White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

If you know me, you know I love all things tea and that most definitely would include SCONES.

I found these online months ago and have been dying to try them

. I'm so glad I finally did and they were delicious!!!

White Chocolate Cranberry Scones

1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold butter
6 tablespoons half and half
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a bowl whisk together the
flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Cut in the butter pieces.

I cut the butter into little pieces and then I put the dry ingredients along with the butter in a food processor and pulse it a few times. Works like a charm!

Mix together the half and half and beaten egg.

Add the flour mixture along with the cranberries
and the white chocolate chips, and stir until the dough holds
together.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and very gently knead for just until dough sticks together.

Form into a 1/2-inch thick round, then cut the round into 8
wedges. I made two rounds and cut into 16 wedges.

Spray a baking sheet with Pam or lightly oil with canola oil, then transfer the wedges
to the sheet.

Bake the scones at 400 degrees for 14 minutes.

MEATLESS MONDAY - Spinach Artichoke Mushroom Quiche

I can't remember where I got this recipe but I'm so glad I found it! It was so yummy and dense. I hate puffy foods and quiche is up there right along with meringue and mousse. BLECH! But this quiche is dense and tasty. I can't wait to make it again.

Spinach Mushroom Quiche

1 frozen pie crust, thawed or fresh pie crust

1 1/2 cup crimini mushrooms, chopped or sliced

1 cup half and half

4 eggs

1 cup Italian Blend shredded cheese (I used the Quattro Formagio from Trader Joe's which has Parmesan, Asiago, Fontina and Provolone)

1/2 cup chopped canned artichoke hearts (not marinated)

1 cup spinach, thawed and drained (1/4 packed, after drained)

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375

Saute the mushrooms in olive oil until brown about 3 minutes

Whisk together the eggs and half and half.

Stir in the cheese, artichoke hearts, spinach, mushrooms, nutmeg and salt.

Pour mixture into the pie crust and bake for 40 minutes (check to see if done by inserting a knife through the middle, if it comes out clean, it's done)

Let it cool for 5 minutes

Slice and serve

Bakin Bacon

I grew up in a family where we fried our bacon in its own grease. Then we would save that grease and use it to flavor EVERYTHING! Yes I know, heart attack waiting to happen...and it did...several times in our family...no bueno! Last summer I went to stay at my husband's cousin's house, Sarah and Joseph...LOVE THEM! Sarah baked her bacon and it was delicious! I have seen several cooks on Food Network bake their bacon but I really thought it was for speeding things up and really not so much for flavor. But after trying it at Sarah's I was sold. It was crunchier, and so much less greasy than the way I have always made it.

This way of making bacon is less time consuming of YOUR TIME...you won't have to stand over a pan turning pieces of bacon only to find out that your shirt is completely ruined by all the grease splatters and this way also doesn't stink your house and your freshly washed hair to high heaven.

For perfect crispy baked bacon:

First line a baking sheet with foil or place a baking rack over the baking sheet (for less grease).

Lay the bacon out side by side but not touching.

Place in a cold oven and turn the oven to 400 degrees...and WALK AWAY!

I like my bacon super crispy so I left it in there for 30 minutes. But you can check yours after 20 or so minutes and see how you like it.

Once the bacon is done, transfer it to another baking sheet lined with paper towels so the towels can soak up the grease.

I read on one site you can slightly undercook the bacon and then freeze it and when you're ready for it, you can pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so. I haven't tried it yet so I have no idea how it tastes. But if it's good, that's a quick way to heat up some bacon for a breakfast sandwich in the a.m. and something even the kiddies could do.

Omelet Torte

This dish was a hit in our home and though it looks time consuming, it really wasn't. You can even make it the night before, refrigerate and bake as normal the next day. We had this for dinner and we ALL loved it. Lots of flavor and a perfect comfort food.

Ingredients:

• 1 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
• 1/4 cup butter
• 6 red potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8 inch thick
• 1 onion, thinly sliced into rings
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons butter, divided
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch black pepper
• 2 tablespoons water
• 8 ounces cooked ham, thinly sliced
• 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). On lightly floured surface, roll each sheet of puff pastry into a 12 inch square. Lay 1 sheet puff pastry into a 10 inch pie plate; set aside.
2. In a 10 inch skillet, melt 1/4 cup butter until sizzling. Add potatoes, onion, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until potatoes are lightly browned and crisply tender, about 12 to 15 minutes. Set aside.
3. In a new skillet, melt 1 tablespoon butter until sizzling. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, stir together all omelet ingredients except remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Pour half of omelet mixture (3/4 cup) into heated skillet. Cook over medium heat. As omelet mixture sets, lift slightly with spatula to allow uncooked portion to flow underneath. Continue cooking until set, about 2 to 3 minutes. Slide omelet onto cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining butter and omelet mixture.
4. Layer ingredients into pie plate on top of puff pastry in the following order: one of the omelets, 4 ounces ham, half of fried the potatoes, 1 cup shredded cheese, remaining potatoes, ham, cheese and 2nd omelet. Top with remaining sheet of puff pastry. Press together edges of both sheets of puff pastry to form a rim; trim off excess. Crimp or flute edges. In small bowl, stir together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water; brush over puff pastry.
5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes; cut into wedges.

Peanut Butter Pancakes

I was so hungry Sunday morning when I woke up and I wanted something quick and easy to satisfy my craving and hopefully help get rid of this horrendous headache...think comfort food! I took a peek at my go to foodie blog Rookie Cookie and found this recipe. I never thought to put Peanut Butter IN pancakes. I really have never put peanut butter ON pancakes but Sydney's good friend Kaylee comes over and slathers the stuff all over her pancakes. I thought it was odd...until Sunday, that is. I don't even think I can make pancakes differently now. Not only were they ridiculously easy to make they were super tasty! It's like eating a peanut butter cookie with syrup on it. You HAVE to try these. Whitney at Rookie Cookie is seriously a cooking genius...she has some great recipes...go check her out...you are guaranteed to find something you will love!

Peanut Butter Pancakes

1 1/4 cups flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 egg
3 Tbsp melted butter

Heat a griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. In a large bowl, combine the milk, peanut butter and egg. Whisk until smooth. Combine the flour mixture with the milk mixture and gently stir until just combined. Fold in the melted butter.

Spray non-stick spray on the heated griddle. For each pancake, pour 1/2 cup batter onto griddle. Cooke until golden brown, turn when the edges are slightly dry. Yields 8 pancakes.

Banana Bread

I have been away from the foodie blog world for quite some time. I missed it! I sat down one morning with my morning cup of joe and was floored when I started looking up some of my old stomping grounds. The meals were so detailed...and extravagant. I was so overwhelmed, I walked away from the computer...bummed. I stayed away for quite some time after that really thinking that I had lost touch with the food Internet world. But the more I stayed away, the more I longed for it. So once again I decided to give it a whirl. And eventually I found some of my oldies but goodies...Picky Palate, Prudence Pennywise & Rookie Cookie, to name a few. Then one day on Facebook a friend of ours posted that we had all but abandoned our food blog (not naming names..AMBER!) and it made me sad because what people are searching for in this economy are meals that are cheap, easy to make and basically BASIC! I feel that's what people are looking for these days...simplicity.

I remember when I started this blog, I would go nutso writing down recipe after recipe and heading to the grocery store only to spend hundreds of dollars on meals that were mediocre. I missed the good ole days of Fried Chicken and Peach Cobbler. Well I will still have to semi miss those days as we know that Fried Chicken is bad on the thighs and the heart but if it was so bad for us why is the generation of our grandparents living into the 90s and my generation is dying off? It's because back then, ingredients were grown in their gardens and the environment was much kinder to our foods. What I'm getting at, is times are tight and tough and time is precious. Let's get back to our roots and save ourselves some time and money and we might just be surprised at how much we miss it.

My first recipe in my Back to Basics theme is Banana Bread. I know there are zillions of recipes out there for banana bread and I know some of the originals call for sour milk or vinegar and can take up to almost an hour to bake, but I wanted something easy and on any given day I always have every ingredient for this quick and easy recipe. I made this and was so happy with the results...it was so moist and yummy. Give it a try and it might just become one of your basic recipes!

BANANA BREAD

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 t ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large ripe bananas
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


Heat oven to 350 degrees

Coat two loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray

In large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Make a well in the center. (basically pull the flour up the sides of the bowl so when you pour the banana mixture in, it goes in the middle, much easier to combine that way)

Mash bananas in medium-sized bowl (potato masher works GREAT).

Add eggs, sugar and butter and beat with mixer until fairly smooth.

Pour banana mixture into well in dry ingredients and stir just until blended. (Don't over stir as this will make your bread tough and chewy)

Fold in walnuts, then dive batter evenly between prepared loaf pans. (One of my sons is allergic to some nuts so I don't give him any. Before I add the walnuts, I pour half of the mixture in one loaf pan, decrease the nuts by half, mix in with the remaining batter, and pour the remaining batter in the second loaf pan)

Bake loaves for about 35 minutes or until browned and tops spring back lightly when gently pressed. The sides will pull away from the pan as well.

Cool on a wire wrack.

Serve with butter...YUM!

Almond Bread Pudding

My husband was heading over to my parents home to pick up something from dad when I realized I needed a can of tomatoes from my moms pantry (I didn't feel like going to the store for one thing). I called her and asked if she had a can and she said, "I sure do". When my husband came home he didn't have the can in hand, he had a HUGE bag of food my mom gave us! Lots of boxes of Mac and Cheese for our son, mangos, the can of tomatoes I needed, 3 cans of soup and a big loaf of sliced bread, the good kind. We hardly eat bread in our home but I didn't want to waist this bad boy so I remembered how dad always use to talk about bread pudding, so I made one for him. He & my mom loved it.

Usually bread pudding calls for raisins but I didn't care to add raisins to it, so I left it out but I did include almond extract. Makes the world of a difference. So remember, if you ever have 5-6 slices of bread left, USE THEM UP! Make some bread pudding.

What you need:

6 slices of bread

2 T of butter, melted

4 eggs, beaten

2 cups of milk

1/2 cup of white sugar

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground all-spice (optional)

1 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of almond extract (optional)

Directions:

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Break bread into small pieces and place into an 8 inch baking pan. Drizzle melted butter over the bread. If you choose to add raisins, sprinkle over bread and butter. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, sugar, spices and extracts and mix well.

Pour liquid mix over the bread and take a spoon and flatten the bread down to make sure it's fully coated.

Bake for 45 minutes. Allow 30 minutes to cool and let bread set.

Belgian Waffles

This recipe is from my mother-in-law, Donna Horton.

Isn't she cute??? I just love this lady!

We all go down to Newport Beach every summer and stay a week at a beach house. I cannot wait for the day during that week, that I wake up and I find out that Donna's sister, (Scott's aunt), Vicky Taylor, is up dishing out waffles.

Isn't Vicky cute too!

I gotta throw a picture in here of their sister Sandra, also...because I love her too!

Actually there are many more Moys..I just don't have pictures.

Awww, the Moy family...gotta love 'em.

Okay, back to waffles....
These waffles are so light and fluffy inside and slightly crispy and crunchy on the outside. The key is whipping the egg whites. These waffles are divine!

Belgian Waffles

4 eggs, room temp

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

3 Tbls butter, melted

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

Separate the yolks and the whites of the eggs.

Beat egg whites until stiff, light and fluffy. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk yolks with cooled, melted butter. Combine flour and salt, add to yolks. Add milk. Fold in beaten egg whites gently to above. Add vanilla last. Brush or spray waffle iron with canola oil.

Donna got us one of these bad boys for our anniversary...it's awesome!

When hot, pour batter onto waffle maker and cook on high til lightly browned. Top with favorites...Fresh Strawberries, whipped cream, warm syrup and butter.

This is how the kids like them.

You can see how thick they are...

This is how I like them.

Easy and Yummy Banana Muffins

Look at the film on my coffee...I guess that would be the toxins from the creamer I put in my coffee that Matt always talks about. Sorry Matt, not ready to give up my toxins...just yet.

So Tina stayed the night and I made her homemade banana muffins this morning. This recipe was given to me by Tammy Lyttle. It was soooo easy and so yummy. In two of the muffins, I added strawberries (you can see the strawberry in the muffin that is cut up) ...holy moly...YUMMY!

I even made mini muffins for the little boys.

Banana Loaf/Muffin Recipe

Geez, that vanilla bottle looks gross.

1 cup butter (it called for margarine..but I'm not a fan)
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
6 large ripe bananas (I only had 4...it worked)
splash of milk
1 t vanilla
4 cups flour
2 t baking soda
pinch of salt
nuts (optional...i didn't add them as dylan can't have them)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, smashed bananas, milk and vanilla...mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Bake in a preheated oven at 300 deg. I had to guess on the time because it didn't say on the recipe...(thanks Tammy!)...the mini muffins, I baked for 22 minutes but they were a little on the brown side so I would probably say around 20 minutes. The larger muffins I baked for 35 minutes. They turned out perfect. Add strawberries to the batter for strawberry banana muffins...Good God, they were awesome!

I know Dylan loved them!