Moving On...

All right...I had my chance to vent yesterday, and now "I'm back on track". Our district WILL get it all together, and figure out what we need to do to "make it right" with the powers that be at International Baccalaureate, and we WILL become an authorized school within the next year.

I really DO like IB, and I think it will be a GREAT thing for our district...I'm just NOT good at rejection, and it really felt like that's what this whole thing was. We DO need to work on the "ability grouping" thing, but I'm not sure how that's all going to play out. No Child Left Behind is STUPID, and we're STUCK with it until George W. is FINALLY out of office...maybe the NEXT president will revist this LAME, STUPID program and come up with something that's actually OBTAINABLE...(unless, of course, McCain, by some CRUEL TWIST OF FATE, get elected...then it'll be more of the same...ack! ack! ack!).

Okay...I try not to get POLITICAL, because I just end up getting MAD (aka SNARKY), so will move on to other things...

Today has been a LOVELY, low key day. It's been rainy and dreary, but Duane and I ran some errands, and I harvested some herbs from my deck to make an AWESOME "scone" (which I've been using in my GT Express 101 (yes...I FELL for the informercial) to make hot ham sandwiches.

Here's the recipe, should YOU want to try these AWESOME, TASTY, CHEESY, HERBY wonders:

Cheese & Herb Scones

These scones are more "bun-like" than traditional scones because of the use of bread flour. They keep well for a day or two and can be reheated. Makes 8-10 scones.

½ c. mixed herbs, roughly chopped*
5 oz. cheddar cheese
2 c. bread flour**
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
6 “twists” of the pepper mill
14 oz. buttermilk (can use 1% or 2%, but whole tastes better)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Roughly chop herbs and cheese.

Measure flour, baking soda, salt and pepper, and mix together in a large mixing bowl.

Add herbs and cheese.

Mix well, using a wooden spoon or your hands.

Add buttermilk into the center, pulling from the dry sides into the center, until all is lightly combined into a soft sticky dough (don‘t over mix).

If the dough is really drippy, due to inaccurate measurement, add a bit of flour to make it manageable and spoonable but it should still be wet/sticky.

Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper or Silpat (otherwise the oozing cheese will make clean up challenging). Drop mixture (it will likely still look like a mess) onto the prepared sheet using a large spoon or scantily filled 1 c. measuring cup.

You'll get about 8 to 10 large scones (you can make small mini scones but they will cook faster and you run the risk that some might not contain cheese or herbs if the scones are very small). The shape is unimportant but the dropped scones should all be about the same size.

Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until the tops are golden and the cheese is oozing out.Cool on rack, and eat warm, if possible.
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*I used a garden mix of thyme, tarragon, rosemary, chives, sage, oregano, parsley, and basil...just a bit of each.

** Up to ½ c. of flour can be whole wheat.

VARIATIONS:

- Substitute ½ tsp. bacon salt and ½ tsp. salt for “salt”.
- Substitute ½ tsp. garlic salt and ½ tsp. salt for “salt”.
- Add scant 1/8 tsp. garlic powder.