This was my first attempt at making biscuits, ever. And I do believe that they came out very nice and biscuity… moist and doughy on the inside with a nice crunch and crispness on the outside. I will be using this recipe quite frequently, as the biscuits were also very simple and quick to bake. And I will be playing around with different flavors and ingredients to these – adding sun-dried tomatoes is but one idea that I have… I just need to remember to have buttermilk on hand more often!
- 2 cups Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1+ tsp Sugar
- 1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 2+ Tbsp fresh Chives, chopped
- 1 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese, shredded
- 1 cup Buttermilk
- 2 Tbsp Butter, melted
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil/grease a cookie sheet.
2. In large bowl, combine flour through red pepper flakes. Next, mix in chives, cheese and buttermilk. Stir until a dough forms. Scoop dough into 1-2 Tbsp-sized balls and place onto cookie sheet. Lightly brush the tops with melted butter. Bake for 15 minutes.
I varied the recipe a little bit from this one. Actually, we had the show on in the background one Sunday morning and they looked particularly yummy and easy. They most definitely are… especially warm with a dollop of butter or even a sliver of goat cheese. Yum…
Here they are in all their doughy glory:
And here is our complete dinner:
Read Full Post »
Well, I was thinking of mushroom quesedillas… D. suggested adding some refried black beans, which sounded yummy (and heartier) to me. So, after cooking some mushrooms and garlic, I added the black beans to the mix. Consequently, the mix turned out too mushy for flippable quesedillas, so we assembled a tortilla pie of sorts in a baking pan. And then since it was already mushy, I added some salsa for some more flavor, why not? It was very flavorful and enjoyably messy!
I coated the bottom of the baking pan with salsa, followed with a layer of 8″ flour tortillas. The black bean & mushroom mixture went on next, topped with a layer of shredded cheese. Repeat once and warm through in the oven until the cheese is melted. The salsa really added to the flavor, indeed. I still have to make these grilled quesedillas that I have in my head… Next time, I might try black beans, straight up… I think that might do the trick. But for now, my tortilla/Mexican fix is in, although the quesedilla one is still lurking in the corners. 
Read Full Post »
Posted in Food Pics on March 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When one forgets about a banana at the bottom of a basket. I’m actually kind of surprised at the way it dried out… I’d have expected it to get all gooey and smelly beforehand. Live and learn…
Read Full Post »
Posted in Cooking, Food Pics on March 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Well, there was some hamburger meat in the freezer, which I took out earlier this week. The reason being that I knew D. would like to be a carnivore some point soon… He had actually mixed the ground beef when we originally got it – ground beef, onion soup mix, Worcestershire sauce and perhaps another seasoning or two – and the leftover portion went into the freezer.
This evening, I mixed the ‘hamburger’ with an egg and some bread crumbs, and they are cooking in the convection oven right this moment. They are smelling pretty good, too. 
We were at first going to go with spaghetti, but then we opted for penne pasta (whole-wheat of course). We further opted for the pasta and meatballs mixed with a bit of a sun-dried alfredo sauce in a casserole dish and layered with Chihuahua cheese, then baked. One of those spur of the moment changing-the-direction of dinner type of things…
I had forgotten how much I like baked pasta dishes… It was very tasty, very yummy. We tend to like dishes with less-rather-than-more tomato sauce, so this worked well for us. Next time, we’ll probably go with a vodka sauce – a light red for a bit more of an Italian feel, but still not too heavy on the tomatoes. Anyway, the baked pasta angle was a treat tonight.
Read Full Post »
- Whole-Wheat Penne Pasta
- Olive Oil
- Garlic
- Mushrooms
- Fresh Basil, chopped
- Fresh Parmesan, shredded
Read Full Post »
Technically, as of March 10th. That’s when I wrote my first not-so-exciting-post on here. There are definitely things I’d like to improve, things I’d like to enhance, things I’d like to improve on with my camera… And for the past week, I’ve been feeling under the weather. So, although the thoughts are running around in my head, I’ve yet to put them down on the blog, yet.
I really was hoping to do that sooner rather than later. But a cold, D.’s cold, and a freaking crazier-than-usual week at work has pushed that all off until this weekend. When I do hope to put some more words down here…
Tonight, we went back to a favorite dish, more geared to the summertime but it always seems to taste good. Here’s an older pic of what we had. Quite simple and quite yummy… Lentils, tomatoes, olive oil, green onions and feta, with a bit of seasonings all wrapped in a wrap!
This is a super-duper close-up of our dinner this evening…
It really is a summertime type of meal, but it was a nice tease right about now… And that picture does not at all do justice to the deliciousness of it. I’ll have to get a new one once we’ve got really yummy tomatoes and more freshness to go into it.
Read Full Post »
and Green Onions, in a Tortilla Wrap, with Cheese. That’s what we had for dinner last night. It was definitely a let’s-see-what-happens kind of meal…
I started with about a pound of chicken that been thawed after I made the Asian Chicken Noodle Soup on Sunday night. For some reason, I had the idea to marinade it in some BBQ sauce for a day. I didn’t have any specific idea at that point, other than it’s been awhile since we had BBQ anything. Which in and of itself is slightly different, because I’m not a big BBQ fan, as a general rule. But, sometimes you just go with it…
I decided to cook the chicken and then pull it apart by hand. I had some brown rice in the fridge, so I warmed that and added the chicken, along with a bit more BBQ sauce. Next, I added green onions, and there is the picture above. Now, my original plan was to make quesadillas, but I soon discovered that the 12″ tortillas that I had weren’t best suited for that. I think 8″ tortillas would have worked perfectly. There’s always next time. So instead, I filled each tortilla with the chicken and rice mix, added some mozzarella and folded them up as best I could. Then I put them into the oven to melt the cheese. They were quite flavorful… the green onions being a nice addition to the BBQ flavor. And the BBQ flavor was something a bit different for a wintertime meal.
So, all in all, thumbs up. Next, I’ve got to try some real quesadillas… Time to have some smaller tortillas on hand.
Read Full Post »
Well, D. isn’t feeling well, so I figured I’d get some sort of brothy soup into him today. I didn’t get to the grocery store yet, so this one was made with ingredients on-hand. That also means that I cubed up some chicken breasts that weren’t completely thawed yet, but actually, it made it easier to cut them that way. Had I made it to the store, I would have added bok choy to this soup, but alas. It turned out okay… I wasn’t particularly in the mood for it, but I knew it would be good for D. to have.
- 1 Tbsp or so Olive Oil
- 1/2-lb. Chicken Breasts, cubed
- 1 Tbsp Garlic, minced
- 1 tsp Ginger, finely chopped
- 3/4 cup Carrots, chopped
- 1/2 cup Red Onion, chopped
- 3/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced
- 1/3 cup Green Onions, chopped
- 2 cups Stock
- 1-1/2 cups Water
- 1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
- 1/2 pkg. Rice Sticks (Rice Noodles)
- Sesame Oil
1. In a soup pot, cook garlic and ginger in olive oil for approx. 3 minutes over medium-high heat. Add carrots, red onion and mushrooms, cooking for 5-7 minutes. Add green onions and cook one minute. Add stock, water and red pepper flakes, stir and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add rice stick noodles and lower heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.
2. In a separate pan, cook cubed chicken in sesame oil. Once chicken has cooked, add to soup pot, stir and serve.
I probably should have cooked the chicken with half of the ginger and garlic, to give it a bit more flavor. I also should have broken the rice noodles by hand before adding them into the soup. I ended up scooping the noodles with a wooden spoon and cutting them with a knife after they had softened. That still worked well enough. It was a good enough soup, and hopefully good for what is ailing D…
These are the veggies before adding the broth and water… I think they look colorful and bright.
Read Full Post »
Posted in Food Pics, tagged Macaroni and Cheese on March 5, 2009 | 1 Comment »
These are from my third batch… it was back to being nice and creamy and yummy, with a subtle crunch to the top layer. My second batch was too thick and too heavy… too much flour and cheese. This latest was back to delectable.
Read Full Post »
