Bob's Red Mill Scones

1 bowl. 1 spoon. 4 ingredients. Endless variations.

Sign. Me. Up. Or so I thought.

I've had a bag of Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Scottish Oatmeal Scone Mix (with currants) on my pantry shelf for a few months now. Since I woke up hungry for breakfast but couldn't bring myself to eat a bowl of cold cereal or eggs this morning, I decided it was time to churn out this batch of scones. 

I liked this mix because it's full of heart-healthy whole grains and natural ingredients. The first ingredient is whole wheat pastry flour (go whole wheat!) and it's got oatmeal and rolled oats too. 

I just ate one with raspberry preserves and I'm not thrilled with them. They are light inside - not dense and heavy like you would expect. I got a strong hit of nutmeg and cinnamon, but they mask the nutty, oaty flavors of the whole wheat flour and rolled oats. It's like eating quaker instant oatmeal in scone form. You know you're eating oats because you read it on the box, but if someone blindfolded you, you might think you were eating small wet pieces of cardboard with cinnamon. 

Needless to say, I wouldn't recommend buying them. 

Honey Spice Bread

One of my most treasured cookbooks is a collection of recipes from 15 French Patisserie that a very special friend gave me after a trip to Paris. Sometimes, I flip through the book just to look at the pictures - it's one of those books. Even though it's far from Fall, I love the warm sweet and spicy smells that come from my oven and fill my living room about 15 minutes after the bread goes into the oven. You'll just be minding your own business and then all of a sudden *bam* the smell practically erupts from the oven and you start counting down the minutes until you can take it out and smother it in butter and jam.

There are all different kinds of bread. Some of them take days or hours and some require yeast and fermentation and stress-relieving punching. But this bread requires little effort and gives you back a whole lot.

Pain d'Epices (Spice Bread)
adapted from the recipe of Patisserie Lerch as written in Paris Boulangerie Patisserie

This is what you'll need:
Ingredients:
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup water
2 cups all-purpose flour (keep each cup separate - you'll use them at different times)
1 large egg, beaten
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons of:
  grated orange zest (optional)
  allspice
  cinnamon
  nutmeg
  ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Special tools: whisk, flour sifter (any mesh sifter or colander will do the trick), 9x5-inch loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan.

In a saucepan, bring the honey, brown sugar, and water to a boil. Boil over medium heat uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from the heat and gradually sift in 1 cup of flour, whisking after each addition.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour (the other cup), baking powder, baking soda, orange zest, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.

In a large mixing bowl (use your KitchenAid if you have one here), whisk the egg and egg yolk until frothy. Add the honey mixture to the eggs and blend. Add the sifted ingredients and mix until blended. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan. (Here you'll think, wow there isn't a lot of batter. Did I mess up? No, you didn't. It rises a ton!)

Bake about 40-45 minutes until the bread is firm to the touch and starts to pull away from the sides of the loaf pan. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

(note: the darker the loaf pan, the faster the bread will cook. The darker materials absorb more heat than lighter-colored materials, so you'll want to check on your bread earlier if you use a dark-colored pan like I did)

Linguini with Asparagus and Shiitaki Mushrooms

Since I've been getting cozy with my cookies, I felt like a healthy lunch was in order. I got a box of vegetables from Boston Organics yesterday and it had the most perfect bouquet of asparagus inside. So, for lunch today, I boiled up some whole wheat linguini and mixed it with asparagus and shiitkai mushrooms sauteed in garlic. I threw it into a tupperware container, topped it with some Parmesean cheese and parsley, and headed out the door.

Shiitake mushrooms are incredibly flavorful so between their earthy taste and the asparagus, this meal has a rustic heartiness to it that's really satisfying.

Ingredients:
1 bunch of asparagus
1 3.5oz container of Shiitaki mushrooms
Garlic (i used 1 1/2 teaspoons of minced garlic. You can also mince 1 1/2 cloves of fresh garlic)
Whole wheat linguini (I used 2 handfuls of pasta. You can eye it depending on how much you want to eat/make)
Freshly grated Parmesean cheese (there really is no substitute for the taste of freshly grated, but other forms will work too) Parsley to garnish (I dusted the top with freezedried parsley. When it hits something warm, it plumps right up)
Olive oil
**If you would like, go ahead and use your favorite sauce with this dish!

1. Boil water for the pasta
2. Wash the asparagus and mushrooms. Cut off the very bottom of the asparagus. Cut the woody stems off of the mushrooms and discard. Slice the mushrooms into bite-size pieces.
3. Pour oil into a skillet and heat until hot on medium-high
4. Add the asparagus and heat on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Move the asparagus around with some tongs or a fork to cook evenly.
5. Add the mushrooms and the garlic. Sautee until cooked. The mushrooms will shrink a little and turn a wet, golden color when they're cooked. If they're done before the pasta, turn the heat down to low and keep warm.
6. When the water's boiling, add the pasta and cook according to the package. Drain and return to the pot.
7. Remove the asparagus and cut into bite-size pieces. For the thick part of the stem, you can slice those in half lengthwise (easier to eat that way!)
8. Combine the pasta, asparagus, mushrooms, and garlic in the pot. Add freshly grated parmesean cheese to taste. Serve and top with parsley. (or throw it in a reusable container and take it with you for lunch!)

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Exams are finally over and I'm back in the kitchen. When I was studying for my last final, econometrics-bah!, all I could think of was how much I wanted to spend a day in my kitchen baking and listening to good music. (good is relative here. My type of good music while baking includes hits like Me Love by Sean Kingston, How Can We Be Lovers by Michael Bolton, Paul Simon, Pat Green, and some Motown).

The first thing I baked was Smitten Kitchen's Chocolate Toffee Cookies. These cookies take a lot of time and a lot of dishes - two things I did not realize from the outset. They are definitely worth it, but when I started them at 5:30 planning to take them to an 8:50 movie, I didn't realize I would be running out the door 20 minutes before showtime with still warm cookies in my hand. These are a bit of a project, but they come out like gooey brownies flecked with toffee bits and crunchy toasted walnuts...sooooo...YUM.

Here are the ingredient's you'll need:

Now, the recipe calls for chopped semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, so I bought the big bars and chopped them with my knife. That's a fair amount of time right there. In my opinion, since they're just getting melted down, you can just go ahead and use a pound of semisweet chocolate morsels (chips) instead. Saves you a ton of time and mess. They may not make chocolate chips that have the same % cocoa as chocolate bars - so it'll be a trade-off between time saving and richness.

Also, SK recommends you sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top. I didn't have any but she recommends Maldon if you want to try it. (I have an order on its way to me!)

Handy tools: whisk (to stir the flour mixture); parchment paper (to line your baking sheets); ice cream scoop (to measure sticky cookie dough and force it onto the pan!)

Chocolate Toffee Cookies
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen's recipe)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound (16oz) bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped OR 1 pound semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Toast the walnuts by preheating your oven to 350 and spreading a piece of parchment paper on your baking sheet. Spread the walnuts evenly on the pan and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. Turn them with a spatula after 6 minutes. The walnuts will turn a warm golden color and smell delicious.


Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Stir butter and chocolate together in a double boiler. (I nestled two pots together. Just fill the bottom pot with water until it just touches the top pot and heat on medium, stirring constantly once the chocolate starts to melt). Once melted, remove the top pot and set aside to let the chocolate cool.

Using an electric mixture, beat brown sugar and eggs until thick, about 5 minutes (use speed setting 6 if you've got a Kitchenaid). Beat in melted chocolate and vanilla extract.

Stir in flour mixture, toffee, and walnuts. Chill batter until firm.

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and drop batter by spoonfuls (or ice cream scoopfuls) onto sheets about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with sea salt (optional).

Bake until the tops are dry and cracked but the inside is still soft - about 15 minutes. Cool on sheets.

Mac and Cheese Redux

I've been planted at my desk studying for finals and finishing up projects for school. Yesterday, I had an exam at 2pm, but wanted to make sure I had a good lunch because that's one less thing to worry about during the final! I had a bad experience with stomach grumblings at the SAT (so loud, I think the people in the next room could hear), and I will NOT let that happen again. So that's what led me to this little meal...all natural Mac and Cheese plus veggies.

I've had this same mac and cheese without veggies before, and I practically ate the whole box. This time, I added broccoli and tomatoes and I was full after half that amount. It was definitely the water- and fiber-filled vegetables that helped fill me up so fast without eating as much.

Did I mention this is *fast" and *easy*?

I used Annie's Mac and Cheese because it only has a few basic ingredients, and no added sugar. Plus, it's delicious.

Recipe:
Cook 1 box of Annie's Mac and Cheese (or equivalent) following the recipe on the box.
Cut one head of broccoli into bite-size trees
Chop about 1/3 cup of tomatoes into bite-size pieces
Put the broccoli in a microwave-safe bowl and cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap. Microwave for 2 minutes.
After you've added cheese to the mac and cheese, stir in broccoli and tomatoes
(makes 2 servings. Takes about 20 minutes)