Saturday, July 14, 2012

Flower sweater update

I am on my second sleeve now.  I finally finished the body of the sweater, and the first sleeve.  It took me a while to get it right.  I tend to design as I knit, which sometimes leads to ripping out.  Here is a peak at the first finished sleeve.  I hope to have the second finished soon, and will post the finished sweater in all its colorful glory!


Friday, July 13, 2012

Time for Scones and Tea

Usually I make scones in the winter when the kids are home and it is a cold rainy day.  This morning it was grey, and luckily the heat wave broke Sunday night, so I was in the mood for tea and scones.  I certainly couldn't consider that it was cold outside, but 76 degrees feels downright cool compared to 105.  So, scones it was....


The recipe that I use is one that I found in Organic Living Magazine (now no longer published).  I use a local stone ground flour, and organic butter and milk, and top it off with local honey. 

Scones ( makes 6 smallish scones)

1 cup flour
1/4 cup or 4 T. organic salted butter
1 T. baking powder
Milk

I preheat the oven to 425 or 400 on my convection oven.  Put flour in a bowl.  Take a stick of butter right out of the refrigerator or freezer and a cheese grater and grate the butter into the flour.  (I use this technique for pie crusts now too.)  Mix up the butter and flour, then add the baking powder, and stir.  I then add milk 1 T. at a time until the dough just holds together.  I turn it out onto a floured piece of parchment paper and pat the dough into a big circle about 1 inch thick.  Cut the circle into 6 pieces, spread out on the paper.  Slide the paper onto a baking sheet and put in the oven and bake until golden brown.  

We usually eat these right away.  Now that my son is 11 and eating tons, I have to scramble to get two of these.  The rest seem to disappear.  

I really like to enjoy these warm with a good cup of Tazo Zen tea.