A lesson learned

I am pretty obsessed these days with making sure that I use up EVERYTHING in my fridge/freezer/pantry without throwing things out. All you socially conscious friends and family out there, I'm sure you understand. I cannot, in good faith, discard food simply because I just had too much on hand that I couldn't eat it all.

After my buttermilk-chive biscuit fiasco on Tuesday (yes, I actually made things WORSE after the idiot rice...let's just say my apartment ended up filled with smoke and leave it at that) I decided to stick to baking for a little while. Because even I know that when baking, you must must muuu-huuusstttt read the recipe and follow it. And that was my downfall with the rice.

I assessed my food situation. I have buttermilk (which, for the record, cannot be used as a substitute for regular milk in coffee when you run out and don't want to go to the store), I have frozen blueberries, I have some fresh ginger. Okay, google them all together and thank you epicurious! Up pops some great lookin' scones. I LOVE SCONES. Score.

The recipe is actually for plain old ginger-pecan scones. I don't have pecans, but I have almonds! Same dif. Nuts are nuts. They will all equally kill you if you are allergic. It's a good thing I don't have any friends with nut allergies, because I am that person who will cook with chicken stock and feed it to an unsuspecting vegetarian because, hey, I am not going to buy special stock just for you buddy. You will eat the liquid chicken and you will like it. Mwahaha. (Except for you, Chanel & Jahna! No worries!) I always bake with nuts, so yeah, I'd probably be sending a lot of friends to the ER. Good thing I'm almost an EMT though, right? I know...you feel so much safer now. =)

So I started making the scones and decided to just add the frozen blueberries at the last minute. Who doesn't love blueberry scones, right? The first few steps went GREAT. I couldn't believe everything seemed to be turning out as it should. That almost never happens to me. And there is a reason for that, hence, I really should get nervous when nothing is going terribly wrong.

Mmmmm. Chunks of butter.

Adding the crystallized ginger.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk mixture.

And then, BAM, I add the blueberries. The final ingredient. And as I kneaded those little buggers into the dough, they proceeded to make my hands look like I murdered Tinkiewinkie, the purple tellytubby. Blueberries are FUCKING MESSY, JEEEESUSSSSS. I am so so grateful I thought to put some wax paper down on my countertop before I kneaded the dough, because otherwise, my landlords would have a very purple wooden countertop on their hands when I move out. Heh. Whoops.

Blueberries, before they turned on me.

After I wrestled the dough into very purple submission.

The final product. YUM.

Anyway, for you folks out there who will attempt this recipe later, just take note. This is why every single freakin scone recipe out there calls for dried fruit. Because otherwise you end up with some very bruised-looking palms.

I plan to tell inquiring minds that I got into a super intense slapping fight. Obviously I won.




*Notes: I did not add the extra sugar on top at the end because, after sampling some of the dough, it was already just sweet enough. But I don't like super sweet things. I also didn't brush them with buttermilk at the end because they were already too wet from the frozen blueberries melting into the dough. Finally, I didn't have enough crystallized ginger to begin with, so that step was also ignored. Everything still turned out DELICIOUS. =) Enjoy!! I recommend freezing them for future rushed mornings, or giving them to your neighbors because then they will loooooove you.

Ginger-Pecan Scones
3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 1/3 cups pecan halves, toasted, chopped
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons chopped crystalized ginger (about 4 ounces)
1 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425°. Line large baking sheet with parchment. Whisk flour, 2/3 cup sugar, baking powder, ground ginger, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Add butter; using fingertips, blend butter into flour until coarse meal forms. Toss in pecans and 1/2 cup crystallized ginger. Whisk 1 cup buttermilk, grated ginger, and vanilla in measuring cup. Form well in center of dry ingredients. Add buttermilk; stir with fork until moist clumps form. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Knead just until dough comes together; divide in half. Form each half into 6 1/2-inch disk. Cut each disk into 6 wedges. Transfer to sheet. Brush with 1 1/2 tablespoons buttermilk. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar and 3 tablespoons crystallized ginger; press to adhere.

Bake scones until golden and toothpick inserted horizontally into center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool scones on sheet on rack.

Bon Appétit, April 2011
by The Bon Appétit Test Kitchen

URL:
Ginger-Pecan Scones

Introductions of All Kinds

Hi fellow foodies! I'm Stephanie and I'm a grad student living in Lund, Sweden. Prior to beginning my masters program I was partly employed doing odd jobs as they came my way. To combat boredom/purposelessness and to feed my hungry fiancé, I taught myself to cook. Over the past year I've perfected one lone Thai dish, made some awful lasagnas, learned to make bagels and multi-grain bread, gotten shockingly good at Chicken cordon Bleu and Indian dals, and can make a decent guacamole.

I've been on a fitness and health kick lately so my cooking has taken a slightly different turn. I'm interested in "clean eating," often inspired by The Gracious Pantry. I want to use whole ingredients with low fat, plenty of protein to keep me going, and tons of vegetables! I'm interested in consuming more meat-free dishes, while still having meat around the house occasionally. I've also been working out quite a bit, which means I'm hungrier than normal and feel the need to have all sorts of healthy snacks around.

Now that I've introduced myself, I want to share my favorite introduction to a new day - the breakfast smoothie! You can use a hand blender (my kitchen appliance of choice) or a more traditional stand-up blender. I was looking for a smoothie that included limited added sugar, had fresh fruit, and could hold me through a 2-hour lecture until lunch. Here's what I came up with:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Put the following ingredients into your blender:

~1.5 cup light soy milk (or milk of your choice)

~3/4 cup low-fat yogurt - Greek Yogurt works great for this

1-1.5 bananas

2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (the kind you have to stir, the natural fats are good for you)

1 big spoonful of reduced-sugar chocolate milk powder (I'm using the Swedish brand Oboy but find your own low-sugar kind! Protein powder could work here as could a smaller amount of true cocoa powder)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional: 1/3 cup oats - blend thoroughly to get a better texture

After blending, enjoy!

Yields 1.5-2 servings

Leftover marinara sauce?

One of the biggest challenges I face when cooking for myself is simply USING all the things in my fridge in a timely manner. I am that person who will simply scrape off the mold on my hummus and keep on truckin. Having lived in places where food is scarce, I refuse to throw something out if I don't absolutely have to. So, I am trying my best to use everything before it gets fuzzy!

I have always adored breakfast; it's the best meal of the day! And I love any breakfast dish with eggs, because I'm a salt fiend. So I invented this breakfast for myself and my friend L the other morning. It's a great way to use up that leftover jar of marinara or tomato sauce, as well as just about any vegetable you might need to finish, and fast!

I use egg whites, but obviously this can be substituted with regular eggs for a bit more of a calorie & protein boost.

Pizza Eggs
Serves 1
 
1/3 c. egg whites
1/2 small onion
Non-stick cooking spray for high heat, or 1 tsp olive oil
Shredded mozzarella, provolone & parmesan cheeses, mixed together (these mixes can often be found pre-made at the supermarket--I use Sargento Italian Pizza Mix)

1 tsp total mixed, dried: basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, garlic powder (in my spice rack, this is called Italian Seasoning - if you are mixing these together from separate jars, the most important ones are oregano and thyme; if you have fresh basil, this is a great way to use it up! just toss in a few leaves of it)

5-6 Kalamata olives, sliced

1/4 c. zucchini, diced

3 Tbsp. marinara sauce

Completely cover the bottom of a small saute pan with cooking spray or olive oil. Add onions and zucchini (or any other hard vegetable) and saute for approximately 5 minutes, or until the veggies start to soften up. Add egg whites, cheese, and olives and let sit on medium heat until it starts to set. Add spices. Fold sides of omelet over to trap the veggies inside and cook until egg whites are no longer runny. Serve immediately covered with the marinara sauce (the sauce will warm up on top of the eggs).

**NOTES: You can obviously add pretty much anything that you would want to put on a pizza. Just remember, hard veggies need to be sauteed for a few minutes before you add the eggs. If you are using a lot of veggies, it might even be worthwhile to steam them in the saute pan for a minute or two before-hand. 

If you have sausages you want to add, you can best bring out their flavor by browning them in a separate pan before adding to the omelet. This obviously does not need to be done for meats like salami, pepperoni, or ham.

Fresh herbs are far superior to dried, so if you have them, use them!

Enjoy your pizza breakfast! I know I just did =)