Biscuits

I have often made biscuits before, and have what I consider to be a pretty good recipe. I'll warn you in advance that it is by no means the best recipe... I'm still on the lookout for another one that's better, but this one is pretty good.
I wanted strawberry shortcake... I'd recently purchased strawberries on sale, and had some cream to make whipped cream, so I decided to mix up a batch of biscuits to go along.

4 C. Flour
8 tsp. Baking Powder
4 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Cr. of Tartar
1 tsp. Salt
1 C. Shortening
1 1/3 C. Milk

I started by mixing up the dry ingredients. I had run out of white flour so I used wheat flour as a substitute. Looking back, it was not the best decision. The biscuits are simply not as good when made with wheat, instead of white, but that could be just what I'm used to.

After that was all mixed up, I added the shortening, and cut it together. The regular kitchen tool for this task was missing, and I used a potato masher instead. It worked wonderfully.

Next, I poured in the milk. Notice the one and only picture in this entire blog that features me. Or my hand, anyway. :P

Then, I mixed it all together gently...

...and rolled it out on the floured table.

Using a cup, I cut out circles and placed them on a greased cookie sheet. Now, a little secret I learned awhile ago about biscuits, is that if you roll them extra thin, cut them into circles, and stack two circles on top of each other before baking (making sure to press the edges together pretty well) it makes them much easier to split later, after they've been baked. This, I did.

Then I baked them for about 10 minutes at 450˚.

Once they were done, I split them, and piled on the strawberries and cream. :D

Strawberry shortcake is seriously my favorite dessert, ever. ^_^

Hot Chicken Salad

A couple years ago, while searching for something to make for dinner, my mother suggested we make Hot Chicken Salad. I had never heard of such a thing, so we began to search through her old recipe book and we discovered the recipe. It is a recipe from my grandmother, which gives it extra value in my opinion. So anyway, we made it, and it was amazingly delicious. I've made it several times since then, and decided to whip it up the other day. 

2 Cans Cream of Mushroom Soup

4-5 Cups Diced Chicken Breast (about 3-4 Breast Pieces)

1 Tbsp Lemon Juice

3/4 Cup Real Mayonnaise

2 Tbsp Minced Onion

1 Cup Diced Celery

4 Diced, Hard-boiled Eggs

1 8oz Bag Plain Potato Chips

I started by boiling, and chopping up the chicken breasts. I boiled two, then discovered it wasn't quite enough, so I had to boil another one. 

While the chicken was boiling, I also hard boiled the eggs.

Now, you may think this odd for all the cooking I have done, but I have a very difficult time hard boiling eggs. For whatever reason, I can never remember exactly how it's done. Is it start them cold and boil them 10 minutes? Or maybe you put them in boiling water, then turn it down, then let them sit 10 minutes? Or is it put them in cold water, let them boil, and then immediately transfer them back to cold water? *sigh* Way too many options. (Turns out, it's put them in cold water, bring it to a boil, boil them for 10 minutes, let them cool for about 2 minutes, then transfer them to cold water)

Anyway, I have always ended up with undercooked eggs. And once you crack them to see if they're done, you're out of luck. 

BUT! This time, I did it right! I was ridiculously pleased with myself. ^_^

Once I had the eggs done, I chopped them up. 

Then I mixed the eggs, chicken, and other ingredients together.

Once they were all mixed, I greased an 11x13 pan and spread the bottom with crushed potato chips. *NOTE* The potato chips do not get mixed in with the rest of the ingredients. They get crushed and layered on the top and bottom of the rest of the casserole 

After putting in a layer of chips, I spread the rest of the stuff on top, and sprinkled more crushed chips on top of that.

Into the oven it went! 425˚ for about half an hour, or until it's bubbling and the chips are starting to brown. Like so:

It's especially delicious when you add a side of potato chips. :D

It's definitely a favorite meal of mine... although my brother professed to absolutely hate it. He does really dislike mayonnaise, though, so that could be the reason. :)

It's also good reheated, but I'd recommend adding fresh potato chips to the top if you do that, since the ones it was baked with tend to get a bit soggy after they've been sitting for awhile. 

Swedish Meatballs

I would love to tell you that I have this fabulous recipe for meatballs that I love and use all the time.... except I don't. The truth is, I have never in my life made meatballs. Mostly because I don't care for homestyle meatballs, and since that's what most people make, I thought that the only way to get the flavor I liked in a meatball, was to purchase them pre-made at the store. I have since learned otherwise, but have yet to try my hand at making the perfect meatball.
Anyway. So tonight, as usual, I was strapped for time. More than usual, actually, since I worked late, leaving me about 20 minutes to make dinner for my dad before he had to return to work. I decided to make swedish meatballs. They taste good, and I knew we had some meatballs kicking around in the freezer. I also was pretty sure we had everything we might need to make said meatballs, so I headed home to begin.
I started by looking up a recipe for swedish meatballs. Most everywhere reccomended that I make my own meatballs, but I disregarded that part and skipped to the sauce. One particular recipe I found called for a can of Cream of Mushroom Soup, a can of Cream of Chicken Soup, and a can of Evaporated Milk. I knew we had all these things, so I began.

Now began the adventurous part of the meal. After I put the water on to boil for the noodles, and set the meatballs to defrost, I checked the can of Evaporated Milk. I knew it had been in our pantry for awhile, and I wasn't certain as to it's reliability. The "best by" date was stamped on the bottom, and revealed the can to be... 2 years expired. Hmmm. How bad could it really be? It's canned, right? Can't be that bad! Just to be certain, I googled information about evaporated milk gone bad, and found several succesful stories of past due evaporated milk being used, and enjoyed, and no one dying afterward, which is after all the most important part.
So I mixed the soups and the milk, and then added the defrosted meatballs.

I let them simmer for awhile while I cooked the noodles. I picked shell pasta because it was what we had in the pantry. :P

Once the noodles were done, I poured the meatballs and broth over them and served it.

It was very good. :D

Mexican Beef Casserole

The other day, while browsing the grocery store for some good ideas, I came upon a can of Fiesta Nacho Cheese soup. It was with all those cream soups that Campbells makes, and it looked like it had the makings of a good meal in it, so I got it and placed it on the shelf at home, waiting for inspiration to strike. The other night, it did.
I needed something quickly, since I have about a 1 hour window in which to make and serve dinner, so I grabbed a pound of frozen beef from the freezer and browned it.

Once it was done, I added the can of Fiesta Nacho Cheese Soup (With a name that exciting, it had to be good, right?) and mixed it in. Meanwhile, I boiled up some water for noodles.
The beef was looking a bit dry, and a bit blah, so I threw in a can of Cheddar Cheese soup, a can of Tomatoes with Green Chiles, and a handful of chopped chives. Notice the handwritten warnings all over my soup cans. This is because I have brothers who like to steal my cheddar cheese soup for their own evil purposes. >_<

It looked much better, and much more festive after that. By this time, the water was boiling, and I cooked some egg noodles while keeping the meat mixture warm. When the noodles were done, I deliberated over whether I should mix them in, or serve the meat over them, and finally decided to just mix them in. The result appeased my love of all things colorful. :D

Being a mexican meal, I served it with tortilla chips.

It wasn't bad. And this from a girl who can't stand things that are too spicy. And this was spicy. Really spicy. Even my dad said so, and he likes spicy food. I didn't mind too much, though, since I mixed in a ton of sour cream to cut the spice. I love sour cream anyway. :D
I'm not sure I'd make it again, or if I did, I might use different noodles, and perhaps forgo the Fiesta Nacho Cheese as well, just to cut down on the spiciness. I'll have to figure out something else to use that soup in.

Chicken and Cheese Crescents

Before I begin this blog, let me just point out the new stoneware pan I just got. It was in a pile of free stuff on a table at our church. I'm rather excited about it. It has apples. I love appley kitchen stuff. *is ridiculously pleased with new pan*

Anyway.... so the other day I was trying to come up with a quick easy recipe for dinner. We didn't have much in the house, and I didn't have much time. I opened the fridge to see what I could come up with. We had some chicken I had boiled the other day in preparation for.... whenever I might need it. There were also some crescent rolls, ready to be made. I had no idea what I could make with these things, but I went to my favorite recipe site, www.allrecipes.com, and plugged in these two ingredients. The first thing that came up was something called Chicken and Cheese Crescents.

Preheat Oven to 350˚ F

1 (4 pound) whole chicken, cooked and deboned
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup
2 1/2 C. milk
1 C. shredded cheddar cheese
2 cans refrigerated crescent roll dough

It looked good, and easy, so I decided to give it a try. I made it, and promptly realized I had forgotten to take any pictures. No problem. It was a liked recipe, so I just made it again a different time. :D

I started by shredding the cheese, and putting the milk, half the cheese, and the cream soups into a pot on the stove and cooking them until the cheese was melted, and all the ingredients were combined.

Next, I opened up the crescent rolls. Now, the recipe calls for a whole chicken. I had not a whole chicken. Either the first time, or this time. The first time, I had some pre-cooked chicken breasts that I shredded up. This time, I resorted to canned chicken. It was easy, and it tastes fine. I took each crescent roll triangle and piled some chicken and a pinch of the leftover cheese on the wide end and rolling it all up inside. I tend to pile the chicken and cheese rather high.

When I had rolled them all up, I put them in my beautiful new stoneware pan, which I had previously greased. You may notice there are not 16 here, which is the proper count from two cans of crescent rolls. You are correct. The other four had been cooked the evening before to accompany my dinner. ^_^

The next step was to take half of the gravy mixture stuff I had just finished cooking and pour it around the crescent rolls. Not on them, just around them.

Into the oven they go! I baked them for about 15 minutes, then pulled them back out. They're starting to puff up nicely.

The rest of the broth was then poured on top and layered with the any remaining chicken or cheese.

I put them back into the oven. The recipe says to cook them until the cheese is melted and the rolls are brown. However, as you can see here, the rolls were no longer visible, and were not likely to be getting very brown anytime soon. So I guesstimated at 10 minutes. I was wrong. It took closer to 15. I might even recommend 20. The rolls will be a bit soggy, obviously, but they won't  be undercooked.

Looks delicious!

I must say, this is one of my favorite recipes. Relatively quick, fun to make, very easy, and quite good. Throw a salad on the side, as you see here in my serving suggestion, and voila! Dinner. :)

Vegetable Dip

Every Friday night, I go to bible study. We meet in a friends home, and every week someone else takes a turn preparing and bringing snack. This week was my turn, so I decided to put together veggies and dip. Never really feeling like buying a tub of prepared dip with all sorts of delicious chemicals in it, I decided instead to make my own. Of course, Ranch Dip is the undisputed leader in the world of Veggie Dips, so it was to a new recipe app on my phone that I looked. Ya know, there really is an app for everything these days.
I discovered a delicious looking recipe for ranch dip, and set about to put it together.

3/4 C. Sour Cream
1/2 C. Mayonnaise
1/3 C. Fresh Chopped Parsley
1/4 C. Fresh Chopped Chives
1/4 tsp. Minced Garlic
Dash of Salt
Dash of Pepper

I started by preparing the parsley and chives. I discovered that I had no fresh parsley, but I did find some dried parsley in the cabinet, so I decided to use that. I worked out just fine. Then I chopped up the chives. I love chives. In fact, I often will substitute green onions instead of regular onions in some recipes.

Next, I mixed the mayonnaise and sour cream with the greens.

Then I added the garlic, salt and pepper.

I mixed it up and stuck it into the fridge for a bit to let the flavors mix. Also because the parsley needed to soften up.

After it was chilled, I arranged the veggies on the plate and took it to the bible study.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it. I know I did. :)

Blueberry Pi(e)

The other day, it was March 14th. For those of you not considered to be either a geek or a friend of a geek, let me share something with you. March 14th is Pi Day. Why, you may ask? Well, because March is the third month, making it 3/14. Which is Pi. It will be especially exciting on March 14th in 2015. :D
But I digress.
Now, being Pi day, I felt compelled to do something Pi-ish. Taking an important math test for college wasn't enough, so after I returned from school, I set to work in the kitchen. Pizza Pie and Blueberry Pie were both on the menu, but since I've already done a blog on pizza, I will only include here the Blueberry Pie recipe.

I started with a pie crust. I used to have a marvelous pie crust recipe from my grandmother, but I've lost it, and she wouldn't answer her phone, so I couldn't get it again. In the meantime, I pulled out our worn, well loved Better-Homes-and-Gardens cookbook.

2 C. All-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
2/3 C. Shortening
6-7 Tbsp. Cold water

I started by mixing the flour and the salt. Then I cut in the shortening, until it was forming small balls and coming out crumbly. The next step was to add the water. Throw it on top and gently toss with a fork until it's about the right consistency. What is the right consistency? Well, when you think the water is pretty well mixed in, smoosh half of the dough into a ball with your hands and put it onto your floured table or countertop. Roll it out. If it crumbles to smithereens and doesn't roll out well at all, you probably added too much flour. If it sticks all over the rolling pin and you're making an enormous mess, you probably didn't add enough, and need to add a bit more flour. Or you just need to flour the rolling pin better. Or both. :)

Once you've got it all figured out and rolled out, it's time to line your greased pie pan with it.
Then it's time to add the fruit. I was using blueberries, but obviously, this pie crust could be used for just about whatever you please. I'll have to share my Chicken Pot Pie recipe some day. :D
I started with a big bag of frozen blueberries. Fresh blueberries would have been much better, but seeing as it's March, blueberries are out of season, and I'm too poor to splurge on out of season fresh blueberries, I had to make due with frozen.

5 C. Fresh (or frozen! :P) blueberries
1 C. Sugar
1/4 C. All purpose flour
1 tsp. finely grated lemon peel
2 tsp Lemon juice
1 Tbsp Butter

I measured out the blueberries and mixed it with the sugar and flour. I actually ended up cutting the sugar amount down to about 3/4 Cup, and it tasted just fine. You could even cut it down further, if you wanted. The blueberries are pretty sweet on their own. Where it called for grated lemon peel, I just put in a splash of lemon juice. I had no lemon peel handy. I rarely do, and lemon juice has always served me well in this respect.

Then, I poured them into the pie crust and dotted the top with butter. I probably more than doubled the butter, but I like butter. :D
Once the blueberries were in, I rolled out the second crust and put it on top. You could do a lattice top if you wanted, but I had a specific purpose in mind for the slits in the top of this pie.

Yeah, so I'm a geek. :P
I baked the pie at 375˚ for 20 minutes with foil around the crust. Actually, I don't use foil. I use a pie crust shield. I love it. It makes pies so very much easier. My grandmother bought it for me for Christmas a few years ago, and it was a huge joke because, crust shield or not, my grandmother always scorches the edge of her pie crusts. Other than that, though, her pies are the best in the world. :D
Anyway, I baked it for 20 minutes, and then took off the crust shield and baked it for another 20-25 minutes, as per the recipe.
However, it was not done in 25 more minutes. Or 5 minutes after that. Or 5 minutes after that. Or... well.... it ended up taking more than 15 extra minutes for the pie to look done. Even then, I think I could have probably gotten away with 5 minutes more without burns. I'm not sure why it took so long, since I've made pies before and never had this problem, but oh well. It sure looked good!

I put the pie up to cool for a bit while I made dinner, and after dinner we each had a slice with some cream I had whipped up special for the occasion.