Tuesday, November 23, 2010

KITCHEN - Blue^2 Corn Pancakes

Be forewarned - these were made using a mix! This has, however, spurred my interest in trying to recreate these from scratch (more on that later...).

For my birthday, a lovely friend gave me a package of blue corn pancake mix from Hell's Backbone Grill. This is a wonderful gem of a restaurant in Boulder, Utah. We made them while in Moab for the long weekend while Dad and Connie were visiting. I added some milk, eggs, and oil. I haven't got a complete recipe so you'll have to visit Boulder and check them out for yourself. Can you see the great blue color from the meal?
We added blueberries - YUM!
First cakes, hot off the griddle.
As Thanksgiving week begins, I cannot help but think about how grateful I am to have such amazing, thoughtful friends and family in my life. Even though we may be cities, states, or countries apart, I think about you all the time and am thankful for our friendship. I would not be myself without you. 

Sunday, November 21, 2010

KITCHEN - cranberry scones

I made these North Fork Table & Inn Scones (from Smitten Kitchen) on the night my Dad and Connie arrived. Since they were planning to head down to Moab bright and early, I thought the scones would be a nice quick breakfast. 
These are very light and tasty scones that I highly recommend. I used fresh cranberries instead of the recommended raisins and caraway seeds. Deb at Smitten Kitchen used raspberries.

Recipe - makes 12-16, however I made 2/3 of a recipe because I was running low on butter and came up with 8 good sized scones.

2 & 3/4 c flour
1/4 c sugar
1 T aluminum free baking soda (I used what I had in the cupboard but this did spark a conversation about what the Al would do to fresh fruit - we didn't see any ill effects)
1 t baking soda (I actually forgot to add this but they still turned out light and fluffy)
6 oz butter, in 1/2-inch cubes
1 c golden raisins plus 1 T caraway seeds - or - 1 c fresh fruit - chopped
3/4 to 1 c buttermilk (use less if using fresh fruit)
turbinado, sanding sugar, or regular sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 375F.
Freeze the cubed butter for ~15 minutes. Place all ingredients except buttermilk, fruit, and sanding sugar in the food processor. Add the chilled butter and mix until the butter and flour mixture is the consistency of coarse cornmeal. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add buttermilk and chopped fruit (could use mixer but I just mixed by hand). Mix until the dough just comes together - it'll be crumbly.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently a couple of times. Roll our dough to approximately a 1-inch thickness (I just patted it out by hand). If making the full recipe - cute into squares and then again on the diagonal. As you can see, I made a circle and cut it into triangles.
Sprinkle with sanding sugar.
Bake on silicon mat or parchment paper for 25-30 minutes, until lightly browned. They kept well for a few days in an air-tight container.
Here are my helpers!

ADVENTURE - Mill Creek Canyon - first snowy hike of the season

The road up the canyon is closed for the winter so folks can cross country ski. We went up last weekend to check out the conditions. We decided to hike since the snow was pretty crusty and thin. After the storms we had this weekend - the road should be great for skinning or skiing on.
Penny had a wonderful time romping around in the snow. We walked up the road to Elbow Fork and took the Pipeline Trail back down towards the car.
This is a typical scene - Penny running back towards us. We had to leave Wiley at home because of his injury. 

Thursday, November 18, 2010

CRAFTY - firing up our new MIG welder

We bought a MIG welder months ago with the intent of building a gate across our driveway. It has finally cooled down enough to get excited about welding. We purchased all the necessary safety gear and fired her up this weekend!
Here is Rob in action welding for the first time. He is one step closer to being a real man. Apparently welding was on his list.
We mainly just worked on laying a bead and sorting out the best voltage and wire speed. I see many exciting metal projects in our future.