, I can't believe I waited to long to do it. They are so much cozier now. My wonderful husband also surprised me with a new dining room table that I have been infatuated with for several months now. Our dining room is so much better, and I *heart* the table!!

Our dining room before:


After:


I love the Craftsman-style look of the table. I wish our entire house could be like that.

For the color, I began by thinking I would just use the red that was used under the chair-rail and that would be a cheap and easy solution. I have learned nothing is going to be "cheap & easy". Once I got that red on an entire wall, I decided it was too "bricky" and I definitely wasn't thrilled about it.. So we spent a week painting samples on the wall, and decided to go with Benjamin Moore, poppy, and I am in love with it!

The living room before:


After:


I kept the charcoal grey fireplace wall that I had painted when we moved in, but painted the rest of the room a slate grey. It kind of came out looking more blue than I imagined, but I really love it. No more beige!!! And it really makes the trim and crown molding stand out.

I think I am done painting for a while. I have now done almost every room of the house, and I don't want to smell paint fumes for a long time!

Vegetarian Irish Stew

I stole this recipe from the March 2008 issue of Vegetarian Times. I received the magazine in the mail today, opened it to this recipe, and had to make it. I changed a couple of things, and will post this recipe mostly as I made it.

It had such a great flavor, and I will definitely be making it again soon. Even Zoë gobbled hers up.

This recipe calls for seitan and tempeh, and while I like both of those items, we were snowed in and all I could get my hands on were what was available in our house, so I used tofu. When I make this again, I may omit the tofu/seitan/tempeh all together and use another vegetable like parsnips or sweet potatoes.

1 T olive oil
1/2 coarsely chopped onion
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1/2 cup)
1 T flour
4 oz seitan, cut into 1-inch pieces (I actually used firm chopped tofu)
2 slices smoky tempeh bacon, cut into 1/2-inch peices (I omitted)
1 clove garlic
1 t fresh thyme, chopped
1 cup stout beer
1 14-oz. can od vegetable broth (I used a bouillon cube in 14-oz of hot water)
6 oz butternut squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used organic frozen)
1/2 cup frozen shelled edamame

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and carrot, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook 2 more minutes. Add seitan, tempeh bacon, garlic and thyme and cook another 2 minutes.

2. Pour in beer, and bring mixture to a boil. Cook 3 minutes, stirring and scraping any bits that may be stuck to bottom. Add vegetable broth and butternut squash, and bring to a simmer. Readuce heat to a meium-low and cook 20 minutes. Add edamame and cook 10 minutes more. (If using frozen squash, I would recommend cooking it 5 minutes and then adding the edamame for another 5 minutes).

I served this with homemade mashed potatoes cooked very indulgently with butter and cream, and a touch of nutmeg.

Yummy!

My next recipe to make from this issue is Jasmine risotto spring rolls with vanilla dipping sauce. And the sticky rice with mangos.

Update

Unfortunately, I did not get to test those last 2 recipes yet. Sadly, we received news the morning after the last post that Martin's father had passed away suddenly of a heart attack. We flew out that week, and just arrived home Monday night. It all seems so surreal.

I am just so happy that we were out there right before xmas and able to spend time with him, and that he was finally able to meet Zoë, and she was able to know her grandfather.

He will always be in our thoughts.

My food goals for the week

My cooking goals for this week are to create:

1. Vegetarian Cincinnati chili

2. English fish pie (like a dish, using salmon, we had in Hastings while we were there last month)

Asparagus & smoked salmon risotto

Risotto is my total comfort food. If I was on an island, and could only have one thing..I would be a risotto.

Be prepared...it involves constant attention, and lots of stirring. Those packets in the store that are ready made "risotto" are a farce...you can only make it, correctly, from scratch.

One of my favorites...from my own head:

3 T butter
1/2 chopped onion
1 cup aborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups broth (I use veggie)
6 stalks asparagus, trimmed and coarsely chopped
4 oz smoked salmon (I use cracked pepper smokes salmon from Trader Joe's), chopped
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

- In one large pot...a risotto pot, a dutch oven...something big..melt the butter.

- At the same time in another pot, heat the broth until it is warm, and keep it warm..if you ever run out while cooking...add more water.

- Once butter is melted, add onions onions until they are translucent over medium heat, about 5 min. Stirring regularly.

- Add the rice to the onions, and stir until coated with butter and onion mixture. Continue to stir the rice for about 3 minutes until a white dot is clearly visible in the grains.

- To the rice, add the wine...continue to stir until absorbed.

- Now, using a ladle or even a measuring cup, add 2 cup fulls at a time of the broth. Continue to stir, and once it is absorbed, repeat until liquid is gone. Approx. 30 minutes. Keep taste testing until the rice is al dente.

- When the rice is about 5 min from done, add the asparagus.

- Add the parmesan cheese

- Add the smoked salmon

Viola!!

This will serve 2 good size portions.

To double, just double the rice, wine, cheese.

Even little kids will gobble this up!

Farfalle with Yogurt and Zucchini

Thanks for Food & Wine, which I have been getting for 10 years now, and continue to love.

This is one of my favorites. This one is a healthier version of alfredo sauce, and honestly, I think it is yummier!

1 pound farfalle
4 medium zucchini (about 1 1/2 pounds), coarsely shredded
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup plain whole-milk Greek yogurt
1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for serving
Freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the farfalle until al dente; about 1 minute before the farfalle is done, add the shredded zucchini to the pot. Drain the farfalle and zucchini, reserving 1/4 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Meanwhile, in a large, deep skillet, melt the butter. Remove from the heat. Stir in the Greek yogurt and the 1 cup of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and season the yogurt sauce with freshly grated nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Add the farfalle, zucchini and reserved pasta water to the saucepan and cook over low heat, tossing, until the sauce coats the pasta; and enjoy!