One Loss, Two Wins

Plowing through my big box of recipes I've been saving to try has given a real boost out of the cooking lethargy from which I've been suffering lately.  I get so tired of preparing what seems to me as the same old, same old dishes.  I personally like a lot of variety in the foods I eat so finding new recipes to try has lit a fire under my desire to get enthused about preparing meals again.

I promise not to subject you to every one of the recipes I try and decide are keepers.  However, when other people sample a dish and say, "This is really good!  I'd like to have the recipe," it seems the recipe might be worth sharing with you, too.

Let's talk about the "one loss" first.  It was one of those breakfast casserole dishes you make the night before and bake the next morning.  I prepared it Sunday night and we had it for breakfast the following morning.  Not bad, but nuthin' special.  We finished the rest of it this morning, but I'll not be keeping the recipe. 

One of the two "wins" is a new soup I cut out of a Taste of Home magazine.  I made a couple of small changes to the recipe, and Papa Pea and I ate it for lunch and dinner one day, and I still had enough left to invite Chicken Mama and Gilligan to help finish it up with us yesterday noon.  Everyone loved it.  I personally think it'll be even better with ham chunks instead of the chicken.

I didn't think to take a picture of it when I made it, but I can assure you it looks just like this shot of the picture printed with the recipe.  (Except for the green peas I added in my version.)  If you think you want to try it, you can find it on the Taste of Home website.  It's called Cream Cheese Chicken Soup.  Yummy.

The second recipe keeper I'll print out here 'cause it was sooo good.  Plus, I have no idea where I got the recipe originally.  It looks as if I clipped it out of a newspaper.

Just out of the oven.

These are the best scones I've ever tasted.  (Not that I've made a life of sampling scones.)  Usually I find scones to be a smidge on the dry side which doesn't appeal to me.  (I mean just how much clotted cream can you slather on one?)  These were not dry at all.

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Cranberry Scones

3 cups all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons buttermilk

1/3 cup dried cranberries (sometimes called craisins)

Heat oven to 425 degrees and lightly flour a large baking sheet.

Mix flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Add and cut in butter pieces with a pastry blender until mixture resembles a fine meal.

Mix in egg and 3/4 cup buttermilk.  Add one extra tablespoon buttermilk at a time as needed.

Work dried cranberries into dough, then turn out on a floured surface and pat to 3/4" thickness.  Cut using a round cookie cutter and place onto floured baking sheet.  Brush top of scones with buttermilk.

Bake until scones are golden brown and cooked through, 15-18 minutes.  Serve warm.  Yield:  15-18

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My Notes:  Next time I'll add more cranberries, probably 1/2 cup.  My daughter suggested small chunks of white chocolate would be good and also some grated orange rind.  I think I'll try some grated orange rind next time I make these.

I had never baked anything on a sheet that was just floured.  Not greased and floured, but just floured.  I was surprised that this method created a very light, golden, soft "crust" on the bottom of each scone.

I worked in ALL of the buttermilk and perhaps even a little more.  It was needed to get all the dry ingredients incorporated.

I baked my scones the full 18 minutes which seemed perfect.  My yield was only 12 scones, but that was probably because of the size of my cutter.

Okay, back to my sorting.  Who knows what other treasures I'll find?  (Or how many more wastebaskets I'll fill with discarded recipes!)