Parmesan Cornbread Mini Biscuits for SRC

Hi Friends! I know its been a while! I do have some cool things to share with you, but I am just trying to get motivated this new year to start sharing with you again. I just haven't been feeling that inspired... I think that's why I procrastinated so much this month before even looking at my assignment for SRC (which by the way, I had two months to work on, but no, I baked and blogged the night before it was due). I am now so sad that I procrastinated to much - the blog I was assigned is AWESOME!!! I was assigned the blog Mangia this month. It is a great blog written by a beautiful gal named Chelsy. Check out her blog - I'll still be here when you get back! I've flagged a couple more recipes to try from her blog this coming weekend because everything just looked so mouthwatering.

I decided to make Chelsy's Black Pepper Cornbread Biscuits (with a couple of my own twists!) and man were they delicious! Even hubby who swears he doesn't like anything with cornmeal loved them! If you click the link above you can find Chelsy's original recipe - its gluten free, so for any of you who like to cook/ bake gluten free or for those of you that must, do have a look! Otherwise, my non-gluten free take on the recipe can be found below.

Parmesan Cornbread Mini Biscuits
Recipe adapted from Mangia

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp prosciutto and chipotle sea salt (or regular is fine too!)
• 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 2-3 tbsp. finely grated parmesan

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (except parmesan). In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, water, eggs and honey. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until ingredients come together and are just moistened. Add a bit more water if necessary to get a muffin batter-like consistency.
3. Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin filling about 3/4 full. Sprinkle each mini muffin with a bit of parmesan. Bake in preheated oven for 10-11 minutes or until just set and golden on the sides and bottom. Let cool slightly then enjoy on their own or with a bit of butter!

These little guys would be delicious with chili or stew - awesome for dipping! Or just delicious for a little afternoon snack. Either way, do try them out - they come together in under half an hour and make the house smell great! Thanks Chelsy for an awesome recipe - I look forward to trying several more. :)

 



Peanut Butter RIce Krispies for SRC

I had a crazy weekend with some very unexpected and exciting news! I can't share details with you yet, but this news totally threw off my plans to tackle my SRC assignment on Sunday as I had originally planned to. It completely slipped my mind and I'm so sorry because I was assigned such a fantastic blog this month!!!

I was assigned Cook with Sara. I chose to make the rice Krispy squares but opted to use a slightly different flavor profile with peanut butter and chocolate rather than the caramel chocolate combo she used. Both I'm sure would be fantastic! Check out the recipe here. 

I chopped up mini peanut butter cups (approx 1 cup chopped) and stirred them into the Rice Krispies. Then I drizzled the bars with melted peanut butter (1/4 cup) and chocolate (1/4 cup). They were soooo good!

Thanks Sara for the delicious recipe and the many more recipes that I can't wait to try (check out the Cappuccino Crinkles - they're next on my list!!). I apologize for the lateness of my post!

Happy Baking my Friends!

No Bake White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies for SRC

Time for Secret Recipe Club again! This month seems to have been another busy month, even though I have been expecting life to just slow down a bit. No such luck though!! This is one of those months I wish I would have had more spare time because the blog I was assigned, Veronica's Cornucopia is such a great blog! There were so many great recipes and so many creative ideas. I will definitely be visiting again in a month I have more time to experiment, because there were a lot of great looking recipes to try. Go have a look around for yourself - I'll still be here when you come back. :)

I didn't really go too crazy due to my lack of time, but I was super impressed with how quick, easy and delicious the recipe I selected was! I made Veronica's Cow Pie Cookies - but changed them up to be made with white chocolate and peanut butter because that's what I had on hand!

White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe adapted from Veronica's Cornucopia

Ingredients:

• 12 oz white chocolate
• 4 tbsp peanut butter
• 2/3 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• chopped marshmallows (I used about 1/2 - 1 cup)

Method:

1. Melt the white chocolate and peanut butter on low heat in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Stir in the oats, coconut and marshmallows. Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper. Let set at room temperature until firm - approximately 1 hour. Enjoy!

Yep! Thats it - easy, and delicious. Veronica says you can mix in whatever you want! I think next time I make these I'll mix in pretzels for that sweet and salty combo that I can't get enough of.

Thanks for stopping by - Happy Baking my Friends!

Triple Berry Lemon Muffins for SRC

Well, its time for SRC's Group C reveal again (seems like that was the last time I even posted last month... shame on me). Super excited about the blog I had this month and wishing I had more time to test out recipes this month! I was assigned Mommy's Menu this month - Toni is a stay at home mom to seven children in Utah!! Can you believe that she still has time to blog? My excuses look pretty weak now! I absolutely love how creative her blog is and I loved the wide variety of recipes she had available to try. I settled on something quick and adapted it to what I had on hand, but I can't wait to come back and try out her Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Bars and her Strawberry Cheesecake Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies. Both of them looked amazing!!

I settled on making Toni's Lemon Raspberry Muffins (in a slightly adapted version using what I had on hand). The results were delicious! Hubby has been eagerly devouring these babies!! Check out the link for the unadapted recipe... see below for my adapted version. Both I'm sure would be equally as delicious!!

Triple Berry Lemon Muffins
Recipe adapted from Mommy's Menu

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• zest of one lemon, finely grated
• 1 cup fresh or frozen mixed berries (I used a mix of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Grease 2 x 12 cup muffin tins (or line with paper liners). 
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and salt. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, cream, water, and oil and mix until combined. Add all at once to flour mixture and stir until just combined. Add berries and fold through batter (don't over mix or you will have tough, pink muffins).
3. Spoon mixture into prepared muffin tins, filling each tin approximately 2/3 of the way full. Bake in preheated oven for 18-22 minutes or until spring back slightly when lightly pressed.
4. Let cool on a rack. Enjoy!

 So, thats that. Make these, they're amazing!! And check out Toni's blog - you'll find loads of recipes you need to make. I found her blog quite addicting - not unlike pinterest!! :) Thanks Toni for the great recipes to choose from - I'll definitely be back to snoop around some more (only this time I won't have to lurk!).

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies for SRC!

Hi Friends! Its time for Secret Recipe Club's Group C reveal again and you know what that means - I get to try out a new recipe from a new blog! This month I was assigned Erin's blog (yep, we have the same name) Making Memories with your Kids. I decided to make her Chocolate Pastel Mint cookies, but I didn't have mint chips, so I substituted peanut butter chips on top, plus I added some to the dough as well (because you can never have enough PB chips right?!). The cookies were a huge hit with my family!



Lets get right down to business, here's my version of the recipe (the only changes I made were to use PB chips instead and add some to the dough as well.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Recipe minimally adapted from Making Memories with your Kids

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup dutch process cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup peanut butter chips + extra for topping the cookies with

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In the bowl of the stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix until well combined.
3. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda & baking powder. Mix until just combined. Add in peanut butter chips until just combined.
4. Roll cookies into 1 inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes or until just set (don't over cook them or they will be dry). Remove from oven and immediately top with 5-6 more peanut butter chips, pressing into the soft cookies slightly.

Thats it! Easy to  make, basic ingredients and only dirties one bowl! Whats not to like? Thanks Erin for a fantastic recipe. :)

Homemade Snickers for SRC!

Good Morning friends! Its been a while. :) It is time for our SRC reveal and this month I was assigned a challenge - I was assigned Heidi's blog which is in Danish. I didn't have the proper internet browser (she recommends google chrome) to automatically translate her page so it was quite labour intensive to translate her page manually using google translator, however, it was well worth it. The snickers bars I made were delicious - so delicious in fact that my family devoured them!!

Lets get started -

first make the chocolate bottom

Ingredients:

• 250 g. good quality milk chocolate
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

Method:

1. Melt chocolate in saucepan over low heat. Stir in peanut butter until combined.
2. Pour mixture into a square pan (I used 8x8) lined with parchment paper. Spread into an even layer. Let the mixture harden in the fridge.

Next make the nougat layer

Ingredients:

• 50g salted butter
• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup evaporated milk
• 2 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 1/2 cups salted peanuts, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Melt butter in sauce pan over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add sugar and evaporated milk and bring mixture to a boil. Stir constantly. Heat through until sugar has dissolved.
2. Add fluff, peanut butter and vanilla and stir until fluff and peanut butter are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and fold in chopped peanuts.
3. Let cool slightly and pour over chocolate base. Place in fridge to set up competely.

Next up, make the caramel layer.

Ingredients:

• 400g toffee/ caramel (the kraft caramel squares work well here)
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Method:

1. Melt toffee and whipping cream together in saucepan over medium heat until mixture is completely smooth. Remove from heat and pour over hardened nougat layer. Place in fridge to harden completely.

Finally, make the chocolate top:

Ingredients

• 250 g good milk chocolate
• 1/2 cup peanut butter

Method:

1. Melt chocolate over low heat in a medium saucepan. Add peanut butter and stir until melted and mixture is smooth. Pour over hardened caramel layer. Place back in fridge to set up completely.

Once bars have hardened and set up in the fridge, remove from the pan and cut into squares. Enjoy!

My family enjoyed these so much that I didn't get a chance to take any photos, so I borrowed a photo from Heidi's blog. Here's what they look like -

Photo not my own - used from Heidi's blog

I am planning to make them again to photograph them and will update this post with my own photos when I have a chance!

Can't wait to see what all the other group C bloggers came up with this month!

Happy baking my friends!

Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies for SRC!

Hi Everyone! Thanks for stopping by to check out this month's Secret Recipe Club's Group C reveal. Its pretty much one of the best days ever - its when we get to reveal our top secret blog assignment for the month and our selected recipe from that blog. :) If you're interested in learning more about SRC or joining, check out what its all about here.

This month, my assignment was The World in my Kitchen written by Mindy. Mindy is from Kentucky, but she has lived and traveled to many different places over the years. Her blog is a great testament to the different places she has lived and she has so many cool recipes to share. You've got to stop by and check if out if you haven't been there before. I can't wait to pop back over there and make some more of Mindy's recipes given the wild success of the one I selected for SRC.

I made the Cranberry, Pistachio Icebox Cookies - they were so perfect because they're easy (and not at all finicky) and they used ingredients I already had in my pantry (woot!). Mindy had a really cute story about how these cookies pulled her out of a string of unsuccessful cookie baking attempts, so I knew the recipe must be a winner. And it was! You've got to try it out ASAP. :D

Cranberry, Pistachio Icebox Cookies
Minimally adapted from The World in my Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• grated zest of one lemon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar + 2 tbsp for sprinkling
• 1/2 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

Method:

1. Stir together the flour and the salt in a small bowl.
2. Beat together the butter, lemon zest, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of the sugar about 3 minutes (or until pale and fluffy). Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in three separate additions, mixing well after each addition. Mix until dough starts to come together in clumps. Add pistachios and cranberries and stir til evenly distributed through dough (it will be very crumbly still).
3. Gather and press dough together and divide into two equal portions. Using a piece of plastic wrap, gather and form each piece into a log (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter). Chill, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap until firm - minimum two hours, but up to three days.
4. Once chilled, preheat oven to 350F and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.
5. Brush egg over the log covering all surfaces except the two ends of the log. Sprinkle liberally with remaining two tbsp of sugar (or use turbinado sugar).
6. Slice each log into 1/4 inch rounds and place on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a cooling rack.

 And thats it! These are super easy and they taste delicious. They also look great because of the beautiful colours added by the pistachios and cranberrys. Thanks Mindy for such a lovely recipe. Can't wait to try out many more. :)

This post has been linked up with Whatcha Bakin Wednesdays over at Cajun Sugar Pie. Head over and check out what other mouthwatering desserts other bloggers have come up with this week.

Penne Alla Salsiccia for Secret Recipe Club

It is the start of the May Long Weekend and I'm just writing my post for Monday's Secret Recipe Club reveal. I feel like the last few months have just got away on me!! But with each month that passes, I can tell you one thing - I'm always thrilled with my assignment for Secret Recipe Club. Whether its a blog that challenges me with recipes that are out of my comfort zone, not my usual fare, or too many delicious recipes to choose from, its always fun browsing through that blog trying to pick what you're going to make! Some of my past choices for SRC have been:

Salted Caramel Filled Brownies
Quinoa & Black Bean Chili 
Birthday Cake Oreo Cookie Bark
Zucchini Carrot Cake
Pizza Bites
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels
Lime & Blueberry Scones

All of them were absolutely delicious and so worth the effort of making. :)

This month I was assigned Cookin' with Moxie written by Jamie. Jamie is a beautiful Italian girl who absolutely loves to cook and loves to eat! Her love for cooking, particularly for cooking meals true to her Italian heritage totally shows through when you look through her blog. It was so hard to pick a recipe because I wanted to try everything!!! After looking through loads of recipes, I finally settled on Spaghetti Alla Salsiccia, for which I didn't have any spaghetti on hand, so I used penne pasta instead and it worked like a charm! Oh man was it good! My homemade pasta sauce doesn't very often end up tasting 10x better than the stuff you buy in a jar, so I usually avoid making it. But this recipe is a keeper. With a short list of easy to find ingredients, you'll be on your way to an authentic tasting pasta dish in no time at all. I made a couple of small changes to the recipe based on what I had on hand in the house, but other than that, I left the recipe as is!

Penne Alla Salsiccia
Recipe minimally adapted from Cookin' with Moxie

Ingredients:

• 1 lb penne
• 2 tsp olive oil, divided
• 1 16oz package of sliced crimini mushrooms
• 1 lb mild italian sausage (can use mild italian flavoured turkey sausage for lower fat dish)
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup red wine
• 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 small can of tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups pasta water, reserved from cooking penne
• shredded provolone to finish dish

Method:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente according to the directions on the box. Reserve 1 1/2 cups cooking water for later. Drain pasta and set aside.
2. While pasta is cooking, heat 1 tsp olive oil in a saute pan. Saute mushrooms over medium heat until lightly browned, about 5-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to distribute seasonings and then remove from pan. Set aside.
3. Add the remaining 1 tsp olive oil (I found I didn't need this as the sausage was oily enough) and saute the sausage until just about cooked through. Add the red wine and cook until reduced by half. Once the wine is reduced, add the mushrooms, worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Cook stirring 1-2 minutes so everything gets coated.
4. Add reserved pasta water and stir to combine. Simmer sauce uncovered, until slighly thickened 20-30 minutes. Season with additional pepper to taste.
5. Combine pasta and sauce and stir to evenly distribute.

And as Jamie would say Tutti Mangia!

Loved my SRC assignment this month and loved the recipe I picked! Thanks Jamie for the lovely selection of recipes. :) Can't wait to try some more.

Happy Cooking my Friends!

Birthday Cake Oreo Cookie Bark & Zucchini Carrot Cake for SRC

Guess what? Its time for Secret Recipe Club again! And I'm super excited about my assignment this month. This month I was assigned Mom's Crazy Cooking written by Tina. Tina is amazing! I follow her blog regularly and am always in awe of the delicious recipes she makes and how frequently she posts. In addition to her crazy blogging, Tina also hosts the Crazy Cooking Challenge every month which I have recently started participating in. What fun! If you're looking for another cooking challenge to join with supportive and friendly participants, check this challenge out!!

With all of Tina's delicious recipes, I couldn't just choose one... so I made Cookie Bark and Zucchini & Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting. I've posted the recipe for Cookie Bark below because I adapted it slightly, but for the Zucchini & Carrot Cake I didn't change a darn thing but the presentation, so I'm going to send you over to Tina's blog for that recipe.

Birthday Cake Oreo Cookie Bark

Recipe minimally adapted from Mom's Crazy Cooking

Ingredients:

• 1 lb milk chocolate melting wafers
• 1 lb white chocolate melting wafers
• 5 birthday cake 100th anniversary oreo cookies
• 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Method:

1. Melt 1 lb milk chocolate melting wafers in the microwave, stirring at 40 second intervals until mixture is smooth. Spread into a thin layer on a piece of parchment paper. Set aside at room temperature until completely set (mine took about 15 minutes, but can take up to an hour if you live somewhere warm).
2. Melt 1 lb white chocolate melting wafers using the same method as above. While the chocolate is melting, roughly chop the oreo cookies and set aside.
3. Spread melted white chocolate onto milk chocolate layer and immediately sprinkle with the oreo cookies and the mini chocolate chips, pressing in lightly. Let set completely - about an hour. Then break into rough pieces to serve.

*NOTE: Don't put chocolate in the freezer to set - otherwise the top layer of chocolate won't adhere as well to the base layer and your bark will break into separate layers when you break it into pieces. Be patient and let it set at room temp!!

It makes quite a lot of bark, but it goes fast!! So if you're having a party with lots of friends, you might want to double the recipe. :)

 And here is a picture of my zucchini carrot cake with lemon cream cheese frosting - I cut out circles of cake using a round cookie cutter and then topped with an ice cream scoop of frosting. Then I finished it with a light sprinkle of icing sugar. Simple and beautiful! This would make the perfect plated dessert to wrap up a dinner party - and just between us - this is super easy to make!!

Happy Baking my Friends! Hope you'll use the  blog hop to check out what all the other Group C'ers made for this month's challenge. You might find a new blog or two to follow!! :)

Thrifty Veggie Mama's Quinoa & Black Bean Chili for SRC

 Woohoo!! Its time for Secret Recipe Club again (in my opinion, one of the highlights of my month). I get to check out a new blog and sometimes experience a new way of cooking. That was the case this month when I was assigned Thrifty Veggie Mama's blog. She has so much healthy stuff on there... definitely a new style for me. :) Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this month's assignment and had the opportunity to try out a new vegan recipe for my mom who is a newly converted vegan. Perfect timing I guess!

Thrifty Veggie Mama is written by Jamie. Jamie is a busy, mother of three kids (all under the age of five!!) who has been vegetarian for a few years now. I loved the various flavours in her blog and how healthy and wholesome the recipes are. Oh, and I did notice that a lot of the recipes are very easy to put together! What more could you want?

For my selection I made the Quinoa and Black Bean Chili. Oh it was amazing and received rave reviews from my mom!! To be honest, I didn't change much. I added a bit more water because my quinoa seemed to absorb the entire cup and a half of water in the recipe, so I ended up using more like 1 3/4 -2 cups of water. And I also used about 4 tbsp chili powder and 1 1/2 tbsp cumin. Other than that, it was alllll the same. You could mix up the veggies if you want and don't be shy about the jalepeno - it just rounds out the flavour without being ridiculous spicy!

So I'm going to send you on over to Jamie's blog to check out the recipe. Stop by and give her blog some love. I guarantee you'll be bookmarking it for later! I know I'll be back.

Happy Cooking my friends! And thanks for stopping by. I can't wait to hop around and check out what all of my fellow group C-er's made from their assigned blogs. :D

The Savvy Kitchen's Pizza Bites & Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzels for SRC

After a long month off, we're back on schedule for the Secret Recipe Club! And I couldn't be more excited. This month I was assigned The Savvy Kitchen. The Savvy Kitchen is written by Amy and its a great place to find easy and delicious recipes - with a wide array of types of dishes! And since her parents are italian, she's got some great pasta recipes on there that I can't wait to try out when I have time. I loved her blog so much that I decided to make two recipes to share with you today.

First up I made these delicious pepperoni pizza puffs. They're a quick and easy appetizer and even your fussiest guest is sure to dive right into! Sorry for the quality of the pizza puff photos - we were so excited to eat them that these are the only photos I managed to snap before they were devoured.

Pepperoni Pizza Puffs
Recipe from The Savvy Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 cup shredded mozza
• 1 cup pepperoni, cut into small pieces
• 1 small can pizza sauce for dipping

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 24 cup mini muffin pan with non-stick spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking powder. Whisk in the milk, eggs and seasonings. Then gently stir in the mozza and the pepperoni. Let stand for 10 minutes.
2. Stir the batter, then divide among the prepared mini muffin cups. Fill almost to the top, then bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and golden. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping and try not to eat the whole batch in one sitting!! (good luck with that!!)

Those were such a hit in our house (we eagerly sat around the coffee table, devouring these until they were all gone!!), that I decided to try out another recipe from Amy's blog - this time something sweet.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bites
Recipe from The Savvy Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 80 mini pretzels
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Line large baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Beat peanut butter, powdered sugar and vanilla in a bowl until smooth and creamy. Roll peanut butter into 1/2 inch balls and place in the center of 40 of the mini pretzels. Top each one with another mini pretzel, pressing down slightly to sandwich the icing between the pretzels. Once all pretzel bites are formed, place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave on low, stirring often so the chocolate doesn't burn. Remove the pretzels from the freezer and dip each one into the melted chocolate. Place each chocolate covered pretzel onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to one week.

These were soooo addictive and delicious! We couldn't stop eating them. I'm afraid to make another batch in case I eat all of them too. But make these for a party - they're easy and quick and guests will devour them. :)

I'm so excited about finding Amy's blog! Its wonderful and I can't wait to venture back and try out some more of her recipes. They're so down to earth and low maintenance to make, which is a nice change of pace from some of the stuff I often find myself making. So, if you haven't already checked out The Savvy Kitchen, do it! I'll still be here when you come back.

And lastly, check out the blog hop below - it is a round up of all the other SRC Group C participants this month. Everyone always does a great job choosing and making delicious recipes and then in turn featuring the blog they were assigned.

Happy Baking my Friends!

SRC: Wives With Knives Lime Blueberry Scones

Hi All!  Hope your holiday preparations are going well. In addition to my usual holiday preparations, it is also time for December's Secret Recipe Club reveal for group C! Each month members are assigned another member's blog at random to choose a recipe from and make it and then on the reveal date, we reveal the recipe we selected and the blog we were assigned. It is a fun project, although, some months I feel more like stalker than blogger! All in good fun though. :)

Photo by Cathy at Wives with Knives (used with Cathy's permission)

This month I was assigned the blog Wives with Knives. And wow!! What a fabulous blog - so many beautiful pictures and delicious sounding recipes. My only regret is that December wasn't such a busy month for me - I would have loved to try a couple of recipes each week from this lovely blog. Cathy writes this lovely blog from Oregon (which also happens to be one of mine and my hubby's favorite vacation spots). She has lovely recipes - a good mix of sweet and savory, beautiful scenic adventure posts, and lots of interesting farmers market posts as well. It is a great mix that is sure to capitivate all readers who happen to drop by - if you haven't already happened upon her blog, do so ASAP! You are bound to find all kinds of inspiration there. :)

So - sad news - I took photos of these delicious scones that I made and my computer crashed and I lost my photos. I was near tears so hubby volunteered to do some recovery procedures with my dinosaur of a lap top tomorrow to see what he can rummage up. So, please keep your fingers crossed. I've shared a picture of my friend's lovely Christmas cards that she makes (see my previous post regarding Handmade by Sabana). I will update this post with food pics if hubby can recover, or when I have a chance to reperform the recipe later this week. Apologies to those of you visual foodies!!!  **UPDATE: I received a very kind email from Cathy at Wives with Knives with an offer that I could use one of her photos in order to get into the SRC list for the month. So, thanks Cathy for being so kind to me! :) :)

**UPDATE #2: I wasn't able to recover these photos, but I did rebake the recipe and get some of my own pictures. :) These scones were definitely appreciated a second time by my family! Mine aren't as pretty as Cathy's, but they definitely tasted delicious.

Here is the lovely recipe - I've only made some minor modifications to the recipe - mainly due to what I had on hand. :) This seems like a pretty versatile recipe, so feel free to play around with it.

Lime Blueberry Scones
Recipe minimally adapted from Wives with Knives

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp lime zest
• 5 tbsp butter, cold and cut into small cubes
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, thawed

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Sift dry ingredients into the bowl of a large food processor. Add lime zest and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in the buttermilk and pulse until mixture comes together. Pour mixture out onto counter and mix in the blueberries gently, folding and refolding the dough a couple of times to gently work the berries in without mashing them. Pat the dough into a square and cut into 12 squares.
2. Place the scones on a baking tray lined with a piece of parchment paper. Brush with a bit of buttermilk and sprinkle with some sugar. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

I hope you enjoy these scones, despite the lack of pictures. Please keep your fingers crossed for good ideas for recovery of lost pictures. Or if you have any suggestions, please feel free to pass them my way. Hoping for the best... or maybe this is just a hint telling me I need to make these again... they were pretty darn good.

Happy Reveal Day fellow group C'ers. Can't wait to check out your creations.

Jane's Yummy Bread for SRC!

 Secret Recipe Club... what a great thing! I look forward to it every month and agonize over what I'm going to make. This month I was assigned Jane - Adventures in Dinner. Jane is a teacher and a mother, so you know what that means! She is busy. I am always so amazed at women who have a family and a career and a blog... I mean, its enough work to have a family or a career, but do it all at once, then add a blog to that? Wow! I'm impressed!

And I was even more impressed as I started browsing through recipes on her blog. I settled on this amazing looking bread that Jane actually made because the rosemary potato loaf at the store cost almost $7 per loaf. I can't blame her for wanting to make her own - especially because this recipe was so delicious. Oh, and did I mention how easy it is? You can make this delicious bread in under two hours. Woot!

Rosemary Potato Bread
Recipe adapted from Jane - Adventures in Dinner

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp quick rise yeast
• 2 cups warm water, divided
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 small white potato, sliced paper thin
• coarse salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Method:

1. Combine the honey, yeast and one cup of the warm water in a bowl. Mix together gently and let stand 5 minutes until the mixture is frothy. Add the olive oil and the remaining cup of warm water. Add the flour and mix together until dough comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough together lightly until it comes together into a smooth ball. Cover with the mixing bowl and let rise for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Pat the dough out into a rectangle or whatever shape you like. Drizzle generously with additional olive oil and poke holes with your fingers at regular intervals in the dough - this will give the oil somewhere to settle while the dough proofs. Let the loaf proof for 15 minutes.
3. Arrange the potato slices and then sprinkle with rosemary, salt and pepper (use lots of pepper). Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. Enjoy!

 Thanks Jane for such a delicious and easy recipe. It looks really impressive and would be great to serve to friends and family when they come to visit. It is a light, chewy bread with nice crispy edges. :) Do head over to Jane's blog and check it out when you have a minute - you're sure to find lots of inspiration on what to make for dinner and lots of interesting posts to read.

 If you're interested in joining the Secret Recipe Club, or just want more information, head on over to the great new SRC website and check it out. SRC is a great group of people who are passionate about cooking and baking and connecting with other bloggers. Thanks to Angie - Group C's fearless leader and organizer - I know its lots of work to get everything together and remind all of us delinquents who like to prepare and schedule their posts the night before they're due... Thanks for putting up with people like me Angie!!

Happy Baking my Friends! Hope to see you back soon. :)