Pinterest Review - The "Best" Scones Ever

I quickly opened the toaster oven to get a picture of how it expanded

Oh, Martha...I love what you do, but you thought I would be able to take this "dough" and transfer it to a "lightly" floured work surface, pat into a circle and cut it into wedges and then transfer it again to a parchment lined baking sheet? Been sniffing something?  To be fair, the pinner that I grabbed this from labeled these the "best" scones ever...not Martha.

Wow was this liquidy!  I was going to ignore the whole transfer to a floured surface anyway because that's not how I make my scones, but this dough was so sticky that sticky doesn't even begin to cover it.

You see that picture?  Yeah...that's the scone after baking for less than 5 minutes.  See how big it is?  It oozed like the blob almost 2-inches bigger than it had been when I put it on the sheet.  You think you'd be working with that on a lightly floured surface?  Yeah...me neither.

Now I'm not a scone-making-novice here.  I've been making various scones for more than 20 years, but I'm always willing to try a new recipe.  After all...these are supposedly "the best".

OK.  Enough picking on Martha Stewart (for now)...so why do I lump my scones onto a sheet like this and bake? Well, it was an idea I took from a scone recipe years ago.  With the first recipe I ever used (and used for many, many years because it was so tender and eggy-smelling) I used to roll the scones out and cut them into circles.  This isn't ideal for many reasons....

First - time constraints.  It takes more time to roll and cut which leaves the butter/margarine out longer and could/should result in a less flaky scone.

Second - mess.  When I have to use the counter to work dough, I use it.  I have no problem doing that whatsoever, but I hate the cleanup so if I can avoid doing it I will.

Third - if you cut your scones into little circles, you can't use the remaining dough...unless you're planning on just throwing those leftover schniblets onto a baking sheet and bake them along with your pretty round scones.  If you reworked the leftover dough so you could cut more circles, you would be over-working the dough and your scones would lose that flaky texture you want so badly.

After baking.  Looks pretty good, but no score-lines

Lastly - ease.  What could be easier than spooning the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet?  You could also drop them onto the same baking sheet if you want individual scones.  I don't.  I spoon the whole thing on there and then if I'm going to brush with butter or milk/cream, and sprinkle with sugar I do it.  I then take a knife and press it gently into the dough, scoring it into wedges.  The score-lines stay during baking.  When it's done I transfer it to a cooling rack until I can handle it, then I break the wedges off.  No cutting.  Sweet.

I tried to score Martha Stewart's recipe like that.  Do you see score-lines in either of these pictures.  Didn't think so.   The scones did finish baking and smelled really good.  Even though there's only that one egg in them, the egg smell reminded me of my own scone recipe.

Now, you may be asking if I varied Martha's recipe at all.  To be fair, I did.  I substituted fresh blueberries for the currants and accidentally threw in that extra tablespoon of cream (I used milk) into the batter.  So did that make the dough super liquidy?  I don't think so.  Blueberries certainly have a lot of liquid inside them, but not outside and that 1 tablespoon of liquid shouldn't have done all that much.

The link to Martha's Cream Scones with Currants  recipe can be found here.  The version with my method and substitutions can be found below.

Blueberry Scones

3/4 c milk (I used 1%)
1 egg
2 c flour
1/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp margarine
1 c blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (F).

Combine the milk and egg in a small bowl.  In a large mixing bowl add the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and give a mix with a whisk to combine.  Add the margarine in pieces and using your hands incorporate into the flour until it resembles pea-sized crumbs.  Add the blueberries and stir.  Add the milk and stir until just combined.

Pour the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet or drop by spoonfuls.  If desired, brush with melted butter or cream/milk and sprinkle with sugar.  With a large knife, score the scones into wedges.

Bake for 18 minutes or until it is golden (make sure the bottom doesn't burn!).  Transfer to a wire rack to cool and then break the scones into wedges.  Serve while warm.  Remember if your batter is as liquid-filled as mine, you'll have to cut because the score lines will not work.

Taste results?  They tasted good.  Not the best scones I've ever had, but very good.  Thumbs up or down?  I'd say somewhere in between.  The taste may get a thumbs up, but the directions give it a big thumbs down.  I can just imagine some poor sod trying to put this on a floured surface and it makes me cringe.  Still it's flavor that you're after.

If you give the recipe a try, let me know if you get another result!

Nutritional information (as given by my LoseIt! app):  Serving size - 2 scones; 397 calories; Total Fat 12.4g; Sat. Fat 4.3g; Cholesterol 49.2mg; Sodium 523.7mg; Carb. 51.2g; Fiber, 2.8g; Sugars 8.1g; Protein 9.7g

Pinterest Review - Chicken Cowboy Bake

I was looking for something fast for dinner and saw this pin.  I had all the ingredients and thought I'd give it a whirl.  The hubby looked at it a little cautiously, but everyone loved it.  It was rich and filling and I could have eaten the whole thing!  (Don't worry...I didn't)

This pin came from Parenting.com (you can see the original recipe here).  I did make minor changes to the recipe.  I added cumin and increased the chili powder.  I also mixed the shredded cheese into the filling rather than sprinkle the top of the casserole with it.

I used a boxed cornbread mix because I had it on-hand (and I haven't found a recipe from scratch that I like yet....suggestions?), but you can use your own homemade recipe if you prefer.  The stuff from the box didn't look like much and it took some coaxing to stretch it over the top of the entire casserole, but it worked perfectly.  I was afraid that it would be too thin, but it rose and was great.

Sorry that there's no picture of it once we all cut into it, but I was being absent-minded.  I'll add one the next time I make it.

Here's the recipe as I altered it...

Chicken Cowboy Bake

1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb chicken breast, cooked and shredded (or chopped)
1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 c frozen corn
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 c Monterey jack cheese, shredded
1/2 tsp salt
1 box/recipe cornbread/muffin mix

Prepare the cornbread/muffin mix and leave in bowl to sit.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).  Coat a 9-inch pie pan or casserole dish with cooking spray.  In a large skillet, sauté onion and garlic in oil for 2 minutes.

Add the chicken and brown, then add the tomatoes, corn, chili powder, salt, cumin, and cayenne to the skillet and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and add the cheese; stir.  Pour into the pie pan/casserole dish and spread evenly with the prepared cornbread/muffin mix.

Bake for 30 minutes or until corn muffin topping is lightly browned and filling is bubbling.

How you can tell the filling is bubbling without poking it open is beyond me, but if your oven is anything like mine, it's going to be bubbling after 30 minutes at 350 degrees!

I don't have a box of the muffin mix I used at home so I can't work out the nutritional information on my handy-dandy app, but the next time I grab a box, I'll run the numbers and update the post. All in all, I'd give this recipe a big Pinterest thumbs up!

An Orange Banana Smoothie to Kill the Cravings

If I put it in a beer glass will I feel like I'm indulging?

OK.  This is my first attempt at making a semi-healthy smoothie.  I can make smoothies where I'm dumping ice cream in them, but I'm trying to be healthier.  I came home from dropping the kids off at school and I so wanted to just shove some kind of snack in my mouth.  I stared at the bananas hanging in the fruit basket for a moment and then thought "smoothie".

I grabbed the blender and filled it about halfway up with ice and then I crushed it.  Let me just say that once that ice is crushed it certainly made the blender look pretty empty.  Still, I wanted something cold in there to thicken up the smoothie and because I drink cold things more slowly.  Then I threw in the milk and banana and thought, "Hey, you just got that jar of wheat germ...toss some in there!"  Just when I decided I was done I thought about all those Orange Julius drinks I used to crave when I was younger.  I had some Cuties in the house, but opted for orange juice instead.  I'm sure that if you popped some orange slices in there you'd get more fiber through the pulp, but I wasn't wanting to peel an orange.

I blended everything together and looked at how many calories my LoseIt! app told me my concoction had (427) and I felt a bit defeated. I tried to convince myself that it's healthy...right? Then I poured it into a glass and realized that I still had at least two-thirds left in the blender. Apparently I wasn't even considering this. A little jump for joy and I changed the recipe to say 3 servings. That made this a reasonable 142 calories(ish) per serving...and fairly healthy too.

After tasting it, I decided to add some vanilla extract to the recipe to sweeten it up a bit without adding sugar.  It's not overly sweet.  It just tastes like fruit.  I think the ice may have watered it down a bit.  I may try freezing a chopped banana and see if I can make it without the ice.  Still, it satisfied me and I'm not tearing down the pantry door anymore.  So in my book, that's a big mission accomplished!

Orange Banana Smoothie

2 c ice (approximate)
1 banana (mine was a small 6 to 7-inch banana)
1/2 c orange juice
2 c milk (1%)
1 tbsp wheat germ
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients into your blender and blend until combined.  Store additional smoothie in the refrigerator and reblend as needed.  Serves 3

LoseIt! nutrient information:  142 calories; Total fat 2.1g; Sat fat 1g; Cholesterol 6.7mg; Sodium 87.8mg; Carb. 22.4g; Fiber 1.3g; Sugars 16.3g; Protein 6.7g

Remember that the ingredients you use can alter this dietary information.  The orange juice, the milk, etc.

I'll repost if the freezing a banana instead of using ice works.

Cornmeal-Crusted Catfish...YUM!

Someday my food pictures will not be so ugly!

I made this for my family for Good Friday dinner.  My husband likes fish, but he doesn't like the smell it can leave in a house (especially when fried), but I'd been good this Lent and didn't inundate my family with fish every Friday and since catfish is my favorite fish, the hubby let me make this.

What can I say except this is now my favorite!  And at 195 calories per serving that fits nicely in my diet!  I got this recipe from a book purchase at my son's Scholastic Book Fair.  Like several other recipe books I got with good intentions this one sat unused.  Then I decided that I was tired of the weight I'd gained since leaving the military and joined some friends in an app to lose weight (I promise this post is coming in the future).  It was now time to bust out the recipe books.  I'm fairly good at making recipes lighter than what they are, but how could I ignore "Cooking Light Comfort Food"?  There are several recipes that look really good and I will be making soon, but today I'm talking about catfish for under 200 calories a serving!

Now the nutritional information beneath the recipe in the book has this catfish coming in at 277 calories.  Perhaps they used slightly different ingredients than I did.  I scanned the bar codes for the food I was using into my Lose It! app and it gave me the nutritional information for what I made (don't ya just love technology!?!).  The ingredients you use could make yours slightly different as well, but 195 or 277 is still much better than most main courses!

Now for the recipe!

Cornmeal-Crusted Catfish

2 tbsp bacon fat
1/3 c. yellow cornmeal
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
4 (6-oz) catfish fillets

Combine the cornmeal, Cajun seasoning and salt in a bowl.  Dredge each catfish fillet in the cornmeal mixture (it doesn't look like much, but it should cover all 4 fish fillets).

Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and drop 1 tablespoon of the bacon fat in the pan.  Cook the catfish for 5 minutes and turn.  Drop the other tablespoon of bacon fat into the pan and when melted shake the pan slightly so that it gets under all the fillets.  Cook another 5 minutes or until the fish flakes when tested.

I used Chef Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Magic

Now in the cookbook they tell you to cook 3 strips of bacon and use the fat, reserving the bacon for another use.  The amount of fat they use is also 2 tsp not tablespoons, but the teaspoon of fat didn't go very far and I wanted that flavor in the fish.  I have a container that I keep bacon fat in each time I make bacon and store it in the refrigerator.  How long can you keep bacon fat in the fridge without spoiling?  No idea, but mine doesn't sit long.  Bacon is a spice after all....at least in my house.  Perhaps that's why I'm on a diet!

Seriously though each tablespoon of bacon fat has about 116 calories in it so 2 tablespoons is 231, but that's split over all 4 fillets.  So overall not a bad amount of calories and you get the great taste too.  You can certainly substitute olive oil although I would imagine that you would lose some of the great flavor this recipe has.  Keep in mind that olive oil has quite a lot of calories per tablespoon as well so there really is no point in switching unless you need to be concerned with good fat vs. bad fat in your diet.

I doubled this recipe for dinner.  My youngest loves fish, but he always seems to forget that. Whenever I say that I'm making fish for dinner, he pulls a face.  Then he sits down for dinner and gobbles up more than daddy does!  Because of this I never know how much to make.  I had some leftovers and was cringing because in my experience fish rarely reheats well.  This DID!

I have a toaster/convection oven with a "reheat" setting.  I popped a fillet in there at 425 degrees for 8 minutes (with the convection button set as well) and the fish was perfect.  Perhaps not as crispy as on the first night, but it wasn't soggy.  You can bet that I'll be making this up and refrigerating it for use throughout the week for low-calorie lunches.

Oh, and that fish smell my hubby hates?  No complaints there.  Not sure why that is, but I'll take it!

Pinterest Review - Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Cream Cheese Pound Cake***

Pinterest is addicting, but I've noticed that I can spend a good portion of my day repinning great ideas from Pinterest and actually do very little of them.  I've gotten better and I've started to try some of the recipes, crafts, etc that I've pinned, but I haven't even scratched the surface really.  So when I actually try something, I'll try to give a little review, because between you and me there's a lot of crap on Pinterest and I've had quite a few failures/disappointments.

Well, this review is most certainly not a disappointment (unless you're on a diet...like I am...).  I pinned this recipe from the blog Elizabeth's Edible Experience and it certainly looked good...and fattening.  We had a guest for dinner this evening so I made a dessert for the occasion and prayed that it would not flop.  I've had quite a few baking and cooking failures since moving to 7000+ feet.  High altitude baking has been a challenge, even with adjustments, but this turned out perfectly.

If I had looked a bit closer at Elizabeth's pin and saw that it was a recipe that originally came from Southern Living I would have realized that it would have been yummy...

...And the fattening part, well, let's just say that the app I'm using to track my calories (that's another post!), tells me that this recipe is 334 calories per serving.  I cut the bundt cake into 16 pieces so they weren't overly big.  You could easily take a 500-600 calorie slice and not bat an eye.  I also substituted margarine for butter and 1/3 fat cream cheese instead of full calorie stuff.  I'm sure my little pieces would have been much worse if I hadn't and I didn't want to spend another 20 minutes on the treadmill (or more) to make sure I didn't bust my calorie allotment today!

Honestly, I thought that cake was rich and absolutely sinful even with the changes I made.  Maybe some Egg Beaters instead of the 6 eggs would reduce it more, but I guess moderation is the key.  Here's the Southern Living recipe:

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

1 1/2 cups butter (or margarine), softened
1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese (I used reduced fat), softened
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3 c flour
6 eggs

Cream together the butter and cream cheese.  Add the sugar and vanilla and mix.  Add the salt and eggs and mix.  Finally, add in the flour a little at a time so you don't have more of it covering your kitchen than in the bowl.

Pour into a prepared (I used flour spray) bundt pan. Bake at 300 degrees (F) for 1 hour and 40 minutes (yes, you read that right).

Allow to cool before inverting to a plate.

We enjoyed our cake with some fresh strawberries.

So I rate this Pinterest pin a great success.  It's a keeper!

***Sorry about the poor picture-taking skills displayed here.  I'm not that bad of a photographer, but food is a challenge to me.  Perhaps I'll get better with age!

Guinness Stew Over Colcannon

This is a post originally published on my genealogy blog, but the recipe is so good that I thought I'd share it here.  Especially with Saint Patrick's Day only a week away!

With Saint Patrick's Day coming up (and me being 50% Irish), I've begun experimenting with various recipes so that this year's celebration does not resemble last year's dreadful corned-beef-and-cabbage-makes-me-want-to-vomit scenario.  I wanted to make a good Irish stew in my slow cooker but frankly all of the recipes looked like they may lack a little flavor so I switched to recipes for Guinness stew and after reading several and not finding one that really suited me, I decided to use my new found research of these recipes and create one with bits from all and add a little me to it.  I tried it out last week and it was very good.  It's a "go" for the holiday.  I served it over regular mashed potatoes instead of rice or noodles (that's why I didn't include any potatoes in the stew), but it will be served over Colcannon on the big day.

The Colcannon recipe was created last year.  I took the recipe from my "Little Irish Cookbook" and screwed it up when I did my shopping.  Well, it wasn't really a screw up.  I bought bacon for it thinking that the bacon was supposed to be in there and when I opened the book to start cooking realized I was wrong.  Instead of saving the bacon for another occasion I used the philosophy that "everything's better with bacon" and it turned out to be so true! :)

To be sure there will be more Irish recipes following as we approach the holiday.  They aren't family recipes in the sense that they were passed on to me, but recipes that I am making because of my love for my Irish heritage and wanting to start a tradition with my children that I can only hope they will share with their families as the grow up.

Guinness Stew

(the measurements are approximate but should be close.  Season to your taste!)

4-5 lbs beef stew meat
1 c. flour
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tbsp fresh cracked black pepper
3 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
4 tbsp beef broth (I used 4 tbsp water and added a scoop of beef paste since I don't keep stock in my house)
1 bottle Guinness (yes I used the whole thing)
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp thyme, dried
1 tsp rosemary, dried
1 large onion (it was a monster.  Probably the size of 2 mediums...maybe 2 cups), chopped
1 (2 lb) bag of baby carrots
1 lb of mushrooms, quartered (or more if desired)
1 c. sour cream

Trim meat of any large pieces of fat (if desired) and place the stew meat in a large bowl.  Mix together the flour, salt and pepper.  Add to the beef and toss to coat.  Place a large skillet over medium-high heat and add canola oil.  When hot add the beef (in batches, if necessary, adding more oil if needed) and brown.  Place browned meat in the slow cooker (don't cook the meat all the way through.  You just want to brown it.

Add the onion and carrots to the slow cooker.  In a bowl mix together the tomato paste, beef broth, garlic, thyme, rosemary and beer.  Pour over the meat and vegetables.  Set your slow cooker to low to cook (my slow cooker's lowest setting is 10 hours).

About 1 hour before cooking is done add the mushrooms to the stew (they came out perfectly). Tested it and adjusted seasonings to taste (I personally added a little additional garlic powder since the fresh didn't pack enough punch and some onion powder). Five minutes before serving I stirred in 1 cup sour cream.

Colcannon

8 med potatoes, peeled and chopped (The smaller the pieces the quicker they will cook)
1 bunch scallions, chopped (abt 8)
1/2 c. milk
1 small head of cabbage, shredded then chopped (discard stump)
1 lb bacon, cut into pieces
salt
pepper
butter


Place the potatoes into a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Shred and chop the cabbage.  Add to a pot covered with water and bring to a boil.

While the potatoes and cabbage are cooking cut the uncooked bacon into pieces; fry until done.  Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and set aside.

Remove cabbage and potatoes when done (a fork will easily pierce a potato that is easily cooked).  Drain.  Return the potatoes to their pot to keep warm and for some of the water to evaporate from the potatoes.

While the potatoes are losing some of their moisture add the scallions to the milk and simmer over medium-low heat for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.

Mash the potatoes with the milk and scallions, adding salt, pepper and butter to your taste (you know best your you like your mashed potatoes!).  Add the cabbage and bacon and serve.

NOTE:  If the potatoes are too wet simply place the mixture into a pot on the stove to evaporate some of the moisture.  You can simply add the milk a little at a time to avoid this, but ensure that all the scallions get in and aren't left behind in the milk if it's not all used.

Time for Fastnachts!

Frying the Fastnachts

This is a post from my genealogy blog, "Have You Seen My Roots?"  I wanted to share it here because this recipe is absolutely awesome and since it's Mardi Gras, it was time to share.

Fastnachts.  Deep fried dough.  What could be better?  

I grew up in Northeastern Pennsylvania and went to college in Southeastern Pennsylvania so if you said "Fastnacht" to most people they knew that you were referring to a doughnut.  Being a German major in college and Catholic the terms Fastnacht and Fasching (Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras) were common terms as well.  

Essentially as Ash Wednesday grew near it would be time to eat all those fatty foods before fasting (clearing out the pantry of all the goodies, so to speak).  Fasching more commonly (at least today) refers to the day before Ash Wednesday and these doughnuts are a last hurrah of sorts.  

My mom would make these every year when I was little.  I remember coming home from school and seeing my mom surrounded by fastnachts.....mmmmm  Yummy!!!  The funny thing is we aren't even German...at all.  My mom's 100% Irish.  My dad 100% Lithuanian.  Apparently my mom's best friend in school was German and she'd get lots of cool recipes from her and would turn them into family traditions.  I would irritate my parents to no end because, as a child, I had a difficult time saying Fastnacht [fasst-nahkt].  I would say "fasst-snot".  It was not intentional..at least at first :)

Benjamin helping roll the Fastnachts

When I went away to college I was delighted to see that Fastnachts were served there on Fasching as well.  I'd grab a ton and eat them throughout the day.  I'm sure on-lookers found it quite amusing to see me walking away with so many!  

When I had kids this was one of those things that I just had to make each year.  Now I didn't when we lived in Hawaii.  My oldest was really too small to appreciate them, but when he was 2 years old and were living in California, it was game-on, and oh did my kids learn to love these doughnuts!  They are an all day affair though, so I actually make them on Monday for them to be ready for eating on Fasching (that's not saying that we don't enjoy them Monday night as well...it's still Carnival after all!).  This year I'm starting them Monday night and will be setting the alarm at 3am and 5am to do the final 2 risings before frying.  I want to surprise my boys in the morning.

Fastnachts on the last rise with the slits cut in the middle

Fastnachts

2 c milk, scalded
2 tbsp warm water (110-115 degrees (F))
1 pkg active dry yeast
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c margarine, melted
1/2 tsp salt
7 c flour
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Canola oil
Powdered sugar (or granulated, if you prefer)

Scald milk and set aside to cool.

Dissolve yeast in the water then add 1/2 c flour to the yeast and mix.  Add this to the scalded milk (ensuring the milk is not between 110-115 degrees (F) as well).  Stir.  Transfer to a very large bowl.  Add 1 tsp of the sugar and 3 c flour.  Mix, cover with plastic wrap (spray plastic wrap with butter spray) or a towel and allow to rise overnight in a warm place.

Punch down.  Add the eggs, margarine (again, make sure it's not hotter than 115 degrees(F)), nutmeg, salt, and remaining sugar.  Add as much of the remaining flour as you can stir with a spoon.  Allow to rise until light (about 2 hours).  

Punch down.  Roll on a floured surface to about 1/4-inch thickness.  Cut into squares.  Cut a slit in the center with a pair of kitchen scissors.  Let rise (about 45 minutes).

Heat oil to 375 degrees (F).  Fry in batches until golden, turning once.  Remove to paper towel-lined baking sheets.  While warm sprinkle with powdered or granulated sugar (we always did powdered).
Store in an air-tight container. 

HINT:  To proof the dough (make it rise faster) - Preheat the oven to 200 degrees (F).  When preheated leave on (and empty) for 4 - 5 minutes.  Turn the oven OFF and place the towel covered bowl in the oven (it's probably going to be on the lowest rack since you need a good-sized bowl for this and you don't want it touching the upper heating-element).  I only use the proofing for the first rise (about 3 - 4 hours), but you could probably do it for the second rise as well. 

Day old Fastnachts are no longer the lovely chewy goodness they were on that initial day, but fear not, just pop them in the microwave for a couple seconds or warm them up in the oven to bring them back to their first-day glory.  They take a lot of work to make, but I guarantee that once you've eaten them you'll be craving them!