Tag Archives: Cooking

Scones

 I found this easy one in the New York Times:

Ingredients: 2 cups of flour, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon sugar (increase to 1/4 cup if you want a sweet scone), 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, 1 1/4 cups of heavy whipping cream

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and position a rack in the top third of the oven. Thoroughly combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of this mixture, add 1 1/4 cups of cream and stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a fork. Work quickly, stirring as little as possible, until a soft, shaggy dough forms. Add more cream, a tablespoon at a time, if the dough seems too dry.
  2. Use a large serving spoon or cup measure to drop the batter onto an ungreased baking sheet, allowing at least 2 inches between each scone. Brush the top of each with heavy cream and bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

And from NPR, a note to be sure to eat your scones properly:

“The grocery store Sainsbury’s showed a photo with a fruit scone smothered in cream and jam. The problem: the photo showed jam on top of the cream. Customers in Cornwall argued the jam must go first…Some Brits take their afternoon tea very seriously. That’s landed the grocery store Sainsbury’s in trouble. They put up a picture with a fruit scone smothered in cream and jam. That is normal. The problem is the photo showed the jam on top of the cream. In the county of Cornwall where the picture went up, customers were outraged. They argued that jam must go first. Sainsbury’s admitted its mistake, saying it has all scone wrong.”

Lemon Boost

UnknownA cup of coffee – preferably espresso – is my go-to drink in the morning, but lemon and hot water comes in a close second.

Easy to make – just squeeze half a lemon into a cup of hot water.  Hot water warms the vocal chords and soothes the throat.  Add a little fresh ginger, and the drink becomes healthier.

But beware of the acid on your teeth.  Rinse with plain water after drinking the lemon water, and the Mayo Clinic says to wait 30 minutes before you brush your teeth – which gives you time to finish that cinnamon bun.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day

thumb_saint_patricks_day_Hat_ShamrocksWhat better way to celebrate – a pint of Guinness and Guinness Beer Bread.  Here’s the recipe:

Guinness Beer Bread

If You Give a Mouth a Cookie

Nothing substitutes for the real thing when you are hungry for a cookie.  I missed the Girl Scout cookies this year, but a friend told me about the limited edition ice cream.  So, I taste tested – took me almost the whole carton – but I decided – too much ice cream – not enough cookie.

      

Even a Vegetarian Diet Can Be Unhealthy

Veggie burger with grated cheese

Are you feeling virtuous because you ordered the veggie burger and sweet potato fries?  Dawn Jackson, author of The Flexitarian Diet says you may be fooling yourself.  She warns of common mistakes made by vegetarians, trying to be good:

  • Eating usual meals – just without meat.  Oops, no protein.  Better to replace meat with plant proteins (beans and legumes).
  • Sticking to the “beige diet” – bread, rice, pasta – will not get you the vitamins missing from colorful, disease-fighting veggies and fruits.
  • Cheesing It: Using only cheese for protein (in sandwiches, on pasta, on crackers) can mean high calories and salt – and saturated fat.

And those veggie burgers?  If frozen fake meat is your only concession to good eating, you may be getting too much sodium for the convenience.

No easy fixes to good health; that magic pill isn’t here yet.