Scones are not something I think of having all the time. Very rarely in fact. Maybe if I go out for afternoon tea at a restaurant or hotel, which happens less than once a year.
But no more!
I saw this simple recipe for Chai Spiced Scones over at Budget Bytes and decided to make them, and they're pretty tasty. I modified the spices just slightly because this recipe is pretty perfect on its own.
Because I don't typically eat scones, I'm not sure if this is normal or not, so I'm mentioning it anyway. On its own, it's a little dry. If I eat them with tea, my mouth sings. So. Don't forget the tea!
Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
3 tbsp butter
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
water
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 450.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and cardamom.
Cut butter into chunks and with your hands, combine it with flour.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir.
If there is still a bit of dry flour, add water. I added about 2 tbps.
Shape the dough into a circular shape on a flat surface. Using a sharp knife, cut into 8 pieces.
Place the wedge shaped scones on a baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown.
Not the best picture, but I couldn't figure out how to make this look appetizing... even though it really is!
Continuing on making my way through Martha Stewart Living is this recipe! I have no idea what to call it. Martha calls it Toasted Quinoa Saute with Lemony Cabbage and Dill. She recommends serving it with yogurt, which really confuses me. My boyfriend calls it pasta salad, even though it really isn't, and thinks it would go great with a hamburger. I've settled on the name Quinoa and Cabbage Saute, even though I think that could still use some improvements.
Regardless of the confusion over what to make of this creation, I made some modifications, and it tastes amazing. I serve it warm; you can eat it cold, which my boyfriend does, but I prefer it heated.
Ingredients
1.5 cups of water
1/2 cup quinoa
1 head Savoy cabbage
2 tomatoes
1 cup feta cheese
1 15 ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup small green olives, pitted
1 lemon, juiced
salt
pepper
olive oil
Preparation
Bring water to a boil in a medium pot. Stir in quinoa and return to boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
Uncover, turn heat to high and cook until water evaporates fully, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes.
Heat oil in a large skillet. Chop cabbage into small pieces.
Add half head of cabbage to the skillet and saute until tender and golden, about 8-10 minutes.
When one batch is finished, transfer to a bowl and continue with another batch of the cabbage.
Finally, add all cabbage and quinoa to the skillet and cook on high heat until the quinoa is toasted, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and add to bowl.
In the bowl with the cabbage and quinoa, also add chickpeas, olives, tomatoes, cheese, and lemon juice and toss to combine. Salt and pepper to taste.
I somehow was lucky enough to receive Martha Stewart Living magazine for free for a year. I originally ordered it because I thought it might have a few ideas, but I'm shocked to report that each issue is full of great craft ideas, but more importantly, tasty recipes.
Or at least, recipes that look tasty because even though I've been subscribed for months, I've only ever bookmarked recipes and projects, but I decided this month I was going to start making my way through everything. After all, what's the point of the subscription if I never use it?
So first up is Martha's Root Vegetables soup, which I've modified a bit to reflect things I have on hand, as well as things I could actually find in stores. For example, there was no rutabaga in my local market, which is a shame because I absolutely love rutabaga. Maybe next time!
Ingredients
1 vidalia/sweet onion
2 parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 celery root, peeled and chopped
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped
2 red potaoes, chopped
1 tsp ground thyme
6 cups of water
1-2 oranges
freshly grated ginger
salt
pepper
olive oil
Preparation
Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 4-7 minutes.
Add parnsips, celery root, carrot, butternut squash, potatoes, thyme, water, and salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat. Simmer until vegetables are tender, 20-40 minutes.
Puree soup in a blender until smooth.
Separate each orange wedge from the other.
In each bowl: Squeeze one orange wedge's juice into the soup and stir. Use additional wedge, ginger, and salt and pepper as garnish. Enjoy!
Have you managed to avoid getting the flu this year? While I've been lucky to avoid the "rampant epidemic" going around, I haven't been able to completely avoid getting ill. I was knocked out for about two days earlier this month with a fever, sore throat, and general achy-ness and tiredness.
Why only two days? Because I made sure to make some Master Tonic before I got sick. Perhaps if I had taken it every day beforehand (as you're supposed to do), I wouldn't have gotten sick, but that's another story entirely...
I know with a name like Master Tonic, this concoction seems to conjure up memories from the early 20th century of a slick salesman trying to convince you that his snake oil will cure everything despite curing nothing, but amazingly the master tonic does work. I found the recipe on Heal Thyself, a great website that encourages healing our ailments through food.
Previously whenever I feel a cold start to come on, I would take raw garlic, or make garlic tea, and I do still stand by that. But this stuff is a little quicker to take (versus finding, chopping and consuming raw garlic) and has a few more ingredients for maximum health benefits.
The ingredients: apple cider vinegar, garlic, onions, ginger, horseradish root, cayenne peppers. Yes, this thing is spicy and one whiff will clean out your sinuses in no time. I'm sure you're generally aware that all of those ingredients are good for you, but I want to break it down, with help from Happy Mothering.
Apple cider vinegar: What doesn't ACV do? To its followers, it's pretty much a cure-all, though according to WebMD, ACV has only been shown to help diabetes, high cholesterol, blood pressure and general heart health, cancer, and weight loss.
Garlic: Kills the bad bacteria in your body, leaving the good bacteria. Also powerful antiviral, anti-parasitical and antifungal.
Ginger: Antimicrobial. Boosts your immune system. Increases blood circulation. Great for nausea.
Horseradish root: Antibacterial, anti-parasitic. Stimulates the immune system. Increases blood flow. Helps open the sinus passages.
Hot Peppers: Boosts immune system.Natural decongestant. Natural pain reliever.
Ingredients
1 part garlic
1 part ginger root
1 part white onions
1 part horseradish root
1 part hot peppers
apple cider vinegar
Preparation
Peel the horseradish root, ginger root, onions, and garlic.
Add horseradish root, ginger root, garlic, onions, and peppers to a blender or food processor and blend.
Add diced ingredients to a jar and pour enough apple cider vinegar to cover the top of the food bits.
Shake vigorously.
Put in a dark spot and shake once a day for 2 weeks.
The tonic can be used before 2 weeks is up, and can sit longer than 2 weeks, but is generally accepted as "ready" after 2 weeks.
Strain the food bits out of the tonic. I like to save my food bits to add to soup, stock, tea, etc.
Notes
According to Heal Thyself, the proper dosage is 1/2 - 1 ounce, two or more times daily. I tend to take a tablespoon a day if I'm around sick people. If I'm sick myself, I take a tablespoon every 1-3 hours as needed.
Effects of the tonic can be felt almost immediately, and I must warn you, this is nasty going down (unless you're really sick, in which case you can't taste it). Definitely have something ready to chase it with, but the effects are so great that it's worth the initial discomfort.
At what point does macaroni and cheese stop being macaroni and cheese and become a pasta dish? I've been thinking about that question a lot lately, especially because so many macaroni and cheese restaurants are popping up. As a purist, I tend to think that macaroni and cheese is strictly cheese sauce and cooked macaroni. But if you add some tomatoes or some tuna or bacon, does it become something else? In the macaroni and cheese restaurants I sometimes visit, the answer is a resounding no, as they come up with some very clever and delicious results.
When Borders closed a little over a year ago, I was excited for all of the discount books. One of my lucky finds was the Whole Foods Diet Cookbook. The word diet through me off for a second, but the large "whole foods" drew me back in. Flipping through it, I was excited to see that the diet part of the book was a sales technique*, and it was, in fact, mostly whole foods and fit perfectly with my diet/lifestyle plan.
*I say sales technique because I believe the word was added to improve sales. Yes, you'll lose weight by eating healthy, whole foods, and the book explains how, but it's certainly not one of the gimmicky lose 10 pounds in 2 days type nonsense I'm used to seeing on the shelf.
In this cookbook, there's a recipe for macaroni and cheese that's healthy. Healthy because instead of adding several pounds of cheese to your meal, you'll instead puree beans and butternut squash, resulting in a "rich, creamy, and lusciously textured nutrient-rich puree that blends perfectly with the sharp cheddar (which you won't need much of thanks to the butternut squash puree acting as a flavor booster and filler too)."
I've made the recipe as they wrote it, and it was great, but last night I went a little crazy after I discovered I was out of milk and added all sorts of wonderful ingredients to make this a healthy alternative to many of the macaroni and cheese dishes out there.
Pretty it may not be, but I assure you it tastes amazing.
Ingredients
2 cups canned cannellini beans
1 cup chopped butternut squash
2/3 cups cream cheese
3/4 cup water
1 small onion, diced
4-5 garlic cloves, diced
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
2 cups shiitake mushrooms, diced
1 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp flour
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 cups cooked pasta
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup flax meal
olive oil
salt
pepper
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place cannellini beans, butternut squash, cream cheese, and water in a blender. Puree until smooth. Set aside.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and saute for 3-4 minutes. Add garlic and tomatoes and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add mushrooms and saute until onions are soft, an additional 1-2 minutes.
When onions are soft add thyme, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper.
Add flour to vegetables and stir quickly, making sure to coat all the vegetables.
Pour the bean and butternut squash mixture into the skillet and stir until well combined.
Add cheddar cheese and Worcestershire sauce.
Once the cheese has melted, add the cooked pasta.
Oil an 8x8-inch casserole dish and transfer the macaroni and cheese to the dish.
In a small bowl, mix together 1-2 tbsps of olive oil, flax meal, and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the topping over the pasta mixture.
Bake uncovered for 10 minutes.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Still looking for that last minute recipe to perfect your Thanksgiving this year?
Add pumpkin pie! I found this easy recipe last year, and I've been making it ever since. The boyfriend, who hates sweets in general, also devours it - clearly a winner. Unlike traditional pies, the crust topping is made of walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar - lots of crumbly goodness!
Ingredients
1 9" pie crust
Topping
1/2 cup walnuts
1/4 cup golden brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
Filling
1 cup golden brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 can pure pumpkin puree
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350. For Topping:
Combine all ingredients in a processor or blender. Blend to fine crumbs. For Filling
Stir brown sugar, eggs, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in a large bowl. Add pumpkin and cream and stir until well blended.
Pour filling into crust.
Bake until pie is firm, about 30 minutes.
Sprinkle topping over the pie. Reduce oven temperature to 325 and continue to bake until filling is set, about 15 minutes.
