Easter Morning

I'm sitting in bed watching General Conference. I love that it falls on Easter Sunday this year. It's nice to feel like we are actually thinking about the meaning of Easter for the bulk of our day.

It's a family tradition with the Husband's family to have omlettes during the first session of Conference. I love this tradition. So Husband and I got up and cooked up some yummy omlettes, of which I ate the whole thing:)

Tip: most people cook their eggs at too high of a temperature. Turn your stove just below medium heat and be patient, it's worth it.

Next time I think I'll try these omlettes!

Scones across the globe

I love a good scone, and I'm not talking abou the deep fat fried American kind. I have two really great memories stemming from a really good scone.


The first is when I was in Europe about 4 years ago. It was in Bath, England in a really fancy restaurant. I wasn't even hungry, but I couldn't pass it up. So I ordered juice and scones. The English know how to do it.


The next is when I was in Canada with the husband a couple of years ago at my favorite Bed & Breakfast (that I like to talk about so much). On our last day here, before we headed back to Seattle, they served these fabulous Lemon Scones (you can see my scone on our table:). They were so good in fact, that I had them wrap me up a couple for later. I recently served them for Valentines Day just as a sweet reminder to my Husband.


Lemon Scones
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbl sugar
2 Tbl baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
zest 1 lemon
3/4 cup cold butter
1 egg
buttermilk
raw sugar
3/4 cup white chocolate shavings

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and the lemon zest into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a few times to mix the dry ingredients.

Cut the butter into 1" cubes and add to the processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse peas. Crack the egg into a large glass measuring cup and beat lightly. Add the buttermilk until the liquid reaches 9 ounces.

Slowly add the liquid to the batter, pulsing after each addition. Then add white chocolate shavings. Be careful not to overmix. Only pulse until the mixture starts to come together.

Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll the dough to a 1" thickness. Using a 2" cutter (heart-shapes are fun), cut the dough into desired shape and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Use two baking sheets together to prevent the bottoms of the scones from becoming too brown.

Sprinkle the top with raw sugar. Bake about 15 minutes until lightly golden.


These are really good served with creme fraiche and homemade jam.

Just What I Needed

I spent the weekend with a few girlfriends at the beautiful Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah. It was such a nice, needed break from life. We ate lots of food, talked & talked, and shopped & shopped. These women are so amazing and so fun to be around. They indulged me and let me cook them breakfast. So I grabbed my favorite breakfast cookbook, of which I've shared many recipes from, Fabulous Fairholme. I honestly had a hard time deciding on what to make since everything in this book is golden.

I finally went with the Lemon Ricotta Pancakes and was happy with my choice. It was so easy and something all palates could enjoy.

Serves 4-6
5 eggs spearated
zest 1 large lemon or orange
1 cup milk
1 3/4 ricotta cheese
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
dash salt

Preheat griddle or skillet on medium heat.

Mix the egg yolks. Sift and mix the dry ingredients and combine with egg yolks, lemon or orange zest, milk and ricotta cheese.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Gently fold into the egg-ricotta batter. Lightly oil griddle and pour a pancake-sized amount onto girddle with a 1/2 cup measuring scoop. Cook until bubbles form. Flip and cook other side until golden.

Serve with warm homemade maple syrup.

Tip: This souffle style pancake will melt in your mouth. Flip only once and don't flatten the pancakes after flipping. This keeps it nice and light.

This needs a good, large sized lemon for the right effect. Please, please use ricotta cheese (found next to the shredded cheese section of your grocery store). Substitutes just won't do this recipe justice.

I promise, you'll never go back

On Saturday morning I was craving pancakes, but I didn't have much time to make them from scratch, so I decided to make them from the box (not as good, but still worthwhile). I started getting everything out and the husband came in to help when I decided that I wanted to make homemade syrup, so the boxed pancakes would taste better. Husband starts getting annoyed that I'm taking the time to do this. I told him not only will I finish before he makes the pancakes, but he will thank me later for the delicious syrup.


Not only did he thank me while we were eating our pancakes with homemade syrup, but I finished way before he the pancakes were done!


Thanks to Adrianne, I now get why she won't eat store bought syrup. I know I won't!

Just follow the directions on the box.

Another tip: when making boxed pancakes, add some zest from a lemon and it will do wonders!

Fabulous Crepes

Sunday brunch is my favorite, as you can tell by most of the recipes I include in this blog. This last Sunday I opened up my Fabulous Fairholm cookbook and finally decided on these amazing crepes. They were so easy and quick, just remember when you are making crepes you want them as thin as possible, so spread the batter out as much as you can. I added powdered sugar, strawberries, homemade whip cream, and homemade syrup. You can even omit the sugar and make them a heartier breakfast by making fillings such as scrambled eggs, mushrooms, chives, and sausage. The possiblities are endless.

Fairholme Crepes
serves 4 - 6

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
dash salt
2 teaspoons sugar (if using sweet filling, otherwise omit)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or melted butter


Whisk together above ingredients until smooth. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.

Heat lightly oiled, non-stick skillet or crepe pan over medium heat.

Pour 1 medium ladle of batter into pan and swirl to cover entire pan. Cook briefly and flip over with a wide spatula. Continue to cook until golden for about 1-2 minutes. Make sure that the pan comes back up to temperature between crepes.

Blueberry Pancakes

When Trevor and I took a trip to Canada, we stayed at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast http://www.fairholmemanor.com/. It was unbelievable! The inn keepers were great hosts and the breakfast was to die for! So good in fact that they made a cookbook, and every time I make something from it, it turns out to be the most delicious recipe I've ever tried. You can check out their website for information on purchasing the book, but in the meantime, you can try out this recipe to give you an idea of how great it is.
Blueberry Pancakes
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons sugar
pinch salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
zest 1 large lemon or orange
3 cups buttermilk (substitute: 3 cups milk with 3 tablespoons vinegar, let sit for 5 minutes)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
maple syrup

Preheat griddle or skillet on medium heat.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl. Stir until thoroughly mixed and make a well in the center. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, lemon or orange zest, buttermilk and melted butter. Pour mixture into center of well and gently fold together. The batter should have a pebbly or slightly lumpy consistency (it will also be runny, but you want it this way!).

Coat the griddle with vegetable oil. Pour about 1/2 cup batter onto heated griddle, about 3" apart. Scatter 8 to 10 blueberries on top of each pancake. When bubbles being to appear on top, carefully flip over each pancake and continue to cook until golden brown.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm with maple syrup and butter.

*Just so you know, the picture in the cookbook looks way better than mine, but the taste is amazing! And yes, this picture of the Inn doesn't even do it justice.

Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Maple Glaze

Ahhh, again with my pumpkin obsession. I just can't help it, I love fall! We stayed up in Midway with the family for the weekend and I decided to make these wonderful waffles for Breakfast. If you choose to make any of my pumpkin recipes, this is the one.

With the snow having already fallen, I feel like fall has been stolen from me. I took this picture in Midway and it makes me feel like I captured the last of my beloved fall.

Ingredients - serves 4
1 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup melted shortening

1 large egg
1 large egg white
Topping:
2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 crisp apples, peeled and sliced thinly
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup toasted walnuts (optional)

Directions
Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, spice and salt together in a large bowl.
Beat together the milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and melted shortening, egg and egg white, in a large measuring cup. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk together to make a slightly lumpy batter.
For the topping: Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the apples and let cook until slightly browned, but still crisp, about 4 minutes. Add the maple syrup and walnuts and toss to coat.
Pour and spread about 1 cup batter into the waffle iron. Cover and cook until crisp and a rich golden brown, about 7 minutes. (Try to resist the temptation to open the waffle iron too soon. Steam will puff out of the iron while the waffles cook, when this stops the waffle is cooked.) Repeat with the remaining batter. Serve hot with the apples.

Enjoy! Tish