Maple pecan date scones!

Hii, got some apologies to make: I have been quite busy lately and haven't uploaded any interesting recipes, even been behind with weekly overviews (which are there to link to recipes, anyway), and, haven't been posting many interesting photos either!


I was a bit late with taking photos, as usual..

So I thought, for this weekend, I'll post a couple of recipes and pictures. Unfoortunaatelyyy I forgot to take photos of the cooking process again. Ah well! The scones we made today were absolutely amazing, so hope you enjoy this recipe (mostly made up, inspiration and some preciser measures taken from the web)! You'll love these scones if you like slightly wholemeal-y bakings, with nutty and 'molasses' flavours.

Maple pecan date scones
Makes about 9 medium-sized scones, or less bigger ones (yeeep.)

Ingredients
- 1 cup of high-grade flour
- 1 cup of wholemeal flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 cup of butter
- 1/4 cup of brown sugar
- 2/3 cup of buttermilk
- 3 tbsp of maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup of pecans
- 1/2 cup of dates

Method
Start out with toasting the pecans slightly (in the oven on 180 degrees for example, until some browning occurs, or when you start to smell them). Melt the butter, and beat it with the sugar. Add the maple syrup, the vanilla essence and eventually buttermilk (the cold buttermilk might make the butter become hard and lumpy again, but don't worry, it doesn't matter :)). Beat until nice and creamy (as mentioned, little lumps are okay). In a different, bigger bowl, sieve the two cups of flour, and add the baking powder and soda. If you don't use salted butter like we did, now add a teaspoon of salt, or less. Add the pecans and dates to the flour mixture, and mix through.


Beautiful.. ^^

Then add the liquids (buttermilk etc.), and stir through and knead, until a nice dough is formed. It will be more sticky than a bread dough, but should not stick to your fingers. Try to refrain from adding flour unless you really have to! I personally just really dislike flour-y scones. :D Now form about 9 scones on an oven tray with baking paper on it. Bake for about 18-25 minutes on 200 degrees (C). Then try to wait until they're cooled down and eat them! We couldn't wait, and had two with butter (YUM), but they really were better when cooled down fully. :) A lovely, lovely nutty maple taste. You should now look as happy as this bloke. ;)


Say YES to lumpy pecan and date bits!

Week 28

We had an Italian theme food week, this week. It was amazing.

Saturday
Thai red curry (with additional herbs!) with kumara, white onion, and green beans, with Jasmin rice.

Sunday
Made home-made pizza!! (Pizza base was partly made with wholemeal flour). We made a big oven tray of pizza, divided into four:
- Margherita: tomato, basil and mozzarella
- Carciofi: tomato, basil, artichoke, later some rocket and parmesan on top
- Piccante: tomato, bell pepper, white onion, pepperoni, jalapeno pepper, cheddar
- Acciughe: tomato, anchovies, capers, white onion, jalapeno pepper, mozzarella

Monday
Chicken scaloppina, with boiled potatoes, carrot and broccoli, served with a luscious red wine sauce and a home-made focaccia, straight from the oven (with rock salt, garlic and rosemary on top). YES.

Tuesday
Quickly seared beef strips (sirloin steak) on a bed of rocket & spinach leafs, with parmesan shavings, next to grilled green asparagus (with olive oil and more parmesan shavings - woohoo!), a basil-olive oil-tomato salad, and grilled potatoes and kumara (garlic & rosemary), served with some focaccia bread (lightly toasted with some mozzarella) and olive oil & balsamic vinegar dip.

Wednesday
A quick dinner with fried haloumi (fresh lemon juice on top), a toasted wholewheat garlic pita, and salad: mesclun leafs, red bell pepper, avocado, sprouts, tomato, some fresh parsley and basil, balsamico vinegar and olive oil.

Thursday
Spring risotto: fried one white onion in butter and olive oil, until transparent, then added a cup of Arborio rice, stir-fried that, added some lemon zest (half a lemon), and started adding vegetable stock (1.5 cup, and then 0.5 cup extra water), and a little bit of lemon juice (of about half a lemon). In the end added blanched green asparagus and spinach, some grated Parmesan, and little parsley and basil. Served with the remainder of our haloumi, and some extra lemon juice. Yum yum yum!!

Friday
Ate out at Tonino’s pizzeria, Mission Bay.


Tuesday's dinner

Week 27

This one is of last week.. now catching up! (This was not a very exciting week - I was finishing on my last(?!) exam!)(Will also try to post some more recipes this week!)

Saturday
Ate at the Indian Lights festival: samosa chaat. Reaally niiice! (Samosa, chickpea curry, and chole – a salad like thing). Wayne also had aloo bhatura with coriander chutney(?).

Sunday
Kumara roasted with honey/lemon/olive oil and a salad with bell pepper, cucumber, feta, bacon, and a lemon/honey/olive oil/fresh oregano/dried thyme-dressing. Pretty good.

Monday
Had wraps with chicken thigh meat (fried with onion, garlic, cumin, paprika and oregano), fried red kidney beans, some pineapple, some lettuce and tomato. Chilli-tomato sauce. Easy, yum. Def. comfort-food.

Tuesday
Ate at the lab: wraps with some left-over chicken, beans, and salad.

Wednesday
Made a mixed quinoa salad with grilled veggies, sundried tomatoes and caperberries, parsley and basil, raw garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Also grilled haloumi, mesclun salad, and a ciabatta.

Thursday
Wraps with left-over quinoa salad, some fried chicken, or with some tuna and pineapple.

Friday
Ciabatta with omelette (two eggs, fresh herbs, feta), some salad and avocado.

Week 26

I'm running behind, have had some crazy weeks....but here we go!

Saturday
Hawke’s Bay: we got home-made beef burgers (nice!) on toasted buns, with tomato, coleslaw and beetroot (pretty Kiwi!)

Sunday
Hawke’s Bay: We got Sunday roast (pork), gravy and apple sauce, with roast kumara, new potatoes with mint and butter, boiled pumpkin, broccoli and asparagus. Nice!

Monday
Home-made pita-pizzas with pepperoni, feta, bell pepper, red onion, peppadew, sundried tomato, and some grated cheddar (and tomato base).

Tuesday
French red rice salad with grilled aubergine, asparagus and red onion. Also with: sundried tomatoes, caperberries, artichokes, black olives, parsley and basil. On the side we had grilled portabello mushrooms (two smaller ones each), filled with a mixture of feta, cut-up pumpkin seeds, parsley, sumac, thyme, black pepper, olive oil and lemon juice. Yeah!

Wednesday
Kumara fritters (one kumara, one small potato, one carrot – cumin, one red chilli pepper with seeds, salt/pepper, chopped coriander) with 10-second cucumber raita (honey yoghurt, piece of cucumber, one leaf of mint, black pepper) and a salad (mesclun leafs, chopped bell pepper, grated carrot, pumpkin seeds, and a dressing of olive oil, fresh lemon juice, sumac, cumin, some sugar and black pepper). Everything was really nice - really tasty.

Thursday
Japanese omelette, spinach and mushrooms with soy sauce and sesame seeds, with Jasmin rice, and miso soup. Light but nice.

Friday
Ate at Carolyn’s (leg of lamb, roast kumara, potato and kumara, fried bok choy), yum!