Homemade Scones and Cinnamon Rolls over the long weekend

So, I was a busy baker over the long weekend we had, my daughter was off school Friday and Monday! Our original plan was to head to Iowa to see family, but the weather decided not to cooperate with us, so what was there left to do with unplanned time, bake! I made some chocolate chip scones and homemade cinnamon rolls for the very first time ever! I am shocked I never made them before, I always remember my Great Aunt Ellen making them and my mom making them. I wish I could find my mom's recipe! So for the first time making these two items I do not think they turned out bad at all. For the scones, I found a recipe on Skinnytaste.com, Gina's Skinny Recipes. This is a wonderful site I have found many great recipes! The scone recipe, Skinny Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones, although very good, was not what I think of when I think scone. I always think more biscuit like when I think scone and this was more coffee cake like in my opinion, maybe I did something wrong in making it; not sure until I try it again! I would for sure suggest it!

The recipe is as follows, but I do suggest you click on the link and go to her page, she has some amazing recipes! For all her recipes she also list Weight Watchers points, how great is that!



Chocolate Chip Buttermilk Scones
Taken from Skinnytaste.com

Servings: 12 • Serving Size: 1 scone • Old Points: 4 pts • Points+: 5 pts
Calories: 199.6 • Fat: 8.1 g • Protein: 3.7 g • Carb: 29.8 g • Fiber: 2.3 g • Sugar: 12.8 g
Sodium: 257.4 mg



Ingredients:

3/4 cup cold buttermilk
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all purpose flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1 cup white whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp chilled butter (must be cold) cut into small pieces
3/4 cup chocolate chips
cooking spray
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 1/2 tbsp sugar


Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine the first four ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt, in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in chilled butter with a pastry blender, or you could use 2 knives, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist.

Place dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly four times with floured hands. Form dough into an 9-inch circle onto baking sheet, about 3/4" thick. Using a knife, cut dough into 12 wedges all the way through.

Brush egg white over dough and sprinkle evenly with sugar. Bake until golden, about 18-20 minutes, depending on your oven. Serve warm.



Now, onto the amazing cinnamon rolls my friend suggested to me that came from cooks.com. This is a site I am familiar with, but do not use all the time. I have to admit these are not as good as mom or Aunt Ellen used to make, but they are very good for using Bisquick mix (which I have come to love using for quick recipes!)! They are soft, flaky, and would even be good without the powdered sugar frosting. They would also be good with a cream cheese frosting!

BISQUICK BUTTER CHUNK CINNAMON ROLLS
Taken from COOKS.COM

1/4 c. cold butter
2 1/2 c. Bisquick baking mix
1/2 c. milk
1 egg
2 tbsp. butter, softened
3 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Glaze (below)

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Grease square pan, 8"x8"x2".

Cut cold butter into 1/4" cubes. Toss baking mix and cubes until coated. Beat milk and egg; stir into butter mixture. Turn dough onto cloth-covered board generously dusted with baking mix; roll to coat.

Fold and knead 10 times; roll into rectangle, 15"x8". Spread with soft butter. Mix sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough. Roll up tightly, beginning at 15" side. Pinch edge into roll. Cut into 12 slices with sharp knife. Place cut sides down in pan.

Bake until golden, 15 minutes; cool 15 minutes. Drizzle with Glaze. 1 dozen rolls.

GLAZE: Mix 1 cup powdered sugar and about 1 tablespoon milk until smooth.


**For both of these recipes I found them to be a bit sticky, even with the additional flour on the counter. I found that if I put the dough in the refrigerator for a 15 minutes it was much easier to work with.

Happy Baking!



These are a must try on a lazy day!

Skinnytaste~ Chicken Pot Pie Soup

If you know me well, you know that I LOVE to try new things,whether it be my own concoctions or other people's. I recently started subscribing to a page on Facebook called Skinnytaste. Not only does she have a Skinnytaste Facebook Page, but a Skinnytaste blog/website as well. I have found so many recipes that I can't wait to try! I do not do Weight Watchers, but I love that she offers points for recipes in her nutritional value.

I love chicken pot pie and when I was on this site, I found an amazing healthy Chicken Pot Pie Soup recipe that reminds me of something my mom would make and love. It is now a huge favorite for dinner. I also made it the other day as a meal for a friend, so I am hoping her family will like it as much as we do. I have tried this in the crock pot, but was not happy with it. The flavor of the soup was just as good, but the creaminess you get when you cook it on the stove was not. So, when I cook this again, and I am sure I will, it will be a stove top soup.

In need of more time....

I have had so many people say to me, "You have not put anything new on your blog in a while." I say true dat!! Oh my, there are some days I do not know if I am coming or going. With going to school full-time myself and all my kid's extracurricular activities, especially "O" my oldest, who is almost 9 going on 20, keeps me extremely busy with all her Tae Kwon Do classes and homework. I am hoping to try new things and get them posted soon!

Want to put that recipe in the crockpot instead of the oven?

I do not know how the weather is where you are at, but here in the beautiful state of Wisconsin, it is cold, windy and rainy. I personally, do not mind the cold, I live in Wisconsin, what else would I expect? However, I do mind the wind and rain we have been having. So, it is a great time to break out the crock pot and use it a lot more. Not only because the weather is so dreary and soup is great for this kind of weather, but because crock pots are not just for soups. My kids keep me so busy and I am tried of feeding them quick, unhealthy food all the time. There is a great conversion chart on About.com, entitled, Oven to Crockpot Conversion General Information that has some tips on how to convert oven recipes into crock pot recipes. I found something similar a while back, but forgot where I found it. While on Facebook, Skinny Crock Pot shared this one. I hope everyone finds it as useful as I do!!

Stress, food, and some great recipes to try

Stress and food, need I say more? For me they seem to go hand in hand and it is not a good combination for me being I am trying to lose weight. When I am stressed I love to cook and eat all my favorite comfort foods that I remember from growing up, the problem with these foods is that they are full of calories and high in fat.

I love to cook and cooking is a way for me to relieve stress, I just send the girls downstairs and turn up the tunes. Lately though while trying to lose weight cooking has become boring to me, I think it is the one ingredient cooking (Leigh Peele) that is doing it to me. To those who are not into cooking, I think one ingredient cooking while trying to lose weight is a wonderful idea, it is quick and straight forward, but to me it has gotten boring not only to me but to my kids. I try different spices to mix things up and it works great, but I miss some of my favorite dishes as does my kids. I am getting tired of hearing, "Oh, chicken again!" So, the following cookbook a friend let me borrow has given me a great idea, it is called NOW eat THIS! 150 of America's Favorite Comfort Foods All Under 350 Calories by Rocco DiSpirito. It is a great cookbook full of stuff we love to eat. I have tried two recipes, Meat Loaf with Portobello Mushrooms and Grilled Chicken Parmigiano, they both went over well and will be made again. I try to plan my meal plans 2 weeks in advance, so my new goal is to try and make the comfort foods I love a bit healthier.

I just read a great review of this book on Diets in Review.com. I have not tried the recipes that are listed on this site, Rocco’s Brownies and Flash-Fried Finger-Lickin’ Chicken but I will soon along with the Mac n' Cheese recipe he has in there. Until then I will leave you with the Meat Loaf recipe in hopes you will follow the links and try all these tasty recipes and go buy the book for even more. If these recipes are not what you are looking at trying I found some more sample recipe in the Google Books section.


For this recipe I could not find Ian's All-Natural Panko breadcrumbs, so I used other whole wheat ones. I also added 1-2 teaspoons of crushed red pepper flakes in it to give it a bit of a kick, it turned out great and does not add any additional calories.


Meatloaf with Portobello Mushrooms
Serves 4
Per serving: Fat 8.9g, calories 212, protein 21g, carbs 11g, cholesterol 55mg, fiber 2g, sodium 400mg
From Now Eat This!

Ingredients:

4 ounces portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves
1/3 cup egg substitute
1/3 cup reduced-sugar ketchup, such as Heinz
12 ounces 93% lean ground beef
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (try and use fresh, dried just does not taste the same!)
1/2 cup whole-wheat panko breadcrumbs, such as Ian's All-Natural
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set it aside.

Place the mushrooms in a food processor, and pulse until they are very finely chopped; scrape them into a large mixing bowl. Add the garlic cloves to the food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add the egg substitute and 1 Tablespoon of the ketchup, and puree until the garlic is smooth. Scrape the garlic mixture into the bowl containing the mushrooms.

Add the beef, parsley, and panko to the bowl. Add the salt and season with pepper to taste. Using your hands, gently mix the ingredients until they are just combined.

On the prepared baking sheet, form the meat mixture into an 8x4x1 1/2 inch loaf. Brush the remaining ketchup over the loaf. Bake until the meatloaf is cooked through, 18-20 minutes.

Allow the meatloaf to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.


Source: DiSpirito, R., (2010). Now eat this!. New York:Ballantine Trade Paperback Original.

BBQ Beef

This is a recipe I found that was one my mom had wrote down for me at one time and I never made. It sounds yummy and I am going to give it a whirl at the Super Bowl Party this Sunday.

Ingredients:

3-1/2 pounds beef chuck roast
1 C water
1 T and 1-1/2 t white vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 T mustard
2 T Worcestershire sauce
1-1/2 C ketchup
1 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 cloves garlic (minced)

Directions:

Place the roast into a slow cooker along with the water. Cover, and cook on LOW for 4 hours, or until beef can be easily be pulled apart with a fork.

Pull the beef apart, remove all the fat as you go. Reserve 1/2 cup of the broth from the slow cooker for later use.

In a bowl, mix the vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, cayenne, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Stir into the shredded beef so that making sure that all the meat is well coated.

Cover and continue to cook beef on Low for an additional 4 to 6 hours. If beef gets either too thick or dry you may add some of the reserved broth.

Lil' Smokies

This is by far my favorite way to make lil' smokies. I have made these this way for years and they always go over very well. Meatballs are good with this too!


Ingredients:

2 packages Cocktail wieners, little smokies
1 bottle (12 ounces) chili sauce
1 cup grape jelly


Directions:

Combine cocktail wieners or little smokies in crockpot with chili sauce and grape jelly; cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.