Scottish Potato Scones and recipe

Tomorrow is Robert Burns Night (January 25th), but we got a head start with this recipe tonight...
  Scottish Potato Scones recipe from Christina's blog- it's full of food and travel!

In spite of the fact that we did not make them thin enough, or cook them quite long enough, or put quite enough salt in them...we have a new favorite at our house!  Serve with butter and apple butter (homemade is best!).   Mmm, mmm, good!  We started with leftover mashed potatoes so they were wetter and needed more flour, but still quite tasty.  Instead of rolling them I patted them onto waxed paper. 

 We tried this sausage...purchased from Azure Standard.com  Pretty good.  The other is Mesquite Smoked Kielbasa from Costco. 

Keeping them warm on the wood stove while the final batch cooked!

Pot Pie Recipe

 

The short answer to the recipe request: Cook a pot-roast, make gravy from the drippings, cook the veg on the side, mix them together, and put them in a crust.

The long version of the recipe:

These cute little pot-pies are goat, rather than beef. Trust me- if you like game, and make this recipe, you will love it.  
2 things make this recipe great: 

1) If you open the meat as much as possible, and try to get as much of the connective tissue/silver skin out/off of it as you can, it will taste MUCH less "gamey".  (Some people don't know that it is goat!)

2) The seasoning. 

Get our Crust recipe HERE!

Get the Lamb/Goat recipe from Mike, at his blog: over HERE!

Changes that the McKees made the first time:

Cooked 45 minutes in an "instapot"

2lb of Goat Shoulder,

4 sprigs of rosemary, (left whole)

dry thyme, (we used dry leaves 6 generous pinches, maybe 2 teaspoons?)

1 & 1/2 Tablespoons table salt,

generous shakes of red pepper flakes,

Dry white wine in place of the cooking wine.

Extra wine (in place of some of the water) added bouillon.

Cooked the onions in bacon grease! 

Changes that the McKees made the second time:

Cooked 90 minutes in an "instapot"

4lb of Goat Shoulder,

4 sprigs of rosemary, (stripped off the twigs)

dry thyme, we used dry leaves 6 generous pinches,  maybe 2 teaspoons?

Salt: as called for the the recipe, 

Dry white wine in place of the cooking wine,

Beef drippings (from a pot roast) in place of the water,

Cooked the onions in olive oil & bacon grease!

Turn it into pot-pie:
 ~Don't cook the veg with the meat: cook the veg on the side (carrots and peas together, and potato in another pot).  
~Be careful to get all the bones out of the meat (goat and lamb have very tiny bones).
~The gravy was just all the drippings (4 cups or so) thickened with tapioca starch. 
~Mix everything together, and put them in a crust. 
~We cut 2 single crusts in quarters (so, 8 pieces total).
~And baked our pot-pies in oven-safe cereal bowls. 
~I "glazed" the top crusts with beaten egg. :-)
~Bake in a 375 oven, until the center bubbles.

Homemade Apple Wine

Our first batch of Apple Wine! Photos and recipe here!

 

 

Apple Pie Cookies...

...for Hubby's Birthday!

We pretty much followed the recipe from http://omgchocolatedesserts.com/apple-pie-cookies/...
We used our homemade Cajeta (caramel sauce), and our own crust HERE.  Oh, and we added sharp cheese (some inside, some on top, and some without).

Cook, Cool and then Cut the Apples~

 Ready to go?

Assemble...

 ...cut...

...bake on parchment paper...

...and eat!

Yum!!!

Our own Smash Burgers

Our own Smash Burgers - recipe inspiration here:  https://food52.com/recipes/55658-the-food-lab-s-ultra-smashed-cheeseburgers

Homemade BBQ sauce, Homemade Bread & Butter Pickles, Fresh, grass-fed, free-range beef from our friend Sarah, and French brioche buns (toasted in organic butter) from Aldi!

  

 In the middle of the Potato Diet month we just had to feast on MEAT!!!  Slurp!  =P 

Homemade Pfeffernusse cookies

We just made these and used 2 teaspoons of cloves...they are wonderful! Of course they are even better after several days (not so strong and we worried the 2 t. was a mistake at first!). 

My mother keeps insisting that they should have black pepper. Is that really a traditional ingredient? 

I think they would be good with the bottoms dipped into dark chocolate- something like the chocolate covered, soft gingerbread cookies that Aldi's sells. Ours had a nice cross between soft and chewy texture. 

We cooked them a little longer, they were just too soft at 10 minutes. 

Recipe HERE  

Mug Swap ~ what I got from Brooke

The box of goodies was perfect in every way!  Especially the mug- I have a few with a similar glaze/color and love them!   Oh, and the journal with the great quotes, I love it, too!  I'm so glad I could participate in the 2015 Mug Swap...giving to a good cause and blessing and being blessed in return! 

Mug Swap ~ what I sent to Adela

I love to journal and have a difficult time passing up cute notebooks/journals, so I got a pack of two small notebooks.  She loves coffee and likes hazelnut best, so on a trip to Austin we found this coffee at Central Market...it seemed a fitting gift from Texas to Florida!  Then I saw these cookies from a Dallas bakery (Austin Central Market as well).   Cookies with coffee...nice treat!  I hope she likes the things I chose and maybe thinks of me when she uses them!  Here's to you, Adela!  Enjoy!  Bon Appetit! 

Our long time, tried and true Pie Crust Recipe

So you want to make a good pie crust?  A wheat or "wheat-free" pie crust?

Originally adapted from Ken Haedrich's Country Baking

To make several batches running keep your fats ready to go in the fridge and pull them out as needed.  We like to weight the fat.  

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/4 cup white flour

1 T sugar

1 t. salt

3 oz tallow (chilled and cut into chunks)

4 oz butter (chilled and sliced)

4-6 T iced water

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Variation 2:

1/4 cup oat flour

1/4 cup barley flour

1 3/4 cut white spelt flour 

(or 2 1/4 cups total flour) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 oz butter

2 oz tallow

3 oz coconut oil

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Variation 3:

1/4 cup oat flour

1/4 cup barley flour

1 3/4 cut white wheat flour 

(or 2 1/4 cups total flour) 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4 oz butter

3 oz tallow

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 First, choose your fat and make sure it's cold:

(this is Coconut oil/Butter/Tallow)

Mix your dry:

Make really icy water:

Put dry ingredients into food processor bowl.  Add fat and cut in briefly until pebbly, pea size chunks.  While pulsing add the iced water 1 -2 Tablespoons at a time .   Stop as soon as the dough pulls together and cleans the sides.
 (At this point we dump it on a lightly floured surface, trying not to handle much, pat it into a uniform rounded  shape, cut in half, push the cut edges together so you now have 2 "round-ish" disks of dough.)

To use really soon:  Wrap each in wax paper and then place in a covered container or zip-lock and place in the fridge.

To Freeze: Wrap each in wax paper and then foil.  Date and freeze.  (keeps practically forever)

When chilled,  roll out between 2 sheets of waxed paper:

(note: the photo below is actually from a Gluten-Free recipe Adrienne made one time: HERE)

Yeasted Waffles (with recipe!)

Adrienne saw this recipe in  Benjamin's Cook's Illustrated Baking Cookbook.   A quick look on the internet brought up several...  This is one I found:  http://www.smells-like-home.com/2014/06/yeasted-waffles/

The best waffle recipe we used to make involved separating eggs, melting butter, etc.  Benjamin used to make them.....very good, but a lot of mess!   So when we read about this yeasted waffle recipe we just had to give it a try!  Yes, they are the best, next to the buttery oat ones I mentioned above!  The leftovers are so easy to toast and warm up!  These were really good with grated sharp English Cheddar cheese mixed in.

NB:  choose your vessel well.   The first time we made them we ended up with batter oozed out into a cooler all over the ice bottles and kombucha bottles that were also being stored in the "extra fridge space on the porch"!   Make sure your bowl is large enough!   

Notes from Food.com:  The batter must be made 12 to 24 hours in advance. Texture of the waffles made in a classic waffle iron is better. But a Belgian waffle iron will work, though it will make fewer waffles. The waffles are best served fresh from the iron but can be held in an oven until all of the batter is used. As you make the waffles, place them on a wire rack set above a baking sheet, cover them with a clean kitchen towel, and place the baking sheet in a 200-degree oven. When the final waffle is in the iron, remove the towel to allow the waffles to crisp for a few minutes. These waffles are quite rich; buttering them before eating is not need and may be too much for some.  (NOT us!!!)

 

Yeasted Waffles

Yield: Seven 7-inch round or four 9-inch square waffles

Prep this waffle batter the night before you plan to make waffles and give yourself a break from prepping breakfast in the morning. This works especially well when you have house guests or if you're hosting brunch.

For the waffles:

• 1 ¾ cups milk
• 8 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• 2 cups all-purpose flour  (we used white spelt flour and a bit of oat flour)
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp table salt
• 1 ½ tsp instant yeast
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

 

Topping suggestions:*

• Pure maple syrup
• Peanut butter sauce and bananas
• Whipped cream
• Blueberry jam
• Fresh fruit
  

Instructions

1. Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast together in a large bowl. Warm the milk and butter in a heatproof liquid measuring cup in the microwave just until the butter melts. Allow the milk-butter mixture to cool until it's warm to the touch. Gradually whisk the milk-butter mixture into the dry ingredients until the batter is smooth. Beat the eggs and vanilla together in a bowl and then whisk this mixture into the batter until incorporated. With a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure there is no loose flour. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12-24 hours.
2. When you're ready to make the waffles, heat your waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions and then remove the batter from the fridge. Whisk it briefly to recombine the batter (it will deflate) and prepare according to your waffle maker's instructions. Keep the waffles warm directly on the racks of a 250° F oven while you make the rest.
3. Freeze any leftover waffles on a wire rack then transfer frozen waffles to a large zip-top bag. When you're ready to reheat, preheat the oven to 250° F and warm the waffles through directly on the rack.  (Adrienne just toasts them)

the BEST pizza ever!

We found this recipe for pizza crust    (and the original recipe for the artisan bread) at Gwen's Nest blog.  Gwen goes into the benefits of long, cold fermentation and carbs and gluten.

 Our dough is much slacker, especially the longer it sits in the fridge, and wetter and we like a thinner crust that you see pictured at Gwen's Nest.   The photos of ours below are from before we worked into making it thinner and wetter.  Sorry!   Maybe one reason ours is thinner is we let the dough sit a lot longer in fridge before using, but we like it like that!   Even though it's thin, it's more soft and chewy than crispy.  Yum!!!

Our basic dough will make 2 - 15" thin crust pizzas:
 

Flour mix of:  approx.  ½ cup barley, 1 ½ cups oat, 4 cups +/- white spelt

1 T. salt

1 ½ tablespoons yeast

2 ½ cups warm water

Mix it up (it will be a wet dough - no kneading required!!!) and let it sit covered until it rises and starts to fall again.  Then put into a container and keep well covered in the fridge for at least a few days up to about 7 to 10 days or so.  It can get a dark gray liquid sitting on top of the dough like a sourdough starter does.  I just pour it off if necessary.    

Cooking instructions:  (details at links at the beginning of post)
450 degree oven - heat with baking stone.  Spread the dough on parchment paper and use a pizza peel to slide onto stone.  Bake for approx. 10 minutes.  Top the pizza and return to oven for about 10 more minutes.  Broil briefly if necessary.  

....one time we let it go so long (maybe 2 weeks?)  and it smelled very much like sourdough, even while baking, but the finished product didn't taste sour at all!  Not that we'd have minded, but our guests might have!  

We've topped it with ALL KINDS of things:  BBQ sauce, brisket (or chicken) and cheddar, sun-dried tomato pesto with mozzarella, cremini mushrooms cooked ahead in butter, olives, sauteed onion and red peppers, pepperoni or homemade Italian sausage....we've used homemade Arugula pesto, Basic pesto and regular tomato paste sauce recipe from Elana's Almond Flour cookbook.   It's our favorite dinner to have when company is coming because it's easy to have things ready ahead of time and the right guests like to help out and make the pizza!   Add a salad and dessert and there you have it!   It's so easy to heat up leftover in the toaster oven briefly and it's almost as good as fresh!   

We try to always have a batch in the fridge ready to go.  It also helps to save the space for the permanent container!  =)   One day soon we will try making some bread sticks like we've seen Julia Child make. 

 The dough is very soft/lax, and as long as your hands are wet, they won't stick too badly.

We like to top the crust with fresh Parmesan cheese, some times we only sprinkle the edges, instead of the whole thing.

 Yum...

Scandinavian Almond Bars

I can't believe we can't get this photo to post right side up!  Well, the cookies were really good!  I've eyed the photo in several BH&G cookbooks for years and never have made them.....I decided this would be perfect for the cooky exchange!  And we thought they were!  =)

 

Pack Rat ~ Girl Scouts

You know you need to do something about the pantry when you go shopping and can't figure out where everything is going....so....we took a few days to gut and reorganize the pantry. It looks nice, I'd post an after photo, but we didn't think to take any before photos! Pack Rat, Girl Scouts have a pretty nice stash in our pantry! Then we proceeded to can Great Northern Beans....3 canner loads. 7 quarts and 16 pints of plain beans and 16 pints of chili beans (we've never canned chili beans before). So, in order to put those away in the shop we had to do a little reorganizing there, too! So, here we are today....getting ready for weekend house guests...baking and cooking up a storm!

A quest for the perfect oatmeal cookie to please hubby.....

This one comes close....

 

I used ghee in place of the shortening and butter, too, of course...I'll try again after the dough chills longer...maybe they will not spread out so thinly....but the flavor is wonderful!   We used our fresh eggs, homemade dark brown sugar using organic black strap molasses, organic white spelt flour, raw cream for the milk, organic quick rolled oats, half pecans and half walnuts. 

I doubled the recipe, of course!  

Mushrooms for the Freezer

 We like to buy the big package of fresh baby bella mushrooms at Costco, lightly saute them in butter (don't crowd the pan!), and pack them into the freezer for later use....it's very handy and inexpensive that way. 

Note: place a wad of plastic-wrap between the mushrooms & the lid, to protect them from frost.  It's easy to dig out just the right amount...no need to defrost first.