Quick Fix

One of our favorite quick lunches or dinner (besides "root, hog, or die" or fast food) is a simple tuna melt. Nothing spectacular, just your favorite tuna salad (tuna, mayo, onions, celery, beans, pickles, shredded carrots, horseradish, whatever!) on a slice of bread or bagel. Top with a slice of tomato and shredded cheese--we like cheddar--and pop in the toaster oven for a minute or so until the cheese melts. When it comes out we often add a leaf of lettuce and sometimes hot sauce. Not what I'd call "pretty food" but simple and (usually) delicious!

Chocolate & Fig Scones

So here it is . . .

Chocolate & Fig Scones

3/4 cup flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
2 TBSP brown sugar
dash salt
2.5 TBSP butter
1/4 cup dark chocolate pieces
1/4 cup chopped dried figs
1/4 cup milk
2 TBSP yogurt


Sift flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and salt into a bowl. Cut in butter to the size of peas. I like to refrigerate or freeze here to re-solidify the butter. Stir in fig and chocolate pieces. Stir in milk and yogurt just until flour is incorporated. Dough will be too sticky to handle! I just dump it out on my pizza stone or pre-greased and -floured baking sheet and press it into a circle. Score into 6 - 8 triangles with a knife (see picture below) and bake at 400F for about 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Brew some coffee. Enjoy! This makes fairly small scones. In fact, it is a modified half-recipe, so it can easily be doubled. If you prefer round scones, dump your sticky dough onto a generous pile of flour, dust top with flour too, and pat flat before cutting with a biscuit cutter, or glass, or what have you.




Cook's Word: I love the buttery taste of these and the combination of dark chocolate and figs! They are crisp on the outside and moist inside. They re-heat nicely in a toaster oven to give the same freshly-baked texture. For endless variety, omit the chocolate and figs and add any combination of dried fruit, spices, or melty candy that suits your fancy!

All in a Day's Cooking

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cooking up a storm. I only wished I could've cooked up some rain to go with it!

It started with a 50 cent pack of frozen okra at the discount grocers. Okra. I think "gumbo." Oh, and I have those two potlucks this weekend to contribute something to. Whey from making (failed) yogurt last week. Potato flakes we've had in the cupboard for far too long. Potato bread. And while the oven is hot, I might as well whip up a batch of scones . . . Do I really wonder WHY I'm tired after a meal?!

The potato bread turned out lovely, moist and delicious with a little butter on it. I made two plain round loaves, and two garlic-rosemary free-form "baguettes" for the two potlucks. I also had to do a miniature of each variety for us to try while it was hot and fresh. I didn't use enough garlic powder or rosemary. I'll have to play with it some more before posting a recipe.

The okra gumbo came from allrecipes.com. I basically followed this recipe minus the file powder since I didn't have any, and plus a dash of ginger. I also only used half the amount of mushrooms it called for since I might want some of them for pizza later. I found it a bit on the salty side, and I don't mean expensive! The okra only cost 25 cents, after all, and the canned tomatoes were a gift from the new neighbors. =) We ate it over brown rice.

Then there were the Chocolate & Fig Scones. All I can say is, "yummy, yummy!" I meant to take a picture of them after they were baked, but I didn't have the memory card in. By the time I realized my mistake, the last one was in my tummy. Deliciously buttery and dark-chocolate-y. I may have to post the recipe . . .

Bon Apetit!

Berry-Picking

Remember the Garden Lavender Pound Cake? One was for "the new neighbors who live down the lane." Well, we did go and give it to them. They invited us in to chat and we ended up talking about this giant berry patch in a local city park. We all agreed that it would be great fun to go together, so Monday night we piled into their van and headed across town. Turns out the patch was LOADED with berries--most of them not quite ripe. We did get about five cups though.

We thought they were raspberries, but the flavor was more tart and they had a slightly sticky residue. Turns out they're wineberries, which my husband found out from his wild foods-fanatic co-worker the next day. So, what to do with all those berries? Well, this IS a post on a food blog, so you might have guessed I baked something with them (what was left after we kept stuffing our faces, that is). And you're right. I baked. Tarts. 16 muffin-sized tarts.


I found this recipe for raspberry pie and went from there. I started with a basic pie crust recipe, cutting circles to fit into a muffin cup. Turns out my metal two-cup measure was perfect for the job! I brushed the insides with egg and baked for three minutes (430F).

After the shells had pre-baked I filled the tarts with the adapted pie mixture:

(all measures approximate)
3 1/2 cups berries
1/2 cup brown sugar, loosely packed
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
2 TBSP butter, cut into dry ingredients
1 tsp. vanilla

I baked them for about thirty minutes (10 at 430F, then another 20 at 400F, or something like that). They came out pretty and pretty juicy. The filling bubbled up and down around the bottoms, which made them sticky too. I was glad I had generously greased the muffin tins! But the flavor was good. Not too sweet.

We got to sample them fresh out of the oven, and the rest stayed for company the next night. We added a dollop of vanilla ice-cream the second time around. Delish!


Cook's Word: I think I'd either add more cornstarch or reduce amount of berries next time as they were fairly juicy. If I had a tart pan, these would be adorable as a one-bite experience. But with the size and texture of these, they had to be eaten on a plate with a fork.

Bagels

Too much fun! Bagels have become one of those things that we just buy and never think about making at home. While many recipes are involved and complicated, my sister found one that you can whip out in an afternoon (or morning). I won't post the recipe here, just a link to the original. I added some whole wheat flour, of course, and dipped mine in sesame seeds just before baking. I also made 12 instead of 8 bagels, and found that they didn't need to bake 10 minutes on each side. I'll try 6 or 7 minutes per side next time.

The dough gets formed into little balls that rest.
Mine rested a l---o---n---g time because I had
two other projects going on at the same time.

After it rests 20 minutes, the dough gets shaped
into bagels which rest again another 10 - 20 minutes.

The bagels are boiled before being baked. It
was surprisingly easy and not messy (though boiling
did make them a little sticky). I coated them with
sesame seeds prior to baking. Turned out really great!

I had to run out for some neufchatel cheese
so we could eat them hot and fresh that night!

Garden Lavender Pound Cake

The lavender is in bloom in my little corner herb garden. Or it was until I snipped off all the flowers for a cake. In Turkey I had made this cake for the first time, and I knew the recipe was in one of my journals. Somewhere. After about twenty-some pages of heart-stopping drama, there it was: "Garden Lavender Pound Cake: BH&G, April 2004". What was scrawled across a whole 8 1/2 X 11-sized page has since been condensed to a single recipe card. Which is much easier to locate upon demand.

Garden Lavender Pound Cake
(Better Homes & Gardens, April 2004; narrative is mine)

4 eggs
1 c. butter
3/4 c. yogurt
1 c. sugar
1 - 2 TBSP dried lavender flowers*
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 TBSP vanilla
1 tsp. lemon zest

Let eggs, butter, and yogurt sit out to reach room temperature. In the meantime, grind lavender flowers into 1/2 cup of the sugar. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. In another bowl cream butter, lavender sugar, remaining sugar, and vanilla.




Add eggs--one at a time--beating between each. Alternately add sifted dry ingredients and yogurt to the batter. It will be thick! Fold in lemon zest. Grease and flour your baking pans (2 8X4 or one bundt). Bake at 325F for 45 minutes, testing near center for done-ness. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes, and then removed from pan and cool completely.

This cake stands well on its own, or can be glazed with the following:

1 c. powdered sugar
1 TBSP melted butter
3 - 4 tsp. lemon juice

Mix and drizzle over warm cake, letting it drip down the sides.

Viola!

I ended up making three small cakes (3 1/2 by 6 in.) from a half-recipe: "one for my master (and myself), one for my dames (women's group) and one for the new neighbors who live down the lane." The one pictured above was garnished especially for my dames, only one of whom showed up. Somehow we still managed to polish it off between just the two of us. It went down quite nicely with a half-pot of decaf coffee. Cook's word.

* Be careful to only use lavender that has not been treated with pesticides or other chemicals. And don't use too many flowers, as they can give a perfume-y or soapy taste.

Pizza Night

Somehow, I always think pizza will a fast supper. You only have to let the dough raise 20 minutes! It seems I forget about all the rolling, cutting, chopping, spreading, and baking that's involved. In any case, it's a delicious--if not quick--supper.

This week I made what I think is my favorite pizza to-date: goat's cheese with fresh basil and a little parmesean.

My taste-tester preferred this variety with sauteed summer squash slices, chopped green pepper and mozzarella cheese. I also mixed some BBQ sauce in with the pizza sauce which adds a nice flavor.

I also made some minty tabouli for added greens. I actually think I overdid it on the mint, but we gobbled it up anyway!

And just because it makes us happy . . .

our first garden produce! I don't really like eating little tomatoes, but it's so wonderful so see a small plant grow and flower and develop something edible!