Cooking with Kaitlyn

The Friday night after Thanksgiving, after most of the family had left, the gumbo was eaten, and the Mississippi State Bulldogs had won the Egg Bowl (!), I thought it would be fun to make cookies with my little cousin Kaitlyn. When I asked her if she wanted to help, she seemed pretty excited and kept saying, "I've never made cookies before!" So, we pulled up a stool and set to work. I had brought the "special" ingredients for the winning cookies of the Mrs. Field's cookie contest on I-Village - Oatmeal Peanut Butter Scotchies - pointed out to me by Anna.I thought they sounded good, and when I described them to Daddy his eyes got big! The interesting thing about these cookies is that they don't use any flour. I thought this might make them extra crispy, but they remained a pleasant, though slightly crispy, texture. Kaitlyn was a WONDERFUL little chef, helping me scrape the peanut butter into the bowl, pouring in sugar, turning on the mixer, and even putting (the first pan of) cookies on the stones. A good idea if you want to involve kids in baking cookies is to break the eggs into a little bowl, so that you know that there aren't any shells in there, and letting them pour the eggs in. In the end, I think Kaitlyn had a really fun time but decided that, though she liked the butter scotch chips, she didn't like the cookies...I think she didn't really taste them! :-) So much fun....I can't wait to cook with another little one! Oatmeal PeanutButter Cookies
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (or margarine)
1 and 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter
4 and 1/2 cups rolled oats (old fashioned or half old fashioned, half instant)
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 whole eggs
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 bag butterscotch chips (I think this is WAY too many chips...I'd use between 1 and 1 and 1/2 cups)
3/4 cups chopped pecans, toasted (you could probably increase the amount of this

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until smooth. Stir in oats, soda, chips, and nuts until well combined. Drop by spoonful onto a baking stone or cookie sheet. Place stone/sheet in oven and bake for 12 minutes or until the bottom is brown and there is some browning on top. Cool on sheet for about 5 minutes and then put on cooling rack. This makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Semi-homemade Fiesta Green Beans....or Not

I happen to live with a roommate who, for some reason, doesn't like tomatoes. However, she does like green beans. What to do when I decide that I want tomatoes in my green beans? Stir in some salsa to my serving. It's a great idea for those families with picky eaters and members with different tastes. So, there you have it...semi-homemade fiesta green beans! Because of all the anti-oxidants in the tomatoes AND the healthfulness of green beans, this is a great, easy dish for Sweetnicks' ARF-Tuesday! Check out her site for more great recipes. Easy Fiesta Green Beans

1 can no salt added french style green beans

garlic powder

Mrs. Dash seasoning

your favorite salsa

Pour green beans (half drained) into a skillet. Place skillet over medium heat. Season beans with powder and Mrs. Dash. Cook beans until tender and hot. Take out the amount you want and scoop a generous tablespoon or so onto the green beans. Stir and enjoy!

You Say Po-tay-to, I Say Po-tah-to

Well, not really...I say po-tay-to...but this month's Daring Baker's challenge gave room for different versions of the same thing...potato bread! I've never made potato bread but make bread quite often. I knew that this would be the perfect bread to make for my family Friday to go with our newly traditional gumbo on the day after Thanksgiving. Since my parents moved last year, our house has become the location for Thanksgiving, which is the big holiday for my dad's side of the family. We had 23 people there...not including the little kids. So, I had lots of samplers for this challenge. The entire morning as people began arriving from their respective hotels the question kept being voiced, "Whacha making?" When I told them potato bread, I think their mouths becan salivating. In this recipe the amount of flour you use is dependant upon how much potato you use and how much liquid is produced. I think I ended up using 6 and 1/2 cups of flour (out of a possible 8 and 1/2) and my dough was fairly sticky; however, I didn't want to jeopardize the tenderness of the bread by adding too much flour...SO, I just worked with the stickiness! Tanna gave us the option of doing loaves, rolls, focaccia, breadsticks, really whatever shape bread floated our boats as long as it was savory. I decided to do a focaccia an some rolls. When I pulled out the rolls, I was concerned. They felt really hard on top...THEN I tried to get them out of the pan. AHHHHH...stuck! I didn't spray the pan and they were very stubborn coming out. I'm not a big roll fan, so I didn't taste these and was extremely disappointed with them until my Aunt said that they were perfect. She described them like a baguette...crispy on the outside and melts in your mouth once you get inside. I think that's a pretty good roll! The focaccia bread was by far the more popular version (except with my 15 month old cousin...she's really into bread right now and loved the rolls!) with my family. I used waxed paper to put the dough on and, again, didn't spray it. When I tried to pull the paper off, any dough that had not been on flour was stuck! It took some TLC to get it off, but it was worth it. This had the perfect texture. It was so soft and flavored nicely with olive oil, rosemary, thyme, and parmesan cheese. Overall, this was a good challene. A nice little change from all those sweets! The bread was fairly simple to put together and quick for a yeast bread (I started at 8 am and was finished by around 12:30). Check out the other Daring Bakers and their bread here. This is the recipe with instructions for rolls and focaccia.

Ingredients:
8-16 oz. floury (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

4 cups(950 ml) water, reserve cooking water

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

6 ½ cups to 8 ½ cups (1 kg to 1350g) unbleached all-purpose

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (130g) whole wheat flour

Making the Dough (Directions will be for making by hand):
Put the potatoes and 4 cups water in a sauce pan and bring to boil. Add 1 teaspoon salt and cook, half covered, until the potatoes are very tender (this doesn't take long!). Drain the potatoes, SAVE THE POTATO WATER, and mash the potatoes well. Measure out 3 cups (750ml) of the reserved potato water. Add extra water if needed to make 3 cups. Place the water and mashed potatoes in the bowl you plan to mix the bread dough in. Let cool to lukewarm (70-80°F/21 - 29°C) – stir well before testing the temperature – it should feel barely warm to your hand. You should be able to submerge you hand in the mix and not be uncomfortable.

Mix & stir yeast into cooled water and mashed potatoes & water and let stand 5 minutes. Then add 2 cups of flour to the yeast mix and allow to rest several minutes. Sprinkle in the remaining 1 tablespoon salt and the softened butter; mix well. Add the 1 cup whole wheat flour, stir briefly.
Add 2 cups of the unbleached all-purpose flour and stir until all the flour has been incorporated (now you have used 4 cups of the possible 8 ½ cups suggested by the recipe). Turn the dough out onto a generously floured surface (I used a really big bowl, so I just left it in the bowl) and knead for about 10 minutes, incorporating flour as needed to prevent sticking. The dough will be very sticky to begin with, but as it takes up more flour from the kneading surface, it will become easier to handle; the kneaded dough will still be very soft. Place the dough in a large clean bowl or your rising container of choice, cover with plastic wrap or lid, and let rise about 2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead gently several minutes. It will be moist and a little sticky.

To make rolls: Butter a 13 x 9 inch sheet cake pan or a shallow cake pan. Cut the (1/3 is what I used) dough into 12 equal pieces. Shape each into a ball under the palm of your floured hand and place on the baking sheet, leaving 1/2 inch between the balls. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 35 minutes, until puffy and almost doubled.

To make focaccia:Flatten out the dough to a rectangle about 10 x 15 inches with your palms and fingertips. Tear off a piece of parchment paper or wax paper a little longer than the dough and dust it generously with flour. Transfer the focaccia to the paper. Brush the top of the dough generously with olive oil, sprinkle on a little coarse sea salt, as well as some rosemary leaves, if you wish and then finally dimple all over with your fingertips. Cover with plastic and let rise for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450°F(230°C)

For rolls: Dust risen rolls with a little all-purpose flour or lightly brush the tops with a little melted butter or olive oil (the butter will give a golden/browned crust). Bake rolls until golden, about 30 minutes. Transfer the rolls to a rack when done to cool.

For foccaia:Place a baking stone or unglazed quarry tiles, if you have them, if not use a no edged baking/sheet (you want to be able to slide the shaped dough on the parchment paper onto the stone or baking sheet and an edge complicates things). Place the stone or cookie sheet on a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450°F/230°C.
If making foccacia, just before baking, dimple the bread all over again with your fingertips. Leaving it on the paper, transfer to the hot baking stone, tiles or baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a rack (remove paper) and let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.

Because Thanksgiving is Thursday...a Casserole

I don't make casseroles that often because they tend to be sauce laden, but I went to a Thanksgiving party last Friday where there was lots of good food. I decided to take a broccoli casserole. This is super easy, pretty good, and kid friendly. I did make a slight change in the recipe that makes it not quite as bad for ya. Originally, it calls for a 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of butter to be stirring into the broccoli with the cheese, but I've found that it really doesn't neet this extra butter, the cheese is enough. Doing this does make it a bit more creamy and thick, but it's still yummy and I guess cheesier tasting. Anyway, this is a casserole I grew up eating and enjoyed making. Because of the broccoli, this is a Thanksgiving worthy entry for Sweetnick's ARF Tuesday. Stop by and check out the other great recipes. Broccoli Casserole

2 bags of broccoli (15 oz bags)

1/2 stick margarine (I left this out!)

1/2 lb Velveeta (8 oz., 1/4 bar)

30 Ritz crackers

1/2 stick margarine, melted

Cook both packages of broccoli as instructed. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drain broccoli and return to warm pot. Stir in cheese (and if using, 1/2 stick of margarine). Put broccoli in a casserole dish. Crush crackers into small crumbs and stir in 1/2 stick melted margarine. Sprinkle this over the broccoli. Place casserole in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.

Pumpkin Season

Well, I think that one of my favorite baking items during this holiday season is pumpkin. I don't know why but it's true! At the grocery store I was planning on buying the "normal" 16 oz can of pumpkin, but the larger size was SO much cheaper...and I'm cheap! Thus, I bought the larger can. I just decided that I could put it back in the refrigerator in between uses. What recipe to use? I decided on one from my newest cookbook, Fresh Every Day by Sara Foster. I really like the cookbook and wish that I could spend more time cooking "real" food from it! Maybe one day, just not right now. Everything has it's season...including pumpkin. SO, I picked out a pumpkin muffin recipe and started. YUM! These were really good muffins. I changed just a little bit...the recipe below is with my changes. Because of the pumpkin and cranberries, this is a great recipe for Sweetnick's ARF Tuesday. Stop by and check out the other great recipes. Pumpkin Muffins
3 cups AP flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar (I think I used a bit less)
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (originally six...I did this on accident)
2 large eggs 15 oz pumpkin puree (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup milk
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray muffin tin* with cooking spray. Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, stir the sugar, butter, and eggs together. Stir in the pumpkin puree, milk, and raisins and chips. Pour into the bowl with the flour miture. Stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened - be careful not to overmix. Scoop batter into the muffin tins using a 1/3 cup measure. Bake for 25-30 minutes...I think I actually cooked mine for around 22 minutes. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the tin before removing them. *This says it makes 12 large muffins, but I got 12 regular sized muffins, 12 mini-muffins, and 6 muffin tops. Maybe I just didn't fill the tins enough, but I still would have gotten more than just 12.

Caramel Blondies

A few weeks ago I was asked to make some sort of dessert for the college choir at my church. I decided to pull out a quick, easy favorite. It is a simple brown sugar blondie. The recipe is from my mom's best friend...her desserts are always great! I've discovered that you can do a couple of variations on this. The original recipe calls for pecans. However, if you don't like nuts or don't have any on hand, you can replace the nuts with oatmeal. Either way is good but has it's own unique flavor. So, if it's chilly outside...gather the kids together (or yourself like I would!) and make some blondies. This is a simple recipe and would be GREAT for letting kids help. Caramel Blondies

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 stick butter or margarine

2 eggs

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons vanilla

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix sugar and butter together. Add eggs and vanilla. When smooth add dry ingredients and nuts. Mix until just blended. Spray a 13X9 pan. Pour the batter into this pan and place into the oven. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

A Marriage Made...in the Oven

This past Sunday, my Sunday School class - dubbed the GAP class for Graduates And Professionals - had a lunch after church. Because I'm not very picky about what I take, I decied to tell the hostess to let me know what she needed. I was told to bring a vegetable. Hmmm...green bean casserole was already coming, there were going to be salads...I need to take something that's not green. I've taken roasted squash before plus that costs too much right now to take a lot of fresh squash (yellow, mind you!). What's in season, I ask myself. The only thing I can think of is winter squash and sweet potato. Well, I've recently discovered that, although I CANNOT eat a baked sweet potato, I do like roasted sweet potatoes. So, at the grocery store, I picked up a HUGE sweet potato. Honestly, I felt a little bad for the thing. It was going to end up being picked up and thrown to the side because it was so big...too big to bake and, honestly, that's what most people get fresh sweet potatoes to do. Anyway, I brought the little guy home, chopped him up, and put him in the roasting pan. But he looked a little lonely. What can I put with Mr. Sweet Potato. Ah HA! I think the he would very much like to spend his last days with Miss Fuji Apple. So, out came Miss Apple (actually two)...they were chopped and mixed with Mr. Sweet Potato. It was a beautiful marriage melded together with some cinnamon (the spice of their lives), thyme (what marriage survives without that!?), and allspice (um...a little twist to make things interesting?). I think all the flavors worked well together. My class members enjoyed it as well. In fact, I told several of them the "recipe." I think the apples added a lot. Because of the health benefits from sweet potatoes AND apples (they're a healthy couple too!), this is my entry to Sweetnicks' ARF-Tuesday. Check by and see all the other wonderful recipes. Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Apples

1 LARGE sweet potato, cubed

2 medium Fuji apples, cubed (probably could add one more)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 teaspoon dried thyme (not rubbed)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

sprinkle all spice

1 Tablespoon olive oil

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Put potatoes, onions, and apples in a roasting pan. Drizzle with olive oil (probably 1 Tablespoon) and then "top off" with some cooking spray. Toss this around the pan. Sprinkle the thyme, cinnamon, and allspice over the veggies and toss. Place pan in oven and bake for 20 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender. Check at 10 minutes to stir. After 20 minutes, be sure the potatoes are tender...if not, keep going.

Use the Wave

One of the easiest side dishes my mom used to make is a microwave cauliflower thing. Because it's so easy...I'll just go ahead and tell you how to do it! This has great antioxidants in it, so it is my entry to Sweetnick's ARF Tuesday. Microwave Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower

1 T mayonaise

2 T yellow mustard

1 T cheddar cheese

Clean off cauliflower and place in a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 8 minutes on high. Stir together remaining ingredients. After 8 minutes is over, removed cauliflower and spread sauce over the top of the vegetable. Return dish to microwave and microwave for 1-2 more minutes.

NOTE: I really didn't measure the sauce ingredients...I just did it to taste, so be brave and wing it! This is really a yummy dish. Even your vegetable fearing child will like it...I mean it is white anyway! ;-)

Bostini Cream Pie

Have I gotten myself into something that I can't handle? I don't know! We'll just have to wait and see. My mom asked me how I was going to do it. I told her, it's only once a month...surely I'll have time. But will I have time? Will I succeed? What am I rambling about...I've joined the Daring Bakers!!! For months I've been watching, enjoying the posts, and thinking that would be fun. So I finally joined. Another reason...they make things that I can make but never would without "having" to make it...so it's a challenge for myself! This month the challenge was given by Mary to make Bostini Cream Pies. Yes...Bostini! Basically, it's a Boston Cream Pie made with an orange chiffon cake and a true custard rather than just a cream...and it's set up a bit differently...custard on bottom, then cake, then chocolate. I made this for a get together with some friends from school. I don't really have any good ramekins that can be put in the oven, so I decided to make a large version of this. In the end, it turned out okay but my original plan didn't work. I wanted to let the custard set in a round cake pan, flip the pan over on a plate, and have the custard beautifully slip out onto the plate. Well...the slipping out was just a dream! I ended up scraping the custard out and spreading back into the proper shape on the plate. Then I topped it with my chiffon cake, which I thought turned out great. Everyone at the party enjoyed the cake. If you want to see some other entries drop by the Daring Bakers site. I ended up halving the recipe because I didn't check how much cream I needed and only had half...it worked fine! In fact, a whole recipe would have been WAY too much!Bostini Cream Pie (from Donna Scala & Kurtis Baguley of Bistro Don Giovanni and Scala's Bistro)Makes 8 generous servings

INGREDIENTS:

Custard

3/4 cup whole milk

2 3/4 tablespoons cornstarch

1 whole egg, beaten

9 egg yolks, beaten

3 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 vanilla bean (EDITED: vanilla extract is okay)

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

Chiffon Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour

3/4 cup superfine sugar

1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup canola oil

1/3 cup beaten egg yolks (3 to 4 yolks)

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup egg whites (about 8 large)

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Chocolate Glaze

8 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate

8 ounces unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

To prepare the custard: Combine the milk and cornstarch in a bowl; blend until smooth. Whisk in the whole egg and yolks, beating until smooth. Combine the cream, vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan and carefully bring to a boil. When the mixture just boils, whisk a ladleful into the egg mixture to temper it, then whisk this back into the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard and pour into 8 large custard cups. Refrigerate to chill.

To prepare the chiffon cakes: Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray 8 molds with nonstick cooking spray. You may use 7-ounce custard cups, ovenproof wide mugs or even large foil cups. Whatever you use should be the same size as the custard cups. Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Stir until smooth, but do not overbeat. Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the beaten whites into the orange batter. Fill the sprayed molds nearly to the top with the batter. Bake approximately 25 minutes, until the cakes bounce back when lightly pressed with your fingertip. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, remove the cakes from the molds. Cover the cakes to keep them moist.

To prepare the glaze: Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place the butter in a saucepan and heat until it is just about to bubble. Remove from the heat; add the chocolate and stir to melt. Pour through a strainer and keep warm. To assemble: Cut a thin slice from the top of each cake to create a flat surface. Place a cake flat-side down on top of each custard. Cover the tops with warm chocolate glaze. Serve immediately (or refrigerate and serve later).

Sergeant Pepper

Well, I told you a couple of weeks ago that I would be back with another couscous dish. I aim to please, so here it is. One of my favorite dishes is stuffed peppers. These are so versatile, kind of like a frittata. Take a grain of some sort, add left over veggies or meat, put some cheese in there if you want, bake and you've got a great, healthy meal. I had seen a stuffed peppers recipe that used couscous and thought that was fantastic...so, I cooked up some couscous, used a half bag of leftover frozen broccoli and green beans, some leftover roasted squash and zucchini, added some feta cheese and put all this is a roasted pepper shell. It was super good. I'll be doing this again. Because of all the veggies, this is full of antioxidants so it is perfect for Sweetnick's ARF Tuesday. Stop by and check out the other great recipes! Although I like to think of couscous as being really good for you, it's only flour that has been mashed together and dried...not that this is BAD for you, it just doesn't have as much nutritional benefit as I THOUGHT it did...so, counteract that by getting whole wheat couscous! :-) As it turns out, this is a staple for Mediterranean nations, especially the African portion. These ladies take hours to make couscous by hand...we, on the other hand, have the benefit of prepared couscous that takes around 5 minutes to prepare...so enjoy this quick, healthy, and easy meal soon! Couscous Stuffed Peppers
2 bell peppers, whatever variety you please
1 cup prepared couscous (use chicken or vegetable broth to prepare it...this makes the flavor SOOOO much better. Couscous made with water is so bland)
1/2 16 oz bag frozen veggies*
1 cup roasted veggies *
1/4 cup feta cheese
parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 425. Cut off the tops of the peppers, then cut them in half lengthwise. Place them in an oven safe baking dish and roast for 15 minutes. To prepare couscous, follow instructions on box - basically boil some broth, put the appropriate amount of couscous in, remove from heat, and let it sit for five minutes...easy as pie! In a bowl, combine the 1 cup couscous, vegetables, and feta cheese. When the peppers are ready, remove the dish from the oven and lower the temperature to 325, stuff the peppers with the couscous mixture and return to the oven for 25 minutes. About 3 minutes before time is up, open the oven, slide the oven rack out, top the peppers with some freshly grated parmesan cheese, and return to the oven to brown. Remove and enjoy!

*You can use whatever vegetables you like, but the roasted ones were great. This would also be great with shrimp or even (if you can get it) lamb!

Rainbow Trout and....Baseball?

Over Labor Day my parents went to my Aunt and Uncle's cabin on the Norfolk River in Arkansas. Daddy just LOVES fly fishing. Before they went, I asked him to bring some fish back home. You see, the only trout I've had is from a restaurant AND I was going to be going home the next weekend for Mama's birthday! I have such a good Daddy...he brought the trout home and then grilled it on the cedar planks I got them for Christmas. Let me say, it was SOOOO good! I paired it with roasted sweet potatoes, tomato, corn, and squash. Speaking of sweet potatoes...if you ever get bored in the kitchen on a Saturday, especially with your mom!, just grab a sweet potato, hand the a strawberry to your mom and strike a pose. Then, wait for the perfect pitch, swing away, and hit that strawberry across the kitchen. This will result in a busted strawberry, a stained potato, and lots of laughs! Yes, I promise, I'm still in medical school but we all have our weaknesses!

Blueberry Muffins

The other day I was looking through other blogs and found this blueberry muffin recipe on Mommy Cooks site. It looked healthy but also had a crumb topping on it. So, I pulled out a bag of my frozen blueberries from this summer and set to work. In deed, this is a simple recipe and turned out very well. The batter that I had was VERY thin and that led to some of the topping settling to the middle of the muffin. Just a nice little surprise there! Because of the blueberries this is full of antioxidants; thus, this is my entry for Sweetnicks' ARF Tuesday. Stop by and check out the other great recipes.Blueberry Crumb Top Muffins

1 cup milk

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup fresh blueberries

CRUMB TOPPING

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons butter Heat oven to 400 degrees.Grease bottoms only of 12 medium muffin cups or paper lined cups. Beat the milk, oil, vanilla extract and egg. Stir in the flour, sugar, baking powder & salt all at once until flour is moist THE BATTER SHOULD BE LUMPY-DO NOT OVERMIX. Add the blueberries, combine and divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Sprinkle each using about 2 tsp of the prepared topping. Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to cool.

Simply Salad

Do you ever find yourself with just a little bit of frozen salad shrimp left over with nothing to do with them? Okay, so maybe you don't but my mom does, and I take after her, so I do too. What to do with them. There's not enough to make a dish but it's wasting them to throw away. Why do that anyway? Just take the shrimp, rinse them so that they thaw, and toss them on top of a salad made of spring greens, fresh berries, celery, some feta, and some raspberry vinegarette...at least that's what I did!

Basic Biscuits

I've been inspired by Erika at Tummy Treasure. All week she's been doing breakfast posts. You should check them out. She's done international breakfasts, grainy breakfasts, breakfasts from friends, and even some of the breakfast treats I've done! Seeing the blueberry biscuits made me want to make some biscuits...so I pulled out my Dorie Greenspan Baking from my home to yours. She has some great looking biscuit recipes. Now, biscuit making was always a skill that any good housewife had. The family would get up to prepare for a hard day of work and biscuits were a staple of the breakfast. Lots of people rave about their grandmother's biscuits. I don't remember biscuits specifically. In fact, our biscuits are usually the frozen kind. Now, don't pity my because these biscuits are puffy and yummy. In fact, it always amazed me that the biscuits from Pillsbury that are frozen always come out so fluffy, while homemade, which is supposedly the best ALWAYS, come out flatter. How is it that the frozen ones are so much better? So, I want to figure out this mystery. Maybe I'll do some homemade and freeze them. Maybe it's the freezing and baking from frozen state that makes them get tall. Anyway, I decided to try a version of Dorie's Basic Biscuits. I did make a few changes but followed her suggestion of using 1 3/4 cups AP flour and 1/3 cup cake flour. The biscuits were still a little flatter than a frozen biscuit but were very good. I've seen my roommate with one, so I know she likes them. Through the weeks I'm going to keep experimenting, but I would recommend these. If you want a little extra flair, throw in some blueberries or pecans before you start. Basic Biscuits adapted from Baking from my home to yours

2 cups AP flour (or 1 3/4 cups AP flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)

1 T baking powder

2 t sugar

1/4 t salt

3/4 stick cold butter, cut into pieces

3/4 cup cold buttermilk Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Whisk together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Drop the butter in and, using your washed hands, blend the butter and flour together quickly. You can also use a pastry blending if you desire. Do this until you have a pebbly, sandy mixture.

Pour the buttermilk over the dry ingredient and toss with a fork until the dough comes together. Give the dough four quick kneads with you hands. Dust a clean work surface or pastry cloth with some flour. Press the dough until it is 1/2 inch high. Using a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass cut the bisuits out. Do this as closely together as you can to get the most out of the first round. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet or stone. Gather the scraps together, press again, cut out biscuits. Follow this procedure until all the dough is used. Bake for 14-18 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Remove immediately. Dorie suggests that these can be frozen after cutting by freezing them on a baking sheet, then wrapping them air tightly and placing in the freezer. They will just require a little longer to bake.