I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
Our Mallards are the most prolific of our ducks. We see them almost everyday. The Hooded Mergansers are probably the other ducks we mostly see on our lakes or ponds. The males are so gorgeous, especially when they are all puffed up. The females look good too, but they are not nearly as colorful, which is often the case with birds. The Mergansers are much smaller than our Mallards, but just as beautiful. We also get some Common Mergansers, but strangely enough, they are not nearly as “common” on our lakes or ponds as are the Hooded Mergansers. 🙂
It was time to make another delicious assortment of goodies for the church coffee cart again. This is always a fun challenge. I bought some yummy springtime treats and fruit and then added to it with a toffee coffee cake. This week’s selection was a combination of mini apples and grapes, some chocolates, and strawberry bites, lemon bites and the toffee coffee cake.
You all know how much fun I have when I am able to recreate something into something totally different just by adding a few creative touches and some imagination. I did it again here too. I had some leftover toffee scones that I crushed up and added to the cake, both in the filling and as a topping. Success yet again. It was a big hit, just the way I like it. 🙂
Toffee Coffee Cake
I love coffee cakes. They are so versatile and can be made with just about anything. They lend themselves to all sorts of cakes too. They are great for breakfast or snacks or dessert at any time too.
3 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup or 1 stick of softened butter
3 eggs
16 oz of either yogurt or sour cream or cream cheese – I used cream cheese this time
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups toffee scones, crushed
1 package butterscotch chips
Preheat the oven to 350* F or 190 * C.
Spray either a cake pan or a baking pan with cooking spray.
Crush the scones and mix together with the butterscotch chips and set aside.
Combine all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and set aside.
Mix the butter and sugar together in a mixer until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each addition. Add either the cream cheese, yogurt or sour cream and vanilla and mix again. I had some organic cream cheese that wasn’t as soft as liked, so I also added a couple of TBSPS of organic oat milk to soften it up a bit too. I rarely buy organic products unless I am cooking for special dietary restrictions, but that is a whole other topic, maybe for later. 🙂
Add the flour half at a time and mix in between. When all the flour is added and everything is mixed together, fold in half of the scones and chips. Spoon the mixture into your prepared pan and spread out evenly. I used a 9×13 baking pan this time, but I often use a bundt pan too.
Once the batter is in the pan, top it with the remaining scone and chip mixture and bake for about 1 1/4 hours or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Once the cake is completely cooled, cut it how you like and enjoy. You can also add apples to this cake as well, to make a more like a caramel apple toffee cake. YUM!
Another one of our new guests on the ponds is a Cinnamon Teal. Like so many of our other visitors, I have seen him before, just not that frequently. Now I have seen him a few days in a row, but he is pretty hard to capture with my camera. Every time I get him in my sights, and get the camera focused, he decides to dive underwater. I did manage to get a few good shots though before he decided to plunge again.
I’ll take what I can get, you know. I am grateful for them all. I just love meeting all “my new neighbors”.
We have had some more gorgeous visitors out on our ponds these days. More so than usual. One of our other gorgeous visitors was a Redhead duck. His bright red head really stands out and he just looks so impressive.
Thank you from our very own e-Quips at https://equipsblog.wordpress.com/ for sharing this fun little food quiz. I got 11 out of 12. How will you do? Please let me know your results. It’s not as easy as you would think. 🙂
This difficult quiz shows you the picture of the food, with a brief description. You need to decide which of the four answers is correct. I did not do very well.
Most often, when it comes to making dinner, I never really know what I am going to make until an inspiration just comes to me. Most of the time, it happens at random, as I am looking through cookbooks, just looking at recipes and getting ideas. Sometimes, I have a general idea in mind, but more so than not, I don’t know until it comes time to making dinner. And then I check my pantry to see what I have on hand and what I need to get. And from this spark comes dinner. This time, I was inspired to do some Indian chicken tikka.
The inspiration for this dish actually came from 2 different sources. At first, I was thinking of something completely different, and then I kept flipping pages, this was what I wanted to make. And viola, this dish was created. The first recipe I found called for a jar of tikka sauce, but I try my best NOT to use store-bought items if I can help it, so I wanted to make it myself. I had to go to the store for some of the ingredients anyway, so I looked at the ingredient list on a jar of tikka sauce, and thought I can do better than this. So I did. 🙂
Chicken Tikka with Roasted Vegetables
I love big, bold flavors in almost all of my cooking. That may be why I have such an affinity for so many different ethnic foods. I started off by roasting some tomatoes and went from there.
3-4 tomatoes, roasted
1-2 jalapenos, seeded
2 TBSP garlic, divided
1 TBSP minced ginger
1/3 cup olive oil
4 tsp coriander
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or to taste
salt & pepper to taste
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 TBSP lemon juice
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream or yogurt
2 lbs chicken pieces
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 can chickpeas or garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 red onion, sliced thin
2-3 carrots, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced medium
chopped cilantro, for topping
Roast the tomatoes for about 30 minutes at 425* F or about 220* C.
Allow the tomatoes to cool for a bit, then add to a food processor along with the jalapeno, spices, olive oil, 1/2 of the garlic, ginger and cream or yogurt and blend together until you have a creamy sauce.
Marinate the chicken in the sauce for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Reserve some of the sauce without the chicken for a topping once the meal is done.
Toss the vegetables, along with more olive oil, garbanzo beans, salt & pepper together, then arrange on a baking sheet lined with either parchment paper or aluminum foil. Spread the vegetables out so they make a single layer.
Arrange the chicken pieces into the pan as well.
Roast everything together for about 40-45 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked completely. After about 20 minutes or so, mix up the vegetables so they cook evenly.
Once the chicken and vegetables are done, top them with more sauce and some of the fresh cilantro. You can serve over rice or potatoes. I served it with some roasted potatoes and warmed pita bread, and a cool, crispy, citrusy chardonnay on the side. Even a sweet white wine would go well with this dish. A sweeter wine will compliment the spiciness of the dish nicely.
This is a layered dish with so many great flavors and textures all blending together. It came out oh so good.
These last couple of years have been phenomenal as far the variety of ducks and wildlife we have had around our lakes. I have seen so many more duck species than I normally do, and a lot more of them too. Whatever the reason, I hope it continues. I love seeing so many different kinds of ducks on a daily basis. 🙂
This time, I am going to show you our Northern Shoveler. I have seen them before, but not nearly as often or so many. They are so pretty and colorful. You can easily see how he gets his name by his “shoveled” beak.
Depending on how the sun hits him, sometimes his head looks greenish or blue and sometimes it looks purple.
And he’s off. He has had enough of being in the spotlight for today. Off to other things and other parts of the ponds.
I can only speak for myself, but it is so peaceful and relaxing to be able to commune with nature. I try to do it as much as I possibly can. Nature is so full of so many beautiful wonders. All we have to do is keep our eyes open to see all the beauty that is all around us everyday.
Spring is definitely in the air. All the birds are pairing up, singing their love songs and making their nests. The buds are beginning to pop up, and the grass is beginning to green up once again. I have my camera always at the ready, just in case. Today was a fantastic day for photos. I saw so much beauty today and all kinds of wildlife.
Today, as I was out walking, I got lucky and got some great shots of a pair of Cassin’s Finches together. The male is gorgeous in his red attire. I just never know what I’m going to see.
First I saw the male, and I was very happy with seeing him.
Then I saw the female.
And then, I saw them together. This completely made my day. They were very photogenic. I am thinking there are going to be a few eggs before to long. I almost felt like a voyeur.
A few days ago we had snow and it was winter. Today, it is once again warm weather and I am in shorts. Only in Colorado do we have such extreme weather changes. I just love our Springs.
The last adventure Karen and I had while Karen was out visiting was to make some lemon almond scones. We made them based on a combination of a recipe I had found online as well as one from the beautiful family heirloom recipes from Karen’s great-great grandmother’s cookbook, “Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery Book”, published in 1936. Karen gifted this beautiful treasured cookbook to me, and it is now a treasured family heirloom in my home too. We also used Karen’s great aunt’s scone cutter to cut the scones. They were made with love and made from love.
We compared recipes from both “Mrs. Beeton’s Cookery Book” and the recipe I found on line. They were pretty similar, and believe it or not, I actually followed the recipe exactly; I know a rarity, but true. Though the flavor came out great, I was not all that impressed with the scones themselves. They came out more like lemon cookies rather than fluffy scones. They just didn’t rise like they were supposed to. But we still had fun making them, and they still taste great, so in the end, that is really all that matters.
Lemon Almond Scones
2 cups flour
8 TBSP cold butter, cubed
6 TBSP sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 TBSP lemon zest
8 TBSP heavy whipping cream
1 egg
2 TBSP lemon juice, or about 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
slivered almonds for topping.
Preheat oven to 400* For 200* C.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Put the flour, butter, sugar, salt, baking powder and lemon zest into a food processor and pulse until it all resembles coarse sand. Add the egg, lemon juice, vanilla, almond extract and heavy whipping cream and blend together until the dough forms into a ball.
Pat the dough out on a lightly floured surface and shape the dough into a circle or a rectangle about 3/4 of an inch thick, then cut and shape how you like. Sprinkle the top with the almond slivers and lightly press into the dough. Place on the prepared baking pans, and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the scones are are lightly golden and fluffy.
Let cool completely before adding the glaze.
Lemon Glaze
3 TBSP melted butter
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 TBSP lemon juice
1 tsp almond extract
Whisk everything together and drizzle over the cooled scones.
Karen and I did make a video too. I haven’t made a video in quite awhile and I almost forgot how to do it. I really don’t enjoy making the videos. I much prefer taking still shots. I can’t stand looking at myself on the videos because I have become so FAT, but it is what it is. This is a long, mostly unedited version, but it is up on YouTube, live and running.
Even when life gives you lemons, make lemon scones, or in this case, lemon scone/cookies. No matter what, with the right attitude, you can still turn things around and make them a positive experience instead of a negative experience.
Karen and I had yet another very busy day. It was her last full day here before returning home, back to Southern California. Larry opted not to join us since he had an early hockey game and there was no guarantee we would be home in time for his game. Good call, because we weren’t. We drove up to Estes Park and took in as many of the sights as we could. No elk this time, though. Again.
We took the longer, slightly more scenic route up to Estes Park, driving through the mountain town of Nederland. As always, it was a beautiful drive. On the way up to Estes Park, our first stop was this beautiful, quaint little mountain church. Larry and I love to stop here. It is a simple little church, that at least for me, is so peaceful. Its simplicity is what a church is about to me, and it reminds me of the little chapel I used to attend when I still lived in Pasadena, CA.
While up in Estes Park, we didn’t have time to really tour around since we took one of the historical tours of the Stanley Hotel. And it is not quite tourist season yet, so everything closed earlier too.
The Stanley Hotel is a beautiful hotel that has gained its fame and recognition in many different areas. It was one of the most luxurious hotels of its time, and was the most luxurious hotel west of the Mississippi River for a long time. It was built in 1907 as the “guest house” for F.O. Stanley’s guests. F.O. Stanley was the creator of the Stanley Steamer cars, along with his twin brother F.E. Stanley.
In modern times, the Stanley has earned its fame both from a lot of movies and TV shows being filmed there, but most importantly, as one of the most haunted hotels in America. It was almost torn down when author Stephen King stayed one (haunted) night. That one night was the inspiration for his hit novel, “The Shining”. This book was the transformation the hotel needed and was its saving grace. Today The Stanley is on the Historical list, so it has earned its forever place in history.
Our guide, Madison, or Maddy, was hilarious. She had the perfect personality for being an historical guide, and she really knew her stuff. We had to get a couple of pictures of her as well. We are in the theater, which is known for its spirited guests as much as it is known for its theatrical performances.
Karen and I experienced and felt the presence of one the Stanley’s permanent guests just at the last bit of our tour. You never know if or when their “permanent guests” will act up, but when they do, it is something you will never forget. Just as our tour was finishing up, and we were in “the tunnel”, a playful spirit decided to play with one of the guest’s phone and tried to take a picture of himself. The other tour guest was taking pictures, when all of a sudden, her phone started to act up and went live. It snapped a picture, that came out on her screen completely white and blank. All her other pictures were fine, except for that one.
This was my second encounter with friendly spirits while at the Stanley. My first one was a couple of years ago when Larry and I stayed overnight, and our room was on the 4th floor, which was known as the nursery. I heard a young nanny singing “You are my sunshine” while little kids were running down the hall way playing. When I looked out to see what was going on, no one was there. When I closed the door, the singing and playing resumed once again, and lasted for a few minutes. I LOVE this kind of stuff, though I know a lot of people are freaked out about it.
After our tour, we stopped in at the whisky shop. Neither of us are whiskey drinkers, but we thought it was apropos. We each took a tiny sample. The whiskey bar is beautiful and offers a wide selection of different high end whiskeys, if this is your thing. We were both more interested in the staff than we were in the whiskey though.
Taking a shot.
Our favorite part of the whiskey shop was this particular “staff member” and “manager”. He makes sure no one drinks to much or gets unruly.
After we had completed the tour, Karen and I both thought a toast to the Stanley and all its permanent guests was in order, so we celebrated with a drink at the hotel’s bar. Of course we had to sample some of the hotel’s specialty drinks. I had the “redrum punch”. For those of you familiar with “The Shining” you will know what this is in reference to.
We had been on the lookout for “critters” all day, and hadn’t seen any, other than the large crow that neither of us could capture with our cameras. On our way home, in Boulder, we did at last see some critters. We saw three white tailed mule deer on the side of the road. We were happy. At last we had seen some critters. That made our trip complete.
Once we got home, we fixed a simple shrimp scampi for dinner. Classic Shrimp Scampi. After dinner Karen and I made some lemon almond scones as well. More on that to follow.
You never know what life is going to throw at you. Life is full of mystery. Be open to it all and enjoy the experiences that come your way. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.
A Jeanne in the Kitchen 