A Perfect Little Breakfast.

Ooooh... this hits the spot for me! A warm scone, some sweet and tangy lemon curd, and a hot cup of coffee.


I doubled the recipe so that they last us a little longer. They're great for Dom to take to work and Sam's a fan too :)

This recipe is from Cooking Light. The scones are lighter in calories, but also lighter in texture which I actually prefer. One difference is the substitution of 2 % milk for heavy cream. I usually don't shape them as traditional scones. I just drop them on the baking sheet and bake as is. I like the rustic look it gives them and it also saves a lot of time and effort!

Blueberry Scones- Cooking Light

1/2 cup 2 % milk

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 lg egg

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 oz.)

1 T. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 T. chilled butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted (optional)

1 lg egg white, lightly beaten

2 T. sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gently fold in blueberries and pecans. Add milk mixture, stirring just until moist (dough will be sticky.)

3. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface; pat dough into an 8-inch circle. Cut dough into 10 wedges, and place the dough wedges on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Brush egg white over dough wedges; sprinkle with 2 T. sugar. Bake scones at 375 degrees for 18 minutes or until golden. Serve warm.

Will you please sign the cake?

My sister Teresa is moving to San Diego so we had a farewell party for her. I love these pictures of her. One with her dog "Bob" whom she adores, one with our little sister Sarah, and one on the beaches of San Diego.

The first picture of the cake was before we left for the party. I used simple white fondant so that family and friends could write their farewell messages on the cake with edible ink pens.

Un-Fried Ice Cream!!!

Mmmm! I have unfortunately been eating these all week because I made extras! I had a mexican theme dinner when we had Dom's aunt and uncle over so I decided to experiment with these little treats. They are so fun to make and so delicious! Honey is the traditional topping for fried ice cream and it goes perfectly with the cinnamon and sugar.



Sometimes the ingredients just look so photogenic to me :) My sister Teresa introduced me to Haagen-Dazs Vanilla about a year ago, and I will never forgive her! It is the cream of the crop!

I put corn flakes and cinnamon and sugar in a ziploc bag. I then rolled over them with the rolling pin until they were the right size.

I let the ice cream soften a little on the counter before scooping it so that the corn flake mixture would stick easily.


I then put the cute little ice cream balls back in the refrigerator to get nice and cold.


I used tortillas and cut them to the right size for the muffin tin. (The uncooked tortillas work very well. I cooked them first and then let them brown some more in the oven.) You can save the tortilla scraps for soup, or butter and toast them too for a little snack. I brushed the tortilla bowls with butter and sprinkled them with cinnamon and sugar. I put them in the oven at 400 degrees, keeping a close eye on them to make sure they didn't get too dark...

And voila! They are ready for the ice cream! It's like a little tortilla bowl bouquet :)


Top it off with some more cinnamon and sugar, then drizzle honey over it. Next, grab a spoon and enjoy!

Go nuts with French Toast!

I love french toast! We were at the cabin last weekend with all of the family and had a great breakfast, everybody pitched in. If I could turn back the clock I would've gotten a picture of everyone at the table!

My favorite type of bread to use for french toast is an artisan bread fresh from the bakery. I slice it up, soak it in the egg, cream, and cinnamon-sugar mixture, and cook it on the skillet in a mix of canola oil and butter. The oil makes it a little crispier on the outside.

I actually don't really like bananas, but with french toast I do! These bananas are sauteed in butter until brown. Once they are done I swirl a little brandy in the skillet... mmm brandy.

I topped off the banana french toast with a maple butter syrup and toasted pecans.

I then got the strawberries ready for another option . I also love using raspberries. A great combination with the berries is orange maple butter, which is super delicious and easy to make.

Here is the strawberry french toast with some nice melted orange maple butter and powdered sugar.

I didn't quite measure ingredients but here they are approximately :)

French Toast-
Slice one loaf of artisan bread.
Soak slices in the mixture of eggs (about 6), half and half (about 1/2 cup), orange zest of one orange, and cinnamon and sugar ( I probably used 3 T. of a mixture of them both). I like the egg mixture to be pretty thick so that the french toast doesn't get too soggy.
Use 1-2 T. of canola oil and butter each and heat to medium-medium high on the skillet.
Brown the french toast to desired "doneness" :) Keep the french toast warm in the oven until you are ready to top them off.
Sauteed Bananas-
Heat about 2 T. of butter in a skillet over medium-medium high heat. Slice bananas and lay them in the skillet without overlapping. When brown on the bottom, flip and brown on the other side. Once done, remove from heat and swirl about 1/8 cup of brandy in the skillet.
Maple Butter Pecan Syrup-
Toast pecans in the oven at 400 degrees until lightly toasted. Watch closely so they do not burn. About 4 minutes.
Melt butter (about 3 T. give or take, unfortunately the more there is the better it seems to taste! ), and add maple syrup (about 1 cup). For me, real maple syrup is the only way to go!
Bring to a boil, and then let simmer and thicken for about 15 minutes.
Orange Maple Butter-
Use 1/2 stick of salted butter at room temperature, mixed with the zest of one orange, 1 T. of maple syrup, and 1 T. of orange juice. You can definitely use more or less of each ingredient, whatever suits your tastes :)

Sugar 'n No Flour!

Blame it on the pregnancy, or on the fact that Dom bought a whole flat of apples at Costco... caramel apples seemed like a good idea! I think they are one of the most charming little sweets around!

They're just so round, and shiny, and cute! ( I can even see the reflection of myself taking the picture. )

Not to mention, crisp and tart, sweet and refreshing! I'm already getting very excited about fall :)

No tricks to these apples, I just followed the instructions on the caramel bag :)

Cupcakes!

This is the second half of Bella and Poppie's birthday party pictures. The theme for Bella was very girly and super sweet! Cupcakes and more cupcakes!



For the pink cupcakes I juiced raspberries and added a little sugar. I heated the mixture over the stove, let it cool, and then added it to the buttercream. This raspberry buttercream might be my favorite frosting!


It was really fun throwing a little girl's party! I made these "pom-poms" out of tissue paper. I found the "how to" in a wedding issue of Martha Stewart.


1 is one of my favorite ages. We had to wake her up for her own party :)

Sweet 16!

I was really excited to make a fun cake for Sarah. It was the big 16! She loves white chocolate, so it was a white layer cake filled with white chocolate, and served with a side of pureed raspberry sauce.

And there's the birthday girl! I remember when she was four and I told her not to get any older... I guess she didn't listen!

Aunt Bug and Bella.