DELICIOUS SCONES

            

Ok you’re not going to believe how delicious these scones are!  Yes it’s because they are full of butter and cream.  So don’t make them if you aren’t prepared for that.  These would make a wonderful gift for a new neighbor or a hostess gift when you have dinner at someone’s house!  Let them eat scones!!

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 t. baking powder

½ t. baking soda

½ t. salt

1 and ½ sticks very cold or frozen butter

1 and ¼ cups heavy cream

1 t. vanilla

Instructions:

*Run dry ingredients through a sieve or sifter to remove any lumps and to lighten the flour.  Gently place dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.

*Cut the butter into very small (chocolate chip size) pieces and drop into the flour mixture.

*Combine the butter with the flour mixture using a pastry blender, a large fork or your fingers.

*Mix cream and vanilla in a measuring cup and then pour it into the flour-butter mixture.

*Stir together with a large spoon or your hands until a soft dough forms.

Do not overmix.

*Take out a third of the dough and place it on a floured surface.

*Without over working the dough, knead it 3 or four times, adding a bit of flour so that you can roll it out in the shape of a rough rectangle that is about an inch thick.

*Cut out rounds and place them on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet.

*You may brush the tops with cream and/or  sprinkle with sugar if desired.

*Repeat with remaining dough.

*Bake at 375  degrees until scones rise and turn a golden brown.

Serve with your favorite jam and tea.

MICROWAVED NEW POTATOES WITH ONIONS

Today’s recipe is extremely simple---but I think sometimes we forget that the “ordinary” dishes we serve our families are the very ones that they request over and over again.   Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

New (red) potatoes—or potatoes of your choice

Sweet  onions

Kosher Salt

Black pepper

Margarine (butter or olive oil if you prefer)

Instructions:

*Spray a square pyrex baking dish with PAM  (a larger dish may be used if you need to make more).

*Wash and scrub potatoes with a vegetable brush, removing any dirt

*Leave red skin on potatoes

*Using a paring knife, remove any blemishes

*Cut each potato into quarters (or large bite-sized pieces) and place in prepared baking dish

*Peel and cut onion into large bite-sized pieces and place in prepared baking dish.

*Fill baking dish with potatoes and onions and then sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper

*Place desired amount of margarine, butter or olive oil over vegetables

*Microwave at 10 minute intervals, stirring often until vegetables are tender.

*When vegetables are tender, serve as is or place in the oven at 425 degrees to crisp the outsides of the potatoes a bit.

CROCK POT SHORT RIBS

         

Although I didn’t grow up eating beef short ribs, I have always wanted to try my hand at making them.  To make them super-tender, I decided to cook them in my crock pot.  Then I just started throwing in everything I could find, in terms of spices and ingredients that I thought would work well with beef.  I hope you will try this easy and absolutely delicious meal.  Serve the short ribs over your favorite rice and  don’t forget to spoon the yummy gravy over it.  As always, feel free to add or take away an ingredient to suit your taste.

Ingredients:

8 short ribs

Kosher salt

Black pepper

4-5 cups of beef broth (this depends on the size of your crock pot---be careful to not overfill).

1 to 2 cups of diced tomatoes (I used canned)

1 can of undiluted golden mushroom soup

3 to 4 bay leaves

3 large sprigs of rosemary

4 T.  brown sugar

3 T. balsamic vinegar

1 T. freshly grated ginger (or 2 t. ground dried ginger)

1 t. dried sage

Instructions:

*Preheat oven to 400 degrees

*Cover a baking sheet (with sides) with foil and spray the foil lightly with PAM

*Salt and Pepper each short rib and place them on the baking sheet.

*Bake the short ribs at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

*Place the beef broth and the rest of the ingredients into the crock pot –whisk together to combine.

*Place the browned short ribs into the crock pot.  They should be submerged.

*Cook for 4 hours until done and very tender.

BAKED PENNONI WITH BEEF AND FRESH TOMATOES

               

Yummy recipe today that your whole family will enjoy!  The secret is to use the freshest tomatoes you can find---I got mine from a local nursery.  Also be sure to include different colors and sizes of tomatoes because they bring a lot of flavors and nutrition to the table.  Get your kids involved as you assemble this dish---they will learn a lot!

Ingredients:

Sauce: Combine the following to make a beautiful fresh sauce.

6 cups chopped fresh tomatoes; I used  red vine- ripened, red local garden, yellow and red cherry, yellow grape and miniature heirloom varieties all mixed together.

1 large sweet onion, coarsely chopped

2 large red bell peppers, coarsely chopped

2 T. olive oil

2 t. salt

2 t. black pepper

3 t. sugar

½ cup (or more) fresh basil

*Place all ingredients in a large, deep pan and allow to boil.  Then reduce to simmer, stirring often.  Simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until mixture thickens and vegetables soften.

2 pounds lean ground beef, browned, rinsed and drained.

1 and ½ cups reduced fat ricotta cheese

1 small can tomato paste

 3 cups reduced fat Italian cheese blend

½ cup (or more) freshly grated parmesiana-reggiano cheese

4 cups (more or less) of Pennoni pasta

Instructions:

*In a large bowl combine cooked fresh tomato sauce mixture, browned ground beef, ricotta cheese and tomato paste.

*Spray a rectangular pyrex baking dish with PAM

*Spread half of beef and tomato mixture in bottom of baking dish.

*Layer half of pasta next.

*Sprinkle a layer of cheese on top of pasta.

*Repeat layers—ending with cheese.

*Bake at 350 degrees until top is golden and the entire pasta dish is bubbly and hot throughout.

NO-BAKE CHEESECAKE

                 

I’m usually not a huge fan of “no-bake” cheesecake, but I think you’ll agree that this one is really good.  It is adapted from a magazine recipe (Good and Fresh).  Try this cheesecake over the Labor Day weekend with fresh berries of your choice!

Ingredients:

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

4 T. melted butter

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

¾ cup skim milk

Three---8 ounce packages of reduced fat cream cheese, softened

8 ounces of fat free sour cream

1/3 cup sugar

3 t. vanilla

4 squares of dark baking chocolate, melted and cooled

Fresh berries

Instructions:

*Crust:  Stir together graham cracker crumbs and butter.

*Press evenly into the bottom of an 8-inch springform pan.  Cover and chill.

*Filling:  Pour milk into a saucepan.  Sprinkle gelatin over milk and let stand for 5 minutes.

*Heat and stir over low heat until gelatin is dissolved.  Remove and cool for 15 minutes.

*Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese.

*Add the sour cream, sugar, and vanilla and blend well.

*Add the gelatin mixture to the cream cheese batter.

*Divide the batter in half.

*Stir the melted chocolate into half of the mixture.

*Spread half of the chocolate mixture over the chilled crust.

*Spoon half of the white mixture in small mounds over the chocolate mixture.

*Swirl the chocolate and white mixtures, using a metal spatula or table knife.

*Repeat process with remaining chocolate  and white mixtures (chocolate—white---swirl).

*Cover and chill until set (about 6 hours).

*Garnish servings with fresh berries.