"How to Make Buttermilk Biscuits 101 Tutorial"
I am very picky about my biscuits, coming from a long line of excellent biscuit-makes in my family. It is such a delicate operation for me, that I rarely whip them together in front of friends or family. I almost always make them up ahead of time, cook them about 1 minute less, when they have just the very slightest of color on them, then I cool them and freeze for later. They can be reheated to where they taste like they just came out of the oven! Just thaw on the counter, then put in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, just till perfect light golden brown with a tiny bit of “crisp” to the crust.
So here goes with all my tips:
If my kitchen is warm (like in the summer) I often put my cut up butter in the freezer for 10 minutes to make sure it stays very cold. Cold butter is important. Cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients. Sometimes I do this in the food processor, and sometimes by hand. It is crucial to light, delicate biscuits that there are still some pea-size lumps of butter in the flour mixture. I have tinkered with this recipe quite a bit to find the necessary proportions of shortening and butter—and as little of the fats as I can get by with and still make a wonderful tender biscuit. The butter makes the biscuit rich, and the shortening makes it flaky and light.
Here you see I use a pastry cloth and a rolling pin covered with a pastry stocking to keep the dough from sticking, and also it keeps me from using too much flour to roll the biscuits out.
Stir in the buttermilk, and then scrape the dough onto the lightly floured surface. Give it a light pressing with the rolling pin (no hands!), to flatten a bit, and then fold the dough in half. I like to do this to give the biscuits a natural easy splitting line after they are baked.
Now lightly roll the dough to ½ to 5/8-inch thick. With a sharp biscuit cutter, make cuts close together.
You will wind up with a bunch of little scraps. Press these together gently, but do no knead them.
Now cut another biscuit, and then shape, barely pushing any remaining dough into a circular shape.
I like to put a dab of soft butter on the top of the biscuits---because that is what my Granny did with her biscuits! (It does make them brown prettier, too)
If you are baking to freeze, bake less than the recommended time till hardly brown. To serve right away, bake till just light golden. The big no-no is to cook them too long! This will ruin the delicate texture.
Now, serve them with eggs or split ready for jam, or do like my family likes them—serve with sausage gravy and a dot of ketchup! Yummm, so good, just like Granny used to make!
Adam stayed home from work sick today. It was a cozy day to be home since it was so cold outside. I figured a sick person needs some homemade soup for lunch. I just happened to have most of the ingredients on hand...my zucchini was a little too soft, about to go bad in the fridge (don't tell Adam) so it needed to be used today definitely. I didn't have celery, or fresh basil, but it turned out wonderful. We sprinkled the tops with grated Parmesan cheese. I told Adam it was so healthy that he was gonna bounce right back to his cheery self by the afternoon. Unfortunately he is still propped up on the sofa tonight complaining of not feeling good. Maybe I needed a fresher zucchini after all! :) --Carissa
I made these veggies for some friends that were coming over for dinner the other night. It was a very stress free dish since I steamed the green beans and carrots the night before. All I had to do was a quick saute' right before dinner. Just make sure you don't steam the veggies too much. I like to serve this as a main vegetable dish since it gives guests 2 veggie options, in case they don't
Then top with steamed or sauteed spinach, a sprinkle of garlic salt, and shredded Monterey Jack cheese. Bake at 450 degrees until all melted 10-13 minutes. YUM! If you have leftover chicken or mushrooms that would be a great addition. ---Carissa
If my kitchen is warm (like in the summer) I often put my cut up butter in the freezer for 10 minutes to make sure it stays very cold. Cold butter is important. Cut the butter and shortening into the dry ingredients. Sometimes I do this in the food processor, and sometimes by hand. It is crucial to light, delicate biscuits that there are still some pea-size lumps of butter in the flour mixture. I have tinkered with this recipe quite a bit to find the necessary proportions of shortening and butter—and as little of the fats as I can get by with and still make a wonderful tender biscuit. The butter makes the biscuit rich, and the shortening makes it flaky and light. 
Stir in the buttermilk, and then scrape the dough onto the lightly floured surface. Give it a light pressing with the rolling pin (no hands!), to flatten a bit, and then fold the dough in half. I like to do this to give the biscuits a natural easy splitting line after they are baked. 
Now lightly roll the dough to ½ to 5/8-inch thick. With a sharp biscuit cutter, make cuts close together. 
This is such a comfort food! I added diced ham to make it more meaty for Adam. I didn't have alot of time to roast the potatoes, so I cut them in quarters and they turned out just as good, you can see from this 2nd photo. 
I always keep a bag of dry small red beans in my pantry and some sausage in the freezer for those mornings I can't think of anything else to make for dinner. I quick soak mine (I can't plan dinner ahead enough to overnight soak) I bring the beans to a boil for 2 minutes, then turn the burner off and let them sit until after lunch when I turn up the heat and simmer for several hours. It is important to not add salt until the end. For some reason salt hinders the beans from getting soft enough. I posted a picture of the beans on the stove below so you could see the size pot I use and how much it makes. The leftovers are great! My kids gobbled this for days!
I love this whole-grain pancake mix. I find I make pancakes much more often now that I have a healthy mix ready to go. This is so easy to make. You do need a food processor to grind up the oat flakes for the mix, however, I think a blender might do almost as well. Just don't grind to a powder--you want small hunks of oats. I keep my mix in a plastic sealed container in the fridge. It will last almost forever...
All you need to mix up pancakes is 1 cup of your mix, an egg, and 1 cup of buttermilk. I have tried using a buttermilk substitute (milk with lemon juice) but I find it does not work very well in this recipe. You really need the thickness of the buttermilk. (However, if you only use maybe 2/3 cup of the milk/lemon juice mixture, that might keep the batter thick enough...)
These pancakes puff up nicely and taste delicious! Oh, and one more thought...we have found that blueberries are actully better on top pancakes, rather than in them. They just taste fresher that way. 
Here is what is called the "holy trinity," except if you count the garlic, it is not really a trinity... 
Be sure to pat the meat dry before browning it, and don't crowd the meat or it will steam instead of brown. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup oil for browning, but just start with a couple tablespoons and only add more if you need it. Sprinkle on some of the seasonings while the meat is cooking. Remove the pork and brown the sausage. Remove the sausage and brown the trinity, then add the garlic and seasonings. 
Soak the medium or short grain rice while meat is cooking, then drain and discard rice water. Add some of the 6 cups of water from the recipe to the pot to deglaze, then add the rest of the water, bouillon cubes, and the drained rice and greeen onions. Cover and cook as directed.
This is a great dish for large groups, or for lots of leftovers, as was my case tonight. (However, I did half the recipe since I am only cooking for two, but I still have lots of leftovers, which is fine with me!) 
