Procrastibaking: Scones

So here is is: the inevitable first edition of Procrastibaking.

Since I've rediscovered the fun of baking, scones have been a favourite. They are quick, they are easy, they are inexpensive, and you don't have interrupt your Television viewing to make them - by that I mean you don't need to use a Mixmaster which destroys all other sound in the (immediate) universe.

My basic scones consist of:

• 3 cups of sifted self-raising flour
• 80grams of butter (cut into cubes)
• 1 and 1/4 cups milk

It is as easy as:

1. Take off all your rings and wash your hands. Plop the flour in a large mixing bowl with the cubed butter, and use your fingers to press the butter into the flour. Don't let your finger-tips touch when squishing the butter - you want to combine the butter with the flour, not melt it. It should look like nice soft sand when its ready.

1.1 Make a well in the sandy looking flour-butter. (Now you can wash your hands... so often I wash my hands then remember to make a well... rookie mistake!)

2. Pour 1 cup of the milk into the well, and combine this with the flour-butter mixture using a round edged butter knife. 

The reason I don't say "Put all the milk in the well" is because some days flour doesn't take the milk as easily as others. It sounds odd and esoteric but its true. I've found that on humid days I rarely need the 1/4 cup. If you add it though, and it seems too sticky - panic not! Just add a little more flour until its workable (doesn't matter if it is a bit too sticky, it still works).

3. Lightly dust a clean smooth surface and turn out your scone dough. Now KNEAD! Well, I shouldn't capitalise it, because you should only knead until it seems well combined - you don't want to overwork it. 

(*Fun Fact - knead with the heel of your hand as it is the warmest part. Kneading helps to activate something-something in the dough (yes I'm technical like that)).

Most often I don't take the dough out to knead it - I have a big enough bowl that I can get it done with one hand in the bowl itself - less cleaning!

4. Make the scones into little balls using your hands, or by cutting the dough with a cookie-cutter of your choice. They can be big or small but try and make them consistent (just for cooking time reasons... an unexpected undercooked scone is a bit blegh).

5. Pop them on a baking tray (I use non-stick, but feel free to use baking paper with a little flour) and cook them in a 180C oven for about 12-15 minutes. (Check them after 10 minutes - once they've got a little golden colouring on them they're good to go!)

All up it takes only 20 minutes to make these. While they're baking you can wash the three dishes you made (is that all??) and feel like a domestic goddess when you remove them from the oven to your sparkly clean kitchen!

This recipe is awfully budget friendly too: 

3 cups of flour= .45c

1 cup-ish of milk= .45c

80gm butter = .65c

=$1.55 for about 10 scones. If my maths serves me, that's less than 20 cents a scone. Sell them to your friends for $1 and you've made a mighty profit! Or eat them all and drink tea (the option I choose).

Procrasticooking on a Budget: Tomato and Bacon Rice

Mr. Husband and I are on one income for the time-being, as I quit my job to do full-time study.

So we've had to change our outlook quite drastically. I am sad to say, we were those people who didn't even ask how much it cost: we just bought it if we wanted it. It was nice while it lasted! But felt a bit decadent.

Now I have to watch what we spend, and the easiest place to cut back is food.

So I am going to slowly blog some of my favourite budget meals.

Tomato and Bacon Rice

This recipe is easy peasy, and so very, very cheap.

• 2 OR 3 rashers of bacon, sliced
• 1 onion (or leek, or spring onions etc. - whatever is on hand), chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 1 400g tin of tomatoes
• 750ml of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 cup of rice
• seasoning to taste

I make this in a fry pan with a lid, FYI.

1. Cook the onion, garlic and bacon together with a dash of oil in the pan until onions are soft and becoming golden and the bacon is starting to brown.

2. Add the tin of tomatoes with the cup of rice and stir for about a minute. Season to taste.

3. Add the stock and stir before covering and allowing to cook on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed most of the stock.

How easy is that?! And the calorie content isn't so bad either: about 260 calories per serve, if you divide the above into 4. The biggest part of the caloric content comes from the rice.

The excellent thing is that there is room for error - if you accidentally get sidetracked by Facebook or Pinterest etc., and you let it cook for a tad too long, the rice at the bottom can turn into what looks like the base of a Paella. Which is actually delicious - you can't go wrong! (Well, you could ... but we will imagine that we are all domestic-goddesses and that we never would).

The best bit is the cost: Last time it cost me:

• .50c for a brown onion
• $1.75 for bacon
• Nothing for garlic (but say you use 1 tsp of crushed garlic from a jar = .20c)
• .69c for a tin of tomatoes (Homebrand)
• .40c for rice (worked out on the cost of a large bag of rice)
• .25c for chicken stock (made with Massel Chicken Stock Powder + water)
• Total = $3.80

Less that $1.00 per serve.

The downside? Sodium content is a little high (stock, tomatoes, bacon), so I wouldn't make it every night - but if I make it once a week - well, that's a bargain. Effectively makes 2 dinners and 2 lunches for less than $4.00.

Its also a good recipe for getting rid of those veges at the bottom of the tray that seem a bit sad - the couple of spring onions left wilting next to that lone carrot. Grate the carrot and add with the tomatoes, and snip the spring onion in at the beginning for extra onion flavour and flash of green.