Salad and Scones for Spring

Salad. 

 AND Scones?!

Yes. This is real

 

 Happy first day of spring!
It's a wonderful time of year and it deserves to be celebrated with fresh, good quality foods.

It's time to break out the floral patterns, and get outside to enjoy the weather. That's what I did today and it was lovely.

Today I celebrated the new season with a delicious spinach salad and ended the night with these wonderfully sweet peach cobbler scones. It was double duty deliciousness. (hah..duty)
I don't post much else besides sugary baked goods on here, but a lot of the food I eat is really very healthy, and I want to start posting more good meals that I find from endless web-surfing on other blogs (it's really a crime how much time I spend looking at food and recipes on the computer. It's a completely healthily unhealthy obsession.)

But let's talk about this salad...
Chickpea Salad 

Bursting with crunchy veggies and balanced with chickpeas and couscous. This is a salad you can make anytime, and you should make it ALL the time.
The ingredients are simple, wholesome stuff you normally have laying around the house.
So you have no excuses! get on it!

 

 Chop those veg's. Mmm they're fresh and they know it

 The dressing comes together in a flash in the food processor. Make sure you grind the cashews up real good

 Then toss everything in a bowl! Literally that easy. Health is fun right?!

 And your done. Crispy, clean, colorful, chickpea!

Chickpea Salad

from shutterbean 

 Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

For the salad:
2 cups Israeli couscous cooked & cooled
1 small red onion, thinly chopped
4 cups baby spinach
1-15oz. can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper

For the dressing: 
1/4 cup cashew pieces
2 tablespoons chopped shallot
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon agave nectar (or honey)
3/4 teaspoon salt
a few pinches of freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Place the cashew pieces & shallot in a food processor and pulse until totally chopped. Then add the rest of the ingredients. Blend for at least 5 minutes, and scrape the sides with a rubber spatula. Blend until completely smooth.

 In a large mixing bowl, mix all the salad ingredients together. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Keep chilled in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days.



 

 And now part two of the saga.
Peach.
Cobbler.
Scones.
I know what you're thinking...cobbler...scone?..wait what

But just go with it okay. Its like a cobbler and a scone got together with some peaches thrown in there and made something magical.
Trust me. You'll like it.

These are peachy and sweet and are the perfect indulgence at the end of a spring (or summer!) day.

 Start with a biscuit-like dough. Its shaggy, but hey don't judge. He's delicious and will treat you right.

 Roll em out! Then brush with buttermilk and top with freshly sliced peaches, skins on...we like it Au natural

Make sure you use a sharp floured knife and cut into 8 scones

 

Painted with buttermilk, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar

Fresh out of the oven. 

Listen, I know you want it NOW because it smells so awesome, but lemme tell you...

the inside of these things is like lava on your tongue. And roof of your mouth. And your teeth.
Yeah just don't do it

We learned our lesson on many a apple turnover as kids...

 Let cool, just for a few minutes okay!

 We served ours warm with ice cream,

HIGHLY recommended.

Peach Cobbler Scones

from joythebaker

makes 8 scones

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold and cut into cubes (or substitute unsalted butter)
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk, cold
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ripe peach, sliced thin
1/4 cup buttermilk, for brushing
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 Directions:

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Cut in shortening and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Use your hands to break the fat cutes into the dry ingredients.  Some of the fat bits will be the size of peas and some fat bits will be the size of oat flakes.
 In another bowl, combine egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat lightly with a fork.  Add the liquid to flour mixture all at once, stirring enough to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto a floured board and knead about 15 times.  If the butter has warmed too much in the making of the dough, shape the batter into a dish, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the fridge for 15 minutes.  If the butter is still cool, shape the dough into a disk and, on a well floured surface, roll dough to a little less than 1/2-inch thickness.  About 12-inches long and 10-inches tall. 

Brush half of the rolled out dough with buttermilk.  Arrange peach slices, in a single layer, across the buttermilk moistened dough.  Sprinkle with half of the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Carefully fold the empty side of dough over the peach sliced layer.  Press gently together.  Add a bit of flour to your hands and press the edges of the dough in, creating more of a rectangle shape than a half circle shape.  Using a floured knife, slice dough into eight even pieces.

Place dough on prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2-inches of room around each scone for spread while baking.  If dough has warmed, and feels mushy, place in the fridge for 20 minutes to rechill.  Remove from the fridge.  Brush each scone top with buttermilk, and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar.

Bake scones for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes before serving. (With ice cream)

Strawberry Banana and Nut Butter Muffins

Somebody better call the doctor....

Because I've got spring fever!!

Ahem..yeah..

WELL it's almost spring and that means warm weather! Fresh fruits and veggies are abundant and on sale at the grocery store! The flowers are in bloom! The air is fresh! And it's time to do some spring cleaning!
Spring is a time for wearing dresses and floppy hats and picking fresh fruits in the sunshine.
These are just some of my favorite things ever

I highly encourage you to celebrate the Spring Equinox on March 20th.
Years and years ago, people used to mark the change in seasons as a major holiday to celebrate. I feel like people today practically ignore the fact that the  world around them is changing, and instead we get caught up in silly holidays like St. Patrick's Day that really have no meaning. The equinox marks the beginning of a new astrological year and the length of the days and nights are equal...is this not something important to celebrate?!

So everyone should get your friends together and throw a barbeque, or go pick some berries, go for a bike ride, lay and watch the clouds pass by, or just do anything outside! We should take more notice of the Earth and it's changes as well as mother nature's beauty and celebrate something worthwhile.

On that note, I woke up today with a fridge full of berries that I got on sale at the grocery, and wanted to make something in anticipation of springtime!

I found this recipe for strawberry, banana, nut butter muffins and got to work!

Now, just a few notes about these muffins...I altered the original recipe and made a lot of substitutions, which may have either made the recipe better...or worse. So if you want to use the original recipe, click the link bro!

However! For the ground flax seed + water mixture, I did not have ground flax seed on hand so I used wheat germ, but I recommend using the ground flax seed instead

Also, it calls for 1/2 cup pecans which I didn't have on hand, so instead I used almonds chopped very fine, but I would omit them next time, they added strange consistency to the muffins, SO I recommend not using nuts, but hey, whatever floats your boat.

 These berries were so beautiful and bright, I felt bad cutting them up!

 But I did.

 A little springtime muffin

Strawberry, Banana, and Nut Butter Muffins

adapted from: ohsheglows

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup unbleached white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup toasted almonds or pecans, chopped finely (optional, not recommended)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
1.5 Tablespoon ground chia seed (or flax) + 1/4 cup water (I used wheat germ + water)
1.25 cup almond milk
2 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons nut butter (I used sunflower seed butter. You can use almond butter, peanut butter, etc)
2 Tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)
1 large banana mashed, left a bit chunky
1 cup strawberries, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Grease a muffin tin and set aside.
3. In a small bowl mix the ground chia or ground flax seed (in my case wheat germ...lame) and water and set aside.
4. In a large bowl mix all dry ingredients: whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar, nuts (if using), baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
5. In a medium sized bowl, mix all wet ingredients: chia/flax + water mixture, almond milk, warmed butter, nut butter, and honey. Mix well.
6. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir.
7. Fold in chopped strawberries, reserving 1/4 cup (I actually chopped up a few more berries to put on top in addition to the 1/4 of the ones I already chopped) to sprinkle on top of muffins.
8. Scoop mixture into muffin tin and sprinkle on remaining strawberries.
9. This recipe made 16 muffins for me and they baked for about 22 minutes at 375F. However many it makes for you, I would recommend rotating them after 10 minutes, and checking for doneness at 20 minutes, then adding any additional time if needed.

Mocha Hazelnut Marble Bundt Cake

 

 This cake is a mouthful to say, but a mouthful of wonderful to eat.

The hazelnut gives it such a nice texture and the nuttiness pairs so nicely with the mocha chocolate glaze.

You add melted chocolate mixed with coffee granules to part of the batter and swirl it in with the remainder of the white batter to create a lovely marbled effect.

 

 What a beautiful beast, nutty and warm out of the oven.

 

 And even if a chunk of it sticks to the pan like mine did, that's what glaze is for!
Chocolate fixes all your mistakes.
Life lesson, ya'll

Mocha Hazelnut Marble Cake 

from Joy The Baker adapted from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, finely ground
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
9 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature, divided use
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup coffee (hot or cold)
1 teaspoon instant coffee, finely ground (or instant espresso powder)
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk, room temperature

Directions

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 12 cup Bundt pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess.

Toast whole hazelnuts in a 350 degree F oven for about 12-15 minutes or until they are fragrant. Once cool, ground them until fine in my food processor. Be careful not to process them too much or they will turn into nut butter!

Whisk together the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Put 2 tablespoons of the butter, cut into 4 pieces, into the bowl, along with the chocolate, coffee and instant coffee. Heat the mixture, stirring often, until the butter and chocolate are melted and everything is smooth and creamy – keep the heat low so that the butter and chocolate don’t separate. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the remaining 2 sticks butter and the sugar at medium speed for about 3 minutes – you’ll have a thick paste; this won’t be light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. The mixture should look smooth and satiny. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients and the milk alternately, adding the dry mixture in 3 portions and the milk in 2 (begin and end with the dry ingredients).

Scrape a little less than half the batter into the bowl with the melted chocolate and, using a rubber spatula, stir to blend thoroughly.

If you want to go for the gingko pattern, scrape all of the white batter into the pan and top with the chocolate and marble it minimally. If you want a more marbled pattern, alternate spoonfuls of the light and dark batter in the pan. When all the batter is in the pan, swirl a table knife sparingly through the batter to marble them.

Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted deep into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the Bundt pan to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes before unmolding, then cool the cake completely on the rack.

Mocha Sour Cream Glaze

 

Ingredients

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup brewed coffee, at room temperature

Directions

Melt chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until completely melted. Remove bowl from the double boiler.

Stir sour cream into the melted chocolate.

Add corn syrup and vanilla and continue to stir.

Slowly add the brewed coffee bit by bit, stirring to incorporate.

This will be a thick glaze. If you would like it much thinner, you can always add more corn syrup and coffee. This glaze will thicken slightly as it cools.

Spread onto the cooled Mocha Hazelnut Bundt Cake.