Angel Biscuits

These are an old time family recipe. I can remember watching my great-grandmother in Northern Louisiana making these, and she would tell me how to do them. She lived until she was 101 (passed away in 2000) and always had "little ditties" for us when we would come visit. She had 39 great-grandchildren. I wonder if she ever showed them how to make Angel Biscuits? Anyway, my mother-in-law makes these, too. I have never made them that people did not rave over them. They are pretty easy and ALWAYS a hit! You just have to allow some extra time. You can make the dough a day ahead and store in the refridgerator then roll them out and bake them the next day which saves time.

Ingredients

5 cups of flour

1/2 cup of sugar

1 tsp. of baking powder

1 tsp. of baking soda

1 tsp. of salt

3/4 cups of shortening (tip: buy the sticks of shortening ... they are pre-measured and much neater and faster to work with)

2 cups of buttermilk

1 and 1/3 Tbsp of yeast

1/2 cup of warm water

pinch of sugar

Combine the yeast, warm water and a dash of sugar in a glass bowl. The sugar will proof the yeast and make sure it is still good. If the yeast mixture starts expanding then it is good ... the yeast is eating the sugar and is still alive. Set this aside.

In a large bowl, add the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening to the dryin ingredients until the shorting is blended in. Use a pastry cutter/blender to do this or you can use two knives to cut it in ... but the paster cutter is well worth the small amount of money they cost. Wal-mart or Target will have them.

In a large bowl (or I use a very tall glass) add the two cups of buttermilk. To the buttermilk, add the yeast.

Make a well in the bottom of the dry ingredients (just move the flour mixture to the edge of the bowl until you can see the bottom of the bowl in the middle). Add a little bit of the buttermilk/yeast mixture to the well in the flour mixture. Stir with a fork until well blended. Then add a little more buttermilk/yeast and blend that with the fork. Keep doing that until all of the buttermilk/yeast mixture is mixed in with the flour mixutre. The dough will be sticky.

You can now put plastic over the bowl with the dough and store it in the refridgerator over night. The dough is usually easier to work with if it has been refrigerated for and hour or so ... but you don't HAVE to do the refrigeration step.

When you are ready to roll out your biscuits (which are really more like bread than biscuits), heat the oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of flour on a CLEAN kitchen counter (one that has been santized and then cleaned with clear water and dried). Turn the dough out onto the floured counter. Sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough that is on the floured counter and knead the dough a little. Take a floured rolling pin and roll out the dough to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Use a floured glass or a biscuit cutter to cut out your biscuits. Remove those cut out biscuits and put them on a cookie sheet that has a layer of parchment paper on it. Then knead the remainder of the dough ... adding flour if it starts sticking to things but try not to add too much flour or they will be tough.

Once you get all of the biscuits cut out and put on the cookie sheet, I sometimes melt some butter and brush over the top of the biscuits and let the biscuits rise a little ... maybe 20 or 30 minutes (but you don't have to do either of those steps).

Put them in the oven for about 15 minutes until they are golden brown on top. Serve warm with butter, honey and/or jelly. DELICIOUS!

Dorothy's Chocolate Meringue Pie

Over Easter, I was on a baking roll! (pardon the pun.) I got this recipe from a dear friend of my in-laws'. She is known far and wide as a pie maker. Everytime she comes to see my boys, she brings a homemade banana meringue pie because that is my boys' favorite. Dorothy grew up in a very large family, and her job was to make the pies for the family as a young girl. I sat and picked her brain before Easter, and this is the recipe she gave me. I made it and it turned out WONDERFULLY! Not quite at pretty as hers, but just as tasty. I need to practice on the pretty part. This recipe makes 1 pie.

Crust:

1/2 stick of crisco

1 cup of flour

Dash of salt

2 Tbsp of sugar

3 to 5 Tbsp of ice water

Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a small bowl. Cut in the crisco and add the ice water. Roll out crust and put it in your pie plate. Poke holes in the bottom of the crust to keep it from bubbling up. Bake at 350 degrees for abotu 20 minutes until lightly brown.

Pie Filling:

3 Tbsp. of cocoa

Dash of salt
1 C. of sugar

1/4 C. of flour

2 C. of milk

3 egg yolks, beaten (save the whites for the meringue ... leave at room temperature)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 stick of butter, cut up

Mix all of the ingredients in a pan (if you have a double boiler, you can use this, but I just used my hard anodized pot) adding the butter last. Continually stir it until it comes to a boil and bubbles. Turn the heat down, continually stirring it, until the mixture thickens up like pudding. If you are using an electric cooktop, you may want to remove the pan from the burner while you stir the mixture and it thickens ... I'm used to cooking on gas which I like much better, but for the time being, we are in a house with electric burners and it is taking some getting used to.

Pour the hot mixture in the baked pie shell.

Meringue:

With your mixer (stand mixers are best for this), beat three egg whites, 2/3 cups of sugar, 1 tsp. of vanilla, and 2 tsp. of cream of tartar. Beat it until it forms stiff peaks. Smooth the meringue on top of the warm pie filling, smoothing it all the way to the edge of the crust to prevent shrinking. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 8 to 12 minutes ... watching to make sure you don't burn it but that the peaks are delicate brown.

A BIG thank you to the anonymous poster who asked how much sugar was needed in the filling!!! I forgot to put that ... I surely hope no one tried to make this without the sugar. I would feel TERRIBLE! My sweet mother-in-law made a pumpkin pie one year and forgot the sugar ... not so good ... actually pretty AWFUL. Anyway, a big thanks to the commenter who noticed!

Tossed Spinach Salad

This is a wonderful recipe I got from my mother-in-law. It is one of our family's favorite salads, it is easy to make and always a crowd pleaser.

Salad Ingredients

1 package of baby spinach (10 oz.), torn

1 pound of mushrooms, sliced (I bought mushrooms already sliced ... I don't like them, but the slices were big enough that I could pick them out)

1/2 pound of sliced bacon, cooked & crumbled (I used about 1/2 cup of Hormel Real Crumbled Bacon ... I got a big bag of this at Sam's and love it! So easy to use!)

3 ribs of celery sliced (I "stripped" my celery before I sliced it ... I took a veggie peeler and peeled all the strings off of it and get it down to the tender white part ... it is much tastier and easier to slice this way)

1 c. of shredded cheddar (I used about a cup and 1/2 of Kraft Sharp Cheddar Crumbles)

3 hard boiled eggs, chopped (I love egg in my salad)

3 to 4 green onions, chopped


Dressing Ingredients

1 Cup of Ketchup

3/4 c. of white vinegar

3/4 c. of vegetable oil

1/2 c. of sugar

1 tsp. of salt

1 tsp. of Worcestershire Sauce

In a LARGE salad bowl, combine the salad ingredients and toss. You'll need a large bowl to start out, but once you add the dressing you could transfer it to a smaller bowl.

Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together or put them in a jar with a tight lid and shake. Wait to toss the salad with the dressing on until you are ready to serve the salad. And, when you do, only put about 1 and 1/2 cups to 2 cups of dressing on it at the MOST. The recipe makes about three cups, but that is WAY too much dressing!

Creamy Italian Noodles

I get in a side dish rut. My "go to" is always instant brown rice cooked in chicken broth. It is good, but it gets boring after a while. So, I found this recipe and adapted it a little bit. All three of my little boys LOVED it and asked for seconds. You could add cooked chicken to it and make it a main dish.

Ingredients

1 (8 oz.) package of whole wheat pasta (the original recipe called for wide egg noodles, but I used whole wheat penne pasta)

1 package of dry Italian salad dressing mix

1/2 cup of milk (I used whole milk but you could use whipping cream or fat free milk)

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

1. Cook noodles according to package direction and drain. I didn't rinse mine ... just drained it.

2. Cut the butter into chunks so it melts easier. Stir that up in the hot noodles. Add the remaining ingredients and stir.

3. Serve hot.

Best Light Salad Dressings

I cannot tell you how many light and fat free salad dressings I have bought only to end up throwing them away because they tasted SO bad. I know one good tip is to water down your favorite dressings ... that at least cuts the calories down a little and you get the taste.

Anyway, I thought I would share five of my favorite light dressings, and therefore I think the best. I have not found a good light ranch dressing, yet. I don't like the bottled full fat ranch dressings, though ... so that may not be possible. The ranch dressing you make from the package of dry mix is my favorite.

My favorite light salad dressings in no particular order:

1. Wishbone Balsamic Breeze Spritzer ( I have not tried the others, but this dressing is fabulous ... even my husband who will eat NOTHING low fat - he's skinny and hates low fat stuff ... go figure - likes this dressing.)

2. Newman's Own Light Honey Mustard (I just found out they even have recipes at this site using this dressing ... I'll have to give those a try)

3. Ken's Steak House Lite Ceasar

4. Ken's Steak House Lite Honey Mustard

5. Ken's Steak House Fat Free Raspberry Pecan

Crockpot Thai Chicken

Here is a new recipe I tried today, and my family loved it. It was easy and different than the usual, and I was getting stuck in a rut!

Ingredients

6 chicken breast halves
1/4 C. of smooth peanut butter
1 C. of hot salsa (I used 3/4 of mild picante sauce and 1/4 cup of Thai Garlic Pepper Sauce)
2 T. of lime juice (I had lemon juice, so that is what I used)
3 T. of lite soy sauce (it called for one, but it needed more)
1/4 c. of lite corn syrup
2 T. of chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)

1. Put chicken in a cooking sprayed crockpot. I put mine in frozen.

2. Mix together salsa, peanut butter, lime or lemon juice, soy sauce and corn syrup. (Note: if you are using just plain salsa you may add a little extra garlic ... I got that taste in the Garlic Pepper sauce)

3. Pour the sauce over the chicken.

4. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 3 to 4 hours.

5. Serve over rice. Sprinkle with fresh cilantro if you would like. My kids don't like cilantro, so I left it off of theirs but added it to mine and my husband's.

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

Quiltermama, this recipe is for you. You requested some veggie side dishes for a Christmas dinner ... I have several good ones already listed here (check the labels to the left). But, here's another one that is very impressive when served but very easy! You will probably want to double this recipe. As listed below, it serves 4 to 5 people.

Ingredients

1 can (15 oz) of WHOLE green beans (make sure you get the whole green beans, the long ones ... not the cut or French cut)
4 to 5 slices of breakfast bacon
2 tablespoons of cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
Course ground black pepper to taste

Drain beans. Arrange beans into 4 to 5 bundles and place each bundle on a slice of bacon. Wrap bacon diagonally around beans and tuck ends under or secure with toothpicks (remember to remove the toothpicks before you serve them). Put the bundles in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle vinegar over bacon and grind course ground pepper over the bacon. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes until bacon is brown.