Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Biscuit follow up


The left over biscuits went fast as the next day we made these beauties for lunch.
They were absolutely to die for with turkey, fresh romaine, and organic tomatoes from a local farm. All with a spread of brie cheese !
Bon Appettite!

Happy Birthday to me! ....um belated lol

As you can see I've had many posts saved up over the summer and never got the time to post them. Now that Autumn is on its way things have slowed down a bit and I can catch up.

So my birthday was actually August 30th. For my birthday my awesome sister got me this Gothic birthday cake. Both me and my husband love Gothic things that are reminiscent of Victorian or "Interview with the Vampire"
So it was hilarious and gorgeous to see this come out of the box.



Done in a wonderful whipped frosting since I tend to find butter cream a little to thick and heavy for my taste.


One last lovely picture of the beauty. I loved the art on it so much I almost wanted to cringe cutting into it. Glad we did though cause the cake was delicious!



Learning to make Biscuits

So during this summers fun me and my cousin bubbles decided to surprise my husband with a home made squash soup and biscuits. If you noticed a recurring theme on this blog it's squash. My husband absolutely adores squash and pumpkins in just about any form of food.



When I was a child I loved cooking and baking with my mother and also my grandmothers. It is what sowed the seeds of my love of being in the kitchen.
It was so cool to instead of be standing beside my mother learning from her to find myself teaching my sister and cousin this summer. In some ways surreal to see myself saying or doing the same things that were said to me when I was little.

It really was enjoyable. I highly suggest if you've been nervous about teaching baking or cooking to your children to try it. To see the joy they have at seeing what they can make with their own hands and the joy of seeing others enjoying the treats they made is priceless!

Plus doesn't she look just darling wearing my Apron!!!

The funnest part for her was getting to handle the dough and roll it out. We used just a basic biscuit recipe that is in my great grandmother's recipe book.

Tenn. Home Biscuits Recipe
by, Deborah Lund

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. baking powder
4 tbsp. butter or margarine or oil or shortening (lol basically whatever you have on hand. we used oil)
2/3 cups of milk or water (we used milk)

Mix dry ingredients first. Then add butter or which one you use, and use a fork to mash it and mix it in. Then add milk or water all at once and stir quickly by hand. Form into ball and knead only a couple of times. Then form into biscuits. Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes.

It's a pretty simple recipe and yet dipped in the soup, or covered with honey butter or my personal favorite Nutella they are phenomenal.

Bubbles loved needing the dough and cut out all the biscuits herself.
Which turned out to be a good thing because hers turned out the perfect shape and size and mine always turn out lopsided.

See how nice and even hers looked.
While the biscuits were baking we worked on the soup.


Cream of Chicken and Squash Soup
by Angel Reid aka me

1/2 chicken or whatever meat you have on hand
1 squash (we used a butternut squash that was from an elderly gentleman's home garden)
2 potatoes
cornstarch or flour for thickening if you want i t
rosemary, parsley, and Bay leaves
1 cup of milk or cream
chicken or meat broth
half stick of butter


The day before on low I cooked the chicken in some water to make home made chicken stock. You could do this easily in a crock pot. Every so often I'd check to see how far down it boiled and add a little more water to it. After the chicken is well cooked i took it out and put it in the fridge to cool and use the next day.

The next day I halved the squash and scooped out the guts and seeds. Place it in a pan with a little water in the bottom and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees.

For the potatoes i just cooked them in the microwave for 4 or 5 minutes until soft because i was to lazy to bake or boil them.

When the squash is done you scoop the soft parts out of the rind, and put in the pot of stock, add the milk butter herbs, potatoes, and mash with a potato masher.

While that is simmering on medium on the stove, shred up the chicken you boiled earlier and chuck into the soup. I love how boiled chicken practically falls apart it shreds so easily. I also used fresh rosemary from a plant we have in our back yard. Let it simmer till everything is nice and hot stirring occasionally. If you like your soup thicker just add some cornstarch once its hot or flour to thicken it.


Oh look and the biscuits are done just as you finish with the soup! I love when things work out so perfectly! Don't they look delicious. We sprayed the tops with a little spray butter to get them nice and soft.

Tada shredded chicken squash soup with amazing biscuits.
Bubbles really did a fantastic job, and husband was super happy and surprised to come home to this hot and cozy meal.