cranberry, white chocolate, macadamia nut scones

my sister, mom & i are heading out this weekend on a girls getaway. so this morning i made these babies to nibble on while we sip mochas & chat on our drive!

i added a few extras to this recipe that in my opinion, would send the taste buds exploding with excitement!

 gather ingredients needed:

1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries (or dried cranberries) ** {i used dried}
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (or pieces)
1 3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, beaten
5 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons half-and-half

preheat oven to 400F

C came over, "what are you doing over here?!! can i help?!!"

& help myself to some white chocolate chips. thankyouverymuch.

Me: "stop eating those!"

C "i was just tasting them!"

sister came to join the fun too

the cutest sous chefs on the planet. 

helping themselves to more chocolate.

mix the flour, butter, baking powder, sugar & salt

add in cranberries from your handsome assistant

 the white chocolate chips

then chopped unsalted macadamia nuts! {this is an extra!}

the beaten egg

a splash or two of vanilla

  {this is an extra! because the smell of vanilla makes me swoon}

zest of an orange & juice of one orange

{i used two cuties, not MY cuties. but those darling little cutie clementines}

add the half n half

mix until well blended & forms a ball of dough

roll out on a floured surface & cut

then cut across, forming little squares

then cut the squares diagonally making triangles! 

{you could make the shapes larger, i chose petite ones so i'd feel better about scarfing two, possibly three of these things down in one sitting & not feel guilty about it.}

sprinkle some sugar on top

bake for 14mins

let them cool & try very hard not to dive in and eat several straight away. 

the smell is tantalizing.

makes perfect little two-bite sized scones!

what's on your agenda for this extended weekend?!
happy weekend all!

-k

roasted red pepper sauce with pasta

today on CasaDelRay cooks......

hahaha....sorry that was cheesy & lame. but i had to do it. 

the other night for dinner i made a delicious roasted red pepper sauce & topped it over ravioli stuffed with chicken, rosemary, parmesan & mozzarella cheese. i am not really a thick tomato marinara type of gal. so this red pepper sauce hit the spot. i adapted it from this recipe from Pioneer Woman & from this book we got as a wedding gift some 7 odd years ago. {which when i first thumbed through it, i had no clue what was going on in that thing! it was like a foreign language! suffice it to say, i didn't really know what i was doing when it came to cooking then...sorry hubby for the first years of not-so-great dinners!}

first up: roast the red peppers {say that five times fast!} about 3 large ones

while they are getting all hot & bothered up underneath there, mince 3-4 cloves of garlic

& dice 1 shallot {i like the flavor of the shallot but you can use a regular onion as well}

if you have leeks, chop 'em up too {i love the flavors of leeks combined with shallot}

to wash leeks, chop 'em up and let 'em soak in water for a bit then swish 'em around to get all that grime out. then rise.

swirl some EVOO in the pan and make the shallots & leeks sweat a bit {about 3-4mins}

once the peppers are nice and charred, let them sweat a bit in a bag

peel off the charred bits, chop, & de-seed those suckers. toss them in a food processor or blender with the shallot-leek mixture.

blend until somewhat smooth

get the water boiling for the pasta in a large pot. these are the ravioli's used {picked 'em up at costco}

waiting for the water to boil can cause serious boredom. throw caution to the wind & grab a 

glass of wine. 

or your favorite beverage for that matter.

move the sauce to a sauce pan & put over low heat. then pour in heavy cream. {about 3/4 cup, give or take}

mmm, would'ya just look at that...so creamy & yummy

take a taste test. add salt & pepper to taste

the water is still trying to boil. so it'd be a great time to run out to your garden in flip-flops with socks.

i, however, never condone this type of shoe-wearing behavior any other time. never. 

snip some basil. if you don't have fresh basil from your garden pick some up at the store. 

 chiffonade the basil. if you have no idea what the heck i am talking about. go here. 

see. it makes pretty little "ribbons" to top the pasta with

gently dump the ravioli in the boiling water

the package says to boil for 3-4mins. this is not long enough i don't think...so use your judgement here

drain water

now you can either put the pasta back in the pan and pour the sauce over it OR you can put the pasta in your bowl & dump however much sauce you want on top. i chose the latter so i can control the sauce to pasta ratio. {its generally more sauce than pasta!}

top with the pretty chiffonade basil & tad extra pepper

dig in!

buon appetito! 

i'd recommend eating this dish with some sort of yummy cheese bread. 

so you can use it to sop up the left over sauce! 

what kind of pasta sauce do you prefer?

bedroom transformation: curtains!

curtains are up!

sewn by yours truly! :)

i took a full flat sheet & cut in in half. {the store was out of twin, which is what i preferred but a full works too!}

then sewed the print over the top to make it somewhat darker over the window area. 

i am quite pleased with how they came out! it was the first time i'd had ever designed & made curtains myself! & it was easy-peasy! 

**next up: duvet cover & pillows!

bedroom transformation: a work in progress!

C's bedroom transformation is just about complete. 

the walls are painted. thanks to C taking the initiative {he decided he wanted to paint his own room by himself. found him covered in paint one morning along with some of the walls.} so, we went off to Home Depot bought actual paint for the walls & painted! He lasted a whole 10 minutes then wanted to stop! ha! 

Over the weekend, we hung up some of C's artwork & a canvas of him at 6 months old. My heart melts whenever I look at it. 

**how about them construction worker jammies?! you like?!!! :)

** i had to bribe him w/ m'sm's to get him to turn around and give me a smile. stinker. 

next up: curtains!