Blueberry Lemon Scones

In honor of the upcoming Royal Wedding today’s topic is SCONES. My mother is a huge fan of them and often has one with her tea. (which makes us 1/8 English right? perhaps an invitation to the wedding eh Kate?) I was out visiting them one weekend and up early doing my usual pantry/frigeadaire raid when I spotted frozen blueberries, what’s a girl to do? Ideas flew through my head, blueberry muffins, blueberry pancakes, blueberry crumb cake. I did some’ google-ing’ and Baking Bites popped up with this recipe for Lemon Blueberry Scones. I figured this would be easy enough to prepare before my mother woke up Saturday morning. What better gift is there than waking up to the smell of freshly baked buttery scones! Sure to nudge my brother out of the favored child slot even if just for a few hours.

This recipe brings us back to my love of zesting. A microplane or zester is one simple tool even the novice baker can use to add pizazz to a confection. I bought one for my parents and they now regularly make blueberry pancakes w/added lemon zest — you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! If you’ve never had a scone you may be surprised. Scones are NOT supposed to be overly sweet. You’ll notice these call for a scant 1/4 cup of sugar in them which for most baked goods is an extremely small amount. A scone is more of a dry biscuit-y bread to be eaten with tea or clotted cream, perhaps while watching the BBC or perusing Great Expectations. This is no doughnut or cinnamon bun; scones are serious, proper, tight lipped and British! Don’t try giggling around a scone, they would not stand for it. Read the rest of this entry »

Lamb Burger with Feta, Red Onion and Spinach

[After all of Jessie's vegan food options I'm doing a 180 with some delicious burgers! Sorry vegans!]

I went on a date recently with a guy who told me upfront, he doesn’t eat burgers. Actually no ground meat in any form, patties, balls or loaves. Now to each his own, but I love me a good burger. Shake Shack, Burger Joint, and Astoria’s own Bareburger… hand me a juicy patty of meat between two buns with avocado and bbq sauce and mmmm. …I can’t get enough.

Though I live in the Greek food capital of the world, Astoria, I never ate lamb until my visit to Morocco back in early 2010. Lamb is HUGE there. I ate a lot of delicious lamb tagine; slow cooked lamb in apricot and prunes, and alot of dried fruits. I figured I was in Africa, I should eat like the people. But back in the states I still had yet to really cook a lamb dish I enjoyed. I didn’t really have inspiration. On a visit to Meatball Shop last fall, it finally clicked. The ‘daily ball’ that evening was lamb meatballs with feta and spinach. Though I didn’t order it that night the combination stuck in my head.

I decided to go for it, if meatballs worked then why not lamb burgers. So upon inspection of many recipes, I discovered this fairly easy one from Bon Appétit.  Success! I will definitely be bringing this to BBQ’s all this summer. I encourage you to try these out if you’re looking to mix up the usual sirlon burger routine. Delish.

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Orange Creamsicle Tart

All of my friends know that I’m a huge fan of fruit flavored sodas.  Grape is my top choice, but orange is a close second.  When I was flipping through my copy of Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented I was immediately drawn to this recipe because it prominently features orange soda.  I brought this tart to a friend’s house for brunch dessert and it was was a big hit – even with people who don’t love soda as much as I do.

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