Blueberry Scones

Ingredients:

2 cups All-purpose Flour

5 Tbsp granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

5 Tbsp butter, cut into cubes

2/3 cup sour cream

1 egg, beaten

1 cup fresh blueberries, washed, drained, patted dry and dusted with flour

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and cut in with a pastry cutter until the butter is in small bits.

Mix the sour cream and egg together, then pour into the flour mixture. Mix with a fork until well combined. Stir in the blueberries gently.

Pour everything onto a floured pastry mat. The dough will be quite sticky so dust your hands with flour and very gently knead until the dough comes together.

Pat down to about an inch thick and cut circles with a cookie cutter. Or pat dough into a circle and cut into 8 wedges.

Place on to the prepared baking sheet. Optional - brush with a little bit of milk and sprinkle sugar on the top. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the tops are golden brown.

Cool for 10 minutes and remove on to a rack to cool completely.

Granola

Easy and Yummy Granola

This is a very quick recipe that you can make and bake up in under an hour. Use organic ingredients if you can get them.

Ingredients:

225 gm rolled oats

40 gm sunflower seeds

40 gm pumpkin seeds

10 gm sesame seeds

60 gm sliced almonds

65 gm whole almonds (I like to cut these into 2 or 3 pieces)

150 gm raisins

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

3 Tbsp honey

90 gm apple sauce

Method:

Preheat oven to 325F / 160 C.

Line a baking tray with non-stick foil or parchment paper, or use a non-stick tray.

Weigh or measure all the dry ingredients into a big mixing bowl.

Measure oil, honey and sauce into a small bowl and mix well. Pour into dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Spread the mixture on to the tray evenly.

Bake for 40 minutes or so, turning the mixrure over half-way through.

Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator if not consumed within a week.

Apple Custard Pie

Apple Custard Pie

A simple pie that can be whipped up in minutes.

Ingredients:

1 unbaked 9" pie shell (I made an oil crust)

2 apples, peeled and finely sliced

1 cup yogurt

4 large eggs

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Place the sliced apples into the pie shell and arrange the topmost layer in an attractive pattern.

Place the rest of the ingredients into a blender and mix well. Pour custard mixture over apples.

Bake for 50-55 minutes until the center does not jiggle any more.

Cool for 2 hours before cutting into the pie. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.

Blueberry Pie

I had some frozen blueberries in the freezer and decided to make a small pie on the spur of a moment yesterday. I did not want a regular sized pie so I had to adjust all the amounts used to make this one in a small recycled pie tin. Basically I used an oil crust, and about 14 ounces of frozen blueberries (slightly less than a whole bag). Write me if anybody wants the complete list of ingredients.
















The lattice top crust is not perfectly aligned and I need to practise making straight cuts, but doesn't this scream "homemade"? :-)



YUMMY!

Morning Glory Muffins

A wonderful recipe that can be put together with the minimum of fuss. These muffins make a healthy start to your day and you can use egg substitute instead of eggs to make it more healthful. I first had Morning Glory muffins a couple of years ago at a bed & breakfast in Utah and loved it so much that I trawled the internet for a recipe. All of the many different recipes I found have a mixture of different healthful items in a basic muffin mix. So this is a really versatile go-to recipe that you can use whenever you want to bake up some muffins quickly.

Ingredients:

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoonful baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoonful ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoonful salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoonful vanilla extract
3/4 cup cranberry sauce
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350F/175C.

Line muffin pan with baking cups. This recipe makes 12 regular sized muffins plus 18 mini muffins.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together. Set aside.

Lightly beat eggs in a bowl, add in the oil, applesauce and vanilla. Mix well. Add in cranberry sauce, grated carrots, raisins, dried cranberries and sunflower seeds. Mix well.

Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Mix until just combined. Do not overmix.

Spoon batter into muffin pans. Fill only 2/3 of each baking cup if you do not want your muffin to overflow at the top.

Bake 35 minutes for regular sized muffins and 30 minutes for mini muffins. Let cool for 10 minutes in pan and then transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling.

These are the mini Morning Glory muffins on a small tea cup saucer.

Braised Lettuce

This recipe was given to me by a good friend and I tweaked it a little to my liking. It takes a couple of hours to prepare but is worth the effort when its aroma wafts through the whole house. And it is very healthful too!


Braised Lettuce

Ingredients:
3 or 4 heads of any sturdy lettuce - I used Romaine
2 medium size carrots - sliced
1 large onion - sliced
Low-sodium chicken stock
1 - 2 teaspoonful of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoonful of herbes de provence, or any preferred dried herb
Salt and pepper to taste
Butter - for greasing casserole

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease the bottom and sides of a deep casserole dish and set aside.

Clean and then blanch whole lettuce in boiling water for about 2 minutes until slightly softened. Drain in a colander. Gently squeeze to remove some water when cool enough to handle.

Place the sliced carrots and onions in the bottom of the casserole and top with the lettuce.
Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle in the dried herb of choice.
Pour in enough chicken stock to reach the top of the vegetables.
Grease a piece of parchment paper with butter and place it, buttered side down, over the vegetables.
Cook in the oven for 90 minutes, turning the lettuce every 30 minutes.

Remove the braised vegetables onto a serving dish. Add 1 - 2 teaspoonful of balsamic vinegar to the braising liquid to suit your taste. Spoon liquid over vegetables.

This is a wonderful side dish that is low in fat. Leftovers reheat very well in the microwave.

Gone bananas!

I've gone bananas! :-)

Here's another banana recipe.

Banana Walnut Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoonful Baking Powder
3/4 teaspoonful Baking Soda
1 teaspoonful salt
1/2 teaspoonful cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 medium ripe bananas, mashed

3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup soy milk
1 teaspoonful vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoonful vegetable oil

1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Grease a medium size muffin pan (12 muffins), or use paper cup liners.

Sift flour, leavening agents, salt, cinnamon and sugar together.
Mix the beaten eggs, soy milk and vanilla together. Add in the mashed bananas and stir until combined. Add in the oil and mix well.
Fold liquid mixture into flour mixture gently until just combined.

Fold in 3/4 of the chopped walnuts, reserving the rest to sprinkle on top of the muffins before baking.
Spoon into muffin pan filling each paper cup about 2/3 full.

Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes.
Cool 10 minutes in the pan and remove onto a rack to finish cooling.

This recipe makes about 18 medium sized muffins.
















I made only 12 medium sized muffins and used the rest of the batter to make another 14 mini muffins.