Banana Chocolate Chip Scones

Another goodies from one of my favorite recipe books: Food and Wine.

The method is pretty straightforward and does not require cutting the butter, rather melting in and adding it with the wet ingredients to the dry. It also uses buttermilk - I make my own using milk and vinegar as a substitute if I am out of the real thing - instead of cream. Th original recipe used berries and nuts. I have used it as a base and experimented with different flavors.

The latest we've made - and we make these often as they are one of my kids favorite things to have for breakfast or snack - are banana-chocolate and apple-raisins. They each picked a combination. 

The problem with theses, is that they do not last. I always make double the recipe in hopes of having some left for the freezer... Right :) I am lucky if there are any left the next morning. I could hide them of course, but that would not be nice, would it?

Recipe to come shortly...

Upside Down Apple Cake... or Not

So, I have been craving lots of sweets lately. Make that everyday. Unfortunately, I don't get to bake as much as I used to before LO made his entrance five months ago. In fact, I am lucky if I get dinner on the table without too much stress.
Well yesterday late afternoon, after putting LO down for his catnap, I headed straight to the kitchen to recreate America's Test Kitchen upside down apple cake. I got started on the apples only to find that I was down to a couple of tablespoons butter. Not enough to make the cake!
I can not begin to describe my disappointment, having actually seen myself making the cake and then having a good part of it for dinner - I know, I know... But this cake is kinda healthy, it has lots of apples in it ;)
With the cake no longer part of the plan, I had to think about making some real dinner. With everyone suffering from colds and coughs at home, some hot soup with lots of garlic and ginger sounded perfect.
A quick online search led me to Food and Wine's Asian Vegetable Soup with Noodles.
I upped the garlic and made a few changes such as using spinach instead of bok choy, omitting the cabbage, adding mushrooms, shrimp, lemongrass and some celery,  as well as using soba noodles in lieu of vermicelli. It was wonderfully warming and just what we needed to sooth our sore throats. The best thing is, I have enough leftover for lunch. Mmm, I can smell the ginger and garlic already.
The cake will have to wait until this afternoon. Need to ask DH to pick up some butter. I can not believe I ran out of butter! I always make sure that I have some in the freezer in case of an emergency like this one.
I guess this should be one of my goals for the new year...

A Taste of Greece

Much needed summer memories...

Early November here has brought with it a few unusually sunny, and dare I say "warm", days. The boys have been making a point of playing outside everyday and I've even ventured with the LO for a stroller ride to meet big brothers at school.

Alas, it appears that we are done with the sun for at least a few days as the forecast calls for rain everyday next week. So it is back to reality and I can't help but look back at some cherished summer memories.

This was a wonderful meal. The lamb Souvlaki was not too spicy, just perfect, the tzatziki refreshing and the side of eggplant dip... well let's just say it is Eggplant.

It was a great complement to this:

And this:

Can't wait to go back!

Butter Crescent...

...Or as I call them, Fake Croissants.

The last time I made these was many years ago. I can not figure out why it took me so long to make them again, as they are sooo easy to put together, requiring minimal hands-on time. I doubled the recipe, because, if I am going to have my oven on, might as well make good use of it!

The boys have been eating them for snack as well as breakfast. They are perfect with a cup of Moroccan Mint Tea.

The recipe is from The Great American Home Baking Kitchen Helper

Unfortunately, I do not have all of the recipe sheets for this binder. Come to think of it, I have very few of the many recipe that it comes with.

Butter Crescents

For one dozen:

½ cup Milk

1 Stick butter; softened

⅓ cup Granulated sugar

Salt

1 pack Active dry yeast

½ cup Warm water

1 large Egg; lightly beaten

3.5 - 4 cups All purpose flour

1 large Egg; lightly beaten

Heat milk and add to combined butter, sugar, and salt. Let cool. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until foamy.

Beat yeast mixture and egg into milk mixture. Mix in 2 cups of flour until smooth. Continue beating until thick. Mix in enough remaining flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Knead dough very gently until smooth and elastic, 2 to 3 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Divide it in half. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

Roll 1 dough half into a 12-inch circle. Cut into 6 wedges. Starting at side opposite point [This is where I added chocolate to some, grape jelly as well as peanut butter Reeses chuncks. It is Halloween after all ;) ], roll up each wedge. Place, point-sides down, on prepared baking sheets. Curve ends to form crescents. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover loosely with a damp cloth; let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, 30 minutes.

Brush crescents with glaze.

Bake at 400F until golden, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

Jacques Pepin's Fast Food

Eggplant, again ;)

LO decided to take a nice nap late afternoon, yesterday. So I decided to cook something that we normally eat raw in the house, lettuce. I have tried it in soup a few times but DH and the boys are not really into soup, unless it is Harira.
I did a quick check to make sure that I had all the ingredients and got to work. I made Jacques Pepin's Rigatoni with Eggplant and Lettuce. It was fast food indeed.

The result was great. Eggplant and lettuce. Who knew?!

I was a little worried that the boys would complaint but they mostly ate it without issues. My oldest actually liked it. Good and healthy. What more can you ask for?

You can find view a YouTube video of the cooking episode featuring the recipe here: Jacques Pepin's Rigatoni with Eggplant and Lettuce.

Update

Lots has been happening in our little corner of the world.

Our family has welcomed a new pair of feet :) so things have been a little crazy here. Sleepless nights and hectics days are the norm these days, leaving little in the way of long hours in the kitchen.

LO has mostly been taking 45 minute naps so that makes things a bit hard, though this past week has been somewhat better. So on Sunday afternoon, after feeding him and entrusting him to DH, I decided to get in the kitchen and make some no knead bread - using my KitchenAid was out of the question as LO was napping.


What was initially going to be a quick in an out in the kitchen turned into a whole afternoon affair. I ended up making some crescents, an apple-pecan pie (I only had to supervise as this was my 11 year old's baby), sauteed some ground beef for tacos later in the week and assisted DH in making a double batch of meatballs to use with store-bough spaghetti sauce.


I now have a couple of almost-ready-to-serve meals. This should make for more relaxing suppers this coming week.


All in all, a very productive - albeit exhausting - Sunday that left the house smelling heavenly.


A couple of recipes to follow, hopefully soon.

Tajine of beef and potatoes

I came home last night to this wonderful meal that my husband and sister prepared. It is a tajine of beef with potatoes and red peppers. The meat was cooked in the pressure-cooker and was perfectly tender. The potatoes and red peppers were added afterwards, followed by chopped parsley. Very simple yet delicious.