Dad's Cheese Scones

One of my all time favourite breakfast foods is scones...soft and fluffy on the inside with a little crunch on the outside, hot from the oven with some melted butter and sweet jam slathered on. It's always a nice way to wake up, especially if someone else has made them of course.

My dad loves to cook up a full breakfast on the weekends and scones is one of his specialties. Whenever I go to my parents for a visit he always whips up a batch of muffins or scones for us and it's always fantastic. You can tell by the recipe below that it's a goody due to the discoloured and stained paper. 

So even though I'm a terrible baker I finally decided to borrow his recipe and give it a go. I shredded in some sharp white cheddar cheese to make them savoury but you could easily use the recommended currants that the recipe suggests. This recipe is pretty foolproof since they worked out well even for me. Enjoy!

Cheese Scones

from the archives of Richard Wey

1/3 cup butter or margarine

13/4 cup flour

3 Tbsp sugar

21/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shredded cheddar (or currants)

4 to 6 Tbsp cream (I used homo milk)

1 egg

Using 2 knives and a medium size bowl, cut the butter into the bowl until crumbly. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. 

Stir in beaten eggs and currants (or cheese). Add cream gradually and mix in. 

Using a floured surface, knead about 12 times. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut in shapes and put on a lightly buttered cookie sheet. Brush each with a beaten egg. 

Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

Zucchini Muffins

Well, what did I just learn? It isn't easy making little brown muffins look appetizing. What can I say guys?  I do promise they taste much better than they look.

So about these muffins....the other day while at the park with my friend Kylee and her little guy she whipped out a container of these yummy muffins she had made for her just 1 year old son. I suddenly realized what a rut I've been in with feeding my little guy. I'm always just giving him the same old crackers and bananas for snacks probably partly out of laziness but also out of defeat since he spits out anything unusual or different. He is my son after all. Anyway, I had never really given my almost 11 month old son muffins before but he gobbled it up like it was chocolate cake. So I sneaked a taste and they were so tasty I asked if she wouldn't mind sharing her recipe.

So here are Kylee's Zucchini muffins...Thanks Ky!!!  She cleverly substituted the all-purpose flour for whole wheat flour and so I did the same and also threw in some oat flour which worked well. I also substituted pear puree for apple sauce since I didn't have any. Weird, you must be thinking that I would have pear puree lying around but not apple sauce but that's what happens when you have a small child I guess. Anyway, these muffins are a tasty snack for the whole family.

PS. These muffins taste awesome with nutella spread on them!! although I don't recommend giving nutella to a 1 year old child.

Zucchini Muffins
adapted from Parenting

Into a large bowl mix

2 cups all purpose flour ( I used 1 cup oat flour and 1 cup whole wheat)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 tsp allspice

Stir In

2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup grated apple

In another bowl, beat

3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup apple sauce (I used pear puree)

Mix dry with wet until combined. Pour batter into a muffin tray and cook for about 20 min at 350 until done.

Blueberry Muffins

Just in case you were wondering... no, it is not actually blueberry season yet here in BC. That wonderful time of year wont arrive for a few more weeks according to the BC Association of Farmer's Markets. Unfortunately I am too impatient to wait this long and so in order to satisfy my craving, yes I did in fact pay a little more than I would have liked for a basket of fresh blueberries that travelled all the way from California, GASP! What kind of person am I! Oh well, I'll make up for my awful carbon footprint in late July/August when blueberry season will be in full force here in BC. I would have bought frozen blueberries which isn't any better but the recipe clearly called for fresh blueberries and since I have a bad habit of improvising while baking with varying results, I thought I'd better bake the recipe exactly as written. And that is what I did.

This recipe is another gem from Gwyneth Paltrow's new cookbook named My Father's Daughter. I have not actually purchased the book (yet) but I seem to keep stumbling upon recipes from the book online.  I was blown away by her fantastic Peanut Butter Cookies and so I had nothing but high expectations for these muffins, and congrats again Gwyn. They are amazing; the perfect amount of sweetness and density that a proper muffin should have.

Gwyneth also offers a healthier version of this recipe where she substitutes white flour for spelt flour and whole milk for soy milk and maple syrup and agave nectar in place of white sugar. Next time I may try to make a healthier version but for now, these will do just fine.

Blueberry Muffins

from My Father's Daughter by Gwyneth Paltrow via SELF

1/2 cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled)

2 eggs

1/2 cup whole milk

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1/2 teaspoon sugar, divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

21/2 cups fresh blueberries

Heat the oven to 370 degrees F and line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners, (probably not totally necessary but I did it anyway). Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients into another bowl and then combine wet and dry; fold in blueberries. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups; sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp of sugar. Bake until muffins are golden and a knife comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Serve warm.

Breakfast for Dinner: the perfect omelette

One of my favourite meals to make since I've been home on mat leave is an omelette. It's the perfect meal for any time of the day with just enough protein to fill my belly and sustain me for hours and hours without an energy slump.

My love of omelettes comes from my dad who used to whip up custom made omelettes for my sisters and I when we were young. Although now that I think of it, I seem to recall mostly having them for dinner. In fact, many of my favourite meals growing up were breakfast for dinner meals. This list included but was not limited to: waffles with bacon mixed into the batter with maple syrup (better then you think!), crepes, scrambled eggs, french toast, hash browns and sausages with warm buttered toast and of course omelettes. I never thought this was unusual but whenever I suggest we make pancakes for supper Kelly makes a face and then says "why don't we just have spaghetti for breakfast?" NOT THE SAME THING!

To me it makes perfect sense to have breakfast for dinner, most people don't have time in the morning to make a big hearty breakfast so why not make it in the evening when everyone can gather around a table and take the time to enjoy the hearty meal and each others company.

I never follow a recipe when I make an omelette but I usually use 2 eggs and a splash of milk but other than that I just throw in whatever I have in the fridge. You basically cannot go wrong with any combo of veggies, deli meat, fresh herbs and cheese.

Omelette Recipe 

(serves 1 very hungry person) *

2 eggs

splash of milk, probably about 1/4 cup (I use 2%)

handful of chopped mushrooms

handful of roasted squash (leftovers from the night before)

handful graded cheddar cheese (put half into eggy mixture, save other half for the broiler stage)

sprinkling of chopped parsley

handful chopped cherry tomatoes

one chopped green onion

small amount of finely chopped white onion

3 slices gypsy salami, chopped into cubes

ground pepper to taste

1. Turn your oven broiler on HIGH.

2. Crack the 2 eggs into a bowl and beat for a few seconds with a fork, add a splash of milk. Next add all your veggies, cheese, meat and herbs and mix through.

3. Heat a pan on the stove, I use a cast iron pan with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Once heated well, pour the eggy mixture into the pan and cook until the bottom appears cooked, about 3 minutes. You can usually visually see this from the top.

4. Now sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and slide the pan into the oven on Broil HIGH for about 2 minutes until the top starts to bubble. This is the most tricky part since it is very easy to quickly burn the whole thing. Leave the oven light on and check your omelette every 30 seconds, it should be cooked after about 2-3 minutes at the most.

5. Once cooked, pull it out of the oven to cool off for a few minutes and then serve.

*This is a sample recipe of what I used for the above picture but please use any combo of veggies, deli meat, cheese and fresh herbs that you have in the fridge.