Cooking with Buttercup

The Farm Boy Breakfast was on the menu yesterday. I'm not the best biscuit baker, but I'm getting better. The sausage gravy turned out great and this meal was very rich and satisfying. It would be a perfect start to a day full of farm chores. We gave this a solid 10!

Fezzik's Strength (roasted brussels sprouts) were on the menu tonight. Yummy! This recipe scored a 9 (would have been 10 if not for a few burnt pieces - I think the brown sugar contributed to that).

"Have You The Wing" was a huge success. "Valerie's Portable Pocket Pies" were just OK. https://pbjulie.com/blog/

"Hash You Wish" was on the menu this morning.
https://pbjulie.com/hash-you-wish/

Tonight I made "Fire Swamp Boiled Beef." This is a lengthy recipe, taking a little over three hours to prepare. It is a Princess Bride version of corned beef and cabbage. I saved two cups of the beef for another recipe, “Hash You Wish.” I enjoyed the meal, and will make it again. But not too soon – Jimmy loves the cabbage, but is not a fan of corned beef. He said that he will eat it again (a “food in the belly” meal) if I make it.

This morning's breakfast was "Prince Humperdinck's Eggs and Soldiers." It didn't turn out due to the eggs being cooked too long. I promise to try this again sometime in the future. Luckily, I served the eggs with some bacon and fresh fruit. See more photos in my blog https://pbjulie.com/prince-humperdincks-eggs-and-soldiers/

It's early Sunday afternoon, and we just finished brunch. I made a batch of bacon and egg cups earlier this morning (another new recipe, but not from the cookbook). They were very tasty, but the star of the show was the scones. I served them with the clotted cream I made earlier in the week, and blueberry jam (homemade by my friend Jess). I'd never had British scones before. They are so much better than the scones you can get at our local bakeries. They taste much sweeter, and to me they are halfway between a biscuit and a cupcake. It took a bit of work to get the butter worked into the flour. I used my hand-held pastry blender and it seemed to take forever. I got Jimmy to help when I needed a break. The next time, I will try another method. I wonder if my stand mixer could be used. The recipe makes 12 scones, so there are a lot of leftovers. I could probably cut the recipe in half. Or, I could invite friends over for a brunch. Right now, I've stored the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.

Fezzik's Stew was on the menu tonight. It is the best beef stew I've ever had!

The clotted cream is done. It turned out much better than I expected!

I think it worked. The top of the cream has a "skin" like you get on top of homemade pudding. There's liquid under it that can be seen on the edges. The next step is to let it cool for 8 hours. This is a lllloooonnngggg process, and I hope that it's worth it. Time will tell (LOL).

I'm also documenting my project on my blog pbjulie.com\blog.

I'm starting my project with the recipe "Buttercup Buttermilk Scones." I will make the scones on Sunday. The recipe says to serve them with jam and clotted cream. So, clotted cream is being made first.