Fun fun fun!

It's been a tradition of my family's for years to get together after church on Sunday evenings and have pancakes. Not that it always has to be pancakes. Sometimes we had waffles, or of course, our family recipe, scouse (see the recipe here.) We always had sausage or bacon and eggs. Sometimes we would make yummy homemade fruit sauces, or throw chocolate chips into the pancakes. We even had a Mexican night a time or two. No matter what we eat, there's always lots of chatter and laughter and kids running around. Half of us are always in the kitchen making the food, the other half hanging out in the dining room, talking about mundane things. While my husband took up the mantle of Master Pancake Flipper, and my dad usually makes the eggs, my mom and I were usually making the bacon and concocting some kind of homemade syrups. I think it's the thing I have missed most about moving away from home.

When my dad was here visiting a few weeks ago, we invited our dear (and new, since our move!) friends over for a Sunday night dinner.


We had scouse and bacon and sausage and eggs.




It was their first introduction to scouse, and of course they loved it! Everybody does. ; )
It was lovely, and homey, and fun. It was a night full of stories and laughter, a mix of family, and new friends.


And it felt wonderful. A little taste of home. : )

Love.

One year, three months, and nine days later...and I still love to look at my wedding ring. : )

Sweet Peaches!

Sweet Cream Scones. Fresh Colorado Peaches. Creme Anglaise Sauce. Need I really say more??
Ok, fine. I will.


These scones are the tastiest scones I have ever tasted. I could eat them plain. I could eat them with jam. I could eat them with straight cream. Pretty much anyway you eat them, they will be good. They are sweet, creamy, vanilla-y, light and airy. Mmmmmm.


Fresh Colorado Peaches...I blogged about these last year, when I bought some at the local Kansas farmer's market. Now that we've moved to Colorado, I have even better access to them. And they are divine. They are firm yet juicy, sweet and flavorful, perfect in every way. Mmmmmm.


Creme Anglaise sauce. It's a rich egg and cream based custard sauce. It too is sweet, creamy, vanilla-y and delicious.


Pair them all together...oh my.


This may be the best dessert I've ever had. Hm, ok, so Creme Brulee still wins that category, but this is a close second. And, the best part is, it doubles as breakfast! Yeaaaa...

Sweet Cream Scones (adapted from this Peach Scone Recipe)

• 1 whole Large Eggs
  
• ½ cups Heavy Cream
  
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla
• 2 cups Flour
• ½ cups Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 6 Tablespoons Cold Salted Butter, Diced

Preheat the oven to 375° F. In a medium bowl, combine 1 egg, cream, and vanilla; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Add the cold butter to the flour mixture and mix on medium speed until well blended. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Dust the counter with a bit of flour. Dump the batter on the floured counter. Knead about 7 or 8 times into a ball. Add a bit of flour if it’s too sticky. Flatten into a 7-inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges. Place the wedges on the baking sheet 2-inches apart. Brush tops with cream, and sprinkle with sugar. Bake about 15 minutes or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean or with a few crumbs attached.

Makes 8 scones.

*Hint* I used the leftover cream/egg mixture from the bowl and added a bit more cream to brush the tops of the scones.

Creme Anglaise Sauce (from Emeril's recipe)

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup milk

1 tbs Vanilla

6 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

Heat the heavy cream, milk and vanilla bean in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof mixing bowl and beat until pale yellow in color and all of the sugar has dissolved. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the hot cream mixture into the egg mixture and whisk vigorously to combine. Add the egg mixture to the hot cream mixture in the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk or wooden spoon. Be sure to stir in the corners of the pot and lower the heat slightly. Stir the mixture until the custard has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and strain the custard through a fine mesh sieve into a clean bowl. Place the bowl in another bowl half-filled with ice and water and stir occasionally until chilled.

Sigh...

I'm afraid yet another computer cord bit the dust a few weeks ago. Therefore, I haven't been able to blog lately at all. But as soon as I get my new cord, expect a plethora of new posts! Just a teaser of some recipes I have to post...

Honey Rosemary Balsamic Chicken
Sweet Cream Scones with Creme Anglaise and Fresh Colorado Peaches
Scouse Night!

...and who knows what else! : )

Dr Pepper (of course!) Can Cajun Chicken

I love roast chicken. It's just so easy and breezy and beautiful...and tastes good. But really, it is great. It's practically effortless and quite cheap if you get it at the right time. Five bucks for a whole bird! Anyway. My favorite way to roast a chicken is with a bit of cajun flair and a can of Dr Pepper! : ) I actually featured this chicken before, minus the pop. I definitely like it this way the best...it makes the meat so moist and tender! And the butter and seasonings make the skin oh so crispy and flavorful.



MMmmm. You will, however, need a special can chicken holder thing. But you should be able to find it pretty easily.

Dr Pepper Cajun Can Chicken

• 1 Whole Chicken
• ¼ cups Butter
  
• 3 cloves Minced Garlic, Or To Taste
• 2 Tablespoons Cajun Seasoning, Or More To Taste
• Sea Salt
• 1 Can of Dr Pepper

Combine butter, minced garlic, and cajun seasoning to make a paste. Seasoning amounts are up to you. I think I used 2 to 3 tablespoons of cajun seasoning and 3 garlic cloves.

Separate the chicken skin from the meat by sliding your hand between the meat and the skin. Rub the butter paste generously under the skin, in the body cavity, and over the skin of the chicken. Salt with sea salt.

Open a can of Dr Pepper, drink about half of it, then scoop any leftover butter/seasoning paste into the can. Place the can in the can chicken gizmo, then put it in a roaster. Slide the chicken cavity over the pop can.

Roast in the oven at 350 – 375 degrees for 20 minutes per pound. Baste with drippings every twenty minutes or so.

I've also been on huge brussel sprouts kick. They are a vastly misunderstood vegetable. Tons of fiber, calcium, vitamins A and C! And I personally think they're quite tasty...when fried. : ) I actually first had and enjoyed them at my mother-in-law's. She stir fried them in olive oil. Yum. So, I tried it, and tried adding some more stuff, like bacon, onion, and garlic. In the end though, I think I still like them best just nice and simple - stir fried in an even mixture of butter and olive oil, fresh garlic, and sea salt. Yum-o! Just stir fry until they are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. I cut mine in half so that they would fry better, and have more surface for crispiness.


Enjoy!

Two Little Black Bears

We took a drive up the mountains, and on our way back down these two little guys came running right up the road at us. It was our first sighting here, and Jeremiah's first ever, so it was pretty cool. The first one had already run off the road by the time I got the video rolling, but I got the second one. : )

No Worries

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
²⁸ “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Matthew 6: 25-34