Blackberry Sour Cream Scones

Warning...This one gets a little messy! But then again, all good cooking should.

Yields: 8 large scones or 16 small scones

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1/4 cup for dusting
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
A pinch of cinnamon
A dash of nutmeg
5 tablespoons butter, cubed, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1 cup blackberries (you can substitute any berry for blackberries), slightly smashed
1 egg yolk
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar in the raw or decorative sugar

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Add the cubed butter until a coarse meal forms. Pulse in the sour cream and egg yolk until just combined.

Turn the sticky dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough comes together into a ball. Cut the dough into 2 parts. Gently pat or roll the dough down into a 1/2 inch thick square shape. Spread 1/2 of the berries over the dough, then fold in the sides of the dough and smoosh (technical cooking term, remember that one!) together. Spread the dough out and with a large knife cut into 4 large triangles. Repeat with second half of the dough. If you want smaller scones you can cut each large triangle in half.

Transfer the triangles onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet, placing 1 inch apart. Brush the tops of each scone with heavy cream and sprinkle it with some sugar in the raw or decorative sugar. This creates a shiny and crunchy top for the scones. Bake in preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes until the bottoms of the scones are light brown.

Remove from oven, cool slightly on the sheet pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I like serving these with a little lemon curd and whipped cream (the real stuff, not the stuff from a can).

Coming this week

Part of my New Years resolution was to make weekly menus. It is helping me save money. I used to have a habit of going to the store 2-3 times a week and coming home with over $70.00 in stuff and still not having 7 days worth of food while at the same time having 49 days worth of junk I wouldn't eat. So I put my husband in charge of cleaning out the garage freezer and I went and stocked it all up (still need to hit up Sams club for chicken), but basically I have Pork Spare ribs packaged in two serving portions (for me two portions is dinner and left over for hubs lunch since I don't eat it, you may want to package into 3-4 portions for left overs, it will save you a ton on lunch), steaks, chicken with bones and chicken with out. I don't keep fish in the freezer that is something I buy fresh the week I want to make it. I keep rib eye for my husbands friday meal (I'll explain later) and tri tip for any week night steak meals as I can make left overs out of that. I also have a pretty well stocked pantry so I only have to buy a few sides or veggies that don't store well over a week. Here is this weeks menu it starts on Sunday so that he has left overs for monday

Sunday: Quick beef tostadas
Monday: Pork rib adobo
Tuesday: Italian garlic chicken with asparagus & mashies
Wednesday: Husband wants to go buy sushi
Thursday: Roasted asian pork tenderloin with white rice (as a bonus I will post a recipe for a second meal made from this dish)
Friday: Rib eye with mushroom bacon sauce and finger potatoes
Saturday: Husband will talk me into getting KFC or some equally gross fast food to make him happy

I sat down to make my grocery list and realized that I already had the ground beef, ribs, chicken and steak in my freezer. That meant all I had to buy was the pork tenderloin, I got a big one so it cost a whopping $5.00. Then I just had to buy some salad stuff, asparagus, finger potatoes, and other random veggies. Everything else I bought was just normal house staples, milk, creamer and macaroni. I barely spent any money and I was in and out in no time. I've already started a menu for next week and what I hope to eventually do is have about 6-7 different weekly menus that I can start rotating through. Anyway this is my weekly menu and it was really cost effective. I will be using a Lawrys premade marinade but I already had those in my pantry. Walmart sells them for about a buck fifty so I stock up on them when I go there. I like to do that because its one less thing I have to buy later on plus it helps give me ideas on meals if I base them around the different yummy marinades I have.

Like I said I stock up on certain things in my freezer. I don't stock up on ground beef I usually buy that fresh the Sunday before cooking. However I always keep a few staples that I know are diverse.

Pork spare ribs

• Pork adobo
• Slow cooked ribs
• Grilled ribs (this is also a great staple for my husband on days he wants to cook for himself)

Tri tip

• BBQ tri tip (duh)
• Fajitas

Rib Eye

• Fancy fun friday night meals

Chicken bone in skin on

• Fried chicken
• Roasted chicken
• Grilled chicken
• Stuffed chicken

Chicken boneless skinless

• Tacos
• Pastas
• Stuffed chicken
• Quesidillas
• Salads

So you see once you have a nice freezer built around these staples all you really need is a few sides. I ALWAYS have potatoes, and green sauce for quesidillas, Onions, Garlic, marinades, tomatoes in a can, and red pasta sauce (this stuff is soooo diverse). That means when I go to the store I really only need some veggies to complete a meal. I hope this helps you start planning weekly meals and save a few bucks here and there. Good luck!