Back at it with Lemon Cranberry Scones!

After too long of a break, I am back at photographing the creations that have been occurring in our kitchen.  I don't know why but I just didn't feel like blogging for a while.  I think sometimes it is nice to know you have the option to do something and are not obligated to do it.  I, like everyone else, am committed to many people and things. I am committed to my husband, my family, friends, work, watching television (oh, that's where my time went!), church, and so on.  And with so many commitments, I like to know that I can choose or not choose to do some things in my life.  Today I am choosing to blog.  I hope I can be more consistent.  I promise I will try.

So not last weekend but the weekend before, I was scheduled to run in my first ever 5K.  I was very nervous about this but my sweet mother, father, and sister came all the way down here to support me.  My sister even volunteered to run too!  What a champ!  However, the rain gods were not supportive of this run actually happening.  There was so much lightening and thundering they cancelled the entire event!  3,000 women were signed up to run and were not able to.  This decision was definitely understandable when considering the weather but sad at the same time.  I had "trained" for the six weeks prior in order to be ready (or as ready as I could be) for this race.  After learning it was cancelled, I immediately signed up for the next 5K I knew about as to not put all this "training" to waste.  This new 5K is coming up this Saturday morning.  Please send me lots of good wishes, fast speeds, and no tripping thoughts as I attempt to complete this 2013 goal of mine. 

While my mother was visiting that weekend, she helped me make some breakfast items for the hospitality table at church.  She suggested I make a scone (daughter like mother) and I said, "yes, please."  She had previously sent me a recipe for lemon and cranberry scones from the Smitten Kitchen website.  Here is the link: Meyer Lemon and Cranberry Scones  As usual, my mother has wonderful taste!  These scones were light, delicious, and perfect for a spring morning.  I got many compliments on them from the church crew.  If you are needing another scone recipe from this blog site, I would definitely give these a chance.  (I think I am going to have a complete encyclopedia of scone recipes by the end of this process.)  I hope you enjoy!

Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls

As I have mentioned before, some Sundays I get to make the breakfast treats for the hospitality table at our church.  A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted to make tiny little cinnamon rolls as one of my hospitality treats.  Although I love the taste of fresh bread and think it is one of the best things in the entire world, I hate to wait while the dough is rising.  It just seems like such a process to me.  With that complaint, here is where my sweet and awesome bread machine steps in.

While looking on allrecipes.com for a cinnamon roll recipe, I was specifically drawn to one that allowed me to make the dough in my bread machine.  The reviews for this recipe were out of this world.  People seriously claimed the recipe tasted like a Cinnabon.  Here is the link to the recipe:  Clone of a Cinnabon.  As you can see, even the name reflects the high standard of deliciousness that is set from the very beginning.

The original recipe yields 12 regular sized cinnamon rolls.  While reading it over, I definitely knew that I needed more than 12 rolls to feed our group at church.  I also knew that I couldn't double the dough ingredients because the dough would literally explode out of my bread machine.  Instead of doubling the dough and/or making two separate batches of dough, I decided to just make a regular amount of dough and after it had finished it's time in the bread machine, I would split that dough in two sections.  I then took one of the two sections and rolled it out nice and thin.  Once the cinnamon and butter were spread onto the dough and it was rolled into it's cinnamon bun formation, I would then just make smaller slices in the roll.  This worked out like magic for me!  I ended up splitting and slicing the dough enough to get 50 cute, little cinnamon rolls.  The pictures don't even do justice to how small and adorable they were.

Because I iced the cinnamon rolls at church, I didn't get to take a photo of them.  So instead of actually seeing the iced rolls, imagine tiny little cinnamon rolls with just a good amount of sweet cream cheese icing.  Yum!  These bite-sized cinnamon rolls were quickly eaten up with not even one being left at the end of the service.  My ego was satisfied with this success.  I can't wait to try them again!  I hope you enjoy.

Almond Scones: A Sweet Morning Treat

I love scones.  If I could eat them every day for breakfast, I swear I would do it.  Give me a scone, banana, and a cup of coffee and you've got yourself a happy woman.

A couple weeks ago I got to make this scone recipe for our church hospitality table.  The original recipe I was trying to replicate called for about half the amount of ingredients and a lot of orange flavoring. While I love all scones, including orange ones, I much prefer an almond or chocolate chip scone to a fruit flavored one.  I also had almonds left over from the Almond Layer Cake so I decided to change the original orange scone recipe around, add some whole wheat flour, take out all the orange flavoring, and add in a touch of almond. With those changes, I found myself with an almond scone spectacular!

This recipe is awesome because it is so easy to make 40 small scones in a really short amount of time.  It takes about 5-10 minutes to mix all the ingredients together, separate the scones into sections, and put them on baking sheets. I would like to say I do not strive for a the typical scone shape.  If you are looking to make a perfectly shaped scone, it might take you a little longer in the preparation phase.  Whatever shape you choose, these scones are really good.  They aren't too sweet and have a nice light texture to them even with the whole wheat flour.  If you have a reason to try them, I hope you enjoy!

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Almond Scones

(makes approximately 40 small scones in about 40-45 minutes)

2 cups white flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup milk

3/4 cup almonds, chopped

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 sticks of butter, soften

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.  Add the milk, almonds, and almond extract to the flour mixture. Mix together.  Next, add the butter and mix until combined. 

Once dough is mixed thoroughly, take and pat into a ball shape.  Using your hands, separate dough into eight even sections.  Take each of the individual sections and separate that dough into five additional sections.  (This will allow about 40 small scones to be made by the end.)  Shape the small sections into scones and place on a cookie sheet.  Leave about 1.5 inches between each scone to allow for rising.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.  Serve warm or cool.  Enjoy!

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An Earthy Herb Tart

Over the Christmas break at my parent's home, we watched a cooking show in which the cook was making a salmon and arugula tart.  I had never actually paid attention when watching someone make a tart crust because I didn't think I would ever be able to make one or even want to try to make a crust from scratch.  While watching this show, I thought to myself, "I could do that."  Homemade crusts can definitely be intimating but the cook on this show made it look so easy.  Reveling in that determination, the below tart recipe was created.

I actually came up with the herbed crust combo on Wednesday morning but couldn't decide what to fill the crust with until Thursday afternoon. After much thought, I decided to combine the simplicity of zucchini and squash with the buttery herb crust.  I thought it would allow a good balance and help the tart keep an earthy vegetable flavor at the same time.  I was also hoping to prevent that heavy feeling you get sometimes after eating a breakfast tart.  I wanted to keep the filling light and clean.

I am really happy with how this recipe turned out.  It looked so beautiful and tasted so delicious. I ate three pieces yesterday (spaced throughout the day- don't judge me) and had one this morning for breakfast.  If you aren't a huge fan of egg whites, just use 6 whole eggs instead.  Also, make sure you salt the whisked eggs pretty well whenever you get to that step, otherwise it might turn out a little bland.  If you try this, I hope you enjoy it!

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Zucchini, Squash, and Goat Cheese Herbed Tart

Crust
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 scant teaspoon of pepper
1 tablespoon dill
1 tablespoon parsley
1/2 cup of butter, cut into tablespoon sections

Filling
2 medium zucchini, chopped
1 medium squash, chopped
4 egg whites
3 whole eggs
4 ounces goat cheese
salt and pepper

Add flour, salt, pepper, dill, and parsley to a food processor.  Process until mixed thoroughly, about 15-20 seconds.  Add sectioned butter to the food processor.  Process until butter is mixed thoroughly with the flour mixture.  Take crust dough and mold into a ball.  Place the ball on a piece of plastic wrap and wrap tightly.  Place dough in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.

While the dough in the fridge chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Meanwhile, place the chopped zucchini and squash in a skillet lightly oiled.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Saute for about 5-7 minutes or until the vegetables are slightly soften.  Place vegetables and skillet to the side.

After the 10 minutes of chilling are complete, take the dough out of the fridge and unwrap it from the plastic wrap.  Take the dough and place it on a floured surface.  Roll dough out until it is about 10 inches in diameter and a little over 1/4 inch thick.  Place dough in a pie dish and press to fit.  (Imperfection is perfectly fine here.  Just try to fill as many holes as possible.)  Thoroughly prick the edges and bottom of the dough with a fork.  Bake the dough for 10 -12 minutes or until lightly browned.

While crust is baking, separate out four egg whites and add to a large mixing bowl.  Add three whole eggs to the bowl as well.  Whisk until well mixed.  Add salt and pepper.  Whisk again. Place to the side.

After the crust is lightly browned, take the pie dish out of the oven and gently spoon in the zucchini and squash into the crust.  Sprinkle the goat cheese all over the top of the vegetables.  Pour the whisked eggs over the vegetables and cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until the goat cheese is lightly browned.  Cool for about 15 minutes before serving.  Enjoy!

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Saturday Morning Sweet Potato Hash

If my morning begins by sitting at a breakfast scenario like the one pictured above, then I know that the day is going to be a good day.

This morning after having about 2 cups of coffee, I decided I was hungry for some breakfast.  Because we didn't eat at home much this week, our fridge was definitely lacking in ingredients.  However, we always have eggs (Praise Jesus!) and we also had a lonely sweet potato.  I bought this sweet potato at least two weeks ago and cannot remember why.  I am sure it was for some recipe that I ended up not making or a recipe I decided to sub out the sweet potato and add something else.  Either way, it was sitting in the fridge begging to be used.  So with that potato as my inspiration, I decided to make a sweet potato hash to go alongside a cooked egg, side of fruit, and big ol' cup of coffee.

This was a simple breakfast with simple spices.  I just grated the sweet potato, added it to a pan that had been sprayed with cooking spray, and let it cook.  I sprinkled the potatoes with Kosher salt and pepper while it was cooking.  I stirred it occasionally to prevent burning.  It took about 15 minutes to cook through.  After tasting the potatoes and knowing they were about done, I heated another pan for my egg.  Although my egg was not beautiful because the yolk broke, I was attempting to cook it over medium.  (That didn't really work out me.)  I sprinkled the egg with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili powder.

In the end, the dish reminded me of a little bird's nest.  It was so cute and simple. The orange color of the sweet potato against the white and yellow of the egg was also really pretty.  I couldn't help but smile while eating it.

His and Hers breakfast biscuits

By now, it is pretty clear on Saturday mornings my go-to breakfast option is some sort of egg item.  Yesterday I told Matt I would make him a sausage biscuit for his Saturday morning breakfast.  If it were possible, I am pretty sure he would love to have a sausage biscuit every single morning.  

Although volunteering to do this wasn't a bad decision, it was a gross one.  I had forgotten how gross sausage (or any ground beef, turkey, chicken item) is to cook with.  I think I washed my hands about six times between first opening the sausage tube (yes, tube) and finishing the patties.  As I type right now, my hands are literally drier from all the hand washing.  I washed them that many times.

Even though our lotion budget may not appreciate my cooking sausage, Matt definitely did.  He had a sausage patty on a Pillsbury Simply Biscuit and I had an egg concoction on a biscuit.  For my egg, I added chopped spinach (which was again on the verge of going bad), fontina cheese left over from the pizza, some soy milk, one egg white, and one full egg.  I salt and peppered it as well.  If you are interested in Weight Watcher points, the total for my egg and biscuit breakfast was 6 points.  Pretty good in my opinion.  I would definitely consider this Saturday morning breakfast a win for both him and her. 

Saturday morning leftovers

I don't know about you, but some mornings I wake up absolutely famished.  This morning was one of those days.  I tried to hold off my hunger for about an hour before I could not take it anymore.   After experimenting with a carrot juice/coconut concoction (trust me, it was bad), I decided to go the more straight forward route and use eggs.  We had leftover squash from the night I made the Zucchini and Chickpea recipe, cheese from the green chili enchiladas, a baked potato from my lunch on Wednesday, and spinach from Matt's lunch. And on top of all of those leftovers, my eggs needed to be used by the beginning of October.  What a perfect combination of ingredients for a big ol' egg scramble!

All the beautiful ingredients!

I put a little bit of olive oil in the skillet and turned the heat on medium.

Threw in my squash and potatoes to warm them up.

Then added the spinach so it would get slightly wilted.

Added the five eggs and scrambled them up a bit in the skillet.  Topped the egg and
vegetables with a handful of cheese along with some salt and pepper.

Scrambled the eggs on medium heat.

A breakfast full of protein and goodness!

Preparing for Hospitality

I am on the Hospitality team at my church.  This means that every couple months I get to prepare about 60-75 servings of a breakfast item for the church members to snack on before the service begins.  For this week's hospitality I decided to make two items.  One was definitely going to be an old favorite, "Playgroup Granola Bars" from allrecipes.com.  I had a couple zucchinis in the fridge so for my second item I thought I would break out my Aunt Deb's Zucchini Bread recipe.

Below is the "Playground Granola Bars" recipe.  (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/playgroup-granola-bars)

Although I have recently not been doing super great at Weight Watchers, I often like to substitute oil and sugar for applesauce and agave nectar whenever I can because they are less points on the Weight Watchers scale.  I have made these bars both ways and they are tasty whichever way you prefer!   When I made them yesterday, I found that they only needed about 20 minutes to bake instead of the 30-35 minutes listed in the directions.  I can't remember if this is a normal occurrence when making these bars or if I just had my oven up too high.  Matt has given this recipe a consistent 4.5 out of 5 chicken wings every time I make it. 

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Playgroup Granola Bars

2 cups oats (instant or rolled)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup wheat germ

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup raisins (optional)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup honey

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Generously grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2.  In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins, and salt.  Make a well in the center, and pour in the honey, egg, oil, and vanilla.  Mix well using your hands.  Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.

3.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges.  Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm.  Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.

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Here is a picture of the final result!

I am including my aunt's Zucchini Bread recipe in this post as well.  Sorry there is not a photo.  I forgot to take any pictures of the process and the actual muffins because I made them late last night.  Oh, and the original recipe is called Zucchini Bread, you read that correctly.  I realized after looking for bread pans around 10:15pm last night, we don't actually have any.  Therefore, in a quick decision making moment, I made muffins instead!  Changing the Zucchini Bread into Zucchini Muffins ended up changing the bake time from about 60-75 minutes down to 20-25 minutes.  That was definitely a nice surprise at that time of night!  

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Deb's Zucchini Bread (or Muffins if you don't have any bread pans)

3 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup oil

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups raw, grated zucchini

1 cup nuts, chopped pecans

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Grease 2 bread loaf-sized pans. 

2.  Beat eggs add sugar and oil.  Add remainder of ingredients.  Bake for 60-75 minutes.

3.  Enjoy!

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I will let everyone know that although I love both of these recipes, everyone at church seemed to really like both of these recipes too.  Wes, a longtime friend, actually turned to me during the service and asked if I knew who made the Zucchini Muffins.  When I said I had, he said they were soooo good (which is a lot of emotion coming from Wes) and that I needed to bring more of them to small group on Monday night.  Thanks Aunt Deb!  I appreciate your help in keeping/making friends.