Scones

These are "Utah scones" I guess.

After living here, I've realized New Englanders call it fried dough...and scones are more like biscuits?! 

This is MY idea of a scone.

We ate these with minestrone soup last night, perfect for a cold snowy evening.

(and we had the missionaries over, both from Utah, so they were thrilled to have scones)

AND ALWAYS SERVE WITH HONEY BUTTER!!!
½ cup butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup honey

*TRULY*

Mom’s Scones

1 cup warm water

1 cup warm milk

1 Tbsp. dry active yeast

3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1/4 cup melted butter, cooled

1 Tbsp. salt

5 – 6 cups bread flour

Vegetable oil for deep frying

Combine warm water and warm milk. Stir in the sugar. Add dry active yeast and stir lightly. Allow yeast to activate, about 10 minutes. 

In a stand mixer, fitted with a bread hook, add milk mixture and melted cooled butter. 

Add the salt. 

Start the mixer and add the flour one cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. 

Dough should be slightly sticky but workable. Cover the dough in the bowl with a towel. Set in a warm place and allow raise until double.

Pour your oil in a large pan (with sides deep enough to fully immerse the scones) or a deep fryer and heat slowly over medium to medium high heat. While the oil is heating, roll the dough out onto the counter, without flour, into a large rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. You may choose to butter the counter lightly. (i didn't)

Using a pizza cutter, cut into squares or triangles.

Heat oil to between 350 – 400 degrees and cook scones until golden brown. 

Serve immediately.

(recipe and images from http://www.make-it-do.com/cook-it-bake-it/moms-scones/)

I've had ENOUGH!

If I have to open this page one more time and look at sickly-yellow banana muffins, I'm going to quit blogging all together. 
PEOPLE!  Contribute! 
This has been the week of soup and bread.  Lots of both. 
Last night we had Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower Soup. 
Mmmmm.... it really did make me tingle all over.  One of my kids, upon smelling the amazing aroma wafting up from the pot, insisted that we were having stuffing for dinner.  Sadly, he was fooled.  He would have been much happier with stuffing.  BUT.  The rest of us devoured this yummy stuff.

Here's my only somewhat yellow-tinted picture of the half-way point.

FRESH minced parsley being added to the mix.

Go back and look at Pioneer Woman's pictures.

Her's make you actually WANT to make the soup.

Okay.  So now the REAL reason I'm posting today.  THAT bread.  A French Baguette.  Fresh from the oven.  And SO good I almost forgot to take a picture before the last baguette had been cut in to and was almost gone.  See the teeth marks in the buttered piece?  It was at that point that I resisted the urge to break the surface, and put down the pleasure to snap an only minutely yellow picture of this delicious stuff.
HERE is how you make it (EASY!)

BEST French Baguettes EVER
(Picky Stuffing-Boy said it tasted like restaurant bread)

3 cups lukewarm water


8 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
[note: I used 1 cup wheat plus 7 cups white flour, and it turned out great]

1 tablespoon table salt

2 tablespoons instant yeast
 
Mix water and yeast.  Let sit for two minutes.
Add flour and salt.  Mix until dough is soft, and divide into four pieces.
Form into four small rectangular loaves.
Place onto greased pan (I sprinkle corn meal under the loaves)
Let rise until double--about 30-40 mintues
lightly (so as not to compress dough) slice loaves 3-4 times on the diagonal
spritz heavily or brush loaves with water (or egg white/water wash)
Bake at 450 for 26-28 minutes.
 
SO good warm!  The crust is VERY "crusty" and the inside soft and delicious.
(Be careful cutting it!  I cut myself)
If you store the loaves in plastic, the crust softens up for the next time you cut it.

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup with Biscuits

This is what we had for dinner last night...(lighting is bad - sorry)...it was really yummy. I bought one of those rotisserie chickens on a busy/crazy night. We had it sliced on salad and called it good. Last night I took the remaining chicken and placed it in 6 c. water with a cover and heated it until it was warm enough to fall off the bones. When the chicken was off I added chopped carrots, some corn and celery and chicken boullion to taste. When the carrots were cooked I added some noodles. Before serving I dumped in a couple cans of cream of chicken soup to make it a little creamy - my family likes it that way.
These are the biscuits I made to go along with the soup. We used the leftovers with peaches and cream. (aka Peach Shortcake)

Biscuits:

2 c flour

1T sugar

1 t salt

1 T baking powder

1/3 c butter

3/4 c milk

BAKE 450 for 12 minutes

*****

BON BON

CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP

28 oz. crushed tomatoes
16 oz. tomato sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
4 cups water or chicken broth
2 T. sugar
3 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp oregano
4 oz. diced green chilies
2 C. cooked chicken cut in bite size pieces


Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.

serve with any of these sides
sour cream
avocado
olives
grated cheese
crushed tortilla chips
corn
black beans

My sister in law Ginny makes this and it's muy bueno!

T. Scrumptious

Broccoli Cheese Soup

Okay, so I hesitate to post this recipe because it seems kind of like a science experiment because one of the main ingredients is Velveeta! Yuck, I know, but the soup tastes good, and maybe all the healthy broccoli cancels out the nasty Velveeta...Anyway, here's the recipe--Make it if you dare!

INGREDIENTS:

3 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped broccoli
3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
6 tablespoons margarine
1 onion, chopped
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 1/2 pounds processed cheese food (eg. Velveeta), cubed
1 pinch ground white pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large pot over medium heat, simmer the broccoli in the broth for 15 minutes. In a separate skillet over medium heat, melt the butter or margarine, add the onions and saute for 5 minutes, or to desired tenderness.

2. Add the flour to the onions and stir well, forming a pasty substance. Gradually add the milk and stir until thick. Add this mixture to the broccoli mixture in the pot and stir well. Then add the cheese, stirring until melted. Finally, add the pepper. (Note: Be careful not to let the soup boil, or the cheese will break down.)

***I'm thinking that you might be able to substitute real cheese for the Velveeta--let me know how it goes if you try it.***

~GG