Savory Biscuits

My husband and I love the breakfast sandwiches at Jack in the Box.  Since we've moved to the east coast and we don't have Jack in the Box; I've been on a mission to find a biscuit that would be enough to fill in for an "at home" breakfast sandwich.  I found a recipe of Paula Deen's biscuits but have adapted it to what I hope will be super tasty for our family!  Click on the link for Paula's recipe. :-)


It makes 12 good sized biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small bits *See hint*
1 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese 
1/3 cup crumbled crispy bacon, cooled
1/4 cup dried onion
1 cup soured milk (I used 2/3 cup sour cream and 1/3 cup milk)

Directions

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F. Grease a baking sheet with butter, oil, or cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. (I used my hands but a pastry cutter would work or even 2 knives) Add 1 cup of the Cheddar, dried onion, bacon to the flour mixture and toss to combine. Gently add the milk mixture into the flour mixture until all of the flour is moistened. *Do Not OverMix!*

Form into biscuit shape..handling them as little as you can. Bake until light golden brown and firm to the touch, 13 to 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

*HINT* You can also cut the stick of butter to 6 tablespoons (a stick is 8 Tablespoons)  freeze the butter and then grate into the mixture.  I keep a couple sticks of butter in the freezer to have on hand.

Taste Test: I think they taste AWESOME! buttery and fluffy. My husband didn't like the bacon in the biscuit and said if I had left those out...would be even better than JIB.

Baked Fried Chicken

You'll dip them in a creamy sauce and then cover with crust.  Trust me DELICIOUS!

You'll need 1 pound chicken tenders, washed and patted dry.

1st dip

In a medium bowl whisk together

1/2 cup sour cream

3 tablespoons mustard

1 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional)

1 tsp curry powder

1 tsp seasoning salt

1 tablespoon honey or sugar

You may need to add a little bit of water to thin a little...not too much you want it to stick to the chicken

You can add or subtract seasoning to make it what your family will like! 

2nd dip

In a ziploc, add potato flakes, dried onion, and crushed potato chips and 1/4 cup parmesan.

I used some Snikiddy baked cheese fries that we got at Costco.

I used a spoon to scoop out the sour cream mixture and coated it all over the chicken tenders; that way the raw chicken didn't get mixed with the sour cream mixture.

Then I put them in the ziploc bag, shook them until coated and put on a pan with raised edges.

Once they are all prepared...drizzled a little bit of olive oil over each one. Just a little bit so they don't get soggy.  I cooked them for 30 minutes at 400.  Use a meat thermometer to make sure they are done...which is 165 internal temp.  They were crispy but not as crispy as deep fried but WAY healthier!

Breakfast bumpy cake!!

You can find the original recipe at Pennies on a Platter.  It is really really yummy. I was the only one in the family that liked it so I'll be having it for lunch....and dinner :-)

If I make it again, I will try adding a 1/2 cup corn meal to it to give a little crunch and a teaspoon of vanilla. Or I might even add some cheese and bacon. But honestly, it is really delicious the way it is!!

Homemade Ho-Hos!

I was watching Food Network tonight.  It was Cupcake Wars.  I *LOVE* cupcakes.  Little bites of lushness!!  Before kids...I made everything from scratch...now I am a more semi-homemade kind of cook.

So I took a dark chocolate cake mix and made it according to directions with one little tweak. I added about a 1/4 cup instant coffee to the water, and used melted butter instead of oil. I know quite the rebel!

Since I have 2 little boys...I made 24 cake bites for them to have and the remaining cake batter I was able to make 12 cupcakes.  Tomorrow I am going to metamorphosis plain chocolate cupcakes into a yummy favorite of mine..Ho-Hos! I will post pictures after I finish them tomorrow.

I used 1/2 jar of marshmallow fluff and add softened cream cheese until it was the consistency I wanted.

I have an injector that I'm not sure where I got it from...I think the dollar store...but it worked perfectly

You can buy them at Amazon at this link cupcake filling injector

Easy Beer Bread

I was trying to figure out a quick bread to make to go with dinner.  I found a great beer bread recipe. So here it goes!

Preheat oven to 350...add small oven safe cup with water

Combine in large bowl
3 cups flour (I used a combo of 2 cups bread flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons sugar
stir in
1 cup shredded sharp cheese (you could also add onion, garlic, or other veggie if you want)
slowly add
1 12 oz bottle of beer  (I used Samuel Adams Blackberry beer)

Pour into greased loaf pan.
Let stand for 15-30 minutes before baking

Bake at 350 for 1 hour

After 30 minutes I melted butter with a little bit of chopped garlic...and poured over the top of the loaf.  DELICIOUS!

Dreamy Creamy Stuffin' Chicken! (crockpot)

It's a rainy day here in VA. The hubby is in DC working for the day.  It's a great day for a Slow Cooker meal.  It's a modified recipe...sooooooo there will be a grande finale follow up later!

Dreamy Creamy Stuffin' Chicken.

Grease the crock pot and put in 4  boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

In a medium bowl, mix 

1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1 small diced onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
and pour over chicken breasts.
(I sprinkled parmesan cheese over the top of it as well)


Once the bowl is empty, in the same bowl put in 1 package stuffing mix (I am using StoveTop's chicken stuffing) 
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
Mix together and put over chicken and cream mixture.





Add another 1/4 cup water over mixture.


Bake for about 4 hours on low.