Adventures in Sconing

"Sconing" is a word that I invented to mean "the making of scones."  I have made a lot of scones lately.  Four different kinds in the last four months, in fact.  My first attempt were pumpkin scones and I made them because I was excited about the arrival of the fall season.  Unfortunately, the recipe called for nutmeg, ginger, and cloves and I didn't have ginger. So I thought it would be okay if I left it out.  Bad, bad decision.  They had the worst after taste.  I decided from then on, I would always make sure I had every single ingredient before attempting a new recipe.

A couple weeks ago I attended a baby shower and I had volunteered to bring a pastry to share.  I decided that I was not going to let my first failed attempt at making scones stop me from trying again, so this time I decided to make blueberry scones with a lemon glaze.  At the last minute I decided to set aside half of the dough and add chocolate chips to it instead of blueberries (mostly because I don't like blueberries, and by golly, if I was going to spend my time baking them, I wanted to at least be able to enjoy one!).  

At Starbucks, my favorite pastry is the maple oat scone.  SOOOO good.  I want to say they cost something like $2.95 each... too much.  Buy a coffee drink and suddenly you are spending 7 bucks.  For that price you might as well go to Olive Garden for lunch.  Anyway, I searched online for a copycat recipe, and found one.  Yesterday I tried my hand at it, and to my delight, they tasted very similar to the Starbuck's scones.  I will definitely have to make them again.  Even Chris, who isn't overly fond of scones or maple-flavored things, thought they tasted amazing. Next time I go to Starbucks I'll have to save a few bucks and sneak one of these babies in to have with my coffee. :)  

Now for the recipes.

Maple Oat Nut Scones

                                  1 cup oats (quick or old-fashioned)

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons maple syrup

2 1/2 tablespoons cold butter (small pieces)

1 large egg

1/2 cup heavy cream

3/4 teaspoon maple extract

2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Maple Glaze:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon maple extract

equal parts water and maple syrup (just a few teaspoons of each)

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Using a food processor or blender, finely grind oats.

Mix together flour, oats, sugar, salt and baking powder.

Cut in butter and maple syrup until dough forms coarse crumbs. Mix in pecans.

In a small bowl, beat the egg with the cream and maple extract.

Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and fold together.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface. 

Knead and pat dough into a 8 to 10 inch circle and cut into 8 wedges.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. 

Place wedges on top and bake for 13 to 15 minutes, or until light brown.

Remove scones from oven and let cool about 3 to 5 minutes.

Mix glaze ingredients until smooth. 

Adjust the amount of water & maple syrup to get to the desired consistency (just a few teaspoons of each). 

Spread glaze over each scone and dry about 15 minutes before serving.

Blueberry (& Chocolate Chip) Scones:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut in chunks

1 cup fresh blueberries (or chocolate chips)

1 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing the scones

Lemon Glaze (for blueberry scones):

1/4 - 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Mix together the dry ingredients; the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. 

Using a pastry blender (or two forks), cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. 

Fold the blueberries (or chocolate chips) into the batter. (Try not to mash the blueberries because their color will bleed into the dough. This part was tricky for me! The chocolate chips were a lot easier.) 

Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the cream. 

Fold everything together just to incorporate.

Press the dough into an 8-inch circle and slice into 8 triangles. 

Place the scones on a greased cookie sheet and brush the tops with heavy cream. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the edges begin to brown. 

Let the scones cool for a few minutes before you apply the glaze.

For lemon glaze: Melt the butter for the glaze in the microwave. 

Whisk together the powdered sugar and lemon juice. 

Add melted butter and whisk until smooth. 

Drizzle glaze over the top of the scones.

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Date Night: What to do about the baby & the budget?

As anyone who has raised an infant knows, it can sometimes be hard on your relationship. It is even harder when you don't have the convenience of nearby family who can provide free babysitting.  My husband and I rarely get to go on a real, honest-to-goodness date.  In fact, I think there was 3 months between our last two dates.  So we improvise.  The other day I decided that after I put Ethan to bed that night I would make us a nice dinner and eat it while we watched a movie.  It was Saturday and we had hardly any food in the fridge, so I left the kiddo with Chris and went out in search of some good grub.  I ended up stopping at two different stores.  I bought:  

Filet mignon (which I had never prepared, but it was on sale at the grocery store)

A bag of mixed greens

A bottle of Shiraz 

A large wedge of Brie cheese

Crackers

A pound and a half of dark chocolate covered almonds for dessert

Spent just over $25.  Pretty economical if you ask me, considering a full course dinner like this in a restaurant would likely cost two people between $75- $100 after tax and tip, not to mention the cost of a babysitter.

I highly recommend buying your wine and cheese at Trader Joe's.  They tend to have a better selection and prices than the grocery store.  I also bought the chocolate-covered almonds at TJ's.  They were selling 24 oz containers for the same price as the grocery store's 16 oz container.  Gotta love that place.

Aside from the fact that I had to prepare the food myself, it was the ideal meal.  I followed a simple recipe for the meat that only took 15 minutes, tossed the salad greens with some apple slices and candied walnuts that I had on hand, poured a couple glasses of wine, and we had dinner.  I've included the recipe I used for the meat below. Chris thought the sauce was so good that he was drinking it straight from the pan when the filets were done cooking.

And because pictures are worth a thousand words, here are a few...

Filet Mignon with Balsamic Glaze

2 filet mignon steaks

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup dry red wine 

1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette

1 TBSP brown sugar

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

Let the steaks sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.  Mix together the wine, balsamic vinaigrette, and brown sugar.  Set aside.  Season steaks with salt, pepper, and minced garlic.  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium-high heat on a skillet.  Once the pan is hot, add the steaks.  Brown for 1 minute on each side.  Reduce heat to medium-low, and add wine and vinaigrette mixture.  Cover and cook steaks 4-5 minutes on each side, basting with the sauce as you turn them over.  Serve steaks with sauce drizzled on top or serve sauce on the side for dipping. 

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Sweet Dream Room

We've lived in our current home for about 7 months now.  This space is about 700 square feet larger than the apartment we moved from, and considering we'd only lived here for 11 days when our son was born, it goes without saying that it took me a while to get the place organized and decorated.  Some rooms are still a work in progress. 

Lately, I've been hopelessly addicted to Pinterest.  My "Home" board is filled with pictures of wonderful ideas, most of which I can't afford, but still, it's nice to dream.

I've had a lot of fun the past few months decorating our master bedroom.  It is a fairly large room with these nice French doors that hardly serve a purpose, but are at least pretty to look at.  I decided to paint it a dark golden yellowish color (Behr's "Warm Muffin"), which was a bold choice for me.  I usually like to play it safe with neutral colors, earthy greens, or blues. My inspiration for the colors came from this picture:

http://yellow-bedroom.blogspot.com/2011/06/color-scheme-is-yellow-and.html

I still really love this bedroom.  It is a lot more "country" than our room ended up being.  My original intention was to recreate this room as identically as I could, but slowly my creation drifted in its own direction, which ended up being ok with me. My yellow ended up being a warmer tone, and my red accents are less of a rust red and more maroon.  I'd like to say that I'm done decorating our room, but I have a feeling that as long as there are stores selling cool things it will continuously be evolving. 

Here are some pictures of the sort-of-finished product:

We got a new king size Tempurpedic bed, which I highly recommend.  The pros: You can jump up and down on it and your wine glass will not tip over.  You will never find a more comfortable bed. Con: You will never find a more comfortable bed. This means that whenever you travel you will be sorely disappointed in the bed you will sleep in.  We got our bed frame, end table, dresser, and matching lamps from Costco.  Amazing quality.  Amazing price.  I MUST renew my membership.  Or maybe I'd better not.

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The Pilot

I never know how to start.  First, let me say that this blog has been a long time coming.  I had been searching for a way to invest my abilities in a way that is both fun and fulfilling.  I have always been a little intimidated by the blogosphere, mostly because I harbor a deep-seated fear that I will run out of ideas and lose motivation.  To combat this, I have spent the past several weeks developing goals for this blog, as well as plans for how to meet them, and I think I'm ready.

I've started this blog as a way to organize the vast array of cluttered dreams that are floating around in my head.  I truly believe that somewhere deep inside of me is a type of Martha Stewart perfectionism that makes the real me feel inadequate.  As a stay-at-home-mom, I often feel discouraged that I am not able to accomplish all that I want to.  And if I'm being completely honest, it's not just my 7-month-old that keeps me from being productive.  It's also this thing called the internet.  And naps. And television.  And pretty much anything else that doesn't require any effort.  My hope is that by starting this blog I can begin to unleash more of my potential, not only as a mother, but as a wife, an artist, a writer, a cook, a traveler, a photographer... and whatever else I decide I want to conquer.  So I guess you could call this a miscellaneous mommy blog.  I will aim to make my posts inspiring, helpful, and relevant to others who are in the same stage of life that I am.


Now would probably be a good time to mention (or warn) that I'll occasionally (or frequently) post pictures of my little boy, Ethan, because I can't help it.  It's like a sickness.

This is him:

 

He fills my days with so much joy!

I'm excited about embarking on this new adventure.  I have so many ideas swimming around in my head and I can't wait to get them out on paper... or on the screen... whatever.  You may not be interested in all my posts, but perhaps some of them will inspire you the way they have inspired me.  My hope is that what I write will keep you mildly entertained at worst, and addicted at best.
Happy reading.

-Sara

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