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These Apricot Oatmeal Scones are a variation of Hollyce’s Oatmeal Scones. Every now and then I like to change or substitute ingredients in a recipe. I used dried apricots instead of currants, omitted orange zest, and added sugar sprinkle for the topping.
Pretty… simple…. refreshing… and delicious Winter Citrus Salad. Neely Wang introduced this salad in her recent blog post, here. Her beautiful photos enticed me to try it… and glad I did. Neely was the photographer at an event that featured Chef Tony Najiola of Central Market. He was gracious to provide the winter citrus salad recipe for us to try.
There have been a few lazy mornings for Bill and I ever since the start of the new year. The holiday season is behind us and a little bit of rest was truly needed. We’ve been enjoying simple breakfasts such as scones, eggs, and granola to help us get the day started.
On one occasion, after a late breakfast and a cup of coffee, I turned the computer on and browsed the internet. Not quite sure what prompted me, but I came upon an old favorite 1990 French movie on Youtube, Cyrano de Bergerac directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. Not realizing the time, I sat and watched the entire movie. Late into the morning, I poured myself another cup of coffee, grabbed some magazines, sat in a comfy chair, and tuned the world out for just a little longer with beautiful music of Mozart and Bocelli. My morning was well spent …doing as little as possible. As for Bill, he was quite content sitting in his favorite place and reading his favorite books as he tried to recover from a cold.
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One of the recipes we made for breakfast often was Herbed-Baked Eggs from Ina Garten’s cookbook, Barefoot In Paris. A generous sprinkle of fresh herb mixture over the eggs added a nice flavor to the egg dish and toasted sliced French bread accompanied on the side.
The scent of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, molasses, chocolate, vanilla, and peppermint have been swirling around my kitchen for the past week. Dozens of cookies baked, packaged, and given out as gifts. One of the recipes I made was Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies. A wonderful chocolate cookie topped with a sprinkle of crushed peppermint candies. It’s a basic chocolate cookie recipe that could easily be changed for other occasions by replacing crushed peppermint with toffee, peanut butter morsels, white chocolate chips, or other toppings.
{the sweet potato recipe was doubled in the pic above}
Whipped sweet potatoes with caramelized apples is a delicious side dish for this time of year. It’s not too sweet and the combination of creamy and chunky mixed with sweet and tart all in one dish is just right.
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{Martha Stewart Living magazine, November 1995}
I was introduced to whipped sweet potato recipe in 1995 when my November issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine {above pic} arrived in the mail. I have used many wonderful recipes from it and especially the “Turkey 101” section that had the step by step guide on how to prepare and cook a turkey. I followed the instructions and cooked my first turkey that year. I was so thrilled that I actually did it {and made gravy too}. The whole process was not as complicated or intimidating as I had envisioned it.
