Vendredi et Samedi

What else to do with a cold February weekend but brew yummy tea, bake dutch oven bread, chocolate chip scones, and spaghetti squash for dinner and have friends over to eat it! Tomorrow my parents are coming to visit Grant and I. I am so excited because they have not yet seen our new apartment. We are going to make grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch and watch 'Lonesome Dove'. Not to mention a fierce game or two of Bananagrams. Now, if I can just get some research done too....

No photos exist of the glorious spaghetti squash (it went quickly!) but we got the recipe from here. It was super easy to make and we added wilted spinach to the veggie mixture. Also, we subbed black olives for kalamata. I love(!) spaghetti squash! I had never had it before and it is just amazing! We also have a glorious supply of acorn squash which will be roasted with potatoes later this week!

The dutch oven bread was orgasmically wonderful. No kidding, this bread was fantastic and very easy to make. I am actually making another loaf for tomorrow (I will take pictures of this loaf...the other one no longer exists...) Just make sure you allow for the bread to rise (at least 8hrs and up to 18hrs!!) but it is so worth it! There is one issue that we had while baking. The recipe says that the oven should be at 475* but most dutch ovens should not cook at that temperature. We still let the oven (and dutch oven) heat up to 475* like the recipe says, but after a while a horrible smell came from the oven, so we turned the temperature down to 375*. The bread baked beautifully and it didn't even need butter!

And for your enjoyment, here is the chocolate chip scone (pictured above) recipe that I made last night. I usually don't even like scones because I think they are too dry or overcooked, but these were perfect! Not too sweet and they still managed to be fluffy! I hope that you like them too! They also work really well for breakfast!

Chocolate Chip Scone Recipe:

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 sticks butter

A generous cup or so of chocolate chips

1 large egg

3/4 cup half and half, OR heavy cream, OR 2% OR Vitamin D milk (just get some heavy dairy in there!)

1) preheat oven 350*.

2) in a large bowl stir together the first 4 ingredients.

3) cut the cold butter into the mix. You can use a pastry cutter but I like just using my hands. Blend the mixture until it resembles crumbs.

4) add the chocolate chips.

7) mix the egg and dairy in a separate container, then add to the dry mixture.

8) stir the mixture together until just combined.

9) form the mixture into a loose ball then place on a floured cutting board.

10) starting from the center, use your hands and press the dough outwards. You want to form a circle. Don't worry that the dough crumbles...it will...just smoosh it all back together.

11) when the dough is just under 1 inch thick, cut the circle into 8 equal parts.

12) transfer the wedges to a greased baking sheet and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden!

Enjoy!