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)