blueberry cream cheese yummyness!!

 

another day off, which means another day for me to try out a new recipe!! i kinda stole this idea from diamond head grill's blueberry cream cheese scone, but i had never made scones before, and it was either blueberry cream cheese, or strawberry with a lemon glaze. so due to popular demand i went for the blueberry^_^ once again pulling out "martha" for help. i looked at her recipes for scones, checking to see the kind of consistency i was looking for and what kinds of shapes i would want. i finally decided to reference her current scones recipe. i have to say, that even though i fudged over a few of the steps due to my fridge being too small, and substituting blueberries and cream cheese for currents it came out pretty darn good! here is the recipe for all of you out there in blog world, i hope my side tips help you out!!

Blueberry Cream Cheese Scones

4 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold cut into small pieces
1 cup frozen blueberries
½ block cream cheese cut into large cubes, unless you want more
1 large whole egg, plus 1 large egg yolk
2 ¼ cups heavy cream
Sanding sugar (which is Sugar in the raw from maui)

• “Martha” says to start my lining two baking sheets with parchment paper, but I am going to tell you right now, the first thing you should do is one: make sure your baking sheets can fit in your freezer and two: make room in your freezer for those baking sheets. Then, after you have done that, then I would line the baking sheets and set aside.

• In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

• Add the butter and using a pastry cutter cut the butter into the dry mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with a few large clumps.

• Add the blueberries and the cream cheese clumps and gently mix well with your hand. *I say to put the cream cheese in large clumps here because they will get small when mixed, when I made it I added them in globs after I had already mixed the cream with the dough, my mistake>_< But, as a warning the blueberries will start to defrost and break down. Although, it didn’t turn out bad and you may prefer to do it that way.*

• This is the fun part…add 2 cups of heavy cream and use your hand to draw the dry ingredients over the cream, gradually gathering and combining the dough until it comes together. If it is too dry, add more cream a tablespoon at a time till it all stay together.

• Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and with lightly floured hands gently press and pat the dough into a 11-by-7-inch rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Using a sharp knife or pastry wheel (ie pizza cutter), cut the rectangle into 16 triangles. Place the triangles onto the prepared baking sheets; cover with plastic wrap and freeze until the dough is very firm. About two hours or overnight. *this is the step I missed because my freezer is not very big and the baking sheets I have can’t fit, that’s why you have to be sure to make room in your freezer!*

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl lightly beat the egg yolk with the remaining ¼ cup of cream; brush over the frozen scones and then top generously with the raw sugar. *I would put about 1 ½ teaspoons or more, because you really want to coat the top, it adds a lot of flavor and makes a really great crusty top for your scones!*

• Place in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, making sure to turn the baking sheets half way through until the tops are golden and flecked with brown spots, also check the bottoms to ensure they are golden brown. When done transfer to a wire rack and let cool, they are best eaten right away! Or within the same day^_^

all the ingredients...

whisking all the dry ingredients together...

cutting in the cold butter...

 

the crumbly mixture...

 

cut and placed on the baking sheets...

 

yummy!!^_^ eat warm!

clyde common

when tim was in town, jen and her boyfriend lyle had been talking about this place in portland called clyde common. i had never been before, but all the food they had talked about sounded so amazing and very well prepared. we decided that after our day trip to newport and to the wineries we would have second dinner there:) i was very excited, not only because i had heard so much about the place, but lyle kept saying how great the desserts there were! and if you already hadn't guessed i have the LARGEST SWEET TOOTH in the world! blame my parents for giving me too much chocolate as a child, or maybe it was all the candy in willie wonka and the chocolate factory...hmmm. well, back to the point when we got to clyde common it was pretty late, maybe around 10. they have late night specials and we were eager to eat and check out the menu...

sorry for the lack of light, its pretty dark in there and i only had a candle to help me out. but i think that was one thing i enjoyed, the ambiance was wonderfully romantic. the restaurant itself is really open with an upper level and the lower level. the lower level has the open kitchen, bar, and large beautiful windows looking out to the street. the tables are large family style tables, no small individual, so if you don't know the person sitting next to you, you soon will. which i thought was a wonderful idea, i think it forces you to step outside your own comfort zone. there were a few couples there out for a late dinner or drinks, which told me that this was a great place to just "hang out" at, overall a very relaxing spot.

such simple elegance...

everyone impatiently waiting for their food. we couldn't decide what to eat for the longest time because there were so many things and so many things i had never heard of. our poor waitress, we kept having to send her back because we hadn't decided what we wanted and we kept asking questions because we just didn't know what everything was. and if you work in the food business you could fairly mark us as "those kinds" of customers that night".
i finally opted out for a simple salad since the "clam chowda" from mo's earlier had filled me up pretty well...

this is the chowda, so yummy i had to put in a picture!!

this is my escarole salad with green goddess dressing, which is kind of like a light pesto with lemony flavors that follow, very fresh, with prosciutto all over...mmmm bacon^_^

this grilled cheese was delicious, i don't know why but i seriously think pesto can go with anything!! well almost, but they put it with their grilled cheese which i thought was pretty ingenious^_^ pair it with their pickles, which are different kinds of veggies and hard boiled egg pickled, so delectable!! now, on to the best part...

this is the best ice cream sandwich i have EVER HAD!! its peanut butter and vanilla ice cream sandwiched between chocolate cookies, over chocolate sauce, with toasted marshmallows on the side and peanut brittle on top. yes, it was sway worthy and totally ROCKED my chocolate world!! lyle really wasn't lieing about their amazing desserts! 

we also go a mixed berry cobbler, with a little biscuit top and vanilla basil ice cream...drool!

it was delicious^_^

so was this^_^ i'm going to go here again to grab some drinks and maybe a dessert...or two later this week. definitely one of my favorite places to go in portland^_^

youcanhascheeseburger

omg! so once i again i headed out to newport, a town on the coast of oregon, with jen, tim, arthur, and lyle. i really enjoyed our adventures, not only because we went to great food places, but i love exploring new places and seeing what places have to offer. thankfully tim and jen being the "yelpers" they are have shown me how many different food places portland has to offer!! well we hit up the food carts before our drive to the wineries and newport. tim had heard about this sandwich on the east coast what was basically a hamburger, but the buns are grilled cheese sandwiches! OMG, fatty goodness heave!!! so i was completely down to search for the equivalent here in portland! behold, the brunchbox!! tim yelped it and found out that they had the "youcanhascheeseburger" which basically blew my mind!! here are the pics, and i must say you are crazy not to try this 1500 calorie sandwich of AMAZINGNESS!!!^_^

nom nom nom...droool...

about to charge 'em

the many different food stands! all so delicious and reasonably priced!!

arthur and his pb&j rex

jen and her cheezasaurus rex, we were both disappointed that it didn't look more like a T-Rex. she and i thought that was very deceiving of them:-p

i was speechless...^_^ and swaying...

the mix of the grilled cheese sandwiches and the burger were by no means overly greasy or too much for me. i thought it mixed REALLY well. and i was actually surprised because i thought i was going to feel sick or gross after, like if you eat REALLY healthy for a long time and then have mcdonald's, but i didn't. the burger was very well prepared and the mustard, ketchup, grilled onions, fresh lettuce and tomatoe all added to the wonderfullness that is the "youcanhascheeseburger" yum yum yum...i did kinda wish i had some nicely prepared fries on the side though, but i thought that would have been a little much.

we continued our journey from there onto the wineries, newport, where we had some amazing clam chowda', and then to clyde common for second dinner and dessert...post to follow^_~

cafe broder

AAAHH hecticness!! lately things have been a little crazy! work, working out (yes, i work out, i have to with all the food i make!:-P), people visiting, and finding time to bake!! all so crazy! whew, ok i think i have gotten it out of my system! well, things have been a bit busier than usual, so bare with me while i catch myself up on all the little details i want to incorporate into this particular blog.

my friend jen and i have been trying out some new brunch places lately and since jen's brother arthur and our friend tim are both in town from hawaii we decided to keep up with the "brunch run" and check out cafe broder. jen is a self proclaimed "yelper", i love this term because its so funny and because its true, she loves to check out places on yelp! and i can't help but agree that yelp is pretty darn useful! she had sent me the link on my facebook and after looking at it it seemed like a very interesting place. first off its a swedish restaurant! i have never eaten swedish food to my recollection, so that immediately sparked my interest. i couldn't wait to try it!

i picked them up the next morning and on the way there we got a flat, talk about working for your food. luckily tim knew how to change flat tires, and was trying to teach arthur how to "be a man". it was a wonderfully entertaining experience, where i also learned what most of the things in my glove compartment are for ie. the tire locks, which i didn't even know i had!  but we finally made it to the restaurant and i must say i loved the quaintness of the place. i am a "details person" so all the little details completely stuck out to me. the wood floors, the contrasting color scheme of the blue and yellow, the little knickknacks sparsely placed on the counter, it was all very mellowing and put me in the mood to eat! so on to the food!

the wonderful menu! i loved the menu, it was very simple in design and had a lot of choices, from vegetarian scrambles to the more traditional apple fritters with sausage.

i love the upside down numbers on the cream bottle, the lovely little glasses for my cranberry apple mimosa (it was my day off and i was entitled to a drink), and my coffee cup. so wonderful^_^

arthur's food: apple fritters and sausage w/ his twist-tie octopus in the corner^_^

jen's food (i don't remember what it was called because all i could remember was how she wanted lemon curd with it, and who could blame her really?!)

tim's swedish bord: brown bread and rye crisp, cured meat, smoked trout, hard cheese, seasonal citrus, granola parfait, and daily salad. i loved the pieces of checkered paper it comes on, and how all the little plates fit so neatly into the board!!

my solstice bord: brown bread an rye crisp, soft-bolied egg, ham, daily salad, hard & soft cheese, granola parfait and cinnamon slice. i ate all my food and it was very light and refreshing. i am not one who usually likes runny eggs, but i thought the soft-boiled egg was DELICIOUS and they have converted me to a runny egg lover!! the cheeses were a perfect match with the ham and the rye crisps. i wasn't too partial to the brown bread, but paired with the cheese and meat made it bearable.

 dessert: aebleskiver (danish pancakes) w/ lingonberry jam, lemon curd, house-made applesauce, and maple syrup total yummyness!!!^_^

NOM NOM NOM!!! its like a pancake ball, the inside was was warm and runny from the batter and the sweetness of the powdered sugar was not overbearing, but just right...

all in all i would have to highly recommend cafe broder to anyone visiting portland in the near future! and i am planning to take my sister there the next time she is in town, i think she would love it!!

 arthur, jen & tim at the berry picking stand with no strawberries!:-p

cooking with mom^_^

my mom and i decided to make dinner the other night since my dad is the one who usually does all the cooking. we decided to make my dad's "bistro mahi" since he is SOOO proud of it. and mom and i had the leftover pesto she had made so what better way to finish it off^_^ to make the mahi is actually fairly simple, yet it looks a lot harder than it really is. first you have your mahi steaks to season...

put a little garlic powder, salt, and pepper. then place in your heated pan with EVOO...

sear on both sides...

mmmm yumm!! cover with capers, my fave!!

and cover. turn off the stove and let sit for about 10 min. it should be completely cooked through when done. paired with the pesto pasta it was absolutely amazing and a great easy and delicious meal!!^_^

testin' n' tastin'

so right now at my house we have boat loads of jam!! i am very much like my mom, something i am hesitant to admit, but the truth:-p when she gets an idea in her head to do something she just does it! so one day she thought she should try making jam. she researched it on youtube, she looked up recipes and finally made strawberry-rhubarb jam...but it was too sweet! so she did it again! so we have about 6 jars of jam in our house and nothing to do with it all, and this is after we gave some jars away!! so of course, being the baker/scientist that i am, i decided to try making the peanut butter and jelly thumbprints i have attempted to perfect before. this time i made up my own recipe taking bits and pieces from other cookie recipes, trying to make the "BEST" consistency and ideal look for my cookies. which, by the way, i encourage everyone to do!! testing things out in the kitchen is the most invigorating and exciting thing because you can really have the freedom to come up with something uniquely your own!! well, after doing all this and having some hesitations about the amount of butter, or flour or deciding to put molasses in or not, i FINALLY had a dough...it was a bit clumpy and a bit too oily, i don't think i accounted for the oil in the peanut butter in addition to the butter itself. but i rolled them out into tablespoon sized balls and coated them with some sugar. i then placed them on the baking sheet and used my thumb for the indentations....

not too shabby^_^

thus the finished product. my mom and i both tested them, and she and i agreed that it still needs some work, but the base of the recipe is pretty good so far and though the dough was a bit oily when rolling the cookie, the finished product was pretty darn good. the tart flavor of her strawberry-rhubarb jam mixed with the crunchy outside and chewy inside, yet VERY peanut buttery (yes, i make up words) flavor of the cookie mixed well together. maybe i will try it with a different type of jam next time, perhaps raspberry!!! well, its a step closer to a desired result and eating along the way never hurt anyone^_~

P.S.-thanks for all the feed back on the nutella muffin post!! any other comments would be appreciated!! i love hearing how everyone has done trying them!!^_^

as promised...

as promised, i am posting this recipe. this recipe actually came about because my mom didn't want the nutella in the house anymore. she bought it because of a craving and never wanted any after, why she wouldn't want any is BEYOND me because nutella is probably one of the best things ever invented! but, that's my mom...this is a take off the pioneer woman's blueberry muffin recipe, i changed a few things up, just to give it a little "lisa spin":


The Awesome-est Nutella Muffins
3 cups minus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Heavy pinch of salt
Dash of nutmeg (optional)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup plain, unflavored yogurt (throw in extra if you want)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 container Nutella
paper liners for muffin pan


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line muffin pans appropriately.
In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and stir to a count of 10.

Add mixture muffin pans. Scoop about 1 tablespoon (or more if you like ^_~) of the Nutella on top of the muffin dough. Use a chopstick to swirl in the Nutella with the dough (i like it really mixed in to give it an even flavor of Nutella), and bake.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.

there you go...i hope you enjoy them as much as my workers did!! and let me know what you think of the recipe when its done!!^_^

gastronomical!!

 this is my sister's best friend tammy. she is a midwife in training, i thought that was a very unusual profession but, she loves it and she took the time out from delivering babies to come to portland to visit us! we went to lunch at nicholas' a lebonese and middle eastern restaurant in portland, real yummy!!

haha ok so i just discovered this word "gastronomy", basically it means "the art or science of good eating". right up my alley^_^  tammy (my sister's best friend), traveled via san francisco from madison, wisconsin and since she took time out of her busy schedule to visit us i decided to make some yummy food for her. and since it is still a bit chilly in JULY (yes, its still cold, this state is weird....) i wanted to make something for tammy to warm her up a bit. i also don't post so much about food i cook and i thought it would be a good way to change things up a bit... i got my ingredients together to make a kind of kimchee base soup. this recipe actually came from my auntie doris and when i had first tried it i thought it was so simple, yet so flavorful! of course i had to get the recipe!! 

 spinach isn't spinach without popeye on the bag^_^

in the original recipe she uses chicken thighs, but since my parents are undeclared "health freaks" we use chicken breasts. the flavor of the soup is very interesting, with the fresh spinach and tomatoes and the way the low-fat coconut milk mixes with the kimchee base its really reminiscent of a kind of thai soup...   

first i sweated the onion and garlic in EVOO (rachel ray talk for extra virgin olive oil)...

next, i added the chicken which i cut in small strips. i let it cook through...

when the chicken was cooked through, i added one can of low-sodium chicken stock, one can low-fat coconut milk, and about a quarter of a jar of kimchee base (depending on how spicy you want it and how salty), let simmer...

i then added one whole bag of large leaf spinach, washed. i let it cook down. and finally added  the quarter sliced tomatoes and let simmer about 5 minutes more...

smelled so goooooooooood^_^

served with a little brown rice it was delectable!!!! we followed the soup with some blueberry pie...i wanted to use the cookie cutters i bought from sur la table^_^...

thanks for the pie crust recipe "martha"...

tammy picked out the shooting stars, so i used this cut out instead of my dinosaur ones:-p

sway worthy....

served it with some vanilla bean ice cream and it disappeared...^_^