biscuits

can one ever have too many biscuit recipes? i think not. and. while i purposing to eat raw and no grains, i find i can enjoy these a little here and there. I found this recipe on Pinterest and it has started making frequent appearances on the table. the kids say they still like our old recipe better than this, but this is a welcome change for something different. they are very easy and pretty foolproof.

3 c. flour-I'm going to try a GF mix next time 1 1/2 t. salt 1 T. sugar 1 1/2 t. baking powder 1 stick butter 3/4 c. buttermilk--if you don't have buttermilk, you can make your own! 3/4 cup milk and 2 tsp lemon juice or, my standby, apple cider vinegar. Works like a charm. 1 egg 1/4 c. water

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Combine flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and butter until crumbly. Mix in buttermilk, egg and just enough water to make a workable dough. Mix the dough until it is just barely combined (don't over mix). Roll the dough onto a floured cutting board about 1 inch thick. Cut with a 2 inch biscuit cutter, or a 2 inch round cup. Place on a greased baking sheet (touching each other) and bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 12-15 biscuits, depending how thick you make them.

When cinnamon rolls are too much

I found this recipe on Pinterest a while back and decided to give it a try. Oh my. This has become my 'go to' for any event. It makes a great coffee cake or dessert or just a snack cake. It's really not a ton easier than my cinnamon rolls but much more fool proof. 3 cups flour 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup sugar 4 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 cup milk 2 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 4 T butter, melted 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened 1 cup brown sugar 2 T flour 1 T cinnamon 2/3 cups nuts (optional) Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar 5 T milk

1 tsp vanilla

With an electric mixer, mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in 4 T melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9×13? baking pan. In a large bowl, mix the 2 sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoon and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center. Place powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. stir until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature-or straight out of the microwave ;)

I usually make a double or even triple batch, but I always mix it all separately.  I just do all the dry ingredients at the same time in different bowls, then mix one batch up and pop it in the oven.  While that one is baking, I mix the next one up.  It works pretty well for me.

Christmas breakfast

our christmas days are  a long, drawn out, amazingly fun process.  it has evolved into a whole day of eating and opening presents.  i guess that's no different from any other family, but one difference for us, is we don't open everything in one fell swoop.  now that the children are a bit older--and that's relatively speaking....every present is wrapped and nothing is placed under the tree until christmas eve....so some of the surprise is all the presents appearing out of no where :)  we have stockings to open and presents to unwrap.  we wait until everyone is {somewhat} awake and we have cups of coffee, cider and hot chocolate ready for the stocking opening.  once everyone has their warm drink of choice, we all gather in the den and stockings are handed out.  we go around, one by one and reach in--without looking is the ideal--and pull out one thing at a time.  this can take up to an hour or two for the whole family to empty their stockings. once that is done, we stop and have breakfast.  i have found that breakfast needs to be on the lighter side or no one wants to eat Christmas dinner (actually lunch, since its around 2).  i am also learning how to keep it very simple, since i would have already been cooking the few days prior and will be the rest of the day.  we have had cinnamon rolls (recipe here), breakfast casseroles, scrambled eggs and muffins, etc.    our favorite so far has become fruit soup and biscuits.  i know my sweet husband needs some protein with breakfast, so this year, i will make some mini quiches to go along with our soup. after breakfast, we go back to the tree and open presents.  we are usually there until time for lunch.

this soup is wonderful!  it is so refreshing and light.  and. so. simple. what i love about it, is that i throw it all together the day before--whenever there is time--and its just ready for us when its time to eat.  the other thing i do (which i did tonight) is make enough biscuits for that meal and freeze the dough on a cookie sheet--several days or weeks ahead.  once they are frozen, i put them in a ziplock and when we are about ready to break for breakfast, i throw them on a cookies sheet and pop them in the oven.

i will make the mini quiches the day or two before christmas also.  my goal is to make this as easy as possible for that day.  i want to be in the den, enjoying my family and not in the kitchen...until they have all crashed on the sofas :)

i found this soup recipe years and years ago in a cookbook series on healthy eating.  i wouldn't say its exactly healthy, but it is a favorite and with a few wise choices, it can be healthier than most foods :) we have this for dinner many times during the summer, too.

Fruit Soup

recipe as written makes 11 cups without bananas (which we never add)

• 12 oz package frozen raspberries
• 16 oz package frozen strawberries
• 12 oz package frozen blueberries
• 20 oz can pineapple chunks, unsweetened, undrained
• 16 oz can peach slices, unsweetened, undrained and cut in bite size pieces
• 16 oz can pear halves, unsweetened, undrained and cut in bit size pieces

Combine all portions of fruit in a BIG bowl.  let stand about 2 hours at room temperature or overnight in refrigerator to let frozen fruit thaw and juices to mingle.  refrigerate until ready to serve.  Add bananas (if desired) to each portion served.

*this will keep several days in the refrigerator.  Add bananas only to the portion to be used immediately, since they will turn.

we serve with whipped cream on top and biscuits.  we almost always have left overs and use this as a base for smoothie or a topping on ice-cream, oatmeal..whatever.  you name it, it works here :)

NOW--i usually make these biscuits to go with this. but lately, the kids have been asking for buttermilk biscuits with this, since the usual ones are a bit sweet.

i learned to make these biscuits from my mother-in-law.  she, like me, doesn't use recipes for most of her meals, and this is no exception.  i am sure she was taught just like she taught me to make them...and, while they are NOT good for you, they are pretty darn good.  there are no measurements...you just have to 'eyeball' it and go on experience--as you get used to making them

buttermilk biscuits

• self rising flour
• crisco
• buttermilk

What she taught me:  put a couple of cups of flour in a bowl.  take a couple of heaping spoons of crisco and cut (and by cut she meant mush it with your hands until it was all blended) in until the constancy of cornmeal.  (what I do is blend it all in and if I can form a ball with the flour/crisco mix with my hands, without feeling the greasiness of the crisco, you got the right mix :)).  add buttermilk, a little at a time until you have a moist heap (hehe, i told you it wasn't precise)....and it will be gooey, but those make for flaky biscuits.  put dough out on a floured board and put just enough flour on top to be able to flatten with your fingers and it not stick to you.  flatten out to about 1/2" and cut with a biscuit cutter--I use a regular sized mouth mason jar.   lay out on an ungreased cookie sheet--sides barely touching.  bake at 450 for about 5 minutes.  they will be light brown on top and maybe very light on the bottom.

warm meal on a COLD day!

Well, its cooooooold here in north Texas!  we have wind chills into the below's :)  .  The kids are out of school and it is crazy around here.  We have done our traditional making donuts out of canned biscuits and home made hot chocolate for breakfast.  We have not been able to make it to Starbucks (our other fun tradition for the first snow of the season) because the roads are too bad.  Everyone is still in pjs and we are looking forward to having a warm dinner, sitting by the fire and watching the school closings in hopes of another day tomorrow (ok...they are...not necessarily me--just being honest :)).

One of my favorite cold weather meals is beef stew.  I have made it for years, and it was *ok*, but when we lived in McKinney, we frequented the pantry, a homestyle cooking restaurant.  The food served was, again, *ok*, but the desserts were to die for  good and I loved going in the afternoons during nap time, when the older ones were finishing school work.  I could just escape for a bit and breathe.  They have a cookbook that I honestly got for some of those yummy desserts, but after looking through it, decided to try some of the other recipes...oh, so glad I did....this one is one of our favorites out of the book.  Once we tried it, my old way of making beef stew became a forgotten memory...this is how it is done from here on out....enjoy!  oh, one of the main tricks to this recipe (and any like this using potatoes) is to cook the potatoes ahead of time...what I do is have a baked potato dinner the night or two before, making enough for this meal...once cooled, they are a cinch to peel and cut up and they don't dissolve in the cooking process....makes it really, really yummy!!!

beef stew

• 1 1/2 lbs stew meat
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 onions, diced coursely (if you have read earlier posts, you know I blend these up in the liquid that is used--much more accepted by the kids)
• 3 Tablespoons beef base or beef broth ( I ALWAYS keep chicken, beef and veggie base on hand)
• 2 Cups celery, sliced
• 4 potatoes, baked and cooled overnight--then on cooking day, peeled and diced
• 4-6 carrots, sliced (depending on how much you like)
• 1 can peas ( I never use these, since if I did not one person would TOUCH the whole meal--I put in corn, either canned or frozen--I like frozen better)
• black pepper
• kitchen bouquet (i don't use this--I add a couple of tablespoons of worcestershire sauce instead
• 6 Tablespoons flour
• 1/2 Cup butter, melted

In a large pot, cook beef in oil until browed on the outside.  Add onions, beef base and about 4-5 cups of water.  Cook on low heat for about 1 hour. Add celery, carrots, potatoes and corn, if desired.  Continue cooking until vegetables are tender (about 30 minutes).  Stir flour into butter.  Slowly whisk into stew, until desired thickness is achieved.   Add peas.  Season with pepper, kitchen bouquet and /or worcestershire sauce.

I always make these yeast rolls with this stew...it is a given now...to be able to sop up the juices and gravy with these rolls and then to eat them for dessert with butter and honey.....ewwww weeeeee!

I actually think I got this recipe in Home Ec in High School....YAY, Mrs. Clark.  Thank you!  I think they are the little angle biscuits we made first year, but no matter...they are so good!  We have them now at most Holiday meals because you can make the dough ahead and pull it out when you are ready.  SOOOO good!!!!

refrigerator yeast rolls

• 1 package dry yeast (I use bulk and use 1 Tablespoon)
• 1/2 Cup warm water
• 1/2 Cup shortening, melted ( I use butter)
• 4 1/2 Cups flour
• 1/2 Cups sugar
• 1 Tablespoon + 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Cups buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400*.  Dissolve yeast in water and let stand for 5 minutes.  Stir in butter.  Combine dry ingredients in another bowl.  Add to yeast mixture.  Mix and turn dough.  Knead on a floured board until a good texture (don't ya love detail--its from high school...sorry)....I just knead until its easy to handle and not too gooey.  Shape dough into ball, place in a greased bowl and cover till ready for use.  When ready, make small balls (size depends on your need and desire--we have had them the size of golf balls and the size of softballs :) ).  Put on a 'pammed' cookie sheet ( I put them just barely touching to make them rise up and be soft on the sides).  Bake for 8-10 minutes in 400* oven.   Sometimes, I will brush them with butter as they get out of the oven.