Angel Biscuits...Go yeast!

I have not been overly successful in biscuit-making.  I love big biscuits and mine don't reach that puffiness that constitutes a fantastic biscuit. 

I also love yeast rolls. Clearly. So these Angel Biscuits are a sweet hybrid. This recipe comes from the cookbook Home Baked Comfort, but I bet you have a similar one in any of the the 200 cookbooks you have in your kitchen. Or the three. Maybe I just have 200. 

Here we go:

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar, plus a pinch

1/4 c warm water (110 degrees)

3 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

6 Tbsp frozen unsalted butter

2 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 c cold shortening

1 c plus 2 Tbsp buttermilk

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in the water with a pinch of sugar. Let stand 10 minutes. 

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and sugar. With a large holes shredder, grate the butter into the flour mixture. Add in the shortening and mix together with your hands until you see crumbly chunks of butter and shortening. Pour in buttermilk and yeast and stir until mix is just combined. 

Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press into a disk 3/4 inch thick. Cut out biscuits and re-roll scraps as needed. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit for an hour, then refrigerate for at least two hours. 

Preheat oven to 400. Brush biscuits with melted butter and bake 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Devour.

That last step is the most important. 

¡Fauxolé!

This is such a great end-of-the-week meal because it's so easy and can be a much healthier alternative to Chinese or pizza when you just want to get home to veg out the start of the weekend. 

My recipe is very easy to adapt. Use ground beef/chicken/turkey/fake meat instead of shredded chicken. Try shredded pork. Add any number of chopped veggies to the mix. Add a couple different kinds of beans. Whatever you like (or you want to trick your husband/kids into eating.)

Easy Mexican Chicken Pie

1 tube crescent rolls

1 rotisserie chicken (or meat of your choosing...about a 1lb worth)

1 packet taco seasoning

1 can red kidney beans

1 can corn

Shredded Mexican cheese

Sour cream

Preheat the oven to 375. Lay crescent rolls out in a pie plate, short ends out, fat ends in the bottom of the plate. 

Ina large frying pan, put taco seasoning and 2/3 cup of water and turn heat to medium. Shred the chicken, drain the corn and beans, and add all to the seasoning. Mix and cook until liquid is bubbling. Add a handful of cheese and pour into pie plate. Fold short ends into center and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 15 minutes or until browned. Serve with sour cream. 

Jalapeños, green salad, tortilla chips...there are many additions that could be made! Enjoy!!! 

Martha Stewart's Blueberry Muffins....Level: Unintimidating

If you've never baked from a Martha recipe, this is an easy one to try.  She hasn't recommended that you forge your own muffin tins out of metal (though my father-in-law could totally make me some...birthday present!) or mill your own flour for this recipe.  I bet you have all the ingredients on hand.  I did. 
Take your stick of butter out about 10 minutes before you start prepping for this recipe.  You want to be able to leave an indent in the butter, but not have it be too soft or melty.  In the warm temps like we have now (or if you have a second floor kitchen, as I do) you may need to watch it, as it will likely be softer sooner.

1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh blueberries (I used a pint...I didn't bother to measure and I don't know if it's equal, but I was happy with blueberry/muffin ratio)
1 cup sugar (plus a tablespoon extra for sprinkling over the tops of the unbaked muffins)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease a 12 cup muffin tin (MS says to grease and flour, so whatever you feel down with doing is fine.  I was in spray-mode this morning.)
Whisk the flour, powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Put the berries in a mesh strainer over the flour and sprinkle some flour mix over the blueberries and shake to coat.  Set it all aside.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes.  I used my KitchenAid.  Go with what you got.  KitchenArm or KitchenHandMixer is fine, too.)  Add eggs, one at a time.  Splash in vanilla.  At the lowest speed, add in the flour and mix until just combined.  Do the same with the milk.  Fold in the blueberries with a spatula.  Divide batter among the muffin tin, sprinkle the tops with a little sugar and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.  Rotate the pan halfway through the cooking time.  (Good MS tip!)
Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then knife those bad boys out and serve to your happy husband waiting in the other room with hot coffee and butter or cream cheese (or one of each, cause that's how he's feeling today!)

It cures everything but a Monday morning...

Coconut Shrimp

This recipe is so easy and works up quick in batches. Sam's Club sells frozen, uncooked peeled and deveined shrimp, leaving you to just thaw and gather ingredients. This recipe was adapted from Betty Crocker and the Joy of Cooking. 

Here we go:

1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp, uncooked and thawed

1/2 c apricot preserves

2 tsp. cider vinegar

3/4 tsp. pepper flakes 

1/2 c. Bisquick

1 egg

1/4 c. Milk (plus an extra splash, if needed)

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 c. Coconut

1 c. Panko breadcrumbs (I used lemon pepper flavored as I had that on hand. Use what you have)

1 cup oil

Mix preserves, pepper flakes, and vinegar and set aside. 

Pat dry the shrimp. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Mix the coconut and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, mix egg, cayenne, Bisquick and milk, adding a little extra if necessary to make batter moveable (that's official speak.)

Dip shrimp in batter then in coconut mix and fry 3-4 mins, turning halfway through, until shrimp is cooked and coating is browned. Heat apricot sauce in microwave for a minute and serve over shrimp. 

I kept the tails on the shrimp which made it easy to dip, coat, and turn. We ate ours with rice and smiles. This would make a lovely valentine dinner. Looks tough but is easy and delicious!

Blondies Have More Fun

Found this book at Mardens this weekend:

16 bucks, bub! Heck of a deal for a cookbook. Of course I read it cover to cover. Then went through to find the first recipe for which I had all the ingredients. I landed on blondies. Her recipe is not for albino brownies. These are squares of chocolate chip cookies, soft and delicious, without the pan work and wait time of their round sibling (hey, I'm a round sibling...).  The other great thing is that it takes about half the ingredients of a chocolate chip cookie recipe. Which is good when you're craving a snacktreat but don't have all the goods to produce them. Here we go:

10 tablespoons butter

1 c packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 1/4 c flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 c chocolate chips

Grease and flour 9x9 pan. Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and stir to combine. Stir in chips. Press into pan and bake about 30 mins or until light golden brown. Cool in pan. Cut into 9 or 16 squares. 

Took a whole bunch of self control but I cut mine into 16. Doesn't mean I only ate one!

Doesn't mean I couldn't eat two bites before I snapped a picture!

Happy baking, bub!

Artichoke Dip

1 cup mayo

1 cup sour cream, softened

1 pkg cream cheese

2 cloves garlic, minced

Good shake of dill

1 can artichoke hearts, choked dry and chopped fine

5 oz Parmesan cheese (not the sawdust stuff)

Mix first five ingredients with a hand mixer. Add in cheese and artichokes and mix by hand. Bake at 375 till brown, about 25 minutes. Be loved by your guests. 

Cranberry Pie and a return to normalcy

Logging in, I saw that my last entry was made on the day of Andrew's accident. Eerie. It's been three months and I didn't think we'd be home. I didn't think Andrew would be as independent as he is. I didn't think we'd be slowly returning to our old/new life. What better way to fall back into our old routines than by cooking. We've had lots of home cooked meals (and lots of pizzas from Tradewinds, not gonna lie) but this Nantucket Cranberry Pie is amazing. I love chocolate more than my cats, but I would gladly have a slice of this over a slice of chocolate pie. The top is so buttery and the cranberries are just tart enough to cut through the richness. That's why cranberry sauce is so good at Thanksgiving...it cuts through the dopamine and gives you a second wind for pumpkin pie.

So this recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman.  It's easy.  If you didn't get fresh cranberries from your Cat Whisperer, buy a bag of Ocean Spray (buy two...you'll make this again.)

2 cups cranberries
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 stick butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla (her recipe called for almond extract but I couldn't find it in my haze of spices)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Grease or spray pie plate. Add cranberries. Sprinkle with nuts and then sprinkle with the 2/3 cup of sugar. In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients (minus the tablespoon of sugar) and stir gently to combine. Pour over the cranberries and lightly spread to cover. Bake 45-50 minutes, sprinkling that last tablespoon of sugar over the top of the pie 5 minutes before the pie comes out of the oven.

Look at the pie!  Make the pie! Eat the pie!