Best-ever Buttermilk Biscuits, the recipe

It seems like every time I'm home, my dad makes something new and yummy for me to eat. Recently, it was made from scratch biscuits. They were delectable. So he gave me the recipe and encouraged me to try them on my own. They were SO good!!! Here's the recipe (from Cuisine at Home)!

Best-ever Buttermilk Biscuits
Makes 10 biscuits
Total time: 30 minutes
 
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups cake flour
5 Tbsp. cold vegetable shortening, cubed
4 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 450°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl; set aside.
3. Pulse cake flour, shortening, and cubed butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment
until fats are pea-sized flakes. 
4. Mix in all-purpose flour mixture just until blended. Add buttermilk to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.
5. Turn dough onto a lightly-floured surface, and knead just until dough holds together. Pat dough into a
1-inch-thick circle.
6. Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut dough into 10 biscuits. Transfer the biscuits to prepared baking sheet and bake until golden, 15–18 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter during last few minutes of baking.

My confessions:

*I didn't have cake flour. I used regular unbleached flour. If you ask my roommate, the biscuits still tasted great, so no worries here! But if you must, here is a trick for turning all-purpose flour into cake flour (but I didn't google it until after I was done with the biscuits).

*I don't have a stand mixer yet. I'm trying to hold off until I can add one to my wedding registry. So, I made do with the ten pincers I have at the end of my arms. They worked just fine instead of the paddle attachment. :)

*This was my first time using buttermilk. It smelled disgusting, but apparently it's supposed to??

*My batch made 8 regular biscuits and one "doggy biscuit."

*They were wonderfully delicious topped with butter and raw, local honey.

Go ahead, give them a try!

 

easy peasy Broccoli Cheddar Soup

When I got the first glimpse of fall weather, it was all tights and soup for this girl!!! I was craving some broccoli cheddar soup and since my teacher paycheck doesn't allow daily trips to the place that holds my heart... Panera... I had to fend for myself. :)

With the help of pinterest, I found several (what looked like) good recipes for soup. I found a few crock pot recipes that will come in handy soon, but I just wanted something I could whip up after work. I stumbled across a blog that has three weeks of cheap meals that can be prepared in 15 minutes. :) There was a simple broccoli cheddar soup recipe, so I ran by Walmart, grabbed a couple ingredients, and was ready to go!

The recipe calls for:
1. Two cups of condensed cheddar cheese soup (Next time, I'd like to try one can of cheddar soup and one can of potato, but it was still way good!)
2. Three cups frozen chopped broccoli (I was lazy and didn't chop mine. I should've.)
3. Three cups of milk
4. One cup of frozen potatoes O'Brien in a pot (I cheated and just used frozen cubed hashbrowns. I have a TON left over!)

Bring to a boil, then simmer for 5 minutes. Done! Its delicious! I picked up a French Baguette too, and it was the perfect complement to this tasty, cool weather, dinner. 

Pizza: from scratch.

Last night brought the beginning of a new week. Meaning a new Monday. Meaning a new week to try new recipes. I may or may not have taken a little detour to this AWESOME store called T.J. Maxx. You should go. ;) [insert glorious jingle here.] I found this delightful cookbook entitled Energy Food. The title just SCREAMED my name from the clearance shelf. Only beef with the book... it's published in the UK... so more conversions. Just when I thought I was done with those!!!

I decided to try one of the "dynamic dinners" and see how dynamite it turned out.

my pizza with charbroiled vegetables:

ingredients for dough:
14 oz. (1.75 cups) whole wheat flour, plus extra for kneading
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
250 ml (1 cup) warm water
1 Tbs olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
suggested toppings:
bottled tomato sauce
goat cheese
zucchini
bell peppers
eggplant

I decided that the best toppings would be fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, yellow peppers and zucchini. Mainly because those were the available things in the fridge. :)

To make the dough, stir the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center, then stir in the warm water and the pol. Stir to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead dough until smooth and elastic. Return the douhg to the rinsed bowl, drizzle with oil, then cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until it has doubled in volume.

Meanwhile, prepare the veggies. A.k.a. heat them in a skillet with (optional) oil. I didn't use any and my veggies turned out fine. The directions in the book are more detailed, but if I can do it without reading it all, you'll be fine too! Remember, the book is British. ;)

Preheat oven to 425 (with baking sheet inside). Not sure why you're supposed to do that, but oh well! It says to split the dough into two balls and make 2 pizzas, but I wanted to just make one, so the dough was thicker and I added a few minutes to the cook time. We'll see if it worked!

Spread dough, roll with rolling pin (which I have yet to locate). Spread with sauce, and top with toppings. I added to mine: authentic Italian sauce, yellow peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and fresh mozzarella. It looks and tastes phenomenal. :)


Bon appetit! ;)

Salmon with Broccoli Couscous

Two deluxe meals and two posts in two days. I'm on a ROLL!

Salmon with Broccoli Couscous

The hardest part of cooking (for me) is timing everything right, and according to the Better Homes and Gardens, that is everyone's issue. (I use everyone's lightly since I know at least a few people who are just born chefs...) But, I'm thankful for an oven that keeps things warm when my "family" happens to be... forty-five minutes late... :)

Lemon-Thyme Roasted Chicken

I'm not sure why exactly this came from a diabetic-friendly website, but I figured it couldn't be too bad for the average person either. I get daily recipes emailed to me, and this was one. I decided it would be worth a try, and BOY, am I glad I did!

Lemon-Thyme Roasted Chicken

The recipe is found here and I tweaked it a little by not using fingerling potatoes (mainly because I have no idea what they are or where to find them in a grocery store!) and I used chicken tenders instead of breasts. But it turned out well, and tasted wonderful, and stayed sitting in the oven until my "family" got home.

I was SO tempted to give myself a pat on the back after using thyme in my meal tonight, then I remembered that supposedly, normal people use that stuff all the time... so here I am, joining the ranks of "normalcy." It tastes better than I had anticipated, but I'm glad I'm making strides in being a "personal chef!"

Let me know if you try it! Let me know how it goes! And for SURE, let me know if you have any "killer" (ONLY in the figurative sense of the word) recipes for me to try! :)

Bon appetit!

Shredded Pork Roast and Chickpea Carrot Salad

I happened to be watching TV at my boyfriend's parents' house last weekend and turned on the new cooking network. I watched it for a while realizing nothing else reasonably exciting was on, and let's face it, I'm the next Rachael Ray... who am I kidding!?! Anyway, this cute, young, aspiring new chef was making this shredded pork in a slow cooker! I'm a sucker for seeing food being made. So, I decided I would add it to my list of things to make this week! After turkey burgers on the grill (first attempt at grilling anything on my own... and i succeeded!), and Panera's Tomato Basil Soup, I made Slow Cooker Shredded Pork and then I made Chickpea Carrot Salad but replaced the Currants requested with raisins. I wasn't about to try it because I discovered that I despise chickpeas when I was in Portugal, but the slow cooker pork smells YUMMY! :)

Let me know if you try either recipe! I'd like to think I'm a success, but I've found that to be untrue many times before... ;)

the test kitchen of Jessica: Herbed Flatbread and Salmon Burgers

Guess who tried a new recipe and succeeded!?! THIS GIRL!!! Yesterday, I put on by bravery suit and attempted something new. Well, two something news... somethings new??? new things.

You saw the title, I tried to make flatbread and salmon burgers. Flatbread... we have a winner!!! Salmon burgers, well, my boss RAVED about them even though in my preparation, we didn't make it to the grill... we got a little stuck in the blender, but who cares, right?

Herbed Flatbread (thank you, Martha Stewart)
(Easy) Salmon Burgers (thank you, BHG... but why did you label them easy??? NOT as impressive)

You have helped me achieve new heights in life, like a user of yeast, and a user of egg wash, and a user of salmon. I can conquer new worlds and dream new dreams. :) I might even change my name to Martha Stewart Roberts... but my mom might not appreciate that one... Rachael Ray Roberts? Paula Dean Roberts? Bobby Flay Roberts?

Any name suggestions? I know you have them! ;)

the test kitchen of Jessica: Recipe 2: Mediterranean Shrimp Packets

I decided to be bold. Make something new. Make something I can't pronounce. Use parchment paper for the first time. Use zucchini for the first time. You seasoned mothers (pun intended) are probably wondering why I've never made anything with zucchini. Oh well, I just haven't. :)

One of the perks of this summer is that I'm learning where all sorts of knew things are in the grocery store. Shrimp included. This recipe was one that had been set out for the lady I work for, and I decided it couldn't be that bad. :)

MEDITERRANEAN SHRIMP PACKETS

PREP: 25 min
OVEN: 425 degrees
BAKE: 25 min
MAKES: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces fresh or frozen peeled & deveined medium shrimp
1 cup quick-cooking couscous
1 cup boiling water
2 small zucchini and or yellow summer squash, halved lengthwise & thinly sliced
1 small red, yellow, or green sweet pepper, cut into thin bite-size strips
1 9-ounce package frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup bottled reduced-calorie Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil or fresh spinach

1. Thaw shrimp, if frozen. Rinse shrimp; pat dry w/paper towels. Set aside. Cut four 16 x 12-inch pieces of parchment. (Or tear off four 24 x 18-inch pieces of heavy foil. Fold each piece in half to make four 18 x 12-inch pieces.)

2. In a small saucepan combine couscous mixture, shrimp, squash, sweet pepper, & artichokes evenly among the 4 pieces of parchment or foil. Sprinkle w/black pepper & salt. Drizzle w/salad dressing.

3. Bring together 2 opposite edges of parchment or foil; seal with a double fold. Fold remaining ends to completely enclose the food, allowing space for steam to build. Place the packets in a single layer on a baking pan.

4. Bake in a 425 degree oven about 25 minutes or until shrimp turn opaque (carefully open a packet to check). Carefully open packets & sprinkle w/ 1 tablespoon of basil or spinach.

Nutritional Facts per serving:

292 calories
3 g fat (0 g. sat. fat)
88 mg chol.
696 mg sodium
46 g carbs.
7 g fiber
20 g protein

Daily Values:

29% vitamin A
67% vitamin C
9% calcium
14% iron

Exchanges: 2 vegetable, 2 starch, 1 1/2 meat

Lessons learned:
1. After making these, I wished I would've doubled the recipe, but since I just cook for a couple and their five-year-old, I didn't deem it necessary.
2. The parchment paper didn't hold as much as I would have liked. So I opted for foil after my first two packets. And since I left before they were done, I'm not positive that they turned out well initially, but I loved them the next day!

If you happen to try these, fill me in!!! I'm starting to feel like I can conquer the world. So, we'll see what happens! :)

The test kitchen of Jessica: Recipe 1: Herb-and-Bean-Stuffed Tomatoes

Those of you who know my cooking expertise (or lack thereof) will smile when i tell you of my summer plans. I accepted a nannying job and the couple asked if I would be willing to cook dinner for their family. I eagerly accepted. I had months to prepare myself, so I thought I would be fine. I grew up eating things like pasta, pasta, more pasta, with the occasional hamburger helper, and rarely a hot dog or sandwich. I found my first week on the job that the family eats almost everything organic and she works for Better Homes and Gardens. She hands me a stack of recipes torn out of magazines with hundreds of words I can't pronounce, and foods I have never heard of. Google became my (even closer) best friend. Since I began, I have successfully made tortilla-and-lime crusted tilapia with corn salsa, learned how to roast a red pepper, and found the organic produce at the grocery store. And, they grow their own herbs. She told me I could use those in my cooking, but the only thing I've ever picked on my own anything except dandelions... and they didn't taste very good. SO MUCH TO LEARN!

Now, join me for my first blog about a meal... Herb-and-Bean-Stuffed Tomatoes. This is what the website says they should look like...

Let's just say that I DOUBT mine will end up like that. But you get to experience it with me! We'll see how it goes! And if you test out this recipe, please tell me how it went, but don't try to show me up. I'm NOT a chef, but by the end of the summer, I plan on renting myself out as a personal chef. ;)

Enjoy my play-by-play!

1. Cut off 1/2 inch from the top of each tomato. Finely chop enough of the tops to equal 1 cup; set aside.

2. Remove and discard the seeds and pulp from tomatoes. (Or save them for something else!)

3. In a large bowl stir together the chopped tomato, 3/4 cup of the bread crumbs, the beans, pine nuts, cheese, basil, 1 tablespoon olive oil, garlic, salt, and black pepper. Spoon the bean mixture into the tomatoes. Place the stuffed tomatoes in a 2-quart square baking dish.

4. In a small bowl stir together the remaining 3/4 cup bread crumbs, 2 teaspoons olive oil, and the thyme. Sprinkle over tomatoes.

5. Bake, uncovered, in a 350° oven about 20 minutes or until crumbs are golden brown and tomatoes are heated through.

Not too far off from the original! And it tasted okay too. ;) If you try it, let me know how it goes!