blueberry biscuits

 I need to go grocery shopping. I won't give you the whole list of what I need, but I will say I've run out of eggs. 

This makes breakfast difficult. Most of our favorites require at least one egg. 

Thankfully, these blueberry biscuits do not. 

I'll never be a food photographer, will I? 

I guess I depend on berries a lot for breakfast. Strawberry soup. Blueberry pancakes, muffins, biscuits, or scones. Berries of all sorts thrown into smoothies. We like berries. We liked these biscuits too.

The recipe:
2 cups flour (I think I used about 1/2 cup all-purpose, and 1.5 cups white wheat)
2 tsp. baking powder
maybe 1/2 tsp salt (I didn't measure very well)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter 
1 cup milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
3/4 cup frozen blueberries (I may have used slightly more)

Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut butter into the flour using a pastry blender (or two forks. Or a food processor). Once the mixture resembles those course crumbles you need for biscuits, toss in the blueberries and mix in the milk. You want a soft dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl.

If you roll and cut biscuits, do that. Roll out on floured surface to about 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter. I do drop biscuits instead. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

The recipe said the yield was 10 biscuits, but I got 12.

P.S. I started writing this post on Friday. Thankfully, I've been to the grocery store since then. Pickings were getting quite slim.

strawberry soup

Soup for breakfast? Yes, please!

This is ridiculously easy. And pretty. And yummy. If you make it the night before, it can chill in the fridge overnight. I'll confess that I didn't do that. I just made it up in the morning. 

Ingredients:

2.5-3 cups strawberries (I didn't measure. If you're making it the morning of, frozen berries work best.)

2 cups vanilla almond milk (or regular milk)

1 cup strawberry-flavored kefir (or cream)

0.5 cups vanilla-flavored yogurt (or plain yogurt)

If you have an immersion blender, combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and blend. If you don't have a stick blender, you can use a regular blender. You may have to work in batches though. 

Enjoy!  

bacon cheeseburger pasta

I'm not a gourmet chef. I'm a schlep-it-all-in-the-pan and get-the-food-on-the-table sort of cook.

I'm certainly not a food photographer.

And I don't Pinterest.

But I know a lot of people do Pinterest. And I know a recipe needs a picture before it can be pinned.

So...voila! Bacon cheeseburger pasta!

I'd already stowed the leftovers in the fridge before I remembered to take a pic--see slightly "frosty" look the container has?

This is an easy recipe, and everyone ate it (yay!). I saw the original recipe in a magazine years ago, but I've long since lost it. I just recreated it tonight.

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta
1 lb. ground beef
4 slices bacon
1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
8 oz. spaghetti, cooked
1 cup shredded cheddar (or whatever cheese you like) seasonings (more on that in a minute)

Brown ground beef in a skillet. Drain. Cook bacon until crisp, drain off grease, and crumble into beef. Season however you like your hamburgers seasoned. Tonight I used salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, cumin, and a chipotle barbecue spice rub I have. But use what you have and like. Add tomato sauce and spaghetti noodles. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add cheese and allow to melt.

That's it. Pretty simple.

(I would have LOVED to add sauteed mushrooms to this. My family would kill me for that. But if yours won't, give it a whirl--and send me some! I'm sure sauteed onions would be great too--but don't send me that.)

Blueberry biscuit/scone hybrid

I'm not quite sure what to call our breakfast today other than "yummy." It really isn't anything with a proper name.

I started out intending to make biscuits. We have some homemade jam that Baby E's parents gave us. I have a link to Alton Brown's biscuit recipe saved on my iPod so I can get to it easily in the kitchen. I opened it up then stopped to ponder. The site gives other recipes from that episode, and suddenly I remembered he had made scones that show as well. 

Hmm, scones. That had possibilities. 

The recipe called for dried fruit, which I didn't have. But I remembered the blueberry biscuits my dad used to buy when I was a kid, and I did have some frozen blueberries. 

Sarah wanted to help, so I taught her how to cut the butter and coconut oil into the flour. She also helped stir the milk and egg into the flour. 

Most people roll and cut both biscuits and scones. I honestly don't have the counter space for that. So I do drop biscuits. Today it was drop scones, which isn't even a thing. 

The result wasn't very pretty, but it was tasty. 

Terrible picture, I know. It was taken with my iPod. I am no food photographer!

Funny story: Baby E would NOT eat the waffle his parents sent this morning. He totally gobbled up a scone. ;) 

Alton Brown's recipe can be found here. 

Money Saving Mom also has a scone recipe I've been wanting to try. (I might skip the glaze.) Maybe later this week.

Old Mother Hubbard

Actually, the cupboard isn't totally bare, which was a very good thing this week. We'd have been in much worse shape if it had been.

Frugal living bloggers often will write about their "eat from the pantry" challenges. For a specified period of time, one is only allowed to buy fresh produce and possibly dairy. Everything else must come from what you already have. For those with a good stockpile, the challenge is made much easier. They can use up their excess, make room for more stuff, save the money they would have spent grocery shopping for some goal, and so forth. 

I don't have a great stockpile. I'm not particularly good at that whole stockpiling thing anyway, but we had a power outage a couple of weeks ago that took out a good portion of our fridge. Thankfully, the chicken in the freezer came through unscathed. 

Several major bills came due this week. When all was said and done, I had $25 to spend on groceries for the week. 

Yep, eat from the pantry challenge time. 

So what did we eat this week?

1. Lentil and rice tacos 

2. Curry chicken pot pie

3. Macaroni and cheese (from the box--don't judge. Two boxes are under a dollar, and I had a headache that night anyway, so Nelson was cooking.) 

4. Cincinnati chili (to come--part of the $25 went to buying ground beef, a can of tomato sauce, and a can of kidney beans. I have all the other ingredients on hand.) 

Most of these meals yield leftovers for at least one more meal (well, all of them do for us--your mileage may vary). 

Breakfast most mornings has been pancakes--cheap and easy, and I always have flour and baking powder. For lunch, it's been mostly sandwiches or tortilla wraps. The girls like peanut butter, and another part of the $25 went to sandwich meat and cheese. 

I also made two gallons of chicken stock from the chicken bones, and that is now in the freezer. Some of it may be used to make potato soup later--I still have a few potatoes. And my last batch of potato soup never got eaten because of the power outage killing it. :-p 

Not a gourmet menu, but it keeps us all fed and happy. And I was pleasantly surprised that Nelson was able to get everything we absolutely needed for under $24--plus a bag of potato chips for a fun treat. (Yes, we made the "all that and a bag of chips!" joke. Who could resist?)

In order to keep this post from just being me all pleased with myself, I'll share a couple of recipes. Maybe that will help someone else in the future if they hit a tight week (although I know tastes vary widely, so maybe everyone else will hate all of these recipes!).

However, with my picky crew, Cincinnati chili is one of the few dishes that everyone loves and eats without complaint. I got the recipe I used from one of the few cookbooks I actually like called I'll Have What They're Having. It's all about regional cuisine from around the country. It gives stories behind the food as well as a recipe, and it makes for a fabulous, fun read. I've read through it several times, but it falls open to the Cincinnati chili recipe automatically now. ;)

Cincinnati chili
1 large onion, chopped (I can't eat onions and Nelson won't, so I sub onion powder)
1.5 lbs. ground beef
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cumin (I have been known to add a bit more--I love cumin)
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (unfortunately, I have to skip this. I miss it)
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 lb. dried spaghetti

Note: Don't go into it thinking it's going to taste like your normal Southwestern chili. With its spices, it's quite a different flavor. But it's delicious.

Saute onion, garlic, ground beef, and chili powder until meat is no longer pink. Add all other ingredients (except spaghetti), reduce heat to low, and simmer uncovered for 1.5 hours. Remove from heat. Cook spaghetti according to package directions.

Here's where this dish is perfect for my family: it's completely customizable when it comes to serving!

Two-way chili: chili over spaghetti noodles (how Natalie often eats hers)
Three-way chili: chili over spaghetti noodles, topped with shredded cheddar (this is Nelson's)
Four-way chili: chili over noodles, topped with shredded cheese and chopped onions (no one here does this)
Five-way chili: chili, spaghetti, cheese, onions, and kidney beans.

The book says that spaghetti topped with chili, cheese, and kidney beans cannot legitimately be called four-way in Cincinnati itself, but that's how Sarah and I like ours. We're just rebels. Or maybe some Cincinnati natives can tell us that the book is wrong. ;)

Curry chicken pot pie (this recipe started life as an Alton Brown recipe, but I've modified it for my crew)
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
1.5 cups chicken stock (can use packaged broth if you don't have homemade stock)
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups cooked chicken (shredded, chopped, whatever)
3-4 cups mixed vegetables (whatever blend your family likes. The recipe calls for 4 cups, but I just use 3, sometimes 2. Can't get away with too many veggies around here)
1 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
onion and garlic powder to taste (I never measure)
1 batch Alton's biscuit recipe (I use coconut oil instead of shortening)

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Whisk in flour to make a roux. Add milk and stock to pan and let cook a couple of minutes to thicken.

Combine chicken, veggies, and spices in a baking dish (recipe recommends 9 x 13, but I've messed with the recipe enough that I've gotten away with slightly smaller sizes. I have these weird rectangular pans that I'm not really sure what size they are, but they're not quite 9 x 13). Pour sauce evenly over over all. Top with spoonfuls of biscuit dough. Bake at 375 for about 40 minutes.

Obviously, you have to like curry for this recipe to be a hit with your family. For us, it's a different flavor from most things we eat, and it makes a nice change.

Once I accidentally used just turmeric instead of curry. It made the casserole very pretty. :) And we still liked it.

If you would like the original recipe, you can find it here.

Sorry this post is so long!!