BBQ Chicken Pasta

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/03/bbq-chicken-pasta.html

Yum! I used cooked shredded pork in place of chicken, and just sauted it a little with the onions first.

Pumpkin Spice Scones

I have been on the hunt to find a scone recipe that has the texture of the scones we used to get from Great Harvest. When I was working at Purdue, Andy and I would stop by every day on the way home to get samples. We miss having our friend working there! Anyways, I've finally found some to compare! This recipe was created by Nicole at Pinch My Salt. I'm excited to try her other scone recipes!

Ingredients:

Scones:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground allspice (I didn't have any)
1/4 tsp ground ginger
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup raisins (optional, I did not use)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup heavy cream
6 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the butter into small pieces, put it in a small bowl and put it back in the refrigerator. In a medium bowl, combine both flours, baking powder, salt, and all spices. Whisk together well. Place bowl in freezer, or refrigerator if no freezer available.

In a separate bowl, combine pumpkin, heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk together well. Put this bowl in freezer (or refrigerator) and take the other bowl back out. Get the butter pieces out of the fridge and dump them into the bowl with the flour mixture. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or rub it in with your fingertips until it resembles coarse crumbs (dough will start to clump together). Stir in the raisins (if using).

Get the liquid mixture out of the freezer and pour into the flour mixture all at once. Stir with a wooden spoon until everything is just moistened. The dough will be very crumbly, this is the way it should be. Turn the mixture out onto the counter and push the pile together with your hands. It should stick together fairly well. Knead it just a couple of times until everything is together. Don’t knead it too much or the dough will get too sticky. (I had to add about 2 T extra pumpkin puree here, as it was too powdery still)

Pat the dough out into a rough circle, 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Cut it like a pie into 8 pieces. Place pieces on the baking sheet so that they are not touching. Bake scones for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. They should be light brown on the bottom, the tops will darken as they cool.

While scones are in the oven, mix together icing ingredients. When scones are right out of the oven, apply icing. Place scones on rack to cool, or enjoy when warm!

Icing: For ginger molasses icing, mix together 1 T molasses, 1-2 T milk, 1 C. powdered sugar, 1/4 – 1/2 t. ginger (to taste). Adjust amounts to change consistency. Icing can be brushed on or drizzled.

Creamy Sweet Potato Soup

2 T canola oil
1 large sweet onion, diced
2 tsp cumin
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
6 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 T chopped cilantro

In soup pot, heat oil and saute onions and cumin 3-4 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20-25 minutes. Puree soup with yogurt and cilantro. Delicious!

Recipe from Dannon

Overnight French Toast Casserole

French bread cut in 1 1/2 inch slices, enough to fill a 9x13 pan
2 cups whole milk
6 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Place bread in buttered pan. Mix remaining ingredients and pour over bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, carefully turn over the slices of bread and let soak while the oven heats to 350. Bake uncovered 20 minutes. Remove from oven, turn bread, and bake another 15-20 minutes or until tests done.

(Modified from this recipe)