Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

I love weekends. Don't we all? It's hard to beat the combination of PJ's, a homemade latte, DVR shows, and sleeping in. I usually make myself a smoothie of some kind for breakfast, but I also like to make Ross a little something. This past weekend I made Dorie's Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones. They were a big hit with Ross, so I'm sure I'll be making them again. 

Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones
from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

makes 12 scones

1 large egg
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons(10 tablespoons) cold unstaled butter, cut into small pieces

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a bking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Stir the egg and buttermilk together.

Whisk the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You'll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between -- and that's just right.

Pour the egg and buttermilk mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes together. Don't overdo it.

Still in the bowl, gently knead the dough by hand, or turn it with a rubber spatula 8 to 10 times. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it in half. Working with one piece at a time, pat the dough into a rough circle that's about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place on the baking sheet. (At this point, the scones can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight. Don't defrost before baking -- just add about 2 minutes to the baking time.)

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firmish. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving, or wait for the scones to cool to room temperature.

3 years ago: Favorite Things

2 years ago: Of Course it's Purple

1 year ago: Nyquil Me!

0

Stateside Safari Animals

The fruits of our April Safari are finally stateside! They had to travel a long ways to their home in Alaska but made the journey (mostly) unscathed...

Here's a quick refresher on the Africa animal protocol. The animals are salted at your hunting outfitter and then sent to a local taxidermist in South Africa. We visited the taxidermist before we caught our flight home to decide how we wanted each backskin tanned and prepared. They also fix up the skull/horns which will then be sent to your taxidermist back home (in our case, Knight's in Anchorage). There is actually quite a few rules and regulations around this process. America doesn't want some rotting, bug infested skulls coming back. No meat is allowed out of Africa.

The horns will each be a part of different head mounts. We are getting the Kudu European style (just the skull and horns), the rest will be complete mounts.

Two waterbuck pillows.

An impala pillow- it's so soft!

The ottoman.

Here's another shot, without the grey one.

 It's Kudu backskin on the top, and eland hide around the rest.  An ottoman foot broke during the shipment, but we thought they were too high anyway so plan to put new ones on.

3 years ago: Weekend in Tyler

2 years ago: Simon & Seaforts

1 year ago: Night at the Museum

0

Hanging out with Baby B

When I need some cuddle love, I get it from this little man (sorry Ross)...

Baby B is getting so big, so fast! He's almost 6 months old now.

Here's what watching football and babysitting look like:

I think Bronson was actually watching football too- that's a good sign :) His outfit is mis-matched because Auntie Liz couldn't find coordinates. Oh, well it doesn't look like he minded much.

Bronson came over for a dinner party and got lots of love from the other Miss Liz...

What a cutie patootie.

3 years ago: Weekend in Tyler

2 years ago: Dreams- from a new room

1 year ago: Huebel House Trivia

0

Pup Park

I'm finally feeling like I'm on the otherside the cold I've had since last week- it really knocked me off my feet. I was feeling like I needed to get off the couch and get outside for some fresh air, but not exert myself much... So we went to the pup park, so Roma could exert herself. It was a beautiful, sunny, cold afternoon!

3 years ago: Tid-Bits

2 years ago: Double Vision

1 year ago: You know it's Cold Outside When...

0

At least it's not the Flu...

Welp, despite my incessant hand washing and hand sanitizing I got the bug that a good portion of the office has. Sneezy, watery eyes, dry throat, sinus pressure, nose like a faucet. It's a good reminder how annoying even the common cold is. On the bright side, at least it's not the Flu...

I plan to get this bug all worked out of my system before Hawaii in a couple weeks :)

Aloha!

0

Saturday morning style

I'm definitely not a night owl, so by default I suppose that makes me a morning person? Yes, I'd agree that I'm more of a morning person... But what if the sun doesn't come out until after 10 am? Then, sometimes I sleep until 10 am. But no matter how late I sleep, there's usually someone in the family that sleeps even later (hint: it's not Roma). So, I get my "Liz time" either way.

Morning Liz time usually includes a combination of the DVR, my laptop, a blueberry smoothie, puppy love, my phone, and always an almond milk latte :)

Yes, I visit "Proteo" my local barista, and enjoy the peace and quiet with a cup of coffee.

I've picked up a love of local pottery and some people have taken notice. After a couple new gifts, I now drink in style!

Birthday Present

Christmas Present

Birthday Present- Hand Warmer Mug

Christmas Present (look at that foam!)

3 years ago: Stew on This

2 years ago: Lost Charleston Pics

1 year ago: Cold Cabin

0

Moose's Tooth Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Moose's Tooth restaurant is probably Anchorage's best known eatery and rightfully so. Their unique, gourmet pizzas are the best I've stumbled upon and they also brew their own beer, a hard-to-beat combination. Because it's such a popular tourist destination, we often call ahead and pick up our order on the way home from work. Here's the usual: "1 Large Pizza, half Santa's Little Helper and half Avalanche. Also, a large mixed green salad with grilled chicken."

I have heard MT has a really good Hungarian Mushroom Soup, but I never seem to have room for soup with the usual pizza/salad. I haven't actually had the authentic MT soup, but I got curious when a friend told me you could find the recipe online. So I did. And then I made it.

I don't go vegetarian on meals very often, but this soup was tasty. I served it with some fresh kalamata bread and cheese. I plan to use cream cheese instead of milk/flour the next time I make this soup because the milk separated some when I added it to the hot broth. I also think it will make it a bit more creamy.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups chopped yellow onions
1 pound fresh mushrooms, assorted variety and sliced
2 teaspoons dried dill weed
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk + 3 tablespoons flour (or 8oz cream cheese)
1 teaspoon salt
ground black pepper to taste
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup sour cream

DIRECTIONS
Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Saute the onions in the butter for 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute for 5 more minutes. Stir in the dill, paprika, soy sauce and broth. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. In a separate small bowl, whisk the milk and flour together. Pour this into the soup and stir well to blend. Cover and simmer for 15 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Finally, stir in the salt, ground black pepper, lemon juice, parsley and sour cream. Mix together and allow to heat through over low heat, about 3 to 5 minutes. Do not boil. Serve immediately.

1

Dicken's Village

One of my favorite holiday traditions is putting up my Department 56 Dicken's Village. It started with 1 house and now I have 7... all hand-me-downs from Momma dearest. Townspeople from Mom's village have been moving to a new village in Anchorage AK :)

When I was in Texas a couple weeks ago, I snapped some pictures of Mom's village, complete with trees, houses, people, benches, snow, lights, etc.

See the ice skaters on the pond?

I can seem to bring myself to pack away my village. Maybe by Valentine's day?...

3 years ago: King Crab

2 years ago: Asian Chicken Noodle Soup

1 year ago: Cabin Fever

0

New Blog Feature: Archived Labels

This blog serves as my "recipe box" because I can never keep track of the hard copies. I try to post recipes, pictures, directions, and a review for food that we try out, so that I can go back and find them in the future when I need a meal idea (and you can too!) I try to tag each recipe post to one or more relevant "labels" to make finding them easier. For example, clicking on the label "Asian" on the right hand side of the blog produces an archive of three old blog posts. However, to scroll through each of the returned entries you had to go to "older" or "newer" at the bottom of each post to scroll to the next one. So cumbersome- There must be a better way?!!

After some detective work, I found out there is a better way :)

Rather than show a whole post with each label, a LIST of the the TITLES of each post associated with a label is now shown with a THUMBNAIL picture. Much easier to navigate!

Let me demonstrate:
1. Select a label from the right.

2. When you click on "chicken", you will now see a list which looks like this:

Now that the blog is more organized, maybe I'll tackle my desk tomorrow. Maybe.

3 years ago: Holiday Party

2 years ago: Beer Festival

1 year ago: Winners and Losers

0

Snowy Walk

It can be a challenge to get your daily workout during the winter holidays when it's cold and dark. But with a higher intake of cookies, you gotta do something to get the blood moving, right? My suggestion is to hang out with Roma- she'll keep you moving!

We took a drive up to hillside to walk along the Powerline trail, until Jeff got cold :)

The snow was really coming down.

Roma's got her ear muffs on.

Leader of the Pack.

Brother.

3 years ago: Riccola

2 years ago: Landscaping with Photoshop

1 year ago: Guest Post

0

Feta-Basil Crusted Halibut with Risotto

Ross and I are always looking for different ways to prepare fish- it's pretty easy to get bored eating salmon and halibut when you have a freezer full of it. So if you have any good fish recipes, please pass 'em along!

When the family came to visit Alaska for Christmas, we made Feta-Basil Crusted Halibut with Risotto and Wilted Spinach. I liked this dish a lot. The saltiness of the feta and the fresh herb flavor of the basil go nicely with the homemade bread crumbs. (I highly suggest buy a nice loaf of bread and making your own breadcrumbs because they're such a big component of this dish). The wilted spinach and the risotto made for a pretty and colorful plating.

Baking the Halibut in the oven. Bake time will depend on your thickest piece!

Jeff learned how to make risotto; a lot of stirring!

Quick and Easy Wilted Spinach

The final look: Halibut atop wilted spinach sitting over creamy risotto.

The cook team. 

Here are the recipes, adapted from the The Bite House:

Feta-Basil Crusted Halibut

• 4 halibut filets
• 4 teaspoons dijon mustard
• 1/2-1 cup homemade breadcrumbs*
• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• small handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• a few twist of ground black pepper

*To make homemade breadcrumbs bake slices of bread at 300°F until they’re really dry, then crumble in a food processor.

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
In a bowl, mix the breadcrumbs, feta, basil, olive oil, and black pepper.
Lay the halibut in an oiled baking dish and spread 1 teaspoon of mustard on each.
Cover the fish with the crust mixture, and don’t worry about some falling around, you’ll use it on the plate.
Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the halibut. You want to keep it moist.

Garlic Wilted Spinach

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 4 handfuls of baby spinach

In a large skillet, melt the butter on medium heat, add the garlic and swirl around for a minute.
Add the spinach, stir, cover, remove from heat, and let stand for a minute.

Basic Risotto

• 2 onions, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2-3 cups water or vegetable or chicken stock
• 100 g aged cheddar, grated
• salt + ground black pepper

Bring the stock (or water) to a simmer, and keep it hot on the back burner at low heat.
In a medium skillet, on medium-high heat cook the onions in 3 tablespoons of butter until they are soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the rice, stir, and add the white wine. Let it simmer until most of the wine is absorbed.
Laddle in some stock to cover the rice. Keep stirring.
Once the liquid is absorbed, laddle in a bit more stock. Proceed until the rice is al dente. It should take about 15-20 minutes.
Remove from the heat, add the remaining tablespoon of butter, the cheddar, and season with salt and black pepper. If the risotto seems too dry, add a few more tablespoons of stock.

3 years ago: Z-Pack Please

2 years ago: Green Gator

1 year ago: Trying to Choose a Pup?

0

Breakfast Belgians

On weekends (and holidays) Dad whips together his specialty- Homemade Belgian Waffles. He's significantly up'ed his game in the last couple of years, moving from a box mix to a recipe completely from scratch. And today, I'm sharing the secret recipe with you :)

Belgian Waffle Recipe

Ingredients
•       1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
•       3 cups warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
•       3 eggs
•       3/4 cup butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
•       1/2 cup white sugar
•       1 1/2 teaspoons salt
•       2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•       4 cups (20 oz.) all-purpose flour

Directions
1.      In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in about 1/4 cup of the warm milk. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2.      In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, another 1/4 cup of the warm milk and the melted butter. Stir in the yeast mixture, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir in the remaining 2 1/2 cups milk alternately with the flour, ending with the flour.
3.      Cover the bowl and either let rise in a warm place about 1 hour or put in the refrigerator overnight.
4.      Preheat the waffle iron. Brush with oil and spoon about 1/2 cup (or as recommended by manufacturer) onto center of iron. Close the lid and bake until the waffle is golden brown. Serve immediately or
keep warm in 200 degree oven.

3 years ago: Thai Night

2 years ago: Reflections

1 year ago: It's Electric

0