Buttery Homemade Scones

Makes about 8 scones
Total time: About One Hour

Ingredients

• 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 t baking powder
• ½ t table salt
• 12 T unsalted butter; cold, cut into ½ inch cubes
• 1 cup dried currants or blueberries
• 1 T lemon zest
• 1 cup heavy cream, very cold
• 1 egg blended with 1 T water
• course or granulated sugar such as turbinado sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Blend In: butter
3. Add: fruit, nuts, zest
4. Add: cream
5. Cut: (see below).
6. Brush with 1 egg blended with 1 T water.
7. Sprinkle with sugar
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and set.

Notes
This entire recipe is mixed with your hands. Smash the butter between your fingers as you blend with the dry ingredients. Work quickly. If the butter melts too much, your scones will be mealy.

After you’ve added the cream, knead the dough and pat it into a circleIt will seem somewhat crumbly, but continue to mash it into a circle. With a bench knife, cut into wedges, like a pizza. Once you have cut the pieces and placed then on the baking sheet, brush with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

This recipe can be made the night before, covered, and popped into the oven the next day.

Any nuts and dried fruits, as long as they are chopped into ¼ to ½ inch pieces.

Veggie Pasta Primavera

This is a recipe Andy came up with on the fly to make for friends who just had a baby. We had some summer squash and chard from our CSA that we thought would be great with pasta. I might be able to get Andy to be a little more specific on ingredient amounts, but this is just kind of the way he cooks!

• 1/2 - 3/4 lb mini penne pasta
• 2 small zucchini
• 2 medium yellow neck squash
• oregano
• garlic, minced
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper
• swiss chard, chopped finely
• 1/2 pint light whipping cream
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/4 cup parmesan, plus more to top if desired
• 1/4 cup light sour cream or plain yogurt
• 2 cups frozen peas

Cook pasta according to package directions, set aside. Cube zucchini and squash, toss in pan with oregano, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, saute 10-15 min or until soft. Allow to cool, chop more finely if desired. In the same pan, cook the swiss chard until it wilts, set aside. Mix cream, butter, parmesan, and sour cream in a small sauce pan, bring to a light simmer for 5 minutes. Mix pasta, veggies, cream, and peas in a large bowl until pasta is coated. Add more salt, pepper, oregano, or garlic powder if desired. Pour into a casserole dish and top with parmesan. Bake 30 min at 350.

Cheesy Shell Bake

This is a recipe that was posted on the mama board I used to be a part of, so I've seen it for 4 years, and tonight was the first time I actually tried it. They all raved about it, but I thought it just sounded "eh." I was wrong! It's a fairly classic baked pasta dish, with a layer of sour cream (or yogurt), shredded cheddar, and parsley in the middle. Evan loved this, too. Yum!

Ingredients:

• 1 box of medium shells, cooked al dente - any pasta will work, we used mini penne
• 1lb of ground beef, could also use ground sausage or other meat
• 1 jar of pasta sauce
• 2-3Tbls of dried parsley
• 8oz sour cream or plain yogurt
• 8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper
• garlic and onions for ground beef if desired
• Optional - veggies! Corn, carrots, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, chiles, etc.*

Start the water for the noodles and while they are cooking, brown your beef. Add salt and pepper to taste and diced garlic and onions if you have them and like that. Once the beef is cooked, add the entire jar of tomato sauce. When the shells are ready, drain and add to the sauce beef mixture.

In a separate bowl, add the sour cream, parsley and about a third of the block of cheese. Mix all the ingredients.

Take half of the shell-beef-sauce mixture and put it into a 13x9 baking pan. Then take the sour cream mixture and layer it over the shells in the pan. If you find that you don't have enough sour cream mixture make a little bit more. Put the rest of the shell-sauce-beef on top and cover with the rest of the grated cheese. Cook at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until all the cheese is melted.

*We actually used leftover corn dip (made from sour cream, shredded cheese, corn, jalapeno, and green chiles) instead of the sour cream mixture, it was excellent! You might want to saute raw veggies a bit or cook with the ground beef to soften before adding.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

This was a great way to use up some floppy broccoli we had in the fridge. The soup turned out great, and Noelle even ate 2 bowls!

• 6 Tbsp butter, divided
• 3/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1 cup carrot, chopped or shredded
• 4 cups small broccoli florets
• 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 - 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp flour
• 2 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• freshly ground black pepper
• dash of cayenne (optional)

In a large stockpot, melt 2 Tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add the carrots to the pan and cook a few minutes more. Stir in the broccoli, chicken or veggie broth, onion powder, garlic powder, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.

In a medium saucepan, melt remaining butter. Add the flour and cook 1-2 minutes until golden brown, whisking constantly. Whisk in the milk and cook until the mixture thickens and bubbles, about 5 minutes. Once the mixture has thickened, whisk in the cheese until completely melted. Remove from the heat and add the cheese sauce to the soup pot. Allow to simmer until warmed through and broccoli is tender. Season with ground pepper and a dash of cayenne to taste. If desired, puree the soup with an immersion blender for a smooth texture.

Arroz con Gandules

Andy heard about this recipe from a co-worker and we had to try it. We really liked all the flavors, and we always enjoy using different ethnic ingredients. This tastes great on its own, or as I discovered, is very good inside a corn tortilla.

• 2 cups long grain rice
• 3 1/2 cups of boiling water
• 1 1/2 cups of chorizo, sliced bite size (we have used ground chorizo or ground pork)
• 2 Tablespoons of sofrito** (we don't make sofrito, we just add some of what we have on hand)
• 2 cans gandules (pigeon peas) can be found in ethnic aisle
• 1 tablespoon of alcaparrado without liquid (an olive mixture, we do not use)
• 1 ounce Cooking ham or smoked ham (we have left this out)
• 1 one packet of Sazon with achiote (again, find in ethnic aisle)
• 4 ounces of tomato sauce
• 2 Tablespoons of oil
• Salt to taste

**Sofrito: 3 cloves garlic, 1/2 Banana or Bell pepper (chopped in fine pieces), 1 tsp oregano, 3 cilantro leaves (chopped), 1 medium onion (chopped), and 2-3 Aji dulce peppers

In a dutch oven pot (or other pot) with lid fry the chorizo in oil. Add the tomato sauce, alcaparrado, sofrito and sazon to the pot and stir together. Cook at medium heat for 4 minutes. Add all other ingredients except the salt, pour the boiling water into the pot so the rice is submerged one inch below the water. Start with 1 teaspoon of salt stir and keep adding and mixing well until you are satisfied with the taste. Don’t cover yet, let the rice absorb the water. Once absorbed stir gently from bottom to top, cover and turn the heat down to low. Stirring once in between, cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until the rice is tender. Cover the Arroz con Gandules with Banana leaves while cooking for that Caribbean flavor! (we did not do this)

The second time we made this, we used leftover rice, mixed all ingredients together and baked them in a 9x13 pan for 30 min at 350º.

Serves 3 to 4

Angel Hair Pasta with Lemons and Capers

• 1 package of angel hair pasta
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 3 - 6 oz bacon, cut into thin slices
• 2 T butter
• 2 T capers
• 2 T parsley finely diced

1) Cook pasta. Drain, and set aside

2) Fry bacon to your desired doneness and drain, reserving 1 T in the pan
3) Add lemon juice and capers
4) Cook over low to medium heat until liquid begins to thicken
5) Add butter, stir in parsley, cook for 2 minutes over low heat.
6) Add angel hair to pan and twist and stir pasta until no sauce remains at the bottom of the pan

Penne Pizza Pan-fry

Andy made up this recipe a few weeks ago when I got sweet italian sausage for a crazy good price and bought a lot of it. We really liked it, and made it again this week to bring to a friend. The second time I made it, I boiled the sausages for about 8 minutes (prick with a knife first) then cut into slices and pan fried.

• 3 Italian Sausages cut into thin slices (best done when cold, or partially frozen)
• 1/2 c diced bell pepper
• 1/2 c diced onion
• 4 garlic cloves, finely diced, or pressed
• 1/2 can of diced tomatoes (petite)
• 7 oz of penne pasta
• 30 slices of turkey pepperoni (approximately 1 oz), cut into thin ribbons
• 1/2 T dried oregano
• 1/2 T dried basil
• 1/3 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2/3 c plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce
• shredded parmesan (optional)

1) Place pasta in boiling water.
2) Pan fry sausage in a large, deep sided skillet. Drain most of the oil from the pan, and set aside.
3) Saute onions, peppers, garlic, and pepperoni in remaining oil over medium heat until the onions and peppers are soft.
4) Add chickpeas, oregano, and basil, and continue cooking until onions begin to turn golden brown (about 3 minutes).
5) Drain liquid from tomatoes, add to onion mixture along with yogurt and spaghetti sauce, stir to combine. More yogurt or spaghetti sauce can be added to achieve your desired consistency.
6) Simmer for 2-3 minutes, then stir in drained pasta.
7) Serve with shredded parmesan