Strawberry Scones

I heart scones.  The great thing is that they aren't fried up, just baked.  Just ignore the 8 tbsp. of butter and you can feel pretty good about yourself :).  Made these tonight and they were pretty darn good.

The recipe comes from here.  Check it out if you want to see the picture (wouldn't let me copy), it's beautiful!


Strawberry Scones


Ingredients:
1 large egg
¼ cup plain or vanilla yogurt
½ cup milk
1 tsp. orange or lemon zest
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 tbsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 heaping cup diced fresh strawberries

Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together the egg, yogurt, milk and citrus zest until blended; set aside.  In the bowl of a food processor combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Pulse briefly to blend.  Add the butter pieces to the bowl with the dry ingredients and pulse several times to cut the butter into the flour, until the largest butter pieces are the size of small peas.  (If you don’t have a food processor, you can just as easily mix up the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and cut in the butter using a pastry blender or two knives or forks.)  Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.
Add the strawberries to the flour mixture and toss to coat.  Add the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and gently fold together with a fork or spatula until a sticky dough has formed.  Knead just a few times to ensure that all the dry ingredients are incorporated and the dough is cohesive.  (Only if absolutely necessary, add more milk 1 tablespoon at a time to hydrate the remaining dry ingredients.)
Transfer the dough to a well floured work surface and pat into a disc about 7-8 inches in diameter.  Sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.  Slice the disc into 8 wedges.
To bake the scones, preheat the oven to 425˚ F.  Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.  Place the shaped scones on the prepared baking sheet and bake until lightly browned on top, about 15 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes before serving.
To freeze, transfer the baking sheet with the shaped scones to the freezer and let them chill until they are firm, 30-60 minutes.  Wrap the scones individually and store in a freezer-safe bag until ready to bake.  Bake as originally indicated, adding a few minutes to the baking time (usually about 18-20 minutes for me.)
Source: adapted from The Way the Cookie Crumbles, originally from Good Things Catered

Baked Potato Soup

Original recipe found here.

BAKED POTATO SOUP
(Mindi Original)

½ white onion; finely diced
1 clove garlic; minced
2 T. butter
32 oz. chicken stock
¾ - 1 oz. fresh chives; diced
4 large russet potato’s; baked (or 8 small, fist size potatoes)
salt & pepper
1 C. sour cream
Cheddar cheese, crumbled bacon & sour cream

1. In a large stock pot, melt the butter. Sauté the onion and garlic until translucent, about 3-4 minutes.
2. Add the stock and chives and bring to a simmer.
3. Roughly dice or chop the baked potato’s leaving the skins on.
4. Add the potato’s to the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes. The potatoes should fall apart leaving some chucks, but also thickening the soup.
5. Season generously with salt & pepper to taste.
6. Add the sour cream and continue to simmer for an additional 15 minutes.
7. Serve topped with cheese, bacon and sour cream as desired.

Zuppa Tuscana

Andy's favorite soup!

Zuppa Tuscana

1 lb ground sausage (regular or spicy)
3 large red potatoes, sliced in half and then sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 large onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 bunch kale, chopped
freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (*see note)

Brown sausage in large soup pot. Remove sausage and set aside. To the pot add chicken broth, potatoes, onion, and garlic and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes. Add cream and sausage to the pot and warm through. (Do not boil) Add kale several minutes before serving. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Delicious!!
* If using spicy sausage, you may want to omit the red pepper flakes…unless you like eating fire!

Rumbi Island Mango Chicken and Rice

Awesome recipe, found here!

Rumbi Island Easy Mango Chicken and Rice
submitted by Melanie
4-5 chicken breasts (boneless and skinless)
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups mango salsa
Cumin to taste
Lemon Pepper to taste
Put chicken breasts in crock pot. Add spices. Cover and cook chicken until tender. Shred chicken on a plate and return to crock pot. Save juices in separate bowl.
Add corn, beans and salsa. More salsa can be added to taste. If mixture seems dry, add some of reserved juices.
Serve over coconut jasmine rice for that Rumbi Island Grill taste. Garnish with cilantro or parsely, if desired.
*You could use regular salsa for a Mexican taste and serve over regular rice or tortilla chips.

Chicken and Dumplings

Original recipe here. 

The recipe doesn't have vegetables in it, but I boiled up some carrots, celery and peas and put them in when the dish went into the oven.

Chicken and Dumplings

3 c. cooked chicken, cut into large pieces

½ c. butter

1/3 c. flour

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

3 c. chicken broth

1 can cream of chicken soup (98% fat free variety works great)

Dumplings:

2 c. flour

3 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp celery seed

¼ c. oil

1 c. milk

Blend butter, flour, salt and pepper in saucepan. Add chicken broth and cook until thick. Stir in cream of chicken soup and add cooked chicken. Put in a 9×13 pan. To prepare dumplings, mix all ingredients together and stir until moistened. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto chicken and gravy. Bake at 425° for 20-25 minutes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Love these pancakes.

Pumpkin Pancakes

submitted by Erin

1 ¼ c. all-purpose flour

2 T. sugar

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp salt

1/8 tsp nutmeg

pinch of ground cloves

1 c. milk

¼ c. + 2 T. canned pumpkin purée

2 T. melted butter

1 egg

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine milk, pumpkin, butter, and egg. Fold wet mixture into dry ingredients. Pour ¼ c. batter for each pancake. Cook 3 minutes per side on medium heat. Serve with maple syrup. Makes 8 – 10 pancakes (serves 2-3 people).

(Martha Stewart Oct ’04 magazine)

Donut Muffin

Original recipe found here.

Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:

1/3 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix together oil, sugar, egg and milk. Then add dry ingredients. Mix well. Grease muffin tin, and bake at 350 for 18-20 minutes. While the muffins are baking mix together sugar and cinnamon in one bowl, and melt butter in another. When muffins are done cooking, remove from tin. Coat each muffin in butter and then in cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Enjoy!

Teriyaki Burgers

Original recipe found here.

Serves 5

Ingredients

1 pound hamburger

1 egg

1/2 cup dry bread crumbs

4 tablespoons teriyaki sauce

1 teaspoon onion powder

salt and pepper

bacon

pineapple slices

swiss cheese

In large bowl combine hamburger, egg, bread crumbs, teriyaki, onion powder and salt and pepper. Shape into hamburger patties. Cook on grill for 6-8 minutes per side. While that is cooking, fry up your bacon. Also, feel free to grill up your pineapple. Top with swiss cheese and enjoy.

Creamy Black Bean Salsa Chicken

LOVE this recipe.  It originally comes from here.

Serves 4

4 frozen boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup salsa or picante sauce
1 cup frozen corn
1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed (OR 2/3 cup dry beans soaked overnight and cooked on LOW for 6-8 hours in a separate slow cooker)
1 package taco seasoning (I used the whole package, but next time I'll probably only use about 3/4 of it)
1/2 cup sour cream
cornstarch and water
grated cheddar cheese
tortillas

Throw the frozen chicken in the slow cooker.  Cover it with the broth, salsa, corn, beans, and taco seasoning.  Cook on HIGH for 4 hours.  Remove the chicken and either shred it or cut it up into bite size pieces.  Take the lid off and stir in the sour cream.  It will still be a little runny so take 1 T cornstarch mixed with 1 T water and stir it in.  Add the chicken back in.  Leave the lid off and let it thicken up for about a half hour.  Spoon it over tortillas and sprinkle with cheese.  You can also eat it like a thick soup with corn chips.

Review:
I really loved the use of the chicken thighs versus the breasts in this recipe.  I also used the cornstarch to thicken it and that worked great.  I would use this revised recipe over the original...although they are both good.  My husband said he didn't think he would love it but he actually ate so much that there was no leftovers.  4 1/2 stars  easy, yummy, no thawing the chicken is a bonus.