Our quiet little world

Snow came to our little part of the world mid-day Sunday. It covered our little hill with white quiet. I love how snow stops the world for a while. I had stayed home Sunday morning with a bad cold, so I was content with the rest that the snow brought with it.
Monday,Ben was home for the day, but Michael went in for most of the day.
Snow brings out the cook in me. Sunday afternoon, I put on a pot of potato, corn chowder. Monday, I made a batch of blueberry scones (Thanks to Jennifer for the recipe).

Orange Cranberry (or Blueberry) Scones

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (if you use self rising, leave out the baking powder and salt)
½ cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup butter
½ dried orange cranberries (you can use blueberries, instead)
2 teaspoons grated orange zest (you can substitute lemon if you find yourself without an orange)
½ cup half and half
½ tsp lemon juice (or orange juice)
1 large egg

Glaze
½ cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons of orange (or lemon) juice
2-3 tsp of Half n Half
¼ tsp vanilla
¼ tsp orange (or lemon) extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cranberry and zest.

Measure half and half into a 2-cup measuring cup. Add lemon juice. Break egg in and beat to combine. Pour into dry ingredients and mix with a fork. You may need to use your hands to make sure all the flour gets incorporated. It is a very wet batter, so it gets a little sticky.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat and form the batter into a large patty. Cut it into 8 segments with a knife, but do not try to move. This is only to speed up the cooking process and give you a guide when you go to cut into it later. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-25 minutes, until it is golden on top.

Mix powdered sugar and juice into a glaze and dribble it over the scones

Since that did not quench my cooking desire, I made a Spinach Bacon Quiche.

SPINACH BACON QUICHE

4 TBS dried minced onion
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
10 eggs
2 TBS of bacon bits (I use Hormel) or 4 slices of cooked bacon, crumbled
1 1/2 cup of 1/2 n 1/2
12 ounces of spinach (drained)
16 ounces of shredded colby jack cheese
2 Pie Shells (not deep dish)

Mix first 6 ingredients, mix well until eggs are incorporated into mixture, like an omelet.
Add spinach, mix; add cheese, mix (see Note).
Pour into the 2 pie shells and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

Note: You may need to add a little more of the 1/2 n 1/2, but it should be about the consistency of cake batter. This can be made the night before and poured into the pie shells the next morning.
This is great as a reheat.

I finished my first quilt top of the year. I can't wait to go to Sandy's and quilt it. In the meantime, I hope to make some matching pillow shams with the leftover scraps. I will quilt them on my machine. It is a little busier than I thought it would be, but I will hold off judgment until the quilting is done.
Today, I finished my first knitting project of 2011. It is a shawl for Sheila to cover her shoulders on her wedding dress. It has lots of crystal beads that are silver lined. It reminded me of the snow melting and the sun hitting the drops.
I had to run to Hobby Lobby and pick up a new journal for my knitting projects. I had finished off my old one with 2009 and 2010. I love these little journals. The floral one has graph paper-like pages. I thought it would be useful for drawing designs and ideas that pop into my head. It will even work on quilt ideas, since it already has little squares.
I adore clean journals, notebook and new books. My want-to/need-to read list is very long!

I finished my latest book read, yesterday. It was called The Attributes of God by A.W. Pink. I highly recommend it. Late last year, I had finished a book by Joseph F. Carroll called How to Worship Jesus Christ. He recommended the A.W. Tozer's book called the Attributes of God. I did not have that one, but I had the one by Pink and I knew that he was a great author, so I started his book and Michael ordered me the one by Tozer. I am now reading it, it is actually called The Knowledge of The Holy. Today was the first day on it and I can tell already that it is going to be high on my list of favorite devotional books.
Jennifer K, Kathie, Jennifer R, and Becky, you know you need another book; you have my permission to go ahead and order it for yourself.