Great scones, a loaded quiche, and a new contributor

Vaughn lab, the haven for archaeology grad students, has become THE place to get free food, and that is mainly due to the fact that I bring in my homemade scones to share with others. A few of the cultural anthro students regularly lurk around the door of the lab to see if they can score a free scone. Even the secretary to the department head pops in for a scone. I really enjoy baking but hate eating the same thing for an entire week so I bring in what I cant possibly eat, plus it helps me to share the calories!

Typically I follow my basic scone recipe for cheddar, bacon, and green onion scones but substitute the additions with whatever is on hand. In the last few weeks I have made apple-oat-walnut, saffron-orange blossom-pistachio, and lavender-lemon scones (thanks mom). The last of the lavender-lemon scones are still being consumed by the masses, mainly V. :) Sorry, there are no photographs. I will be better, I promise, once I get the windows...

Also lacking a proper photo is the amazing quiche I made for dinner the other night. When I discovered I didnt have much to assemble into a real meal, I hunted through my freezer and came up with a batch of homemade pie dough. I knew that I needed to use two packages of leeks from Trader Joes (best thing ever because they are already cleaned for you) and that I had eggs...a quiche was born. I sauted some prosciutto in butter, deglazed the pan with 1/2 cup of white wine. When that had reduced a bit I added the sliced leeks and waited til they got wilty. In the meantime I rolled out my pie dough with my new silicon coated rolling pin and beat 4 eggs with 1/2 cup of cream and salt and pepper. With the dough assembled in the pan, I crumbled a bit of gorgonzola in the bottom of the pie, spread the leek mixture evenly on top, added a bit more gorgonzola on the surface of the leeks, and poured the egg mixture over all of it. I baked the quiche for 25 minutes at 350. The aroma of it baking had me drueling the whole time. I served the quiche with Trader Joes Sweet Potato Bisque for a more complete meal.

After realizing that there may be times when I am upable to fulfill my blogging duties, I am happy to announce that Sarah S. will be contributing to this blog on occation. Her specialty is cake baking, a task I generally steer clear of, and she is a stellar photographer so her pics should be dazzling. Three cheers for Sarah S.!