Cranberry Pear Scones! And they're light!!

It's been a while since I've experienced a culinary success worthy of inclusion here, but over Christmas I made a tremendous discovery with this light (LIGHT!) scone recipe.  If you knarf down a scone at a coffee shop, they're definitely tasty, but they pack a calorie wallop at about 500 a piece.  Good news, fellow sugar addicts: this produces a soft, flaky, deeply flavored scone at....ready?...about 230 calories!  It sounds complex, but it really isn't.  Just follow the instructions. You can find dried pears at specialty grocers (like Trader Joe's) and cardamom (a spice, in case you're not familiar with it) at most large mega marts. Enjoy!

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 C. whole wheat flour
1/4 C. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cardamom
3 T. chilled butter, diced into small pieces
1 large egg
10 T. buttermilk
1 t. lemon zest
1 t. vanilla extract
1/2 C. chopped, dried pears
1/2 C. dried cranberries
2 t. flour, for dusting
1 egg white lightly beaten

Begin by combining the dry ingredients (flour through cardamom) in a large mixing bowl, whisking gently to combine.  Add in the diced butter pieces and blend with a pastry blender (or, if you don't have one, a fork and a knife) until the butter is coated with the flour mixture and most pieces are about the size of small peas.  The butter won't melt or incorporate fully.  That's good.  Pieces of butter in pastry dough create the flaky texture that we want.

In a separate medium-sized bowl, lightly beat the whole egg with a fork.  Add in the buttermilk, lemon, and vanilla and stir to combine.  Add in the pear and cranberries and stir again.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients.  Mix with a fork until the dough comes together and forms a loose ball.  You will have some flour that doesn't want to mix--lightly knead the dough mixture together in the bowl with your hands until all of the flour is incorporated.  Try to do this as quickly as possible.  The more the dough is handled, the tougher the scones become.

Place a piece of waxed paper on your counter and lightly dust with flour.  Turn the dough onto the waxed paper, dusting lightly with flour, and form it into an 8 inch circle with your hands.  Spray a cookie sheet (or a pizza pan--that's what I use) with nonstick spray.  Invert the pan on the dough, then, grabbing the edges of the waxed paper, flip the whole thing over so your dough is on the greased pan.  Discard the waxed paper.  With a large knife, cut through the dough to form 8 equal wedges.  Do not separate the wedges.  You want this to look like a pizza--sliced, but still together.  Using a pastry brush, spread the egg white lightly over the scones.  Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until golden brown.  Enjoy!

Luscious Legumes: Italian Lentil Soup

Unless you're Italian or Indian, you might not be familiar with lentils.  Lentils are a legume, like beans, that are high in protein and in insoluble fiber (the stuff that keeps your tummy happy).  It's hard to mess up a recipe that starts with the French mirepoix: carrots, celery, and onions, and this recipe demonstrates that clearly.  It's very tasty, very healthy, vegetarian, and easy to make.  Try it!

Italian Lentil Soup

1 1/2 T. olive oil
3/4 C. carrots, chopped
3/4 C. celery, chopped
1 1/2 C. onion diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 lb. lentils (usually 1 bag)
10 C. chicken broth (I like Swanson Certified Organic)
2 T. dried thyme
2/3 dried elbow pasta
1 C. shredded Parmesan

In a heavy pot (I use a cast iron dutch oven), heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic.  Stir to coat, and season with salt and pepper.  Saute until the vegetables are tender, but still crisp (between 5 and 10 minutes).  Add the can of tomatoes and saute until the tomatoes start to soften and the juices evaporate by about a third.  Rinse the lentils in cold, running water and drain.  Add to the pot and stir.  Once the lentils are incorporated, add in the broth and the thyme.  Simmer on the stove over medium low heat for about half an hour, or until the lentils are tender, but still toothsome.  Add in the pasta and cook for another 8 minutes, until the pasta is al dente.  Remove from the heat and ladle into bowls.  Sprinkle with the Parmesan (and I like a little extra black pepper).  Enjoy!

Spicy Spinach

There are few foods as frequently maligned as spinach, but ounce for ounce, it's one of the most nutritious foods available.  So what can we do to make it more palatable?  Well, as any Mexican restaurant will tell you, spicy tastes good.  If you have trouble getting yourself or others to eat spinach, you and your mouth will be rewarded with this recipe.

1 t. olive oil
1/2 t. minced garlic
1/2 t. minced shallot (or white onion)
4 cups loosely packed spinach
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 to 1/2 t. crushed red pepper flakes (depends on how spicy you like it)
Fresh lemon slices

Begin by heating a skillet (10 or 12 inch) over medium high heat.  When it's hot, add the olive oil and allow it to heat until shimmery.  Plop in the garlic.  Stir constantly for about 30 seconds until it just starts to brown.  Add the shallot and stir for about 15 seconds, turn the heat down to medium, then dump in the spinach.  (I know--it looks like a ton.  Trust me, the spinach will cook down.)  Salt and pepper the spinach.  You'll need to stir the spinach constantly so that the leaves on the bottom don't get cooked faster than the leaves on the top.  When the spinach starts to wilt, add the red pepper.  Now, I like mine just slightly wilted, but some people prefer to cook the holy heck out of the spinach until it looks like a pile of wet, green limpness.  It's up to you.  When the spinach gets to your desired doneness, divvy it out into servings (this would make 2 servings for me because I like me some spinach), and serve with a lemon slice.  The acid really brightens up the flavor.  Enjoy!

Perfect Waffles

One of my Black Friday triumphs was a $40 Belgian waffle maker for $6.99, so I've been experimenting with different recipes with varying degrees of success since then.  The following recipe is my definition of waffley perfection.  This is certainly a "from time to time treat," but it is glorious.  Enjoy!

4.75 oz (approx. 1 rounded cup) all-purpose flour
4.75 oz. (approx. 1 rounded cup) whole wheat flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
3 T. sugar
1 t. cinnamon powder
3 eggs, separated
2 oz. (approx. 4 T.) unsalted butter, melted
8 oz. reduced fat buttermilk
8 oz. skim milk
1 t. vanilla extract

Combine dry ingredients (the first 7) in a large bowl and whisk.  In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and combine with the melted (AND COOLED--if the butter is hot, it will scramble the eggs) butter.  Add the milk and the vanilla to the eggs and butter.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry.  Mix the absolute minimum necessary to bring the ingredients together.  Stirring too much leads to tough waffles. 

Finally, with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.  Scoop about 1/3 of the egg white fluff into the waffle batter bowl.  Stir it in normally to lighten up the mixture.  With the remaining egg whites, carefully fold into the batter.  Small clumps of egg whites are fine and to be expected.  Just get it mostly incorporated.  Let the batter rest for 5 minutes.  Just leave it alone.  This allows the flour to absorb the moisture and the leaveners to do their job.

Drop the batter onto your waffle iron according to the manufacturer's instructions.  For my Belgian waffle maker, I use a scant 1 C. of the batter and it makes about 7 waffles.

You can get creative and add in fresh fruit (I used blueberries successfully) if you like.  I usually make a berry compote to put on top, but maple syrup by itself is always a hit. I hope you like it!

What's for dinner? Deliciousness!

Tonight I decided to be adventurous and cook without using a recipe and....IT WORKED!  Pretty excited about that.  I made seared chicken breasts with a mushroom, lemon, and white wine pan sauce with parsley mashed potatoes.  Here's the photo:

For the chicken:

One chicken breast per person

Flour, for dredging

Salt and pepper to taste

1 T. olive oil

Pan sauce:

1 clove garlic, minced

1 t. shallot, minced

8 oz. fresh chopped mushrooms

1/4 cup white cooking wine

2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 t. flour

Parsley, for garnish

Lightly dredge the chicken breasts in flour.  Salt and pepper to taste.  In a 10 inch skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat until shimmery.  Add chicken breasts to pan and cook until browned, about 2 minutes per side.  Remove chicken from the pan and put on a plate, covered with aluminum foil.  Set aside.

Turn the heat on the pan down to medium.  Add the garlic and shallot to the pan and stir until the garlic browns.  DON'T WALK AWAY.  The garlic will start to burn in less than 30 seconds.  As soon as the garlic gets a bit of color, add the mushrooms and saute.  When the mushrooms have given up most of their liquid and are soft, add in the cooking wine and lemon juice.  Stir for about 2 minutes, scraping browned bits off the bottom of the pan.  Sprinkle in the flour and stir to thicken the sauce.

Return the chicken to the pan and spoon sauce over the chicken.  Put a lid on the skillet and cook until breasts are done, about 3 minutes.  Plate the breasts with the mushroom sauce on top and garnish chopped parsley.