Greek Yogurt Lemon - Raspberry Scones with Lemon Glaze

I wanted to bake something to serve with coffee, as I tend to have some visitors on the weekends, so when flipping through the recipe book, these caught my attention and I figured they were less time consuming than making cinnamon buns...and you know, its good to try to broaden your horizons!

This is a "healthier" version of scones as it is made with greek yogurt instead of whipping cream, and also blends whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour...and well there is also the raspberries...so its got some decent nutritional value right?!?!

I forgot to take pictures until I was halfway through and believe it or not, I have never made scones before, so I wasn't sure if I had the right consistency or not, so I just went with my instincts and they seemed to turn out great! This is when I realized I had forgotten to take pictures...after I had mixed all the dough together and placed the dough on the baking pan.

I didn't use frozen butter as the recipe suggests - just cold butter from the fridge...and I used white sugar instead of brown as I find brown sugar can sometimes make things too soft (typically I would do half and half just to be safe).  I also actually used real lemon juice and zest since I went to grab groceries and they are pretty cheap right now, so why not?! Leah would tell me I was being "fancy" LOL

I interpreted "turn dough out on lightly floured surface" to mean kneading it a bit...that resulted in the raspberries starting to warm up and the dough getting a bit more wet than I would have expected and the raspberries turned everything pink, so I wouldn't recommend doing that. I suppose I should have watched the video to understand what was intended...see attached video link.  I also brushed melted butter on top as I find it helps things brown.

Lemon Raspberry Scones

I made the glaze while the scones were baking - it was super easy, but firmed up too much while I waited, so I had to warm it up in the microwave a bit to get it back to "drizzle" consistency.

 This is what the scones looked like coming out of the oven - I checked them at 15 minutes (as I always check a few minutes before the recipe calls for) and put them back in for 3 minutes to the recipe's suggested 18 minutes...but because they were still a bit wet in the centre, I cooked them for 2 more minutes and they turned out perfect.

 I had to cut them apart again once they cooled a bit, and then drizzled with the glaze, but I think they were too warm still so my drizzle is more of a total glaze...still tastes delicious, but doesn't look as pretty!

This is a side view of the texture of the scones...a nice soft crumb but fully cooked through.

 And a better picture showing my glaze coverage

These were delicious!  The lemon really zings and brings out the raspberry flavour, and they are moist and dense just like a scone should be - but not dry (bleh - nobody should have to use butter on a scone to provide moisture!). 

OMG Mindy and Leah were a Tad Ambitious!

Me looking FINE...actually forgot my hair was all combed forward bahahahaha

So before the whole idea to actually blog came about for the new cookbook, I (Leah) picked out some recipes I thought I would make, possibly to just portion out into lunches I could freeze for future use...I picked three:

• Chicken Potpie Chowder
• Chicken & Wild Mushroom Skillet
• Beef Bowlrito

They are fairly basic recipes. but it took us the entire afternoon to make them. We made the Chicken Potpie Chowder first, ate some for lunch then froze the rest in individual containers. Next was the Beef Bowlrito. I realized that this would be trickery to pre-make for lunches as I would need to prepackage a bunch of toppings, so likely better as a dinner one night, then lunch the next day sort of meal....or buy some fancy multi container containers. The last one we created was the Chicken & Wild Mushroom Skillet for dinner which we completed a little after 6:00 pm.

What we learned is not to listen to Leah as she is way too ambitious on what we should do on an afternoon. We did double every recipe so that we could each have a portion for our houses. I will try to cover these in the order we created with any of our modifications.

Final Chicken Potpie Chowder

1. Chicken Potpie Chowder: 
(I don't want to post the recipe in case I am breaking copyright, but I will link the website to the recipe)
Most of my modifications from recipe is that I really am picky about big chunky onions, and celery. So I used my chopper and pretty much pureed some, and diced some....but super small. I totally recommend a small chopper if you are finicky like me. It is a huge time saver!

We cooked the chicken on the stove, frying it, seasoning it with thyme, sage and salt. The recipe just says cooked chicken breast. I was a terrible describer to Mindy who picked up some ingredients I had missed, like creamed corn. She bought the larger cans (598mL) and the recipe called for (398mL) so we had more creamed corn then was needed, and I think it sweetened it a lot. 

I messed up thinking the recipe wanted peas and corn, but it was peas and carrots. I shopped at Superstore and they don't have that blend, so I bought a blend with carrots (very few and full baby carrots), green beans, peas, lima beans and corn. This changed the colour of the chowder, so it does not have much pop. This did not make it taste bad, so I do recommend try your own favourites. 

The recipe also asked for half-and-half cream, but I used half heavy cream and half 2% milk...not worried about calories here! 

We totally forgot the parsley, so its still sitting in my fridge. Overall the recipe is tasty, and easy to make. I would probably thicken it up more the next time. We ate this for lunch and everyone liked it, and I froze the leftovers for lunches. 

Beef Bowlrito

2. Beef Bowlrito

I honestly was wanting to not make this as I realized this would be a tricky one to prepackage and freeze for lunches (my main objective).

Cilantro-Lime Rice: We used basmati rice instead of the brown rice the recipe asked for...I am not a lover of brown rice. Mindy also suggest you could just sub lettuce instead of rice too for a salad. I also did not use fresh limes, but bottled lime, skipping the lime zest...I am not "zesty", but you can always try. I enjoyed the rice, I like cilantro, which is in this, as it gives a nice fresh flavour. 

Spiced Beef: Again I pureed the onions, adding the fresh garlic with it to save time. I also am not super "measurey" so I kind of "eyed" what I thought was a cup...I had frozen ground beef that was not fully thawed so it took longer to cook and had more liquid. 

We topped it all with corn, black beans, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and shredded cheese. Mindy tried to get fancy so used a sprig of cilantro and diced tomatoes for a nicer presentation. This would also be great wrapped in a tortilla. 

This was really easy to make, and was fresh and tasty. I totally think it will taste fine cold, so I am taking my leftovers for lunch. I kind of stir mine up before eating. 

Sorry just about forgot to take a picture!

Chicken & Wild Mushroom Skillet

I was so not feeling like cooking anymore at this point and got a bit sloppy. For some reason we had a lot of sauce, like a lot! Wendy made this same recipe and said she did not have as much sauce as she would have liked, so I must have did something to it, and I think maybe I added more chicken broth than was needed. 

I forgot to pound the chicken breasts to even thickness, and I remembered this as I went to bed. I pureed the onions, and used white onions (or whatever you call those cheap ones in the mesh bags). I do not recommend this as it made the dish really oniony, like it took over the flavour. Wendy used red onions and chopped hers, and she said hers was not so oniony. 

I am not a foody. So I just used dijon mustard w/white wine instead of the grainy dijon mustard. Apparently Mindy says it will give a different flavour and texture....she's fancy and knows these things.

I used cremini mushrooms instead of the "wild mixed mushrooms", and anyone who knows me, knows I don't like mushrooms...so I did not really care. I don't mind flavouring of mushrooms, but I don't eat them. 

We made mashed potatoes and green beans to go with the chicken, which was great. I would definitely make again but I would beat the chicken and watch I wasn't adding too much liquids, and NOT puree the onions (and add less). 

Overall, most dishes were good. I would modify some more, mainly thickening the chowder and the sauce with the chicken & wild mushroom skillet. We doubled all the recipes so the chicken & wild mushroom skillet sauce was runnier then I like, I like a gravy. 

When Landon came over he said my house was hurting his eyes because of all the onions, LOL. My daughter also said the same thing, so I told them they would make terrible Slavics! I also got the following text from Mindy after they left: 

Mindy texted me the following:

I don’t know - I will go on and look later! Landon and I both smell like big stinky meatballs from being at your house 😂 so we are going to take showers and put PJs on before we settle in for the evening

Chicken and wild mushroom skillet

I’m not nearly as daring as Leah and Mindy I only made 1 recipe from the Yum and Yummer book.


 I went to Save on foods to grab my ingredients but unfortunately they didn’t have whipping cream so I had to use half-and-half which worked just fine. I also didn’t have chicken broth but used beef instead and it tasted just fine.

I chopped a purple onion as she did not say what kind to use and 8 ounces of cremini mushrooms.  Then I cook my chicken I made a mistake and didn’t read ahead on the recipe so I fully cooked my chicken before letting it cook in the broth.

I fried up my am mushrooms and onions before adding the one the broth and the cream. I didn’t have cornstarch so I used flour  which made my gravy a little bumpy I should head whisked it better. I considered using Parmesan instead of asiago cheese but felt that the asiago would melt better then the Parmesan. 

Wendy cooking away

Tasty dinner for two

 Mike and I really enjoyed this meal. However, next time  I would definitely make wild rice to go with it. We had a good onion flavour and very mushroomy sauce unfortunately we felt that it could have done with a great deal more sauce.  This recipe was super easy to make and will definitely be one I make again.

We're baaaack!

Well Mindy decided we needed to become chefs now because she went to Christmas in November in Jasper and is fancy like that....so Wendy and I are back for the ride. Mindy was flipping through her cookbook last night when she suggested we restart the blog with a new cookbook trial. We all have loved the simplicity of the Looneyspoons cookbook by Janet and Greta Podleski. So while Mindy was in Christmas in November, she went to a session with Greta Podleski, who has released a new cookbook, Yum and Yummer, which you can get at Costco (like right now!) or on Amazon. The cookbook was sold out in Jasper, so I ran over to Costco and grabbed one....and one for Mindy and one for Wendy-I am just that wonderful and kind!

This will be an exciting adventure considering we all have varying levels of cooking experience and tools, and styles really - so we will all bring a little something different to this blog.  We will let you know our thoughts on the recipes, any variations due to our preferences or lack of finding or knowing any better, our lessons learned, and how tricky or easy they are to make!

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes...kids found them delicious

Well I made earlier in the week the Chocolate Chip Cupcakes but I never did get around to frosting them. I decided that I probably would never get them frosted so I brought them for my students anyways. My own children and Fred loved the cupcakes. They found them "chewy and soft"....moist, Aaryanna says "the chocolate chips melt in your mouth". Everyone seemed to like them. 

They were fairly easy to make, I had both my kids helping...they measured the chocolate chips, so not totally sure they got that exactly bang on, LOL. I found that they did not rise as they normally do and were sitting below the cupcake liners, which was another reason I was hesitant to ice them. I am not sure why they did not rise, so maybe I'll make them again and see if it was something I did. 

I found the seemed like little hockey pucks coming out of the cupcake liners, but the were moist, seemed to have a rubbery or spongy texture. They were tasty, but basically pretty bland other than the chocolate chips...well thats pretty normal. It may be interesting to add some berries to the mix, possibly even some butterscotch or peanut chips. These are probably an excellent basic for kids and are fine to make without icing. I will make some more cupcakes in the next day or two and post that, I am still debating what to make...maybe I'll make a few, live vicariously?

Im Back with Chocolate Malted Cupcakes!

Well Hello there,

I have felt so much guilt in not getting these blog posts done. I want to apologize...if anyone even still read them.LOL At the end of last year things got very bad in our world and our father passed away at the end of June....then the summer I just felt like doing NOTHING, I was completely unmotivated. School started for me, and I just did not find the time, but my students keep harassing me for cupcakes, and I figured I better get out of my funk and get back in the cupcake saddle.

Last week I decided to make the Chocolate Malted Cupcakes(could not find it on Martha's site, but you can google and find on other blogs if your interested). The malted milk powder I had purchased awhile ago, and is pricey. I bought some for $11.99 for 400g, in case your wondering what I mean by pricey. I have looked for the recipe online and stumbled across many other people who made these, one indicating "Carnations" as malted powder, so maybe I just did not look hard enough for a more economical solution for Malt powder.

 These cupcakes were super easy to make. I have since last cupcake baking we were doing bought an electric mixer. I found a spectacular deal at Superstore by accident and jumped on it. My sister had started sending me catalogue sales on mixers, to which I went and they would all be gone, so one day while shopping at Superstore I thought "hey I should see if they have mixers" and low and behold they did. I got my Kitchen Aid Artisan mixer for $179.99 and the had the Kitchen Aid Classic Mixer for $149.99. They have since gone off sale, but I think it was a sign that I should have one!

My Daughter Aaryanna has also been trying to encourage me to bake some cupcakes...she constantly asks, so again, I should make use of having a lovely little cupcake helper! This is Aaryanna cleaning up a minor spill I made.LOL

Now I was excited to see what these puppies tasted like, what was the magic malt powder going to do? It said something about adding reminiscence to soda-fountain shops, or something like that, so I was pretty excited that I was about to embark on cupcake territory I had not ever tasted before....yes I am one of those people that get super excited about what new adventures might bring me...

Well my automatic reaction is...there nice, but taste like a regular cupcake. They are extremely moist and stay that way for days. The icing was just the regular fluffy vanilla frosting. Sorry I forgot to get a finished picture, but I promise the future will have some. So to expect with these cupcakes is that they taste like a regular chocolate cupcake, nothing spectacular that I could taste.

Applesauce-Spice Cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting

OMG these cupcakes are delicious! Like an apple muffin with pecans and cream cheese frosting...so moist and full of flavour! I wasn't able to find the same recipe on her website - she had some that were close, but not the same...

So the recipe is nice and easy, took about 15 minutes other than the chopping of pecans - which could have been avoided with purchasing them that way...but I had whole ones of course!

These baked up nicely - recipe said it makes 18, however I got 24...so maybe I didn't fill them enough, but that's okay, as I would have had too much left over icing if I only had 18.

The icing is also very simple, butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar...couldn't have asked for a more simple and tasty recipe. I would make these as muffins for breakfast and leave them un-iced if I was to make them again, and perhaps add in some apple chunks or other things.

My husband Landon wasn't a fan...said they sounded gross...he hates applesauce...and had a bite and gave me the rest...I think he is secretly pretending not to like them...but I don't care as I LOVE them.