Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Scones

Isn't he adorable? I love gingerbread, I love chocolate chip cookies, and I love scones ... it only made sense to combine them, then, for my entry into the Hodgson Mill "Have a Grain Holiday" recipe contest!

My challenge was to "create an original, sweet or savory holiday treat using Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat flour and/or Hodgson Mill 'Best for Bread' bread flour (products provided). All entries will be judged by Hodgson Mill based on overall appeal, originality and appropriateness to the Hodgson Mill brand – we’re looking for a treat that’s delicious AND nutritious!"

In order to make my treats nutritious, I used primarily whole wheat flour. I also added a bit of wheat germ and flax seed, as well as using yogurt rather than butter. The delicious part comes from the nutty flavor of the whole grains, and also from spices, candied ginger, dark chocolate, and just the tiny touch of sweetness in the optional decoration.

These scones were ridiculously easy to make - stir together the ingredients, roll out the dough, cut them, bake them, then let them cool before decorating. The house smells amazing while these festive treats bake! And scones, of course, are a perfect accompaniment to cocoa, coffee, tea, mulled cider ... anything warm and cozy for a cold winter day.

There's enough junk food surrounding us during the holidays. Enjoy something that tastes good and is also good for you!

Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Scones

1-1/2 cups Hodgson Mill 100% stone ground whole wheat flour
1/2 cup + 1/3 cup Hodgson Mill white flour - unbleached
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 teaspoons ginger
1/3 cup turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon Hodgson Mill whole grain flax seed
2 tablespoons Hodgson Mill wheat germ
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon minced candied ginger
1/3 cup ginger ale
1 egg
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup vanilla all-natural yogurt
1/4 cup mini dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon skim milk

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

In a large bowl, combine flours, salt, cinnamon, ginger, turbinado sugar, flax seed, wheat germ, baking powder and candied ginger. In a large measuring cup, combine egg, oil and yogurt; pour over dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Stir in chocolate chips.

Sprinkle a bit of white flour onto the countertop and knead dough just until smooth. Roll out to 1" in height, and use a 5" gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut scones. Re-roll and cut until dough is used up.

Place the scones onto the baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes until just lightly golden and set when their bellies are lightly pushed. Remove to a rack and cool completely.

Combine the confectioners' sugar and milk; stir until smooth. Place into a small baggie, snip a tiny corner off, and use the icing to decorate the scones. Let the icing set, then serve.

Makes 6 scones.

Floozin' 'n' Schmoozin' at the Chili Cook-Off

Several weeks ago, I received a fabulous email from a representative of the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre; she was inviting me to participate in this past Sunday's second annual Chili Cook-Off, Beer Tasting and Silent Auction fundraiser by saying, "We have to have some Floozie chili again!" She'd remembered me from last year's event ... awww. Of course, when you decorate your table with bright pink feathers and wear a tiara, I guess you tend to stand out!

Well, how could I resist a personal request for such a good cause???

So Tom and I shopped and chopped and stirred and tasted and tweaked, and a beautiful pot of chili was born on Saturday, in order to let the flavors really develop before Sunday's event. It smelled absolutely, deliriously amazing! And while it wasn't painfully spicy, it had enough of a presence that the flavors did a little dance around our mouths and our tongues as they left a distinct tingling. We were very, very pleased at our success!

Of course, this not being the sort of fundraiser where women lose circulation in their legs from pantyhose while men are strangled by bow ties, we had to go find decorations for my table. And that's where Fantasy Attic, a costume shop that is a local institution, came in.

Tom had the notion that a chicken chili required the watchful eye of a rubber chicken; alas -- while we did find one there! -- it was $10 ... not a lot on general principle, but a lot for a one-day event. (It's not like the little guy would be particularly appropriate sitting on my desk at work, after all ....) So we aimed for the $2.50 Mardi Gras beads with little plastic replicas instead. Toss in one bright and festive set of beads with chili peppers, too, and we had our decor!

And so on Sunday we schlepped on down to the Corner Brewery for the event, and were given such a warm welcome! Several of the folks affiliated with the Theatre remembered me, and they even told me that my table from last year was available if I wanted it. Of course, I did! It was a perfect location, first one you'd see when naturally looking from left to right.

I was happily surprised to see a friend I know through work, Sam, who had taken a traditional Jewish cholent ([CHOH-luhnt] = stew) and tweaked it with some seasonings to make it into an excellent chili. I recognized a couple of competitors from last year, as well; all together, there were 18 different varieties entered into the ring, with names such as "D.O.A.," "High Flyin' Chili," and even "Road Kill Chili" ... we won't ask for the ingredient list on that one!

The event also had a silent auction, with a wide assortment of fabulous prizes like 6 months worth of chocolate, restaurant gift certificates, a walk-on role in the Theatre company's production of "Sweeney Todd," a pearl pendant, and even -- oh, bestill my baseball-loving heart! -- tickets to see the Yankees play the Tigers at Comerica Park in May. There was a beer tasting, too, which is going to be virtually ignored here because I rarely drink, and it's literally been decades since I drank beer. Wine or prissy drinks with umbrellas, please, but no beer for me.

Anyway, on with the show!

I am thrilled to say that I was the first one of the bunch to run out of chili, even though I'd brought a full crockpot as well as a stockpot with more. I had people say "I was told I had to try this" or "My friend recommended yours and said I had to taste it." One couple told me they'd read about my chili on AnnArbor.com -- my article, I hope! There was even one fabulous woman who stopped by for a sample, who then brought her husband over for a sample, who then came by one last time saying this taste was all hers: "I'm not sharing!"

I'm also proud to say that Ingrid Sheldon, former mayor of Ann Arbor, had the honor of being my very last chili taster; she literally took her plastic spoon and scraped up the one lone remaining bean from the bottom of the crockpot, because that's all that was left by the time she stopped by to visit me.

An added twist -- in addition to the three judges who were in the back, tasting away in an effort to award prizes -- was that each contestant had a jar for collecting $1 donations; the one with the most money would win the "People's Choice Award." I was tickled to see one man slip a $5 bill into my jar ... good thing I'm already spoken for, huh??? That might have swayed me, if I were a lesser woman!

Now, as though all of this excitement weren't enough, here was the BIG news: I was absolutely giddy to have had Ann Pearlman, fellow Michigander (Michigoose???) and author of The Christmas Cookie Club -- a book I'd just read and loved at Christmastime, no less! -- stop by to visit me. She's a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award nominee, and she told me that a sequel to the Cookie Club book is due out in October, with further adventures from our favorite women ... yay!!!

I wish I'd had enough presence of mind, in the midst of my happy surprise, to have asked her for an interview ... oh, what fun we'd have had talking about food and life! Because Ann told me that her kitchen philosophy is the same as mine: the cooking, preparing, and eating of food is all about creating memories and sharing traditions and building cherished relationships through these bonding experiences.

Well, it was finally time to award the prizes -- 1st Place, 2nd Place, Most Authentic, and Most Creative. I'm sorry to say that I didn't win anything ... :(

I was kinda maybe thinking I'd win the "People's Choice;" but truly, seeing people smile, hearing their compliments, and watching them come back for more and bring their friends over ... well, that was priceless! That I got a great story to tell on a windy February day while supporting a great cause -- even better! And that I had both Tom and my BFF Wendy there, supporting me, running for chili samples (so we could taste the competition!) and enjoying themselves ... well, that was fabulous, too!!! So I really did win where it counted, I have to admit ... :)

So now, on to the chili recipe!

It looks like there's an overwhelming amount of stuff in this chili, but it's really not too bad. Some chopping, some emptying of cans, some stirring, and then just let it simmer away and work its magic! Truly, it's a thing of beauty once it's all simmered together ....

Cheesy Chicken Chorizo Chili

1 pound ground chicken
1 pound chorizo
2 large onions, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
1 yellow pepper, chopped
6 scallions, chopped
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon applewood smoked salt (a Christmas gift from Tom, bought at a small store in a small town; I think either regular salt or a drip of Liquid Smoke would be fine as substitutes)
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 packets taco seasoning mix
1-1/2 cups frozen corn
2 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
3 cups fresh salsa
1 10-ounce can green chile enchilada sauce
2 15-ounce cans white beans, rinsed
1 15-ounce can red kidney beans, rinsed
1 teaspoon Clancy's Fancy hot sauce
3 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
1 cup light beer (I used Arbor Brewing Company's Red Snapper Amber Ale)
2 cups water
16 ounces Pepper Jack cheese, grated
8 ounces Mild Cheddar cheese, grated

Brown the chicken and the chorizo in an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat. Add half of the onions, the red, orange and yellow peppers, and the scallions; cook, stirring frequently, for a few minutes. Add the rest of the onions, peppers and scallions and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes.




Add the garlic, smoked salt, chili powder, sea salt, pepper and taco seasoning; cook 1 minute. Add the corn, tomatoes, salsa, enchilada sauce, white and red beans, hot sauce, and chili garlic sauce; cook for 5 minutes. Add the beer and the water; bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium.

Add the cheeses and cook for at least 1 hour, stirring frequently. If you can make this a day ahead and warm it up, it'd be even better!

Begging for Votes, Votes, and More Votes!!!

I've been a bit of a slacker with my cooking contests in recent years, due to a significant lack of time (and, admittedly, sometimes a lack of inspiration). But I'm trying to get ye olde groove back again.

So when my friend Angela of Foodie Road Show told me about the Blogger Mushroom Recipe Challenge -- in which the very generous Marx Foods would send me samples of dried mushrooms to then use in creating a masterpiece, with a very fine prize awaiting the winner at the end of the event -- I thought it sounded like a fabulous opportunity.

First I took care of the recipe part of the contest: Fried Eggs with Bacon and Mushrooms in Cheese Sauce.

Now it's time for the voting part!

Point-blank, I'm begging for votes. On my knees, hands pressed together as I plead and grovel, begging for votes.

The poll will be on the Marx Foods blog starting at 6 a.m. Pacific time today, and will close on Friday at midnight. You can vote only once, it seems; and you can only vote once per IP address. As the company explains it: "That means that if you vote from work, for example, (depending on your network setup), your co-worker will not also be able to vote if they share the same IP address. They will, however, be able to vote from home. Just an FYI." So make sure not to lose your chance!

So, what can I win??? In addition to glory -- always a nice perk! -- I could win 3 shipments of fresh mushrooms (which I love!) and eligibility to compete in the "Ridiculously Delicious Contest" in December. "Now, what is the 'Ridiculously Delicious Contest'? We don’t know yet. We’re still trying to decide on something ridiculously big enough and awesomely delicious enough to be worthy of the name." But it sounds pretty impressive, doesn't it??? Please help me to get there, whatever it might be!

Marx Foods is also hosting a random drawing for anyone who's interested in entering. The prize for that contest will be pretty amazing too: an order of Fresh Truffles.

So go to the Marx Foods blog and please VOTE FOR ME!!! Enter the random drawing for your own sample of their fabulous mushrooms. Then after that, you can ...

Email this to all your loved ones.

Post it on Facebook.

Tweet this.

Stumble upon it.

Send it along on any social media you can think of that I'm too much of a Neoluddite to be aware of.

Many thanks, ahead of time, for any love and support you can show me! I'll let you know the results as soon as I know them myself ....

Monday Morning Mushroom Mania

I happen to love mushrooms -- love them. I'll saute them and put them into omelettes, stir them into cream sauces for pasta, eat them deep fried ... and I feel very deprived, because I don't get to eat them very often. Unfortunately, the men in my life -- Tom and Jeremy -- aren't fans. Jeremy will eat them on pizza, if there's enough cheese to bury them; and Tom defends himself that he likes white button mushrooms, but he won't eat anything stronger or more exotic.

So, what was I supposed to do when I received a box of dried mushrooms from Marx Foods in order to participate in their Blogger Mushroom Recipe Challenge??? (The Challenge involves creating a recipe, posting it, waiting to hear if it's been chosen as a finalist, then begging everyone to vote for it if it's been selected.) My goal, pure and simple, was to make something that Jeremy and Tom might take a bite of without then grabbing their throats, gagging, and pretending that they were about to keel over and die.

A wide variety of ideas meandered through my brain. I fixated for quite some time on a combination of mushrooms and figs: a sauce of fig jam with sauteed mushrooms, served over chicken or steak? A savory bread pudding with sauteed mushrooms, with dollops of fig jam swirled throughout and topped with a good Swiss or Parmesan? This notion is still calling to me, so stay tuned for further experiments.

And then the project veered towards something more familiar, a tweaking of comfort food. Meatloaf, perhaps? It's a favorite of both my "boys". But then my fevered brain went into overdrive again: mushroom gravy? marinara sauce with mushrooms? mix mushrooms into the ground beef, or combine them with cheese for an ooey gooey filling? Too many options, too many ideas, too little direction.

Then on Thursday morning, I read a New York Times article about food in Bilbao, Spain. Apparently "chef Eneko Atxa, who trained with Martin Berasategui, delivers a jolt: a 'reverse egg,' a yolk whose interior has been replaced with black truffle."

And that led to an epiphany: take out the yolk of a fried egg, replace it with a mushroom mixture of some sort, and create a yellow-ish sauce with the yolks to pour over the lump of mushrooms to resemble a yolk. It started to come together ... bacon, of course ... good cheddar ... toast ... possibly hash browns. I just needed to quit my job and rush off to cook. But alas, I had to wait until I got home despite enthusiasm and creativity swirling through me.

I soaked the porcini mushrooms until they were tender. I separated the eggs. I grated cheese. I chopped onions and bacon. I used up a lot of dishes and saucepans as I tinkered and tweaked, which precluded having any available space to make hash browns (though I definitely support Tom's idea to serve this on potatoes). I toasted some rye bread. And there it was -- my idea having come to fruition.

I plated the dish and brought it to Jeremy; Tom was at home that evening, so he wasn't available to be a co-guinea pig. Much to his credit, Jeremy didn't wrinkle his nose or roll his eyes at the presentation. And he didn't just sniff and nibble and refuse my offering.

He cut the egg in half and said that he thought it would be good to plop the egg onto the bread to make an open-faced sandwich.

And then he opened wide and bit in, as I waited anxiously for some semblance of a positive response ... or at least a polite and courteous negative response. In all honesty, I was waiting for him to start an Oscar-worthy performance as he retched and gasped for his last breath, accusing me of poisoning him.

But to my surprise -- actually, to my utter shock and amazement! -- this is what Jeremy said to me (edited slightly for a family-friendly audience):

"You know you're not getting any of this, don't you? This is f***ing DELICIOUS!!!"

So, there you have it -- my son's rousing and whole-hearted endorsement of a food he normally loathes and rejects. Mushrooms ... my son ate mushrooms. And he enjoyed them. He loved them! He refused to share them! And he devoured every morsel on his plate ... after eating a sandwich, no less. Jeremy was determined that we would have no mushroom left behind.

The recipe is going to seem more complicated than it actually is -- it's really very easy to put together. Whether you serve it for breakfast, for a light lunch or a supper is up to you. But do serve it. Either you'll be rewarding those who love mushrooms already, or you'll be converting those who don't realize that they do ....

Fried Eggs with Bacon and Mushrooms in Cheese Sauce

1 1/2-ounce packet Marx Foods dried Porcini mushrooms
1 cup boiling water
3 strips bacon, chopped fine
1/2 small red onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
pinch of kosher salt
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup skim milk
4 eggs, separated
1/4 cup shredded white cheddar cheese
1/4 cup shredded orange cheddar cheese
4 slices caraway rye toast, buttered, each slice halved

Break up the dried mushrooms and place them into a bowl.

Cover with the boiling water and let rest for 30 minutes.

Place the butter into a small saucepan and melt it over medium heat. Whisk in the flour until well combined, then whisk in the seasoned salt, salt and pepper.

Slowly whisk in the milk and the egg yolks until smooth, and bring just to a boil.

Lower heat to simmer, then whisk in the cheeses until smooth and thickened. Keep warm, stirring occasionally.

Drain and finely chop the mushrooms.

In a large skillet, saute the bacon for 2-3 minutes. Add the onion and saute for another 2-3 minutes, until the onions are tender. Add the mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes; place mixture into a small bowl and set aside.

In the same skillet, carefully place the egg whites so that they don't touch each other; it's easiest to do this 2 at a time.

Cook just until the outer portion is set but the center is still soft; place 1/4 cup of the bacon mixture over the center of each egg white.

Cook for 1 minute, then place one bacon-topped egg white onto each of 4 plates. Spoon a scant 1/3 cup of sauce over the mushroom mixture, to resemble the yolk of a fried egg. Drizzle any excess sauce around the plates once the eggs are ready.

Serve immediately, with toast. And if you have both the time and the inclination, placing the egg over some nice crispy hash browns would likely be a perfect touch.

Serves 4.

30 Things I Vow to Do This Summer

To help ward off writer's block (yeah, like that could happen to someone like me!), I signed up for Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop which offers writing prompts. So, following down the proverbial primrose path of one of these suggestions, I hereby offer:

30 Things I Vow to Do This Summer (Or At Least, The Food-Related Plans!)

1. Make pesto.

2. Roast tomatoes and make a sauce.

3. Find ways to get Jeremy to eat more vegetables.

4. Pit cherries ... lots and lots and lots of cherries, 'cause I buy them in 10-pound boxes for several weeks in a row.

5. Shop at the Ypsilanti Depot Town Farmers Market some Saturday morning.

6. Make Panzanella with my freshly harvested tomatoes and basil.

7. Work on my gardens -- backyard and community.

8. Shop more at the Om Market for Indian groceries.

9. Work up to running to the Om Market (preferably without gasping for my last breath), which is a mile-and-a-half from my home, while Jeremy rides his bike ahead of me.

10. Eat at the new Mediterranean/Middle Eastern restaurant opening soon near my house.

11. Go back to Comet Coffee.

12. Go to Lab, a self-proclaimed "coffee + tea + yogurt experience," which serves my beloved Intelligentsia coffee.

13. Go back to Shalimar with Tom tomorrow night for a fabulous Indian dinner, just like we had on our first date.

14. Use the beautiful bottle of blood orange vinegar that I bought at Fox & Obel (an extraordinary gourmet market) in Chicago.

15. Write up posts about Jeremy's and my culinary adventures while we were in Chicago.

16. Work on my assorted and sundry sidebar projects, which have been sadly neglected in recent weeks.

17. Eat less meat.

18. Eat another Delicious Dogs on the Run hot dog ... perhaps at Art Fair.

19. Continue to look for quirky cookbooks as I peruse rummage sales.

20. Continue to look for intriguing plates and cups and whatnot while I'm at the aforementioned rummage sales, to use for photographing food.

21. Improve my food photography.

22. Try to enter more cooking contests.

23. Finish a book, particularly the one about being a personal chef on a yacht in the Mediterranean that I keep renewing from the library -- Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d'Azur and Italy's Costa Bella by David Shalleck.

24. Make BLTs with tomatoes from my garden.

25. Make BLT pasta salad.

26. Bring a picnic to an outdoor concert.

27. Donate tomatoes to a program that feeds the hungry.

28. Make my prize-winning Ratatouille in August when the ingredients are freshly harvested.

29. Make Cherry Sorbet.

30. Make a lattice-topped Cherry Pie.


NOTE: Don't forget to check out the "thank you" post for my followers, and leave a comment at the end of it if you're interested in the gift drawing: "L'Chaim -- To Life!"

I Won, I Won, I Won, I Won!!!

Just a quickie post to offer MANY, MUCHO, and MEGA thanks to everyone who voted for me in the 7th Mediterranean Cooking Event, which featured Algerian-inspired recipes. I WON!!! I had 32 votes vs. 17 for the 2nd place finisher ... you like me, you really like me!

So now I wait anxiously for my prize -- a North African cookbook which will fit happily with the several Moroccan cookbooks I already own (but really, one can never have too many, can one???).

Check out my page of contest wins to see this one featured right at the tippy-top of the list. It's a small win ... alas, no million dollars from Pillsbury to pay off my credit cards and car repair loan. But -- as my fellow cooking contesters and I are fond of saying -- "a win is a win." The competition was tough, with some gorgeous and amazing dishes! Rising to the cream of this crop was quite an accomplishment.

I am a proud and happy chickie on a sunny Friday evening ... :)