Blueberry Cream Scones

Article first published as Blueberry Cream Scones on Blogcritics.

Breakfast... the meal I seem to have the hardest time eating. With a walking toddler who likes to get up early in the morning without fail, you'd think by now I'd convert into a morning person. Nope, not a chance! Mornings are pretty routine at our house where my little guy is eating breakfast right on schedule. But I always get so caught up with morning household chores that taking time out to eat breakfast is the last thing on my mind. So I've started planning my breakfasts, just like how some folks plan out their dinners. I recently had a new friend come over for a breakfast playdate and made these Blueberry Cream Scones. When enjoyed fresh out of the oven, these blueberry studded and creamy scones make it easier to take time out for breakfast!

Scones are one of my favorite breakfast treats because they are great for being on the go. However, I find that sitting down and taking the time to enjoy a scone is far more satisfying. These scones have such a tender and wonderful crumb that scarfing them down would be an injustice. You could even use this as a base recipe and substitute the blueberries for other berries such as raspberries, chopped strawberries or even blackberries. But do note - these scones take a bit of time to make. The dough requires at least 2 hours to rest, so to make it easier on yourself, I suggest preparing this the night before and in the morning, form the dough, cut into wedges and bake them up. Trust me, waiting until the next day to enjoy them is worth it!

Blueberry Cream Scones
recipe slightly adapted from One Perfect Bite

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup blueberries
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons demerara sugar (Sugar in the Raw )


In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking power, and salt. Cut butter into dry ingredients. Stir in blueberries.

Add heavy cream and stir by hand just until dough forms. Dough will be soft and sticky. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until dough just holds together. Press dough into a 8 to 9-inch circle, about 1 inch thick. Cut into 6 wedges. Place scones on baking sheet and sprinkle scones with demerara sugar.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees or until scones are a light golden brown on top.

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Wesley Romey's Story: Why Canada Needs Medicare for Autism Now!

Medicare for Autism Now! has released the film Medicare's Orphans second trailer.  In this trailer Wesley Romey and his mother Laurie Guerra tell Wesley's story.  It is the story of a boy with serious autism challenges including lack of speech and extended meltdowns who has benefited from receiving ABA therapy.   Ms Guerra candidly points out that she had the resources to be able to afford ABA treatment for Wesley where many parents can not.  Wesley's life has changed for the better because of ABA.  Canada, which likes to talk about universal medicare, does not in fact have universal medicare when an effective  treatment for autism is denied to an entire class of people with autism disorders.  With  Medicare coverage of ABA for autism treatment many other young autistic Canadians could be receiving the life enhancing treatment. The film Medicare's Orphans is scheduled for release in September.

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Chicken Carbonara

Article first published as Chicken Carbonara on Blogcritics.

When you think of spaghetti, what's the first dish that comes to mind? Spaghetti & meatballs? Well, that's what I used to think... until now. These days, when it comes to spaghetti, I automatically think of carbonara. Perhaps its because it's a dish that comes together much more quickly than the traditional spaghetti  and meatballs , not to mention the depth of flavor it has! I recently made this Chicken Carbonara as a spin to the classic Pasta Carbonara. It's just the simple addition to sautéed chicken breast that really makes it even better. A creamy egg and cheese sauce, studded with crisp bacon and topped with chicken transformed plain old spaghetti into something elegant!

Now with my son walking about and getting into everything, I'm all for dishes that are fast and easy. This dish comes together pretty quickly and if you want some additional shortcuts... use cooked crumbled bacon, shredded rotisserie chicken and Italian shredded cheese as substitutions in the recipe. I've been making this a few times because it beats making the usual spaghetti and meatballs and personally, this tastes much better, even the next day as leftovers!

Chicken Carbonara
recipe adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

2 teaspoons + 1 tablespoon olive oil
4 slices bacon
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 large chicken breast
salt & pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
8 large egg yolks
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
Salt
1 pound spaghetti
Freshly ground black pepper

Heat the 2 teaspoons oil in a heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and garlic and saute until it is brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Remove from pan and cool slightly.

Season chicken breast with salt & pepper to taste.

In same skillet add another tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add the seasoned chicken and sauté until golden brown on each side and cook until juices run clear. Remove from pan and cool slightly; then cut into thin slices.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream, cheese, yolks, basil, and parsley to blend.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the spaghetti and cook until it is just tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Add the cooked chicken to the pan with the bacon and stir to combine.

Next, add the spaghetti and the cream mixture and toss over medium-low heat until the chicken is heated through and the sauce coats the pasta thickly, about 4 minutes (do not boil or you might end up scrambling the eggs).

Season the pasta, to taste, with pepper and salt if needed (the bacon will likely add all the salt you need). Transfer the pasta to a large wide serving bowl and serve.

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Sunday Fun Day Giveaway: Mandarano Balsamic Glaze

Happy Sunday! It's been a busy weekend for me and my family and I hope you enjoyed your weekend so far. The weather has cooled down a bit to a more comfortable level so we're having fun taking it in. Although, I'm starting to get the baking bug and I'm planning out my fall recipes now so I can be ready when fall finally arrives. But before we kiss the summer goodbye, I'm doing my best taking advantage of the summer fruits that are currently in season. Speaking of which, strawberries are still on sale at the stores in my area and this week's fun giveaway allows someone to enjoy strawberries in more delicious ways! Last week the lovely folks of California Strawberry Council sponsored the giveaway for their Strawberry Cookbook. A lucky reader will receive this cookbook that's full of some amazing sweet and savory strawberry recipes. A special thanks to the California Strawberry Council for sponsoring. Here's a big Congratulations to the winner of this past week's giveaway! Please shoot me an email at itsjoelen@gmail.com to claim your prize...

Strawberry Cookbook

Winner: Comment #17!

One of my favorite pantry staples is a good quality balsamic vinegar. I admit, I have this crazy love affair with balsamic because I use it so often during the summer months. So what's my favorite use for it? Drizzling balsamic vinegar over fresh sweet strawberries is the first thing I do once strawberries are in season here in the midwest! Other things I like doing with balsamic vinegar is boiling it down to a reduction so that it's thick and sweet - which is also decadent over strawberries. The downside to making a balsamic reduction is that it doesn't yield all that much and it takes a bit of time. However, thanks to Mandarano Balsamic Glaze, I no longer have to spend time waiting for a reduction! Mandarano Balsamic Glaze is an amazing item to keep in the pantry. They had contacted me to try out their balsamic glaze and since I love trying new balsamic vinegars, I was game. The first thing I did naturally was drizzle it over strawberries and wow... complete heaven. Since then, I was sold because I used it in salads and as a finishing touch to grilled chicken. There are so many recipes and uses, I fear I'll run out very soon and will need more to play with! Read on for more information on Mandarano Balsamic Glaze...

Deliciously thick, flavorful and aromatic, you'll find our Balsamic Glaze & Sauce has many of the characteristics of the very expensive aged Balsamics. To have a superior taste quality in a Balsamic Reduction you must start with a premium Balsamic Vinegar - this is what sets Mandarano Balsamic Glaze & Sauce above the rest.

Produced and bottled entirely in Modena, Italy using authentic regional grapes. The recipe, the grapes, the barrels, the limited production – it's the artisan approach to bringing something wonderful to your table.

Professional chefs have long reduced balsamic vinegars (a time-consuming, expensive and not-always-precise process) to create a rich and complex glaze for enhancing cuisine and to use as an elegant garnish. Now effortlessly, you can too!

It's the perfect compliment to almost any food — sweet yet sour; thick, rich and aromatic but not overwhelming — whether you are using it as an aesthetic savory finish, adding it to a salad dressing, using it in a marinade or a sauce base or to garnish your favorite fruits, ice cream or chocolate!

Thanks to my friends at Mandarano, I have one bottle of their amazing Mandarano Balsamic Glaze to giveaway to a lucky reader! Read on for details...

Some guidelines:

- Giveaway is only for those who live in the United States - my apologies to my non-United States readers!

- You must check back in a week when winners are announced and email me to claim your prize if you win.

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment answering: 

What's your favorite way to use balsamic vinegar?

Deadline: Saturday, August 20, 2011 at 12 midnight CST.

One winner will be randomly chosen by Random.Org's Interger Generator based on the number of your comment and will be announced on Sunday, August 21, 2011, within next week's Sunday Fun Day Giveaway. Good luck!

Full Disclosure: The giveaways are sponsored by the same company that provided me with the food related product to review. Products I review and offer as a giveaway are ones I personally recommend and would use/enjoy myself and opinions reflected are mine alone.

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FABULOUS EASY ONE-BOWL CHOCOLATE CAKES

AN EMOTIONAL LIFE IN BLACK AND WHITE





Shadows amid the starkness of pure black and white, moody and ethereal; mystery fills the empty spaces, statements clear and honest fill in the blanks. Sharp lines drawn across faces and bare torsos like the scratch of a stick pulled across the damp sand, withered and wrinkled, each deep, shadowed crease speaking years of experience; eyes burning out of the glossy surface, admitting so many secrets, hiding so many more. Black melting into gray, something ominous, sinister oozes out of each photo, emotions raw, almost palpable, a persona created from an idea, a vision. Or colors both sharp and hazy at once, rich hues of feminine pink, gold and orange of sunsets and dirt, the blues of skies both limpid and stormy. Colors emotional, sensational, creating a fairytale land of objects both living and not that feed my soul and nourish my imagination, forcing me to feel and think, inspiring me, urging me to create. Breathtaking images of life captured in a moment, a breath, so real in their falseness, portraits not portraits but rather images that reflect a yearning, an emotion, a memory, a dream inside of me.

Louise Bourgeois by Annie Leibovitz, 1997

Annie Leibovitz. We watched Life Through a Lens, the film of this renowned photographer, her life and her work as seen through the eyes of her sister. I, of course, know Annie Leibovitz and her stunning work, have loved it and been in awe of it for years, but I have never really looked at it so closely nor understood it before now. We were immersed in images, her story illustrated by a never-ending continuum of shots, each more moving and breathtaking than the last. She may not have been born with a camera in her hand but she was indeed born with a vision and a gift. As I watched her work, her passion perfectly balanced with a certain nonchalance, her seemingly casual process so intensely thoughtful, I realized that what I reach for, yearn for, grope wildly for is to achieve this same visual effect and emotional impact with my writing. Artists, craftsmen, visionaries such as she are far and few between and mere mortals such as I can only hope, yet to be able to capture in words what she captures on film, to have such a verbal imagery as she has one visual are the stars for which I reach.



I have often tried to explain why I sometimes have such difficulty looking at this painting or that. Standing in the presence of a Van Eyck, a Grünewald, Turner, De Kooning or Pollock, I have felt my heart pounding, jumping and skitting through my body and up into my throat, my breath choked and my mind swept away, dizzyingly. I avert my eyes, turn my back, the depth and complexity too much to bear. The darkness burns inside of me, the searing light blinds, raw emotions claw and tear; the intense beauty of any one of these masterpieces has the power to overwhelm me, and I understand the power true talent wields. And as hard as I try and explain what passes through me, I cannot. It is beyond words.



And I have been entranced by words as well, words strung together one after the other in such a way that it veritably, literally takes my breath away and leaves me speechless. Writing so magical, thoughts and ideas captured so perfectly in sentences that I have had to close the book and place it on the table next to me while the words soaked in, penetrated my mind, my body, the sensation practically physical. It takes a true command of a language, the mastering of vocabulary, the total control of characters and plot, like a painter masters and controls his or her brush, the weight against the canvas, the precise hue of each color, the length and depth of each stroke. Whether witty, humorous or angst-ridden and bleak, words strung together like music, each note, the beat and rhythm laced together just so to create a well-written symphony; music so soul-searingly earnest able to captivate and hypnotize, transport the listener, the reader away to another realm.

Susan Sontag, quai des Grands Augustins, Annie Leibovitz, 2003

Like Annie Leibovitz’ photographs. She tells a story, captures a moment, a thought, an emotion and allows the viewer a glimpse into what she sees. She manipulates our emotions until she has us eating out of the palm of her hand, right where she wants us, experiencing the array of emotions that she has decided she wants us to experience. And we find ourselves reading a story into that one image or series of images that she has pieced together and chosen to tell. She weaves a fairytale with pictures in such a way as I dream of being able to create with my words. A story fleshy, voluptuous, emotions raw and complex, a beauty both light and dark, lined with the wrinkles of time and scarred with my experience. I search for words, just the right ones as I play with and attempt to manipulate how a reader feels. I want to be able to paint a picture in black on white that inspires and excites, disturbs or burns with love and yearning. I want readers to nod their heads and shout, “Yes! Yes! I have been there, I know how you feel!”, tears shed, hearts melting, blood pounding, the heat rising. I want to stir up images of childhood glorious, silly or downright sad. Or elicit torrid passion and fervor. I want to touch someone, anyone, the way her photographs move me.



Out of breath. Skip to kitchen…..





My kitchen experience this weekend was one of chocolate, black on white. Not so much short on time as short on energy, I desired to satisfy a chocolate craving as quickly and as easily as possible. Two one-bowl chocolate cakes, as simple, easy and quick as a fabulous, homemade from-scratch cake can and should be. Baked and served side by side, we, my men and I, tested and tasted both glorious versions: one lighter and fluffier, the other denser and chewy, both offering an intensely luscious chocolate flavor, equally satisfying, equally addictive. Both made with pantry ingredients almost always on hand, both using vegetable oil rather than butter so when the craving hits there is no need to wait for butter to soften to room temperature. One version is eggless so takes the “pantry staple” idea one step further: the ideal cake for either the egg-free diet or for those days when we open up the refrigerator to find…. no eggs on hand.



Frost one or the other with either a Chocolate Ganache or my Simple Chocolate Buttercream. Or dust with powdered sugar.



SPECIAL CHOCOLATE CAKE





My family’s absolute favorite, a light and fluffy texture, always moist with a deep chocolate flavor, this is the perfect chocolate cake when one wants just that: a simple yet intensely flavored chocolate cake. It is ideal either baked in one layer in a 9-inch cake pan and served simply dusted with powdered sugar, the perfect snack or breakfast treat, or, for an elegant, sophisticated dessert, as a smaller 7-inch round layer cake sandwiched with simple buttercream.



6 ounces (1 1/4 cups/175 grams) flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

5 ounces (scant 3/4 cup/150 grams) sugar

½ - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2/3 cup (150 ml) warm milk

2/3 cup (150 ml) vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla



Preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C). Oil and line with parchment paper either one 9-inch (23 cm) round cake pan or two 7-inch (18 cm) round cake pans.



Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl and whisk to blend. In a separate mixing bowl or a large liquid measuring cup, whisk together the warm milk, the oil, eggs and vanilla.



Now it is simply a question of pouring the wet ingredients into the dry and blending well either with a whisk or a wooden spoon, although I prefer using a whisk. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. For a smooth, lump-free batter, pour about a quarter of the liquid ingredients into the well, and with small, brisk circular movements, whisk with just enough of the dry until you have a thick, smooth, lump-free batter in the center. Add some more of the liquid, pull in a bit more of the dry, and briskly whisk again until, aha! your batter is smooth. Continue until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into your (now) lump-free batter, add any remaining liquid and give it a go. Pour this batter into your prepared pan(s) and bake for about 30 minutes (for one 9-inch round pan and depending on your oven) until the center of your cake or layers is just firm to the touch, completely cooked through. The cake should start to pull away from the sides of the pan just after it is removed from the oven. If baking in two 7-inch round pans for layers, the baking time will be closer to 20 minutes.



Remove to racks, let cool for about 10 minutes, then slide a sharp knife blade around the edges to loosen, turn the cake out onto racks, peel off the parchment paper, flip back upright and let cool completely.



EGGLESS “LICKITY SPLIT” CHOCOLATE CAKE

From ideals Hershey’s Chocolate and Cocoa Cookbook, 1982





Much denser than my Special Chocolate Cake, this one-bowl cake has the advantage of being completely eggless, so perfect for either those whose diet does not include eggs or for a day when we are in the mood to bake but discover that, yes, we are out of eggs. Dense to the point of being somewhat chewy, this is a moist, very chocolaty cake that tastes wonderfully like a candy bar. Perfect with or without frosting or ganache and dusted simply with powdered sugar, this chocolate cake is amazingly addictive!



1 ½ cups (210 g) flour

1 cup (200 g) sugar

¼ cup (30 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp ground cinnamon, optional

1 cup (250 ml) water

¼ cup (62 ml) + 2 Tbs vegetable oil

1 Tbs vinegar *

1 tsp vanilla



* I only had cider vinegar in the house and it worked perfectly.



Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease a 9-inch (23 cm) round cake pan with vegetable oil, bottom and sides, then line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.



Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt (and ground cinnamon, if adding) in a large bowl. Combine the water, vegetable oil, vinegar and vanilla. Using the same method as described in the above Special Chocolate Cake recipe to avoid lumps and produce a smooth batter, whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until well blended and smooth. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the center is just set and a tester comes out clean.



Remove from the oven to a rack, let cool for about 10 minutes, then slide a sharp knife blade around the edges to loosen, turn the cake out of the pan, peel off the parchment paper, flip back upright and let cool completely.

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Creamy Peanut Butter Banana Pie... {For Mikey}

The power of cyberspace is amazing. Through cyberspace I've been able to connect with people who I probably would have never have known existed. And through these connections are genuine friendships and camaraderie. A special food blogger, Jennie of In Jennie's Kitchen, recently lost the love of her life, her husband, Mikey. It's devastating for anyone to fathom such a loss in their lives and my thoughts and prayers go out to her and her family. When she shared her loss to her readers, it was with a video of Mikey dancing with her daughter just before he passed away. As a wife and mother, my heart goes out to Jennie. And then Jennie shared a story about Mikey's love of Creamy Peanut Butter Pie...

Mikey loved Creamy Peanut Butter Pie and with this, Jennie invited her readers to celebrate Mikey's life with pie. So in an effort to celebrate Mikey's life, help Jennie with the difficult healing process ahead and to acknowledge  loved ones in our lives, I've made this pie. Jennie also says to, "...share the pie with someone you love.... Then hug them like there's no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on."

For this pie, I made them in mini springform pans for individual servings. I also added diced banana into each pie since I love how well it works with peanut butter.  You can make the recipe in a standard springform pan (9 inch) or even a standard pie plate. Whatever you do, make it with love!

Creamy Peanut Butter Banana Pie
recipe adapted from In Jennie's Kitchen

Serves 10 to 12
10-12 whole graham crackers
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon white sugar
4 ounces finely chopped chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 banana, diced

Add the graham crackers to the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs.  Combine melted butter, sugar and crumbs in a small bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well.  Press mixture into the bottom and 1-inch up the sides of a 9-inch springform pan or 4 small individual springform pans.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.  Pour over bottom of cookie crust and spread to the edges using an off-set spatula.  Place pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

Pour the heavy cream into a bowl and beat using a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form.  Transfer to a small bowl and store in refrigerator until ready to use.  Place the cream cheese and peanut butter in a deep bowl.  Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioner's sugar.  Add the sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla extract.

Increase speed to medium and beat until all the ingredients are combined and filling is smooth.

Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture.  Fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Remove the pie out of the refrigerator and sprinkle diced bananas over melted chocolate. Pour the filling into the prepared springform pan; refrigerate for three hours or overnight before serving.

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Autism and Cancer Research and Understanding Undergo Similar Paradigm Shifts

Autism research has been marked by an obsession with genetic focused research at the expense of research examining potential environmental causes or triggers of autism.  The frozen "it's gotta be genetic" mindset  of the autism research establishment identified years ago by Teresa Binstock might finally be shattered by recent efforts including the California Autism Twins Study (CATS). It is interesting too to learn that cancer research has also been slowed by a similar obsession with genetic research and ignoring of possible environmental factors.

In Cancer: Belatedly, Environmental Causes Get their Due  Justine Chow and Feifei Li, Research Assistants with the Environmental Working Group, comment on a  recent Duke University study which highlights a dramatic change in thinking among cancer specialists and practicing oncologists who now increasingly see pollution and other environmental factors as causes of cancer:

"For decades, most cancer researchers focused on genetics, diet, smoking and aging populations as the chief culprits, all but dismissing other environmental factors. As recently as 2003, a World Health Organization report featured the conventional wisdom that only 1-to-4 percent of all cancers were due to pollution.

More cancer specialists and oncologists see environmental link

A new report by Duke University researchers highlights the dramatic shift since then among cancer specialists and practicing oncologists. In a paper being published in the September issue of the Journal of Oncology Practice, the Duke team reports on a survey of young oncologists it conducted at the 2010 Australia and Asia Pacific Clinical Oncology Research and Development Workshop.

The Duke researchers found that these specialists from low- to middle-income countries consider pollution and other environmental factors one of the three top reasons for the growing burden of cancer in their countries. Close to a third (32 percent) called environmental factors important contributors, contradicting the traditional reserve that cancer researchers and physicians felt about attributing cancer to environmental causes.

Even though air, water and soil pollution became a major concern during the 20th century, only recently has compelling evidence mounted that carcinogenic chemicals are taking a significant toll on human health. Case studies of water and soil contamination are finding cancer clusters and population-wide epidemiological trends that link pollution to increases in the overall cancer burden, especially in impoverished regions where exposures are often higher than in wealthier nations."

It is likely that the cancer and practicing oncologist world, like the autism world,  will have their own Oracles who will be unable to thaw out their rigid mind sets and consider the interaction of genetics and environment as a more informed model for conducting research and understanding human health issues.  Still it is encouraging to see that the paradigm shift taking place in the world of autism research,  a shift which replaces the purely genetic model with the gene environment model may be reinforced by a similar shift taking place in other areas of human health.

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