My good friend and teammate Katie makes great scones. I woke this morning inspired to make some of my own. Yum.

Following is the original recipe, and then I'll tell you the changes I made. I just have some ingrained inability to follow a recipe exactly. It isn't that I think the recipe is bad. I just always have a reason to change it. Ridiculous, it is.

Lemon Chocolate-chip Scones

3 cups all-purpose flour (I use fresh ground wheat)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 Tbl for sprinkling (divided)
3/4 tsp salt 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into small cubes
1 cup buttermilk
zest of 2 medium lemons
1 Tablespoon whipping cream (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips or 1 bar chocolate, chopped (dark is nice)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1/3 cup sugar and salt. With a pastry cutter or two knives, mix butter into dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal.

Add 1 cup of chocolate chips or a chopped bar of chocolate (dark chocolate is nice) and half the lemon zest. Stir to mix in.

Add buttermilk; stir until mixture begins to form a dough.

Transfer dough to a floured surface and divide into 2 equal balls. Use a rolling pin to lightly roll each ball into a circle about 7 inches in diameter.

Cut each circle into 6 wedges.

Brush top with whipping cream (can use milk instead).

Mix remaining lemon zest and 1 Tblsp. Sugar. Sprinkle on top of scones.

Place the scones separately on a cookie sheet, spaced a little apart.

According to Susan’s calculation the whole grain version will take about 18 minutes to bake.

The all-white version takes 15 or 16 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes to firm. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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And, now announcing my nuanced version...

First of all, I used 1 cup white flour and 2 cups wheat. Using white will make it lighter, and using wheat gives you some fiber. I did what I did because I had a little white flour and a lot of wheat and thought I'd have the best of both worlds.

Second change: I used less than 1/3 cup sugar. Maybe a couple tablespoons less - because I don't want us eating a lot of sugar. I'm weird that way.

Thirdly, I grated the butter. It is a great tip I got from my little sister Krissi. She grates butter for toast, and it helps a lot when your butter is cold, which is how I keep mine. And I just used my fingers to mix in the butter. It's messy, but easier for me.

Next, I used cutie zest (sweetie, clementines, whatever term you prefer.) Reason: I like orange and chocolate and didn't have lemon. And I only used one because it was all I had. My household went through 5 pounds of them in about a week because they are yummy. More zest would be better, but I'm never afraid to just use what I have. Don't get me wrong. You can't  cut the flour from pizza dough, but many things are negotiable.

And you guessed it. I used a bit less chocolate chips. I love chocolate as long as it's dark enough, but I really thought 1/2 cup or so would be enough. It was great. So, more or less is good. Just don't cut anything really important like the butter. Butter is yummy and pretty important is stuff like this.

Instead of the cream, I used the alternate milk suggestion.

They baked for 18 minutes. Rob asked if they could find a spot in our breakfast rotation, so it was a hit. As these are less expensive than the cereal we eat, as long as I get up an extra 20 minutes earlier.
 

I believe I started cooking when I was five years old. I'm glad I had a mom who was confident that it was okay to let a five-year old around a hot skillet and butter. Anyway, I remember that fried eggs were the first thing I learned to cook. And, then probably not more than two or three years later, I realized that I in no way liked the taste of eggs.

I hear that your tastes change ever so often. But, to this day, I don't like strong egg flavor, though I have learned to eat them because they are so nutritious. I will basically only like them if I make them, though. I want them cooked very well so that I can't taste the yolk. I usually add a lot of vegetables or cheese or spices or something to drown out the flavor. And, so I can handle them. Now that I am pregnant and needing even more protein than normal, I try to eat eggs a lot. Which means we need to buy eggs a lot.

Rob normally goes to the market on Saturday morning where he buys eggs from the same lady as long as she is there. They are good eggs - straight from her chickens, which I assume roam around her yard and eat bugs. The yolks are dark orange, which indicates a very healthy and nutritious egg. However, she does not have cartons, of course. We take our own. And, then she loads our cartons (10 to a carton here) with gigantic eggs. They are so large that she has to use a plastic bag to wrap the carton so that it doesn't pop open. This has worked well with the same two cartons for months. And, then apparently the eggs were too big, the wrapping too tight...something went really wrong and the cartons broke.

Here enters the dilemma. I need new cartons, which means I need to buy inferior eggs from the store. But, I don't want all inferior eggs for a whole week. So, my plan was that Rob would buy ten at the market (which he just puts in a plastic bag and usually at least one breaks en route) and I would buy ten at the store, thereby giving us a carton and at least some good eggs for the week. But, when I got to the store, even the cartons were inferior. They were plastic instead of that heavy paper cardboard stuff. So, I didn't buy any.

Obviously, it isn't a big problem. But, it's a small dilemma. One that will probably hang on for awhile - until I happen to remember that I need cartons at a time when I am at a store that has good cartons. In the meantime, I'm glad we have access to good (I almost said yummy since I know they can be if I make them a certain way) eggs. And, I definitely appreciate the invention of good egg cartons.

I have a yogurt maker, sent to me by one Anne Smith - such a great friend. I've enjoyed it so much, which you might not believe considering that several parts of it are broken due to my carelessness. But, the truth is that I have really loved it. I use it often. The boys look forward to it. It's just fun. And, I love homemade things. I like to spend time on them. I like to know what's in it. I like to be able to control the saltiness of the sauce or the sweetness of the smoothie, the crispness of the pizza crust and the tartness of the yogurt. Therefore, I have definitely loved this yogurt maker. It does most of it's magic overnight, and then we have yogurt that is about one-third of the cost of the yogurt I buy at the store.

However, after I cracked the lid on my maker, some things haven't been quite as good. Once or twice, it just didn't thicken, despite a long time in the maker. Once, it tasted oh-so-strange. It got me to thinking - how would I make this if I didn't have a maker? I looked and looked, and it seemed like most recipes sans maker required a gas oven that you could turn really low - 110 degrees F. I don't have that, and I wasn't so interested in changing ovens, so I moved on to crockpot recipes. They seemed easy, but I had started heating milk on the stovetop and didn't have the time last night to do it all in the crockpot. It was an easy recipe, but required 5 hours of heating and cooling before I stir in some starter. Wasn't going to happen.

I finally hit on one that would work. Curious? I'll tell you.

First, I heated a quart of milk to boiling and let it boil for a couple of minutes (I read that you don't even have to do this, and I think it might be better to skip this step). Then, I let it cool to between 90 and 110 degrees F. I have a thermometer that came with the yogurt maker, but any candy thermometer (I think that's what they are called) will do. The cooling process takes about 45 minutes. You can put it in the refrigerator (or on your balcony if you live here) to speed up the process. I am notorious for forgetting something like that, so I chose not to. At least the way I normally do it, it's visible there on the stove every time I walk by.

After it had cooled, I scooped a couple of tablespoons of the milk into a bowl and then added about 3 tablespoons of plain store-bought yogurt. It is important that the yogurt is plain (from what I've read) and that it has active cultures (and isn't expired since the cultures are weak when it is expired). I stirred that until it was smooth and then added it back to the pot of milk and stirred to combine.

I then put the whole pot of milk into a glass jar and put on the lid. I wanted to keep the milk warm, but not too warm. It's a hard balance to keep, unless you have something that will automatically do it for you...I guess that's why they invented yogurt makers. Nevertheless, I like doing things the hard way to see if they work. So, I got my largest pot and filled it about halfway with very hot water. Then I put the jar of yogurt in the pot so that it was mostly surrounded by hot water, stuck the lid on the pot and wrapped the whole thing with the largest and thickest towel I have.

I had no idea where to keep this big contraption. After some thought, I decided to put it in my cabinet. The back of the cabinet is warm because our radiator (heater) is right behind it. It was pretty warm. And, with the towel providing insulation, I thought it might work. I went ahead and left the thermometer in the pot just because I was curious about what the temperature would be this morning.

After I think about 10 hours, I took it out, hoping for the best. I was so pleasantly surprised to find that it had thickened just like it should. The thermometer showed that the temperature was slightly lower than the ideal, but it worked great. The whey (watery stuff from the milk) was separated from the creamy yogurt and could be taken out by straining the yogurt through a cheesecloth or coffee filter. I had neither, though, and so I just poured off what I could without losing any of the yogurt. Come to think of it, I should have kept the whey for soaking beans or something. Oh well. If you don't want to bother straining the yogurt, you can just stir it all up. It'll just be a bit thinner.

I was truly impressed with how it worked. Sure, it was 19th century of me, but I liked seeing that even without a special machine, it wasn't too hard to make, not hard at all, in fact. We've already eaten three bowls of it, and I used it in the lasagna I made tonight. I don't know if it's normal to use in lasagna, but it works out well.

As a side note, I was also interested in reading that it's possible to make yogurt without keeping it warm. You can just let it sit at room temperature after mixing in the starter, and it'll still make yogurt. It'll be thinner than what you might be used to, according to what I read, but it's still yogurt - and talk about easy! I might try that next, just for fun.

Most weeks, I have Rob buy a whole chicken at the open market.  He's got a certain babushka he always buys from. At times, I'm afraid that will be tricky - such as when she leaves the heads on the chickens. Anyway, I know that these homegrown chickens are just more nutritious. They have more omega-3, they are healthier because they roaming around instead of stuck in a cage. They probably aren't given feed full of hormones. The reasons for buying are good. The downside is that he goes on Saturday. What if I don't need to cook a chicken on Saturday? I don't want it to spoil, especially since it's more expensive than what I could get at the little supermarket a few minutes from my apartment.

Barring freezing the whole thing (which I don't know how I could do without some major freezer burn), the answer, of course, is to cook it, even if I don't need it. So, most Saturdays or Sundays, I take out the crockpot and start it up. This particular weekend would have been the same, except for one small difference. Ranch dip. I had wanted to make some for a party, and we actually had most all of the ingredients. The only thing we cheated on was garlic salt. We used garlic powder and
salt separately. Obviously, that should not have made a difference. And yet, this Ranch was...horrendous. But, we took it anyway. I often see people eating lots of food I think is terrible, and so I thought maybe someone would want it. Well, I don't know if anyone ate any, but we sure had a lot left.

So, when I got ready to put that chicken in the crockpot, I remembered that Ranch and decided to use it as a marinade. It soaked overnight, and then I put it and all the marinade that was still sticking to it in the pot and let it cook overnight. Ah, the whole night, the apartment smelled wonderful. And when I took the chicken out, I had all that Ranch that fell off the chicken sticking to the crockpot. That kind of stuff is the best.

Well, just like I couldn't let myself see that uncooked Ranch go to waste, I didn't want that to go to waste. So, I just started adding veggies. Some onion, some beet, some carrots, some garlic. Then I realized I had chicken broth in the fridge that had been there for a week and had to be used or tossed. So, I tossed it in the pot instead of into the trash. And, the milk we had gotten from the market on Saturday was also already sour (and had completely ruined my coffee yesterday morning - evil stuff). Well, though most don't like to drink sour milk, it's a hit in soup. So, in it went. Some salt, a little tomato paste and a couple of bay leaves later, I was done adding.

As it bubbled away, I realized something. I had accidentally made soup that is very much like borscht. And, it tasted very much like it, too. Maybe it was just coincidence, or maybe Ukraine is just starting to rub off on me.

I'm sitting here with a bowl beside me that just two minutes ago held Silas' lunch. Except that he didn't want it, and so his sweet big brother polished it off for him. It was pasta, with a sauce made from pureed broccoli, onion, garlic, milk, salt, pepper, parsley and parmesan. It was really good. I think Si just doesn't like broccoli, though. Then again, he's been kind of finicky all morning, and it's possible that the broccoli wasn't the issue.

There are about five slivers of cheese left, but I can smell it, and it smells so wonderful. Rob has said that his three favorite foods are 1)a block of parmesan 2)slices of parmesan 3)freshly grated parmesan...or something like that. It's a big hit in our house. And sitting here next to this yummy smell made me remember something I used to do. I would just melt cheese in the microwave and let it get kind of crispy. I would normally do it with mozzarella, but parmesan would be even better. I don't do it anymore because I don't have a microwave and generally don't use them when I have them to use, but it's a good memory.

But that leads me to the parmesan-and-oven version of my mozzarella-and-microwave treat. Just turn on the broiler, grate some slivers of parmesan, and then put them in small, pretty-flat piles and let them brown. They should turn out crispy, brown and crazy good. And, if you are a spicy type, just sprinkle a bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil or crushed red pepper before putting it under the broiler. It'll be way yummy.

I am really interested in health, and I think I've influenced Malachi just a tiny bit.  So, since this is about health and about Malachi, maybe I'll just put it on both my blogs.  My delicioso blog is sorely neglected.  But, oh well.  I'm a busy person.

Malachi, like any four-year old, is constantly asking questions.  And I really try to just answer honestly, even if the answer is a bit complex.  I mean, they can understand a lot, right?  So, when he asks about where food comes from or why we eat certain things or why I want to go outside, I tell him.  I talk about vitamins and minerals and sugar causing you to not be able to fight off germs as well and about antibodies and how you need to sleep and drink water when you get sick. 

So enters LazyTown.  Have you heard of it?  It's a kids' show out of produced in Iceland, and we watch it on Nick Jr.  That used to be Noggin, and we much prefer the old name of Noggin.  But, they changed it to Nick Jr.  It just makes us feel like our kids watch Nick, and that just doesn't seem right at their age.  Back to LazyTown -- the premise is that there is a villain named Robbie Rotten who tries to get the people of the town to be lazy, stay indoors and play video games, and eat junk food.  He also tries to banish Sportacus from the city.  Sportacus is the "slightly-above-average hero", who encourages just the opposite and is always saving the day with the help of his friends.  Rob's favorite character is Robbie Rotten.  I don't know if it's because of the name or what.  My favorite is definitely Sportacus.  He's just a cool guy.

Well, this is Rob and Malachi's favorite kids' show.  And when they go outside to play (as Sportacus suggests they do), they often play LazyTown.  And, just like in the show, it always goes basically the same way.  Now, I don't know how exactly they play it because I'm just not allowed to play, but I think this is how it goes.  Rob is Robbie Rotten, and he dresses up in some disguise (which happens on the show), and he tries to trick Silas, who is one of the people in LazyTown, to try to do something he shouldn't do.  And then Malachi, who is playing Sportacus, comes to the rescue and tells why he shouldn't do what Robbie is suggesting.  Do you like how I didn't have to put the actor and character's name there since Rob is playing Robbie?  Yeah, me, too.  Though, Rob, when he is called Robby, spells his name with a y at the end. 

Today while they were playing, Robbie tried to convince Silas' character to stay inside and not play outside.  And, when Sportacus came to save the day, he explained that it's good to go outside and play because that way you get sunlight, and that allows your body to make vitamin D.  I feel like he understands more about it than most adults do!

Then, tonight, though he wasn't playing Sportacus, Malachi was again trying to be sure we are all healthy.  Rob started not feeling well, and so Malachi came to me and said, "Mommy, Daddy isn't feeling good.  So, give me some good food with lots of vitamins to give him.  Like almonds -- not crackers."  Oh, my nutritionist in the making!  So, Rob got all set up with walnuts, almonds and an apple.  I hope Malachi's dietary treatment allows Rob to recover in time for language class in the morning!

I have no pictures, but this should be simple enough even without them. The other day I read a great little recipe that sounded scrumptious. And, indeed it was. Grilled Cheese and Apple:

Bread
Butter
Cheese, sliced thin
Apple, sliced thin
Salt

Butter one side of each slice of bread. Layer the unbuttered side of one piece with three or four slices of cheese. Next, lightly salt. Then, add three or four slices of apple. Top with other bread, buttered side out. Toast on low heat until browned, flip carefully so that you don't lose all your filling. Pick it up and reassemble if you do lose some. Then, brown the other side. I thought the addition of apple was fabulous, and then it took Rob half the sandwich before he even said anything (he didn't see me make them and didn't know what they were). I was so relieved when he finally did reveal that he noticed that apple and really liked it. Whew! I almost thought he wasn't going to notice at all!

As someone who avoids caffeine, it's hard to find options to drink beyond juice and water or something else very sugary. However, I was with someone the other day who ordered hot mint tea at a Chinese restaurant. I initially assumed that it was actually caffeinated black tea that had been flavored with mint. But, it was not. Just mint leaves. Peppermint, to be exact. And, she told me that it's everywhere here.
 
Then I had a memory of another friend in Phoenix making peppermint iced tea. And, let me tell you, that was a good memory because that tea was very yummy. It took me a little while to find mint tea at the store I went to last, but it was indeed there. Dima tea, consisting only of peppermint leaves. So, what would be really awesome would be to get some fresh peppermint and make tea from that. I imagine it would taste even better. But, maybe not. I don't know...I've never done it.
 
If you like to experiment with different drinks, but aren't a fan of most teas that aren't just black tea, you might just think differently about this. Personally, I don't like fruit teas, herbal teas, or even green tea.  I have and will continue to try to like them, but they've disappointed me so far.  Obviously, I was really excited to find that I like this non-black tea so much. Here is how I made it...very simple.
 
Put water on to boil, and while it's boiling, preheat your tea pot with hot water. Once the water is boiling, pour out the hot water from the tea pot, put in three bags and your boiling water. Let steep for at least 20 minutes. You might want to use an additional tea bag if you want it stronger. I think I might try that next. Pour into a half-gallon container. If you wish to sweeten it, add honey or sugar now so that it will dissolve easily. I used about 1-2 tablespoons of honey, which didn't make it very sweet, just a little. Now, top off the container with cold water, and ice, if you wish. I prefer to just put ice in my glass for some reason. Voila. It's done. Rob and I have really enjoyed this. Malachi, on the other hand, very much did not approve of the mint tea. And, when he reaches to take a drink of tea now, he makes sure it's "normal" tea and not mint tea! Oh, well. You can't please everyone.

My language teacher, Yelena, was recently explaining to me why it is
so good to freeze the fruits available right now for the winter. For
one, there isn't much produce beyond onions, potatoes, cabbage and
carrots around here in the dead of winter. Well, I kind of take that
back. Yes, you can find apples, oranges, etc. in the supermarkets.
But, in all fairness, if I were to take a blind taste test, I might
not be able to identify the orange as such due to the complete lack of
flavor. It definitely isn't like the fresh-from-the-tree yumminess we
would pick up from the church building just about every week during
citrus season when we lived in Mesa. Nope, it's nothing like that.
 
Secondly, she says that the juices here are really filled with sugar.
I told her that we only buy the ones that say 100% fruit. But, she
countered that "it's a problem here in Ukraine", meaning that just
because it says it's all fruit does not mean it's all fruit. Maybe
she's right. I definitely don't know.
 
In an effort to save money, be cultural, and have some yummy berries
in the winter, I decided to freeze some. Rob hiked over to the
nearest market, which is about the size of a small city, and came home
with blueberries, black currants (which I am trying to learn to like
since I live in the land of currants), gooseberries (also might need
to work on liking), raspberries, and cherries. I still need to get a
gadget to take the pits out of cherries before I want to freeze them.
Other than that, though, I was ready to freeze.
 
There isn't much to tell about how to do this, especially as I used no
specific method and know next-to-nothing about the art of freezing
things well. I didn't wash them, as that seems like it would just
turn them to mush. I'll wash them after I defrost them. I simply
labeled some bags, scooped probably a pound or so of berries in each
individual one, and then made sure that each bag was then put in a
second bag. I've always had problems with things getting a little
freezer-burned. I hate that.
 
Here are some pictures of our little escapade. The first is a very
happy and messy Silas after a drink of banana-bluberry smoothie. I
firmly believe that 50% of this kid's caloric intake comes in smoothie
form. After that comes some pictures of different berries and labeled
bags. I know, super-exciting stuff. The green things, in case you
are unknowledgeable about gooseberries as I am, are, you guessed it,
gooseberries. Then comes my freezer in all it's smallness. No, not
tininess, but smallness. And, the last pic is Malachi. I tried to
get a shot of him scooping berries into the freezer bags, but he was
just too quick. He was a well-oiled machine in action. Instead, this
is him as he explains that he has a 4X4 on his shirt. And then he
asked why it didn't say 4X4. I don't know. I wouldn't even be able
to tell you that it was a 4X4.
 
I think people should freeze more. In America, it seems like the
price of produce doesn't rise and fall dramatically like it does here.
 As an example of the fluctuations here, during the winter, I was
paying about $1.41 a pound for tomatoes. Last week, I paid 32 cents a
pound. Incredible difference. Now we are buying cherries and other
berries for $1.07 to $2.08 per pound. And, in a little while, they
will disappear completely in the form of fresh food. But, thanks to
my little freezer, we can enjoy some of this lip-smacking stuff in the
dead of winter...when we are freezing in our apartment and really only
want to drink hot tea anyway. And I won't want to make smoothies.
Why am I freezing again?

Freeze. Freeze away, my friends.

As I was hurrying into the kitchen last night to make some sort of potato dish, I was inspired to make gnocchi, a dish I was introduced to via Trader Joe's early last year. It is an Italian dumpling, usually made of potato and flour or semolina flour.  $1.49 for a pound of ready-to-boil gnocchi quickly became a favorite in our house - quick, filling and superb. Since moving away, though, we have had no gnocchi, until last night. Here's how I did it:
 
about 2 pounds of potatoes -- I don't have a scale, and I think I used more
3 cups of flour
about a tablespoon salt
a bit of cinnamon
1 egg
 
First, I washed and boiled the thin-skinned potatoes. Once they were soft enough to pierce with a fork, I put them (without the water) into the Vitamix. It would be better to peel them after boiling, but I didn't have time and never mind thin skins staying in a dish. Besides, they are good for you. I pureed them quickly and dumped them onto a floured table. Next, I added a little more than a cup of flour to it and started stirring it all up with a large spoon. Next, I added one egg and the cinnamon. The recipe actually called for nutmeg, but I didn't have any, and it just seemed like cinnamon would be the next best thing. I kept mixing, adding a little of the remaining flour as I went. Once it was dry enough to knead, I began to do so, very lightly. Too much kneading, and the gnocchi will end up heavy. I added more flour and kneaded until it was dry and not sticky. I think I used about three cups, but it might have been a bit more. Malachi was helping me with the flour, which is always great fun, but also means I don't know how much flour we went through.
 
Once it was dry, I separated the dough into four pieces and rolled each piece into long "snakes", as Malachi named them, each about an inch in diameter. A little bit smaller diameter would have been better. Then, I cut them into small pieces, a little less than an inch in length each. With Malachi's help, I mashed each little piece with a fork. The indention didn't stay, and that was okay.
 
After that, it was pretty simple. I boiled a big pot of water, along with the salt, and then boiled them until they floated, which took about four minutes. Finally, I just spooned them out with a slotted spoon and put them into a large serving bowl.
 
I also made a sauce, which turned out fabulous:
 
1 handful of fresh basil
2 handfuls of fresh parsley
about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
about 1/4 cup water
1 large tomato
4 cloves garlic
salt
pepper
 
I put all this into the Vitamix and blended on a medium speed until it was most of the herbs were pretty small. On top of the gnocchi it went, along with lots of chopped green onions. Gave it a good stir, and it was done!
 
Freshly grated parmesan would have been really nice, and I highly suggest that. But, we didn't have any. Rob was wonderfully excited about the gnocchi surprise, and Malachi ate it up. Silas was asleep, though, and waited until later to have some.
 
Time in the kitchen -- about an hour and a half.

Rating from Rob -- 10 out of 10
"They were perfect!"

Rating from Denyce -- 8 out of 10
"They were delicious, but needed to be a bit lighter.  I think if I could have weighed the potatoes, I would have known exactly how much flour to add, and could have cut the kneading a bit, which would have theoretically made them lighter."