I topped them with large sugar granules.  You can find them at Michael’s Craft store.

Whole Grain Cranberry Scones

2 cups flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into 1/2″ cubes (if using salted butter omit the salt in the recipe)
1/2 cup oatmeal, old fashioned or quick cooking
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 cup craisins
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (you can substitute the milk with a couple of teaspoons of cider or white vinegar)
1 tablespoon orange or lemon zest
2 tablespoons milk
1-2 tablespoons large sugar granules (regular sugar is fine too)

1)  Preheat the oven to 375′.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2)  In a large mixing bowl add the flour through the salt.  Add the cold butter cubes and work into the flour with a pastry blender or your fingers.  You can also do this in a food processor.  Process until there are no large lumps and the flour resembles cornmeal.
3)  Add the oatmeal, wheat germ and craisins and mix to combine.  Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk and orange zest.  Stir until just combined.  It’s OK if it’s a bit sticky.  Flour the counter top and plop the dough onto the counter.  With floured hands, knead 2-3 times into a smooth ball of dough.  Add a little flour if necessary.  Roll out to about 3/4″.  Cut with a round biscuit cutter and place on parchment paper on the cookie sheet.
4)  Using a pastry brush, coat the scone tops with milk and sprinkle them generously with sugar.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.  They are best the day you make them.  Makes about twenty 3″ scones.

Enjoy!

Angie

Anytime you want to decorate a cookie using white or dark chocolate, you’ll want to add the sugars and decorations before the chocolate sets up.  Makes sense, right?  Once it sets up the decorations are held firmly in place.  This will make for easy packaging.  Wrap them individually in cellophane bags and add a pretty ribbon.  Lovely.

Have a great evening!

Angie

Have you tried these Oven French Fries yet?  Once you do, you will never go back to the expensive frozen varieties.  They are seasoned perfectly and they taste like an actual potato, imagine that!  You will feel so great about serving these to your family.   Won’t do much cooking this weekend, it’ll be a nice break:-)

Going to pick up Jack, my eldest from college today.  I can’t believe he is done with his first year already!  Taking Chris and Ryan along.  We are going to stay at a nice hotel with an indoor pool over the weekend, happy boys!

Have a nice weekend!

Angie

It is about to finally start warming up here in Chicago!  Interesting because we were sitting out on the deck for St. Patrick’s Day!  Looking forward to getting outside and digging in the dirt in my garden.  March was very warm, so I put my hummingbird feeder out…..can’t wait for my favorite feathered creatures to arrive. It is the highlight of my summer, so awesome!

I haven’t been consistently posting for awhile.  Lack of energy.  I’ve had tons of fatigue over the past few years and was talking to my good friend Terri.  She recommended that I have some blood work done to find out what food sensitivities I may have as fatigue can be directly related to diet.   When I broached the subject with my endocrine doctor a couple of years ago, she said my life was most likely making me tired, so I let it go.  This is a doctor I completely respect so I do not intend to take anything away from her incredible abilities!  Four years ago this month, she saved my life.  I am so thankful for her.

This week, just for grins, I decided to eliminate wheat from my diet.  At first I thought I was imagining things.  I actually felt like I had more energy…interesting.  I also felt my mid section getting smaller…also interesting.   I strongly suspect that I have a wheat issue.  Will have blood work results in a couple of weeks.

If you know me at all, you know that I am a HUGE baker.  I’ve got working with butter, sugar, flour and eggs down.  I absolutely love everything about it.   I love being in my cozy kitchen turning out beautiful and delectable baked goods.  I love the joy it brings to the people I serve it to.  I love it being the center of many joyful celebrations.  It makes me very, very happy.

As it turns out, gluten free baking is possible but entirely different from what I’ve done all my life, a  completely different science.  Ahhh.  A challenge.   I am so up for it!

Take care:-)

Angie

The first thing you need to do is roast the poblano peppers.  This is a very simple process and a very necessary step for flavor in this soup/chowder.

Begin by broiling or grilling the peppers until they get charred and blistered.  Remove from heat and put them into a bowl and cover tightly with foil and allow them to steam for about 20 minutes.  This will make it easier to remove the skin.

Once they’re cool enough to handle, carefully remove the skins from the peppers.  Do not rinse them, you’ll lose the “charred” flavor.

Lastly, remove the seeds and membrane.  Chop coarsely.  They’re ready for the chowder.

Roasted Poblano, Corn and Tortilla Chowder

6 roasted poblano peppers, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 cups chopped sweet onions
3 tablespoons olive oil
4-6 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed between your fingers (will release the flavor)
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken stock, salt free preferably (you can add your own seasoning later, if you use stock with salt, adjust the addition of salt later in the recipe)
6 cups of sweet white corn (fresh or frozen)
4 cups 1% milk (or whatever you have)
6 corn tortillas, cut into strips
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (or bottled)

Garnish
Tortilla chips coarsely crushed
Fresh cilantro
Fresh lime wedge
1)  Prepare the poblano peppers. Rinse the peppers and place under the broiler in the oven or on a hot grill.  Cook until they’re nicely blistered.  Put them into a bowl and cover with foil or a lid to steam.  This will make the skins easier to remove.   When they’re cool enough to handle,  remove the skins, seeds and membrane.  Coarsely chop and refrigerate until you’re ready to use.
2)  In a soup pot, add the olive oil and onions.  Cook for 7-10 minutes or until soft.  Add the garlic, rosemary, cumin and bay leaf.  After about one minute, add the the stock, prepared peppers and corn.  Bring to a low simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add the milk and bring it up to a simmer again, do not boil.  Season with salt and pepper.
3)  Add the tortilla strips and stir often until the tortillas have completely dissolved.  If you’d like it a little thicker, add additional tortilla.  Stir in the lime juice.  Garish with crushed crispy tortillas, chopped cilantro and a lime wedge.  Makes about 12 one cup servings.

Enjoy!

Angie

It makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?  We all have our own unique genetic make up.  It would make sense too that we all must have some food sensitivities, right?  There are many foods that cause inflammation, which can lead to disease.    I think at a certain age the body says enough is enough!  For me, I have periods of fatigue early in the day and I’m thinking it has to do with what I’m eating.  It’s hard to narrow down exactly what it might be as I have a very diverse diet,  I love most everything!  I’m a bit too impatient to do an elimination diet.  This is where you eliminate a food, like say dairy,  for a few weeks and see how you feel.

I am thrilled to have an appointment with a naturopath doctor this week.   I can’t wait to see what she has to say after she analyzes my blood work.  Gee, I got to thinking what if she says I shouldn’t eat wheat?  Eggs?  Dairy?

I guess if it makes me feel a ton better, who cares?  I am a good cook and pretty much can figure out how to get the most flavor out of most any kind of food.  I sure could figure out how to bake gluten free or cook without dairy.

I will report the findings after I get results.  So interesting!

Have a great week!

Angie

Thank you Chels for identifying this UFO!   Hard to believe that something so unattractive could turn out so beautiful.  The UFO in the previous post is a plantain.  This South American fruit couldn’t be easier to prepare.  It resembles a banana but has a different taste and texture than a regular banana.  For starters they have a much more starchy taste and unlike a regular banana can’t be just peeled and eaten.  They require a little love before you can enjoy.  Because of the amount of starch they fry beautifully.

I prefer a darker plantain as they are a bit sweeter and have a softer texture.  The peeling is not as pliable as a regular banana either.  Slice off the very top and bottom and run a sharp knife through the skin and peel.  Slice the plantain on a diagonal.

Next heat about 1/2″  of canola oil to about 325-350′.  I use a shallow cast iron skillet as it has excellent heat conduction.  They take only minutes on each side to brown.

Allow the fried plantains to drain on paper towel.  Season simply with kosher salt and you’re ready to serve.                      Serve as a delicious side dish alongside  Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri Sauce for an authenthic South American dinner.

Interesting and very delicious!

Have a great day!

Angie

I love walking though the produce department in different neighborhoods and inquiring about vegetables and fruits I’ve never seen before, much less tried.  So fun!  I most often grill the produce people as to what they are, where they came from and what the heck to do with it.  If the produce person doesn’t know what to do with it, you can always google:-)

Let me know what you think about this one~

Have a great day!

Angie

Check out my cookie baking tips.

When working with chocolate here’s what I do.  I use semi-chocolate chips and melt in the microwave for 30 second intervals.  Mix between each interval.  Microwave the chocolate until the chocolate is smooth when you stir.  Do not over heat, it will burn.  Do not allow any moisture/water to get into the chocolate.

Instead of dipping cookies into chocolate, I spread it with a spatula, like icing.  The best thing about this is that it sets up beautifully and make them very easy to transport.

Step 1:  mix dough, chill over night.
Step 2:  bake and cool cookies
Step 3:  melt chocolate chips and spread over cookie.  Add any decorations into the melted chocolate.  It will set up and keep decorations in place.
Step4:  once the chocolate is completely set, make simple icing and spread over cookie.  Allow the cookies to sit out at room temperature for several hours or overnight.  The icing will set and the cookies will package beautifully or go onto a tray without getting messed up.

Best Roll Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe

2 cups sugar
4 sticks unsalted butter, one pound at room temperature
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
7 ½ cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Icing (recipe below)

1) In a large mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy and add one half of the sugar, beat, then add the rest. Add two eggs and beat. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Add the remaining three eggs and vanilla, beat until nicely incorporated.
2) Lightly measure out flour into a separate mixing bowl. Add baking powder and salt, whisk until blended.
3) Add half of the flour mixture to the egg/butter mixture and beat well. Add remaining flour and blend until all ingredients are incorporated.
4) Shape into a large ball and wrap in plastic wrap, then put into a large zip bag. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.
5) When ready to bake, allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375’ and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Have cooling racks ready to receive hot cookies.
6) Cut off a chunk and begin working with your hands to make it pliable enough to roll out on a floured surface. Roll to 1/8” thickness. Cut out with your favorite shapes and place on prepared sheets, leaving at least 1” of space between cookies. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing from cookie sheet onto a rack. Cool completely before icing.

For the icing:

3 cups powdered sugar
milk or water
1/2 teaspoon clear vanilla
gel food coloring, available at craft stores such as Michael’s

Put the powdered sugar into a medium size bowl.  Add liquid small amounts at a time and stir.  You will want the consistency to be thick enough that it will not run off the cookie but loose enough to easily spread.  Don’t worry, if it isn’t perfect on the first cookie you can either add more liquid or more sugar to get the right consistency.

When making different colors, use small bowls for different colors.

For the tie dye affect ice the cookie with white icing.  With a toothpick, dip into another colored icing and simply swirl through the freshly iced white cookie.  Very pretty.

Have a blessed Easter weekend with your family and friends!

Angie