2 Vegan Scone Recipes + Vegan Pizza + pondering what it takes to be at peace in the midst of 'life's hard'

Another title for the blog post could have been

 if I can stay inside the day at hand, I can find some peace and quiet happiness 

but first the recipes.

***

The pizza is simple... olive oil + minced (from a jar) garlic spread on crust,

wonderful cherry tomatoes, sliced, dried oregano and red pepper flakes,

a bit more oil with chopped thin mushrooms, torn spinach and basil,

vegan cheese on top, baked 425F for about 13 or so minutes.

It was really good pizza! 

***

The scone recipe... 

I was looking for a good vegan option as I talked to my

sister-in-law about having a tea party lunch while they are here and 

Mr Husband is going to join them for this special time and so vegan scones

(still in the Apostles fast!) were needed! 

I looked at these 2 recipes online before pulling out

Marion Cunningham's book on breakfast to see if she had a scone recipe

and to see if that recipe was similar to her cream biscuit recipe

and to compare them to what I saw online. 

I saw this one and read it

saw this one and read it

looked back at the first one and saw that it was adapted from this 

recipe and that recipe began in the same way as what is in 

The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham 

(however it changes the butter content/adds shortening + egg)

but it was the beginning that showed me quickly 

that I was on the right track 

and went back to the book itself and read the two recipes,

cream biscuits and dried fruit scones. 

Remember the cream biscuits recipe is one that she used with 

James Beard and if you know the American culinary scene + recent history,

then you know you should pay attention and if you were gambling, 

you would put your bet with them! 

***

I still have not shared the epic brunch I did a while back,

I do hope to fix that as I used Marion Cunningham's book exclusively for it!

The cream biscuits I have made many times since and it's great!

I am pretty sure my vegan rendition of this + her scone recipes

is so good because I stuck close to her recipe, save the vegan parts.

***

Here are the recipes:

So here's how I did it and with the changes to make it vegan:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup dried cherries (in 1 recipe)

1 cup wild frozen organic blue berries (in other recipe)

half lemon zest (in batter)

1 cup coconut cream

1/3 cup approx coconut oil melted (in microwave, did on half power for 30 or so seconds)

Follow instructions for cream biscuits.

I made these various ways,

some cut into triangles with a dough chopper

Some I did in rounds with an old biscuit cutter

and others in heart shaped in the baking tin I got at the VNA rummage sale. 

Baked about 13 - 15 minutes in toaster oven.

Cooled.

Glazed and let set for hours (got busy!)

Glaze:

Next time I will do the following:

juice 1 lemon + zest of half or a full lemon

add enough (i.e. lots) of powdered sugar until it is a thickish glaze

What I did was add some water to the lemon juice 

and it made way too much and was hard to get to thicken.

I had not made it in so long that I simply forgot the simplicity of what I needed to do.

********

The dried cheery ones had the added lemon zest (should of done that for both)

and with the glaze, it was quite good.

I am excited to try the blueberry ones; I did have a good bite of one and 

it was quite satisfying.

You would not know at all that this was made with coconut cream and oil

at all, it seems like a very natural buttery scone! 

****

About the pondering/second title of this post

 if I can stay inside the day at hand, I can find some peace and quiet happiness 

I will have to write more later, as it is quite late and I need to get to bed.

However, it's simple but not simple to do.

It's being fully present to this day only and not letting one worry about tomorrow.

For me that means reading engrossing novels, baking and cooking, 

vespers tonight and listening to this lovely set of Bach while I made the pizza

after vespers. 

It's somehow viewing the day as having a set of 4 walls that I can stay within in,

realize that today I am cared for, have more than I could possible need for that day, 

pray as I can and try to stay within the day.

It's not easy and I am pondering it a lot.

It has something to do with remembering that God is our refuge,

that the Psalmist talks of God's wings covering us,

trusting that God is a good Father who tells me not to worry

because He is worrying about tomorrow for me. 

It has to do with trust, security in God and a lot of wearying days

and nights, hard times and uncertainty 

and yet a wish to be at peace and stay within the 4 walls of the day at hand

and trust that God will help me when the day after today comes.