ginger scones

for the second week of the 12 weeks of christmas cookies i opted to make epicurious' ginger scones and i am glad i did. these ginger scones, unlike last week's cookie flop, are good. they were a little frustrating at times and i know i over handled the dough a bit, but overall they turned out pretty dang tasty. the scones were not exactly the prettiest ones i have ever made or seen. i was getting so irritated with the dough that i haphazardly cut them out with my biscuit cutter. when i began, the dough was too dry, then sticky, then soft and generally ticking me off! i was loosing my patience, so i just plopped them all onto my silpat and threw'em in the oven. well, i let them get too brown, oops, no harm done.

can you can see the candied ginger? i purchased a bag from trader joe's and boy howdy, does it have a bite. i diced it on the tennie weenie side. there is not only a great ginger kick, but a tart lemon punch, too. well, more like a lemon tickle from lemon zest. what a great flavor combination those two are, wow. you know, i would make these ginger scones again. truthfully, there were pretty simple and....

i like'em. enjoy.

Week 2 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

super quick pumpkin muffins, low fat

this is an old weight watchers recipe that i have been using for years. my daughter caroline can not get enough of these muffins. she doesn't need to know they are low fat, not that she would even know what that means or even care as she is stuffing her pie hole. these little babies are so yummy, lower in fat, yet moist and flavorful, so real quick, here is the recipe. you need one box of your favorite cake mix. i use spice, but you can use carrot, yellow or even chocolate cake mix. now add to that one small can of pureed pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling folks. it has been difficult to find canned pumpkin due to the the great pumpkin shortage charlie brown, but it is finally hitting the shelves for the season, so stock up! okay add to those one third cup of water, mix really well and your are done. bake in a 12 muffin pan spritz with baking spray, 30 minutes at 350 degrees. cool a minute or two and enjoy. you could easily icing these and call them cupcakes, or plop some cream cheese in the middle before baking to make a starbucks pumpkin muffin knockoff, and so on. the pumpkin replaces the fat, so after a day or two, they tend to get chewy. store in a covered container at room temp. enjoy!

oven ready, i use an ice cream scoop for measurement.

thirty minutes later.....

pass the butter....

and put on a pot of coffee....

three ingredient beer bread, i can do it, you can do it

mix together the following:

3 cups self rising flour

1/4 cup sugar 

12oz beer, i used a dark beer, amberbock

bake in a greased loaf pan for 50 to 55 minutes at 375 fahrenheit. watch your oven, if too hot, back down to 350. cool briefly, pop out, slice, enjoy.  

ps-and for goodness sake don't try to buy a single beer less you be chastised by the store clerk and forced to purchase a six pack! i have five more loaves to make now.  bread anyone?

ps-ps-a friend wrote me a note telling me she had made a similar recipe, but added an entire stick of butter, melted, to the top before baking. i think i will try that next time, but only with a half stick. yum.

chocolate chip surprise muffins

chocolate chip surprise muffins, you can find the recipe here. these are delicious!



my hubby immediately snarfed three and packed two for lunch, so they must be all right. the surprise part....


look close, a little pocket of sweet cream cheese! mine did not come out as pretty as karly's, but are still dang tasty. go make a batch today. enjoy.

harvest grain pancakes w/wo blueberries

this is the only picture i have of this morning's pancakes, the very last one i made and no blueberries added. we have a new ihop in town and my kids wanted to give it a try, so we did. jamie and i had the harvest nut&grain pancakes with bananas. guess what? they were good, very good. i went online and did a search and came across quite a few recipes that claimed to be "copykats". i incorporated them all to come up with a simple tasty recipe. i added frozen blueberries to the hub's and mine, just dropped a few in as they were cooking in the pan. the kid's i left plain. these pancakes were gobbled by everyone in my house, which is a rarity. these babies are a keeper in my book. next time, i plan on adding chopped walnuts and top with some sliced 'nanners. enjoy.

beth' knockoff ihop harvest grain pancakes

first, process 3/4 cup rolled oats till fine like a flour, mix with 3/4 cups whole wheat flour, two tbsp. all purpose flour, 2 tsp. baking soda, 1 tsp. baking powder and a 1/2 tsp. kosher salt.

in another bowl, beat an egg, 1/4 canola oil, 1/4 sugar, 1 1/2 cups lowfat buttermilk

mix the dry into the wet, just till well combines and griddle 1/3 cup of batter at a times, as usual. i added frozen blueberries as the batter was starting to bubble slightly. the heat will defrost the berries. you certainly could stir in any nuts or even dried fruit. ihop adds chopped walnuts, but i bet pecans and almonds would be great, too!

ps-sorry for the super, duper, pooper picture!! they were goooood.

new favorite thing, whole wheat pancakes

not only are these whole wheat pancakes easy to make, but they actually taste good!

let me tell you, i have never been a huge fan of "straight" whole wheat. it sometimes seems, well, too "wheatie" and that's probably why most whole wheat recipes involve adding some all purpose flour, not these, not necessary. on my quest to become healthier i am attempting to incorporate more whole grains such as wheat and oats into my diet as well as the family's. this is a good start, not only for my lifestyle change, but for my day. i don't like breakfast. it is not that i don't like to eat, because we know that is not an issue. it is that i don't like the common "breakfast foods". i had rather eat a lean cuisine, until now. i love these pancakes. they are quick to throw together, tasty and last till lunch, unlike a bowl of cheerios that leaves my stomach growling an hour later. this recipe makes four good sized pancakes that are pretty fluffy yet dense. i do add spices, but think these would be delicious with the addition of flax seed, fruit, chocolate chips, nuts. you name it. this pancake recipe is a great jumping off point for all sorts of combos. i like mine plain with a smidge of my favorite brummel and brown yogurt spread and some agave syrup. well, okay, i have topped one or two with some natural peanut butter while warm, oh man, so yummy! enjoy.
beth's whole wheat pancakes

in a bowl mix the following:

one cup of whole wheat flour
one cup of fat free buttermilk or your milk of choice(you can add more if you want a thinner batter)
1 egg
2 tbsp. of applesauce
2 packets of sun crystals or tbsp. of sugar
2 tsp. of baking powder
1 tsp. of vanilla extract
1/2 to one tsp. of pumpkin pie spice

heat your frying pan over med heat, spritz with cooking spray. i generally ladle out the batter to make whatever size pancake i want. watch for the bubbles or eyes to form and pop, flip and brown the other side. slather on your favorite toppings while warm. hey, even my persnickety daughter eats these.

april's amazing bran muffins

i made the most delicious and easy bran muffins, thanks to my new friend, april. she is the authoress of abby sweets, a blog full of food and fun. april, like myself, is trying hard to eat healthy. it is not easy when you are a food junkie. she shared with me the most delicious bran muffin, yes bran muffin recipe with me. i know, it hard to believe that the word "delicious" and "bran" can be used in the same sentence, but it is true. now, i did make some mistakes due to rushing through the recipe, some good, some not so good. first, i didn't realize i was completely out of all purpose flour, so i subbed self-rising. i think that is why my muffins sunk in the middle, no matter, it was just a place for my brummel and brown to melt. also, i used the full 3 cups of bran flakes, but halved everything else. oops, but no, it worked out great. i will always make them that way. plus, i added some vanilla and cinnamon for extra ump! i am thinking you could take this bran muffin recipe places with additions such as blueberries, flax seed, dark chocolate chips, and so on.... also, i am thinking that you could easily sub the sugar for agave or my new favorite, sun crystals. yummy. i hope you give april's muffin a go and don't forget to pop over at her site to let her now how much you like'em! enjoy.

april's amazing bran muffins adapted from the apple cake tea room- knoxville, tn.

1 cup boiling water

3 cup cheap bran cereal..bran flakes(i used walmart house brand)

1 sticks butter or margarine(i used margarine)

3/4 cup sugar

1 beaten egg

1 cup buttermilk or 1 cup milk soured with 1 tbsp. of vinegar i did this, but next will use low fat buttermilk)

1 tsp. good vanilla

1/2-1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

pour boiling water over cereal and let stand. cream together butter and sugar until combined. add the egg and vanilla. sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. add buttermilk to butter mixture, alternating with sifted dry ingredients. add the softened bran mix. bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, depending on your oven, it make take more or even less time, or until done, in a greased muffin tin(i forgot to grease and they came out okay with a little help)

p-dub's chilies rellenos and white lily biscuits

i didn't like either one so much. the pioneer woman's chilies rellenos were watery and pretty flat tasting. i don't know if it was due to operator error or what. i do know that i won't make that particular recipe again. i still love ya ree!


now on to the biscuits, which were one step from being ellie may style hockey pucks. this is the recipe on the white lily self-rising flour bag. if it wasn't for the slab of butter i plastered on one, it would have gotten stuck in my throat on the way down. oh, pay no mind to the unevenness, it was just because i patted the dough rather than rolled it with a pin. i would not make these again, either. easy, yes, but dry and blah.

hopefully, i can make something decent this week.

pumpkin cranberry bread

oh my, this is crazy easy and crazy delicious. i whipped up a loaf of this moist pumpkin cranberry bread earlier this morning. it took no time to throw together, in one bowl i might add and bake. i iced it with a vanilla cream cheese glaze i winged. holy moly, it is pumpkin-y, cranberry-y and spicy. i opted out of the nuts, but i bet walnuts would be delicious the next go around. my four year has jumped on it like white on rice. go make a loaf today.

you can find the recipe here . i didn't have an orange, so as usual, i subbed sunnyd! works for me. here is my take on the icing. i put it on the loaf while it was still slightly warm, so it would great the lovely waterfall effect. naw, i was just in a hurry and didn't feel like waiting till it completely cooled. i am lazy that way or impatient is more like it. anyway, it tastes pretty good. enjoy.

beth's vanilla cream cheese icing

in a bowl mix the following til you get the consistency you like:

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp cream cheese
1/2 tsp real vanilla
1 cup confectioners sugar
2-3 tsp of fat free half and half(it was what i had, but you could use any type of milk)

my icing was pretty thick, keep adding your milk till you get it how you want it. drizzle, pour, spread, slop, whatever on your ridiculously easy, moist, yummy pumpkin cranberry bread.


leaning loaf of loveliness....

hannah's chicken tortilla soup and ina's corn muffins

so i tried two new things yesterday and both turned out to be very good things.

first, i had seen ina garten aka the barefoot contessa make the best looking corn muffins while tuned into the network, so naturally i had to have them. i wanted to pair the muffins up with something different, that's when i saw this. yeehaw, that looks mighty tasty, not to mention mighty easy. hannah, over at honey and jam makes the most delicious recipes, visits fun places and documents all with the most amazing photos and she is only nineteen folks! i mean, hey, i am forty three and still can't do any of those things near as well as hannah. maybe, when i grown up. please take a moment and peruse her site. it is fantastic.

both the soup and corn muffins were a big hit with the hubby. the kids, not so much, but they are weird anyway. the soup was perfectly spicy even though i opted out of the jalapeno. i cheated and used a rotisserie chicken which worked perfectly. i also used a quality sharp white cheddar rather than the monterey jack cheese. oh, and the lime, don't forget the lime, squeeze a wedge over your bowl. it just gives it that something extra special "kick". yummy! i will make this again and again.

now, the corn muffins, oh my, they were delightful, delicious, delovely. this is an excellent recipe and one for your cookbook. i halved the recipe and got six texas sized muffins. they baked up beautifully and are a moist, cakey, buttery, desserty corn muffin. both recipes are simply great. i hope you give them a whirl. enjoy.

quick garlic cheddar drop biscuits

this are the easiest little biscuits to throw together. they are wonderful with just about anything, but especially vegetable beef stew, my favorite. you can buy little bags of mix at the store, but they taste so much better when you make them yourself and really, they are just as quick. the only thing i do that adds a little bit more time to the process, is to grate my own cheese. i just think that stuff in the bag is so dang dry. we all love these buttery little blobs, but my daughter, caroline, will eat everyone till gone.

garlic cheddar drop biscuits


preheat your oven to 400 degree fahrenheit

in a large bowl cut with a pastry blender till pea sized, 2.5 cups of biscuit mix(i use store brand), a half stick cold butter, 3/4 cup cold milk(i use 2%). now mix in by hand, 1 cup of grated sharp cheddar and a 1/4 tsp of garlic powder. drop by big ole spoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet. bake about 15 minutes till lightly brown. meanwhile, melt two tbsp of butter and add another 1/4 tsp of garlic powder. mix and brush onto the biscuits as soon as they come out of the oven. keep brushing them, use it all up! at this point you can add more or less garlic powder as well as throwing in some dried parsley flakes for color. makes about a dozen, depending on size. enjoy!

the pita that became a naan

well, i couldn't roll a piece of dough into a circle if my life depended on it. i am geometrically challenged. i had found this really great website with a tutorial on making pita bread. i just knew i just had to give it a try. well, mine were some pitiful pita, in fact it's more like naan bread. they wouldn't puff. i don't know if my yeast was bad. it had a 2010 date or if i used the wrong type of yeast. i didn't have a baking stone either, but used the back of a cookie sheet as recommended. i also preheated both the oven and baking sheet, but they just laid there. in the end i got some excellent tasting, irregularly shaped, flatbread. i got naan. my "naan" came out crispy and slightly chewy. i may have gone a tad overboard on the flour, leaving some exterior excess when done, but no matter, it didn't affect the taste. i slathered butter on the first piece out. it was delicious. go give this recipe a try. it was simple enough and if it flops for you too, oh well, you will have some great naan to share. enjoy.

cream scone

i made scones this morning to accompany the lemon curd at the fancy schmancy tea party that me and the youngin's shall be attending. i have never made scones before and truly believe it is an art. it is art at finding the right recipe and then replicating it. i am much better at the art of making buttermilk biscuits. don't get me wrong, i love scones and starbucks has some of the best, but us southerners or americans for that matter, are not really familiar with them. we drink our tea iced, not hot, so scones are still somewhat unfamiliar territory to us. we think tea and scones and our minds jump to snooty british women in hats with there pinky fingers extended high in the air talking smack about the royal family. sounds like a good time to me. anywho, i found a recipe on the internet that i changed up slightly. here ya go.

Mix in a large bowl the following:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar plus extra for sprinkling

whisk to combine, then cut in five tbsp of cold butter till it looks like coarse sand. then add one cup of heavy cream and a 1/2 cup of dried fruit of your choice. i used a little pack of dried blueberries, cherries and cranberries mixed. stir this, the batter will be loosely and crumbly. you can add a drop or two more of the cream, but don't go overboard. move the whole ball to a floured board and knead just a little bit. the less you handle it, the flakier it will be. pat into a circle about a half inch thick and cut into wedges. i got about ten big scones. move the individual wedges to a silpat or parchment lined pan. brush with cream and sprinkle with additional sugar. bake at 425 degrees fahrenheit for about 10 to 12 minutes. keep an eye on'em now. they get brown on ya quick. smoother with butter, lemon curd or a big ole dollop of clotted cream. clotted what? enjoy.

sticky buns so easy even jeffrey could make

my buns certainly did not need these buns, but i made them anyway for mother's day. the recipe is from ina garten's back to basics cookbook, i love this cookbook, but don't have the extra $35 to spend, so i just keep checking it out of the library. these little babies were down right easy and tasty. i would make these again and again. well actually, i am going to make them again, but i am planning on making a few changes, sorry contessa. i am switching up the raisins for dried cranberries, and the pecans for walnuts. i also plan on using less of the fruit as well as the "topping" butter. my kids are picky, so i will make a few naked buns, too. don't be scared of the puff pastry, that is the easy part. what great stuff puff pastry is, simply thaw overnight in your fridge, unroll, spread on your filling, re-roll, slice and bake. viola! i will tell you that you do need to keep a close eye on these as they bake. the oven temp is pretty high and they can easily burn. when done, i let mine sit only for a few minutes in the pan before flipping them all at once. i lost a few nuts in the process(insert sarcastic remark here), but no biggie. i had no problem with those lovelies sticking, except to my hips. give'em try.