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To our American readers – Happy Thanksgiving, may your day be filled with love, warmth, family, friends and delicious food.
A few months ago, I was having a twitter session with John, Jennifer and Tamar about scones. Everyone was eager to make scones together, sort of a virtual bake-off. Unfortunately, I was not able to play along for a couple reason: 1) I thought it would be too time consuming and 2) life over-took me once again. Ever since I have had scones on my mind and have been tossing around different versions to make. The big question was, sweet or savory?
Back in October, I had some free time one morning and decided to tackle the scone challenge. I ran to the store, picked up some good Irish butter, some flour, pecans and pumpkin. Then I made a cup of coffee, turned on a little music and began. I wanted a scone that would be sweet, but not overly sweet as well I wanted it to smell of autumn; a little nutty, a bit spicy and comforting. Pumpkin and pecans would be perfect.
 
Most of the recipes I found, had me mixing the dough by hand as well asked for cake flour in addition to ap flour. I wanted the recipe to be simple, so I started with only ap flour. As well I used a food processor; I don’t like sticky hands. The dough came together really nicely, it was light and very flavorful; very easy to work with. One of the reasons I was so hesitiate on baking scones was the rolling of the dough into a square and then cutting. Why? I don’t know but I was. Instead I rolled the dough into a circle and cut it like a pie. Easy. I was so excited at this point, that I started a list of all the different flavors I wanted to start making.
The smell of pumpkin and cardamon, mixed perfectly with the pecans and butter while they were baking. Even though the scones were stand-up on their own, I decided after a couple bites, to make a sweet maple glaze. This was the perfect final touch, while drizzled over the tops of the scones while they are still warm. Not only would this recipe make for a perfectly light breakfast, but, it went well with a nice cup of hot chai tea as an afternoon snack.
What is your favorite scone; sweet or savory?
Recipe: Pumpkin Scones with Maple Glaze
2 cups ap flour
1/4 cup sugar, we use unprocessed raw sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspooon salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamon
6 tablespoons irish butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with silpat. In a food processor combine all the dry ingredients, give a whirl to mix. With the food processor running, at pieces of the butter, a couple at a time and pulse until pea sized. Continue adding the butter until it is used up. Add the puree and the heavy cream. Pulse until the dough comes together, not any longer. Scrape the dough out onto a floured surface, lightly knead and then bring together into a circle, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into triangles, I made 8 but you could make them a bit smaller or larger. Place onto the baking sheet, so that they do not touch. Bake for about 15 minutes. They will be light brown on the bottoms and the tops. Remove from oven. Drizzle with the maple glaze. Serve. Eat.
*disclaimer I made these a couple times and they come out much better when I used Irish butter instead of regular unsalted butter
Recipe: Maple Glaze
1/2 powdered sugar
3 – 6 tablespoons pure maple syrup, depends on the consistency you want
Mix in a small bowl until you reach the consistency you are after. Drizzle over warm scones.
If you enjoyed this dish, you may enjoy these others as well:
Pumpkin Scones with Spiced Glaze
Pumpkin Scones
Pumpkin and Ginger Scones
We have been almost 100% gluten free for a week now. When we tell people we are eating gluten free, the first question is “why?” and our response is, “why not!” People act like we have just told them we are going to eat rocks for a month, when in fact, gluten free is pretty darn delicious. Besides this delicious risotto we have eaten slow roasted pork loin with butternut squash and fennel, steaks with a blue cheese and butter dollop and roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs with homemade sausage patties, cheese with delicious gluten free brown rice crackers and pink lady apples; it really is endless and we are only on week one.
We kicked off the beginning to our gluten free adventure with this delicious risotto which was inspired by a Marcella Hazan recipe. Risotto is one of those dishes that people think is really difficult so they never attempt it. I, on the other hand, think it is one of the easiest and most versatile dishes one can make. I was not sure about risotto being gluten free but then I found actual gluten free risotto at the store; we were in luck. I did make the dish a bit different then Marcella does; I added more butternut squash and I kept the clams in their shells as I thought they were really beautiful. Served with a bit of wild arugula tossed with lemon juice and a little olive oil, this makes a perfect gluten free meal. Now, what do you think; is gluten free, boring?
What is your favorite gluten free risotto recipe?
Recipe: Butternut Squash, Leek and Clam Risotto
* inspired by Marcella Hazan
3/4 lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeds and strings removed, cut into small cubes
18 live littleneck clams, scrubbed clean
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large leek, whites only, cleaned and cut into very small slices
4 scallions, white part only, cut into very thin rounds
kosher salt, to taste
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 cup risotto
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
Turn oven on to 350°. Lay the diced squash on a baking sheet covered with foil. Pour in 1/2 cup water and put in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes or until soft. When cool, drain, then set aside.
Pour 1/3 cup water into a shallow saucepan, put in clams, cover, and turn on heat to high. Look in on clams after 1 minute, stirring them around. As soon as they open their shells, transfer them to a bowl. Keep heat going under pan, moving quickly to retrieve any clam that has opened up. Line a strainer with a paper towel and set it over a small bowl. Pour pan juices and any juice in bowl of clams through the strainer. Let the clams steep in the strained juices until ready to add to the risotto.
Pour 2 quarts of water into a saucepan and bring to a low boil, turn down the heat. Pour oil into a heavy 4–6-quart saucepan, add leeks and scallions, and turn on heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring from time to time, until they are soft and slightly golden. Add half the squash together with some salt and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, slightly smash using a potato masher. Add thyme and stir all the ingredients together, set aside in a small bowl. Add rice to the saucepan, that still has the left over flavors from the squash, turning it to coat well. Add half the wine, steadily stir the rice, and when all the wine has bubbled away, add the remaining half. Continue stirring to keep rice moving away from bottom and sides of pan.
Pour clam juices, through a strainer, into the risotto. Continue to stir until all the liquid has evaporated, then add a ladleful or two of the simmering water. Stir constantly, adding simmering water by the ladleful whenever the rice begins to dry out, threatening to stick to the pan. In about 15 minutes, when the rice is still hard and chalky to the bite, stir in the squash mixture. Continue to cook, stirring steadily and replenishing the water when necessary, until rice has lost its chalky consistency and is tender, but still firm, to the bite. Do not let rice dry out completely when you are near the end, keeping its final consistency loose and flowing.
Add the remaining squash pieces and the clams, stirring them quickly into the risotto. Add the grated pecorino. Remove pan from heat and stir. Taste and correct for seasoning. Serve at once.
If you enjoyed this dish, you may enjoy these others as well:
Roasted Acorn Risotto
Bacon Risotto with Roasted Butternut Squash
Butternut Squash Risotto with Chicken, Portobello and Manchego
We just spent a few days in Yosemite; it was wonderful. Cold. Snowy. Cuddly. After playing in the snow for a couple days, it definitely began feeling like the holidays to us. Nothing screams the holidays until the first, freshly fallen snow! What seasonal changes do you associate it with the holidays? Come share it with us!
When I think of potato soup, the first thing that comes to mind is a bland bowl of something that is a little thinner then mashed potatoes. Rather thick, somewhat flavorful; but usually, rather bland. Don’t get me wrong. We love potatoes … mashed with some garlic, fried in duck fat, baked with a dollop of creme fraiche, boiled with a sprinkle of herbs and a pat of butter; the list could go on and on. I just never really make potato soup, it is normally something I order on a whim. The whim that gets me to order it, is the one that lists all the extra goodness that goes into it, bacon, leeks, cheese, cream, etc…. otherwise, well, a bowl of white potato soup is, BORING.
We love sweet potatoes. Not the overly sweet ones that are covered with marshmallows and served at eighty percent of US Thanksgiving dinners. Instead we like our sweet potatoes slow roasted with a hint of olive oil and garlic. Or spicy sweet potato fries which have been dusted with spicy, smokey paprika. Or a baked sweet potato with nothing but fresh butter, maldon salt and fresh cracked potato. Now that is a sweet potato …. sweet, creamy and sexy.
The other evening, I decided to use some sweet potatoes I had laying around and make a soup. They were on the verge of sprouting in our kitchen, so it was definitely time. I did not have much in the house, one of those old mother Hubbard moments, so I had to get creative. My sous chef, Maggie, happened to come over and decided to help with making dinner. We found some shallots, garlic, a couple carrots, Parmesan cheese, parsley and veggie stock.
Maggie geared up with her onion/shallot chopping goggles and we were ready to get started with the prep work. After mincing the shallots we slowly cooked them in a little olive oil.
Once the shallots were soft and golden we added the carrots, sweet potatoes and garlic; giving them a couple stirs to mix the flavors. I received a couple emails recently asking why I always seem to add the garlic after browning the onions. The reason why, because the flavor of garlic is not burnt as well the health benefits are greater if you do not brown the garlic first.
After the flavors were blended a little, we added the veggie stock, as well as a sprinkle of maldon salt, cumin and pepper. Slowly simmered the soup until the potatoes were soft. Finally, the soup was pureed. The result was simple and thick. Savory and comforting. Maggie decided (for real) that we should sprinkle a little cheese and minced parsley on top to make it look pretty and she was right, it did look pretty.
Now this was a great bowl of “potato soup”.
* disclaimer, served with a salad and warm crusty bread
Recipe: Homemade Sweet Potato Soup
5 medium sweet potatoes, peeled, washed, cut into cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium shallots, cut in half
2 garlic cloves
2 carrots, scrubbed, cut into chunks
8 cups vegetable stock
kosher salt to taste
cumin to taste
pepper to taste
Heat olive oil in a large dutch oven, over medium heat. Add shallots, lower heat and cook until soft, about 3 – 5 minutes. Add carrots and sweet potatoes, stir, cook for about 10 minutes over low heat. Add stock and garlic. Raise the heat, to bring to a medium boil. Stir. Cover. Lower heat and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 30 minutes. Puree in a food processor or blender, in batches, until smooth. Return to stock pot. Gently reheat over low heat. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley. Serve. Eat.
*if you do not want a vegetarian version, use chicken stock. As a garnish fry up some bacon and sprinkle it over the top of the soup before serving!
If you enjoyed this dish, you may enjoy these others as well:
This is a sponsored review by BlogHer and V8 V-Fusion + Tea.
I have been a fan of V8 vegetable juice since I was a small girl, so I was excited when I was given the opportunity to try out their newest product V8 V-Fusion +Tea. In all honesty, I did not even know they had any other drinks beyond the traditional V8 juice, so I was excited when I received a cooler bag with their three favors, Pomegranate Green Tea, Raspberry Green Tea and Pineapple Mango Green Tea.
A bit about V8 V-fusion+ Tea is a flavored beverage made of vegetable and fruit juices with the added benefits of the natural antioxidants of green tea. I was thrilled to learn that the beverage has only 50 calories, zero fat and a low amount of natural sugars.
All three of the flavors are very refreshing and light. As well they are not overly sweet, which a lot of juices have a tendency to be. Green tea can be on the bitter side but with the addition of vegetable and fruit juices, it was very smooth. I liked that I could taste each of the main fruit based flavors in each of the teas. I particularly loved the Pineapple and Mango flavor.
As well this beverage makes a fun adult beverage. We added a shot of our favorite vodka to glass of the Pineapple and Mango juice, served over the rocks, with a twist of lime. Delicious.
The team over at V8 V-fusion launched this fun video to help remote the release of these new refreshing beverages be sure to check it out http://www.youtube.com/user/v8vfusionplustea as well their facebook fan page has some fun events http://www.facebook.com/V8VFusion.
To kick off the launch of this new V8 product, BlogHer is giving one of our lucky readers a $100 Visa gift card. Between now and December 10, 2010, leave a comment below telling us if you have tried the V8 V-fusion beverages and if so, what is your favorite flavor. If you haven’t tried V8 V-fusion, then tell us what you thought of their fun video.
For a second entry, you can:
- Tweet about this post with a link to it (and put your tweet URL in a separate comment below)
- Blog about this post with a link to it (and put your blog post URL in a separate comment below)
- Read the official rules for alternate form of entry
To make it even more interesting, you have 8 more chances to win a $100 Visa gift card. All you need to do is visit each of these blogger’s review pages between now and December 10, 2010.
This is a sponsored post by BlogHer and P&G.
I have watched football since I can remember and it has always involved “food”. My sister, Susan, and I use to watch the games religiously every Sunday. We would get a big bag of chips and make our famous homemade clam dip. Then we would sit, stuff our small faces and cheer for our teams. Susan, as well as rest of my family, loved the Dallas Cowboys and I was into the Pittsburgh Steelers, this always made for some interesting times at our house. We were two young silly girls, who did not know that much about the game; but we loved the formalities of getting ready for that Sunday afternoon.
Times have not changed much since those early days. Now I plan the escapades with Lenny and just like my sister and I, we both like different teams. He is all about the New England Patriots and I am a San Francisco 49er’s fan. I still don’t know much about the game, but the formalities of getting ready for the big day and planning who will be there and what we will be eating and drinking is as equally as exciting as the first touchdown.
We usually start talking food and drink, way before we even plan the guest list. We start out thinking that we will keep the menu healthy by serving nibbles such as spicy roasted chickpeas, homemade hummus (recipe below) with veggies, and glasses of wine. The more we talk about the menu the more it evolves into a menu of hearty (not so healthy) foods such as chips with guacamole and big bowls of steamy and meaty chili with all the toppings, washed down with lots of icy cold beer. No matter which way the menu goes, there are always plenty of home made chocolate chip cookies to get everyone rallied out of their food comas, so they can cheer for their teams during the fourth quarter.
When game day arrives, we like to keep it simple. We invite a few of our friends over; they may or may not be into the 49ers or Patriots. This is okay as it is really more fun (and competitive) if they like the opposing football team. We lay out the food and let the fun times begin. There is tons of hollering, laughing, poking fun at each other’s teams and cheering. It is a great way to spend the day catching up, no matter who wins the football game.
What is your favorite way to spend a football Sunday? Who is your favorite team? Do you have a favorite recipe you like to make? We’d love to hear how you cheer your team on!
As well you will want to check out what 19 other bloggers have to say about their football traditions. Here’s a great opportunity to get some great prizes from one of the NFL’s sponsors, Procter & Gamble. Check out their “Take it to the House” program and photo contest, where prizes include a $10,000 community donation to support NFL PLAY 60 and an at-home visit from a local NFL legend! One lucky Grand Prize Winner will even win a trip to the 2011 Pro Bowl in Hawaii. Show us how you and your football family bring NFL game day to life at home at www.facebook.com/TakeItToTheHouse (click on the contest tab)!
Recipe: Meyer Lemon Hummus
2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 small garlic cloves, peeled
2 small meyer lemons, zest and juiced
1/2 cup water
3 tablespoons tahini
2 teaspoons sumac
1/2 cup olive oil
maldon salt, to taste
Add chickpeas to your food processor. Give a whirl to mash. Add the garlic, lemon zest, juice and water. Whirl until mixed together. Add the tahini and sumac, give another whirl. With the food processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil, mix well. Season with salt, to your personal taste. Serve. Eat.
I love the smell of a fresh cut tree being brought into the house. The branches being softly bruised as you squeeze through the door, releases the fresh smell of Christmas. So comforting. What is one of your favorite Christmas memories?
With the holidays nipping at my toes, I have sugar cookies on my mind. The holidays are just not the holidays without a couple cookie baking sessions. Over the years, I have tried many different sugar cookie recipes, but have never been really happy with any of them. That is until I tried Dorie Greenspan‘s Grandma’s All Occasion Sugar Cookie recipe. The cookie is perfect; sweet, sugary and slightly chewy, not too hard or crispy. The dough really holds up well, if you plan to cut out different shapes as well as for decorating with creamy butter-creams. This is one holiday tradition, that will never tire in our home.
We want to know what your favorite holiday tradition is.
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