Barefoot Contessa's Cheddar Dill Scones

Hi bloggies!  I hope you're having a great weekend!  

We saw The Avengers  yesterday, and I woke up super early this morning to make these scones to share with friends ...

I know it's pretty risky to debut a new recipe when you're the one in charge of bringing the food, but Barefoot Contessa has never let me down.  Even with a few minor miscalculations, everybody still loved these.  For instance, I had only 3/4 cup of dill, I used extra sharp yellow instead of white cheddar, and the scones were pretty misshapen.  

Todd and I are off to the gym to do ZWOW 16!  It's looks like we're gonna push ourselves pretty hard for this one!  

Cheddar Dill Scones

Barefoot Contessa, makes about 16

Ingredients

4 cups plus 1 tablespoon APF, divided

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

4 extra-large eggs, beaten lightly

1 cup cold heavy cream

1/2 pound extra-sharp yellow Cheddar, small-diced

1 cup minced fresh dill

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine 4 cups of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the butter and mix on low speed until the butter is in pea-sized pieces. Mix the eggs and heavy cream and quickly add them to the flour-and-butter mixture. Combine until just blended. Toss together the cheddar, dill, and 1 tablespoon of flour and add them to the dough. Mix until they are almost incorporated.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it for 1 minute, until the Cheddar and dill are well distributed. Roll the dough 3/4-inch thick. Cut into 4-inch squares and then in half diagonally to make triangles. Brush the tops with egg wash. Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for 20 to 25 minutes (depending on thick they are & how crusty you want them), until the outside is crusty and the inside is fully baked.

Mushroom Bacon Breakfast Strata and Foodie Pen Pals

Bacon.  How's that for a desktop background?

The Novice Chef has a recipe category titled "A** Friendly."  This strata does not belong there.

Check it out... pita chips topped with cream cheese topped with mushrooms topped with bacon topped with egg topped with cheddar cheese.  That's pretty much all you need to know, right?

Anyway, just as Pioneer Woman promised, the strata went over really well with our youth group,  although this will definitely be more of a once-in-while thing.  I only had a few bites, and I still felt kinda guilty.

Also, I participated in Lindsay The Lean Green Bean's foodie pen pal program this month.  She matches you up with 2 bloggers - one blogger sends you a package and you send another blogger a package.  

Check out what I got from Kelly at Brownies and Zucchini!  She got me delicious pretzels and pomegranate snacks and Wisconsin spreads - can't wait to try the mustard!  Thanks, Kelly!  The snacks went great with law school studying!

Head over to Meg's blog to see what goodies I sent her!

And, if you're interested in participating, check out the info below! 

On the 5th of every month, you will receive your penpal pairing via email. It will be your responsibility to contact your penpal and get their mailing address and any other information you might need like allergies or dietary restrictions.
-You will have until the 15th of the month to put your box of goodies in the mail. On the last day of the month, you will post about the goodies you received from your penpal! 
-The boxes are to be filled with fun foodie things, local food items or even homemade treats! The spending limit is $15. The box must also include something written. This can be anything from a note explaining what’s in the box, to a fun recipe…use your imagination!
-You are responsible for figuring out the best way to ship your items depending on their size and how fragile they are. (Don’t forget about flat rate boxes!)
-Foodie Penpals is open to blog readers as well as bloggers. If you’re a reader and you get paired with a blogger, you are to write a short guest post for your penpal to post on their blog about what you received. If two readers are paired together, neither needs to worry about writing a post for that month. 

*Breaking news! This month we're going to do a trial run for our Canadian friends. I'm still not exactly sure how it will work with shipping costs and stuff for you guys up North, but if you're willing to give it a try for a month and provide me with some feedback, that would be awesome! Please note, Canadian Residents will be paired with other Canadians only. We've determined things might get too slow and backed up if we're trying to send foods through customs across the border from US to Canada and vice versa. So, I'm going to keep two separate lists and match US w/ US and Canada w/ Canada!

If you’re interested in participating for February, please send  an email to Lindsay at theleangreenbean@gmail.com and include the following information:
-Your full name
-Your email address
-Your blog name/address
-Your twitter handle (if applicable)
-WHETHER YOU ARE A US RESIDENT OR CANADIAN RESIDENT. - this is SUPER important so I can get you on the right list!

I will need to hear from you by February 4th as pairings will be emailed on February 5th!

Mushroom Bacon Breakfast Strata

Pioneer Woman, Serves 12

10 slices Bacon, Cut Into 1/2" Pieces
12 whole White Mushrooms, Sliced
8 whole Eggs Beaten
1/2 cup Half-and-half
Salt And Pepper, to taste
4 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
10 ounces, weight pita chips

Fry bacon pieces in a large skillet until done but not overly crispy. Drain on a paper towel, pour grease from skillet. Add mushrooms to skillet (don’t clean skillet first) and cook until done.

Mix eggs, half-and-half, salt, and pepper.

Arrange pita chips in an 8 x 11-inch baking dish. Slightly press to flatten. Tear pieces of cream cheese and evenly distribute over the top of chips. Distribute mushrooms and bacon over the top of this, followed by the cheddar cheese. Pour egg mixture evenly over all ingredients.

Place into the fridge for several hours of overnight (makes a handy breakfast casserole!), then bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until eggs are set. Cut into squares and serve immediately.

Barefoot Contessa's Cornbread Muffins

Cornbread.  It's one of my most favorite things, right up there with nectarines, pizza, green grapes, and beer.  Oh, and sriracha, definitely sriracha.


Given my penchant for all things spicy, you'd think I'd want my cornbread loaded with jalenpenos.  But actually, this cornbread is perfect as it is.  What I love most about these is how you can really taste the cornmeal, and they're not too oily or greasy (kind of surprising, given the amount of butter I put in these puppies).  And, eating the muffin top, that's the funnest part.


I brought these cornbread muffins to a BBQ, but if you want to make them more breakfasty, you could let the muffins cool slightly and then pipe apricot or raspberry preserves into the center.

Barefoot Contessa's Cornbread Muffins

Makes 12 very, very large muffins

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup medium cornmeal
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 extra-large eggs

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, melted butter, and eggs. With the mixer on the lowest speed, pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir until they are just blended. Spoon the batter into the paper liners, filling each one to the top. Bake for 30 minutes, until the tops are crisp and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly and remove from the pan.