Our Saturday Morning Chocolate Chip Lemon Scone Recipe. . .

Two versions of our Saturday morning scones.

The one on the right is an old recipe. It was good,

but it was more floury and not as delicious as the newer one.

The scones on the left were proof that the recipe is fail-proof.

I left out some flour, and they flatted considerably, but taste didn't suffer!

As requested by Judi and Rebecca, the recipe for our family’s Saturday morning chocolate chip lemon scones. For many years, I baked scones on Saturday mornings and served them with coffee. It’s such a tradition that we all want to have them if we are together on a Saturday morning. These are all-out white flour, high-fat scones, and they are eaten with not a whit of guilt. I’ve made healthy versions of our Saturday scones, and they are good, but these are better.

I tried many recipes over the years and have enjoyed them all, but this is the final grand champion—the one that will remain our Saturday morning scone from here to the end of our days. It is a recipe I adapted from one of Martha’s currant scones recipes. It seems fail-proof. Too much flour? Not a problem. Too little flour? Not a problem, either. I even way overcooked them once. Not a problem there, either. They were still moist and buttery and flaky and delicious inside (and the outside was not charred—just overdone—so there was not an off-putting burned flavor).

 This is a mess of a recipe journal. This is where I write down

recipes I made up or adapted. It's where I put recipes I use so often

that it's handier to have in this journal than to continually go looking for

the book that contains the recipe. The scone recipe is in here, and it might

be the dirtiest page in the whole book!

SATURDAY MORNING CHOCOLATE CHIP LEMON SCONES

(I usually cut the following recipe in half if there will only be a small crowd. I make 8 scones with half a recipe, and guess who will eat the leftovers?! Me. Hence, the half-batch.)

4 ½ c. unbleached flour

2 T. sugar

2 T. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 sticks butter (very cold—leave in fridge til just ready to cut it in)

1 c. + chocolate chips

Zest of half a lemon (for dough)

2 c. heavy cream (more if needed, plus more for top of scones)

Zest of 1 lemon, mixed with 2-3 T. sugar (for top of scones)

Preheat oven to 375. Ideally there is a baking stone in your oven. Otherwise, bake on parchment paper on a heavy sheet. Gather and measure all ingredients before starting (to keep the dough cold and the butter from softening).

Mix dry ingredients together. Cut cold butter into this by hand (pastry blender, fingers) or with a food processor (don’t over-cut—you want it sandy with tiny chunks of butter left intact). Add zest and chocolate chips. Stir in cream until just blended. Knead a few times to pull dough together, but do not overwork. If dough is too dry, add cream, 1 T. at a time.

Divide dough in half and pat into two circles about an 1” (or so) thick. Cut into wedges. Brush cream over top of each scone and then sprinkle each with sugary lemon zest.

If the scone dough has gotten warm and the butter in the dough has softened, put the wedges in the fridge for a bit before baking (it might be a good idea to do this, just to be safe). To bake, quickly place scones directly onto your hot baking stone, leaving some space between them for scone-growth. If they won’t all fit, keep the unbaked scones in the fridge and bake them in batches. Bake til golden and flecked with brown spots, Martha says for 30-35 minutes, but this is way too long in my oven. I barely go over 20 minutes.

These will puff up grandly in the oven, but will settle when they come out—sort of like a soufflé, but these have no eggs in them, so it’s really sorta not like a soufflé. The height of the scones in the oven is pretty, but don’t be disappointed that they settle as they cool. They are delicious. (Let me know if you try them!)

A Jam-Packed Monday Morning Daybook. . .

This is the picture-thought I am sharing with you.

Saturday scones. I left out 1/2c. flour, so they were

flat, but they were also quite delicious!

Outside My Window. . .

The grey sky brightens (barely, slowly, perceptibly). Soon there will be sun. Another day in the upper 80’s is forecast for today; this has consistently been our temperature of late. The air is just cool enough that it feels nice with the windows open in the morning. A light breeze gently flutters leaves on the trees in my back yard, where falling apples increase their daily pace. The morning ground is often littered with apples—most of them not of eating quality—and I pick them up and discard them. I’ve brought one or two inside to eat, and they’re pretty good. 

I am Hearing. . . 

As always, the hum of the refrigerator, but today it seems more earnest than usual. (Is something wrong?) Soft, lovely strains of Alina barely making it round the corner from the living room. 

The Books That Were Stacked Beside My Bed Last Night. . . 

Music of Silence by David Steindl-Rast. I read this book about once a year (or so). I bought it in 2006 on the recommendation of sweet Ann of the too-long-quiet Mozart and Mudpies blog. I miss Ann’s gentle voice. She inspired me. 

Goat Song by Brad Kessler. I loved reading this book. It is simple, poetic, and lovely, but quite likely not for everyone, particularly those who cannot imagine enjoying the unflinching reality of goat breeding and birthing, milking, and cheese-making as poetry (the author still might convince you!). I found the book a year or two ago on the clearance table at Borders. I opened it to a random page, and was struck by the writing—the descriptions of nature and bundling up against the cold, as well as the contemplative nature of the narrative. You know how the style of certain authors on certain topics “clicks” with you? That was this with me. 

The Journals of Father Alexander Schmemann. This book is almost always at hand. I read it for his spiritual and cultural insights, plus his love for family, nature, and the ordinary. Schmemann was very real and down-to-earth and could see straight through spiritual silliness. 

Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros. It’s a sweet cook book to browse and read (and I do love a readable cookbook!). I love this one for her opening essay about family, memories, and food. 

Cooking at Home by Susan Hermann Loomis. This one made my pile last night because I recently read a quote about eating together (families and friends) by Loomis in one of my notebooks, and I wondered if I copied it from this book. Nope. 

Radical Homemakers by Shannon Hayes. Because it’s intriguing. I like this secular look at the beauties, sacrifices, hard work, and joys of domesticity.

The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton. I love the writing. I love the insights. I love reading about the aspects of architecture that are dealt with in this book.

My Bible. I should finish this round of Old Testament reading tomorrow or Wednesday morning, and it’s almost sad. Why are endings so often poignant to me, even when they shouldn’t be? I am a silly woman. I’ll just start back in Genesis and read through again. . .

A yellow file folder of articles and posts. Mine and others’. 

I am Thankful. . . 

That I am well. That there is plenty of fresh fruit in my kitchen. And vegetables. And chocolate. That I got to spend one long, lovely day with part of my family on Saturday. That my relationship with my children, and theirs with each other, is sweet.

Somehow this is the only picture I got of my lovely daughter.

It's nice to have my kids lounging on the furniture!

I am Wearing. . . 

I didn’t mean to, but this morning I broke free of my “morning uniform” rut. My hair is still messy, and my feet are still bare, but I am wearing light-colored cropped khaki hiking pants, a white tank top, a light-blousy pink top over it, and new reading glasses. I love these glasses, but wish I had not gotten clear/white frames (I see this color around and like it, but not so much with these glasses, and not so much on me; but it’s fine and better than my old glasses). 

In the Kitchen. . .

 Roman taking thirds.

On Saturday evening, I opened up the kitchen table, extending it as far as it would go, placed a tablecloth on it, and set six plates in front of the six chairs circling the table. (It was a very laid-back, casual affair, with unmatched, but complimentary, plates and glasses.) I moved to the stove, cooked a potful of Romano green beans, and tossed them with butter and salt.

My favorite Romano green beans.

Picked fresh from my sister's garden.

I sauteed some shrimp in butter and garlic til it was bright pink but not overcooked and spongy, then I squeezed in fresh lemon juice and some grated lemon zest, and I added enough olive oil to the pan to make a nice sauce. Meanwhile I boiled a box of De Cecco rigatoni in water that was “as salty as the Mediterranean,” and when the pasta was nicely al dente, I drained it and tossed it with the shrimp. I added a bit more olive oil because the dish wanted a touch more moisture and stirred in just enough (but not too much) grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. I slid the shrimp scampi into a pasta bowl, cracked pepper over it, sprinkled a super-light layer of cheese on top, and scattered over some chopped parsely.

Monty walked into the kitchen while I was in the midst of cooking. He looked at me and then at the table, grinned, and said, “Just like old times!”

Yep. And I loved it. We sat round the table, Michelle holding Liya (who didn’t feel well), all of us eating and talking. Roman took seconds, then thirds before his parents said “enough.” Jayden wanted to eat everyone’s shrimp. Everything entirely devoured.

It was a good meal with a set kitchen table and my family round it. The first time I have done this in two years. It made me happy!

Oh, and we had our traditional Saturday morning Chocolate Chip-Lemon Scones with coffee earlier in the day. I accidentally left out half a cup of flour. I knew I hadn’t added enough flour when I pulled the dough together and pressed it out, but I didn’t want to knead in another half cup and risk making the scones heavy and dry, so I left it out. I calculated that the ingredients were good—lots of butter and cream and unhealthiness that would make for a delicious, desserty taste—so even if the scones flattened out completely, they would still taste wonderfully delicious. And I was right.

 Click for a bigger look.

Liya liked her smoothie. Roman is sweet.

And Jayden grabbed the sponge to wash his mug. He's super-focused!

And there were smoothies and, in the evening, popcorn.

They taste better than they look in the picture!

I made these “Chinese Green Beans” recently when Aaron was over in the evening. When Aimee saw us eating them during a video chat and wondered what they were, I told her I would get the recipe to her, and I might as well get it to you, too! I love Asian flavors, so this is one of my favorite green bean recipes, from Jennifer Katzinger’s Flying Apron’s Gluten-Free and Vegan Baking Book (Flying Apron is a bakery in Seattle).  I could eat these green beans all day long, and when I make them, I eat mine and want to sneak bites off the plates of everyone else when they’re not looking.

Chinese Green Beans

with options and suggestions from me

3T. sesame oil (not toasted, but you can add a tiny bit of toasted for flavor)

2 shallots or ½ small onion, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ to 1 chili pepper, seeded and minced (or ½ t. garlic-chili sauce)

1 t. grated fresh gingerroot

2 T. tamari (or shoyu)

1 T. brown rice vinegar

2 t. maple syrup

1 lb. green beans, trimmed

½ c. toasted cashews, finely chopped for garnish

1 T. julienned Thai basil, for garnish

--Heat sesame oil in large sauté pan over medium heat. Add shallots, garlic, chili pepper. Saute til shallots are light brown and slightly soft, about 5 minutes. Add gingerroot, tamari, brown rice vinegar, and maple syrup, and turn off heat.

--Meanwhile, boil or steam green beans until they are no longer grassy-tasting. I like my green beans really cooked til tender and not crisp-tender (but they should not be at all mushy). I don't like the grassy taste of what I consider undercooked green beans.


--Toss beans with sauce and garnish with cashews and basil.

I am Pondering. . . 

Lots of thoughts are crossing my mind, and some of them stay there for awhile. I suppose these are my ponderings.

One came about on a walk. I had just crested a steep hill and was enjoying the view of the southern hills from there when I heard soft strains of music. I looked off to the left and saw a young woman in a summery skirt and blouse, walking slowly along with her hose watering her flower garden. Just when I looked at her, she glanced at me, and we smiled at each other.

“It’s peaceful,” I said.

And she replied, “I try.”

I was struck by that. “I try.” Because that’s it, isn’t it? True, deep inner peace is a gift from God. We seek Him, we surrender to His will, we set our mind and heart on Him, and we find “peace that passes all understanding.” But outward peace? We try. We create it. And because of that inner pace we have been given, we are both constrained and enabled to make order out of chaos, just like God did and does.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Creating order out of chaos or mess is a God-like act. And this orderliness brings a sense of sweetness and peace: to our home, to our family, to our inner spirit, to our outward behavior. “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” This is why we do our domestic work. This is why we continually battle disorder. This is why we file things. This is why we declutter. Order brings peace and allows for the enjoyment of beauty. Blake’s words have become my domestic mantra: “All in order, sweet and lovely.”

Okay. I think one “pondery” thing is enough for one day. 

Making Home “Sweet and Lovely”. . . 

The garage is almost entirely gone-through. At the opening end of the garage, I have a large stack of things to be taken to the dump or Goodwill, and at the other end are a few items of furniture I can’t fit, or don’t want, in this house. There are also more boxes I need to sort through to streamline what I’ll keep. Christmas things. Papers. Memorabilia. (Who wants the encumbrance of carryiing boxes of stuff through one’s life?!) I’ll go through those few remaining boxes little by little.

My second bedroom—disastrous a few weeks ago—is in tidy order. Instead of creating a huge mess of stacks of papers all at once from the boxes of writings I’ve created and collected, I am working through little bits of each box at a time. This is both more manageable and more enjoyable. I’m in no hurry. I like reading through these old papers. 

I Went. . . 

On a Sunday afternoon hike with Aaron, JoAnne (my sister), and Gene (her husband). We drove to Mt. June, and hiked to the top. At its 4,623 foot elevation, June not a big mountain like the ones we were in last weekend, but views from the top were still pretty, and the walk to the peak through the woods felt cool and soothing on a warm day.

It looks like we're about to enter a fantasy-wood.

Lots of tall trees on this hike.

View from up top.

Toward the place we backpacked last weekend.

Me going back down.

The filtered light was pretty all along the trail.

JoAnne and Gene coming down.

There was a lot of fallen timber along the way.

Most of it was cleared away by chainsaw,

but we walked over this rotted log.

Ferns abounded, too.

It all looked amazingly lush for late August.

 End of trail.

I am Thinking. . .

About the wonders of coconut water! :-)

During WWII, in the Pacific, medics used coconut water as IV fluid. It is sterile, has a natural antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, and it is said to closely resemble blood plasma. It’s actually not identical to plasma, but the fluid worked wonders for injured or sick soldiers who needed it. Medics didn’t even bother to strain the fluid or move it to an IV bag. The IV ran straight from a hole made in the coconut to the arms of the soldiers. It was most sterile this way.

Coconut water has a nice balance of electrolytes and is used by many as a recovery drink after a workout. This is terrific for almost all of us, but here, too, experts say, coconut water is not perfect (they say too low in salt and too high in zinc for a perfect replacement drink for those who are elite athletes or who do extremely intense workouts. . . but some just add a pinch of salt).

And now I’ve found another use for coconut water. They make awesome, natural, pure eye-drops! I awoke the other morning with scratchy, red, allergy-eyes (and some puffiness). I’ve had all-natural eye-drops around before, but I couldn’t find any, so I looked online to see if coconut water might be okay to use. Yes, indeed—recommended even. So, I tried it. Washed my eyes with the stuff, and, sure enough, my eyes were soothed, and the redness went away. I like this. It’s cheaper and even more natural than the concocted “natural” stuff.

A Quote I am Leaving With You. . .

“Simple bourgeois happiness is often despised by activists of all sorts who quite often do not realize the depths of life itself; who think that life is an accumulation of activities. God gives us His life, not ideas, doctrines, rules. At home, when all is done, life begins.”

~Alexander Schmemann

How to Make Yummy Pancakes for Breakfast When You Don’t Have Pancake-Making Ingredients!

 

Oops, there’s no pancake on the plate!

Sorry, but they were eaten so lightning-fast that I couldn’t manage

to be quick enough to snap a picture to show you how delicious they look.

(Or maybe I didn’t think about taking a photo til it was too late.)

Ha! I said I might not be around much for a few days, and here I am posting more than usual! Visitors have delayed their visit to arrive a day later than planned, so there’s a leisurely spirit in the air! Today, I’m sharing my internet connection with Aaron, who spent the night and is doing some long, demanding tasks online.

And I putter around house and yard—to the garage to aimlessly shift piles for awhile, then out to the yard to move the sprinkler (I’m running up a scary water bill!), then to my room to have at the latest pile of notebooks I’m sifting through (why, oh, why do I keep so many notebooks full of miscellany? I’ll admit they’re fun to read, but they’re really so much clutter. . .), and off to the kitchen to fix another light thing to eat (Aaron is being plied with food today), then to my computer at the kitchen table to write about pancakes, then out to sit on the patio in the sun with a little stack of books, then off to sweep down spider webs that are amassing around the outside of the house, and so on.

And all the while I am planning in my head for the arrival of Michelle’s family: We’ll have our family’s traditional Saturday morning chocolate chip-lemon scones when they arrive, and for dinner I’ll make Shrimp Scampi with rigatoni pasta because it’s Aaron’s favorite and Monty loves shrimp. And I need to set up a section for kid-toys over by the kid-books. And on and on it goes today. Working and wandering and planning. But I like puttery days, so I’m happy.

But about those pancakes. . .

Have you ever stepped into your kitchen on a sunny morning and felt sure it was a perfect day to make pancakes? But suddenly you remember: There is no milk. And you don’t have eggs, either. . . or flour. . . or butter. . . or syrup. . .  Not a problem! You can still make pancakes for your breakfast.

Did you know that bananas or ground flax seeds make great replacements for eggs? Or that you can whip up almond milk in a blender in 30 seconds if you don’t happen to have dairy milk or an alternative milk in the house? Did you know you can make pancakes that are entirely flour-free? And instead of butter, you can add oil or melted vegan Earth Balance spread to the batter? And, I’m sure you have figured out that you can omit spreading butter on top of the hot pancakes before topping with syrup or sugared berries, or you can use Earth Balance in place of butter.

I do all of this all the time, and the pancakes are always tasty. There is absolutely nothing lacking in them.  So, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to use some of these alternatives when you want pancakes and don’t have the right ingredients around your kitchen.

Recently, my daughter, Aimee, asked me to share with her a vegan, gluten-free pancake recipe I cobbled together once to happy effect. I have made the recipe several times, but when I mixed the batter and cooked the pancakes on a recent morning to test the recipe again, it didn’t work like it should have, so I’m going to retest that one to see what’s up. I’ll post the recipe when I get it right. (That’s the one to make when you’re out of flour or when you want gluten-free. It calls for cornmeal, oats, and oat bran—or ground oats in lieu of oat bran—instead of flour. You have to look for oats that are specifically labeled gluten-free because some oats are rolled in equipment shared with grains that have gluten.)

In the meantime, while I wait to re-perfect that gluten-free recipe, I have a few other pancake recipes that can be eggless, dairy-free—entirely vegan, if you like. And they’re delicious. I keep certain staples around the kitchen that allow me to be flexible when I make pancakes. There are bananas in a bowl on the counter, a tub of Earth Balance spread in the refrigerator, flax seeds in a jar in the freezer, raw almond butter (bought in bulk) in a container in the fridge, and sugared raspberries in a glass jar in the refrigerator, too.

You can, of course, use real milk and real butter in the pancakes, but it’s kinda handy to know variations and substitutions to get you along in a pinch, don’t you think?

 Here’s the other “pancake photo” I took. For some reason, I like tablescapes,
so here’s the cheerful one I had going in my kitchen this sunny morning: Plate, napkin
(one of a set of pretty, colorful cloth napkins made for me by Michelle for Christmas one year),
sugared raspberries, coffee mug, book (The Music of Silence), Bible, and journal.

Today, I’ll give you two of my favorite vegan pancake recipes and tell you how to make 30-second almond milk. First, the recipe I made this morning (sans blueberries):

BANANA-CORNMEAL-BLUEBERRY VEGAN PANCAKES

(I left out the blueberries this morning because I knew I would be spreading sugared raspberries over them instead of maple syrup.)

1 c. whole wheat pastry flour

1 c. medium grind corn meal

½ t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 bananas, mashed well

2 c. almond milk mixed with 2 T. lemon juice or distilled white vinegar (or buttermilk)

1 t. vanilla

2-4 T. melted butter (or use neutral oil or melted Earth Balance)

Fresh or frozen blueberries to sprinkle over batter in pan. (If you add berries to the pancakes, it’s nice to stir some finely grated lemon-zest into the batter when you’re mixing it.)

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, and then mix them together. Heat frying pan over medium to medium-high heat and add some oil or melt some butter in the pan for frying. Pour in 1/3-1/2 c. batter for each pancake, and if you are going to use blueberries, dot some around the batter in the pan and gently press them down.

If you don’t have syrup, skip the blueberries in the recipe (or not) and pour/spread sugared raspberries over the top. (You can quickly make some sugared berries from thawed, frozen berries if you’re in a hurry; you can even use the microwave to thaw them.)

These pancakes are truly yummy, but I think I already said that.

: : : : :

I made up the above recipe based on a recipe Melissa created over a year ago when she was visiting.  Here’s what she mixes together for her vegan pancakes. They are super-good:

½ c. white spelt flour

1 ½ c. whole-wheat pastry flour

1 t. salt

4 t. baking powder

4 T. agave

2 t. vanilla

2 bananas, well mashed

2 c. milk alternative

4 T. oil

Mix wet and dry ingredients separately, and then mix them together without over-stirring. Cook as usual, adding berries if you like. Top with maple syrup or sugared berries or whatever sounds good.

: : : : :

Here’s how to make almond milk in 30 seconds. I got this from the book Raw Food Real World, and I make this milk all the time.

Whirl all of the following together on high speed in a blender until very-well mixed and frothy:

2 slightly heaping T. raw almond butter (roasted will work, but raw is best)

2 c. water

Pinch salt

2 T. agave or a packet of stevia (or a few drops of liquid stevia)

½ t. vanilla

1 T. coconut butter (optional, but I use it)

Pour into a jar, twist on a lid, and store it in the fridge. You don’t need to strain this milk, but it will separate as it sits, and almond stuff will collect on the bottom of the jar. Just give the jar a vigorous shake when you need to use the almond milk again.

To make an alternative to buttermilk for a recipe, add 1 T. acid (lemon juice or distilled white vinegar) to the almond milk. You aren’t looking for it to curdle or get thick. You simply need the acid to interact with the baking soda in a recipe that calls for buttermilk. If you don’t have something acidic in the recipe with the soda, use baking powder instead.

: : : : :

Okey dokey! I’ll run along now. Have a lovely what’s-left-of-your-Friday!