Valentine's Scones!

I made these scones for my darling and for my roomies for Valentine's morning! They turned out really wonderful, they were much sweeter than I expected them to be, so I might cut the sugar to 1/4 cup the next time I make them, which I definitely will. The original recipe can be found here, but I changed almost all of the ingredients to make them me-friendly.



Ingredients:
*egg substitute equivalent to one egg
*1/3 cup rice milk
*1/4 cup orange cranberry relish (made this for Christmas, don't remember if I posted the recipe- basically a bag and a half of cranberries, pulp of four oranges (peel, remove membranes), processed and sweetened to taste (I used brown sugar), then cooked until just boiling so can be cold canned) [original recipe called for applesauce]
*2 Tablespoons coconut oil
*1 Teaspoon vanilla extract
*2 cups flour blend (I used 3/4 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup sorghum flour, 1/3 cup sweet rice flour, 2/3 cup tapioca flour)
*1 Tbsp baking powder
*1/2 tsp salt
*berry preserves
*sweet rice flour for dusting fingers

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare egg substitute according to package directions. Whisk until frothy.
Whisk in milk, relish, coconut oil, and vanilla extract.
Whisk together dry ingredients, mix into wet ingredients.
Using a quarter cup measure, drop blobs of batter *at least three inches* apart on oiled cookie sheet. Dust fingers with sweet rice flour and pat the batter into heart shapes.
Press a small well in the center of each heart and spoon 1/2 teaspoon of berry preserves into each well.
Bake for 12 to fifteen minutes, or until browned on edges.
Gorge yourself on delicious scones! (But wait several minutes or you will scald your mouth on the hot preserves!)

Encouragement rant

I feel a great burden lately that this world we live in needs more encouragement. There is this huge undertone in our culture and attitudes that nothing is ever good enough, but if you aren't happy-smiley-cheerful then something must be terribly wrong with you and you need to go to the counseling center. And it's not permissible to encourage someone because someone might think that you are weird and beyond the fear of judgement there is a fear that goes along with that unexpressed undertone that says nothing is right that to encourage someone is to acknowledge that not everything is alright in itself is not right. So if you are reading this and feel burdened, or discouraged, or anything, know that you aren't alone and that someday, somehow it will be okay. And if you notice that someone might not be happy-joyous, give them a little word of encouragement.

Heart shaped deliciousness!

Happy day before Valentine's day! I love Valentine's day (my sister will adamantly disagree with her opinion that it is stupid). Not because of the over-commercialized romance factor, but simply because the heart motif is my favorite simple little pattern. I was so excited when chipping iced over snow off my car the other day and a piece broke off in the perfect shape of a heart. I put it on the sidewalk for others to look upon and feel loved. I love love. Not just the romantic kind (but I am excited that my darling is taking me on a fancy date tomorrow night to a nice Thai restaurant), but Agape love, God love, friend love, parent love, sibling love, aunt-niece love, godchild love, and any other kind. I will end my digression here.

Yesterday I was really craving chocolate, and then, in my checking of favorite blogs, I came across this really awsome looking recipe posted by Karina of Karina-s Kitchen for Mint Chocolate chip cookies. I didn't have any mint extract, but have been on an almond and/or amaretto kick lately and conveniently had some almond extract, so I used that instead. I also topped them with a little melted chocolate (with a little coconut oil stirred in to make it shiny and keep it a little soft and fudgey). Review: Awesome! Seriously, these cookies are so rich and light and chocolately and gooey that as much as I like to play with recipes, other than changing the flavor extract, I don't think I could ever feel okay with changing this recipe at all.



The previously mentioned muffin recipes are coming soon. Right now I have to go to class.

<3

Foodie Blogroll, and other things

Hi there! Sorry it's been a while. I soon will post an entry on the muffins I made last week, a terrible dinner failure, some successes, and my plans for what I'm making for Valentines soon! Sorry it's been a while- life has been crazy again (the whole in college thing), on top of not feeling well still, and treacherous weather. I however have so far avoided the terrible bug that has been going around (it seems the whole world, or at least country), so it's mostly just the normal not feeling well (update on that coming soon too).

Just a little entry right now though to point out that I added the "Foodie Blogroll" to my page- it's over there on the right, below my profile. It's just a great little (okay, not so little) list of many many food blogs. Great resource for networking, getting idea, or just browsing. I thought it was neat. So take a look through if you so desire (warning- this can lead to a lot of time passing before you realize it!).

Por Favor

I will post a food update soon, but for right now, I have a different kind of post.

I would like to put in a prayer request to the internet.

My friend Jacob's brother Tim has been in Guatemala doing relief work (I think with a long-term missions group), and they were working on a building of some sort when a gas line right where they were working blew up, sending Tim (and the other workers I'm guessing) flying backwards, and one of the walls of the building fell on him. He's in pretty bad shape, and in a pretty impoverished area, so the hospital where he is probably isn't the best. Prayers for him, the people with him, Jake, and their family would be greatly appreciated.