Easy Buttermilk Biscuits... from Scratch!

Biscuits are not unfamiliar at our home. They are one of Matt’s favorite breakfast dishes, especially when paired with sausage. I love biscuits with melted butter and raspberry jam, and can eat them by the plateful.

It’s hard to find a flaky, flavorful recipe for buttermilk biscuits that doesn’t involve a pre-made mix, or that doesn’t feel painfully excruciating and complicated. That’s why I love the recipe found in Mac and Cheese Cookbook by Allison Arevalo and Erin Wade.

These lovely cooks suggest not over-mixing your dough, which allows for a fluffier, lighter biscuit. I was skeptical at first, but after eating these beauties, I have a hard time believing I’ll try anything else. As a bonus, this biscuit recipe is deceptively simple, making them a perfect choice for brunch, breakfast and snack time.  Enjoy!

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits 

Ingredients: 

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, plus melted butter for topping your biscuits

1 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

•  Preheat your oven to 450°F. Grab a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. 

• Mix your flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. 

• Cut your butter into small chunks or pats, and slowly incorporate the cold butter into your flour. Use your pastry cutter to blend (if you’ve got a mixer, use your paddle attachment on a low speed). Your batter will be coarse. 

• Add your buttermilk and mix your batter until the ingredients are barely mixed together.

• Turn your dough out onto a floured surface, and pat it into a thick round, about an inch thick.

• Take a cookie cutter and cut rounds of dough (about 2-inches in diameter). Place them onto your lined baking sheet, and brush them with melted butter. 

• Bake for about 10 minutes, or until your tops are a nice, golden brown. Allow them to cool, and then enjoy them by the bunches.

Chorizo Potatoes (Chorizo con Papas): An Easy Alternative to Everyday Potatoes

Is there anything better than potatoes? These lovely, starchy vegetables are great for every meal, and I intend to eat them with every meal (Much to my mother’s chagrin. I do what I want, MOM.).  

This morning, Matt was hungry for sausage and toast, and I had already started to make pancakes. We only had enough sausage for 1 person, and since I was already going to make potatoes, I decided to go with a more Mexican route, inspired by this recipe.

Chorizo potatoes aren’t just for breakfast. They can be eaten with refried beans, cheddar, and sour cream and be wolfed down for lunch. They can be served with carne asada and nopales. They can be eaten late at night when no one is looking. Regardless to when the urge hits, you can eat this spicy, savory and simply delicious meal at any time, knowing that it’s not particularly expensive or difficult to make. Enjoy!

Chorizo Potatoes

  Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
10 ounces Mexican pork chorizo (This is soft sausage, and will goop out of its casing)
1/4 small onion, diced
1 pound potatoes of your preference, cut into small (1/4-inch) dice, and boiled
Salt

Black pepper

Cajun seasoning

Directions

• Put your diced potatoes into a pot with enough water to cover them, and boil for about 6-8 minutes. You want the potatoes to almost be barely cooked, and still have a bite. This will keep them from dissolving when you’re cooking them with the chorizo. Drain, then set aside.

• Heat the oil in a heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, breaking up the clumps, until almost dry and crisp, about 10 minutes. Chorizo is oily, so don’t be surprised if you have pockets of oil in the corners. That’s ok. It’ll keep the potatoes from sticking.

• In the pan you cooked your chorizo, add the onions and boiled potatoes. Stir occasionally, and allow them to brown, which will take about 12 minutes.

• Stir in the cooked chorizo onto the mixture, blending well and covering all of the potatoes evenly. Season with the salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning to taste.

•  Enjoy with your favorite meal, like I did here with a fried egg, cheddar and pancakes. MM.

Salad Season: Effortless Orzo salad

Happy Easter, everyone! 

I hope you all had a lovely time with your families. I know my husband and I have been through a whirlwind of activities this spring break, with trips to Mexico, Santa Monica, and even the beach. Finally, today was the culmination of everything: our family Easter gathering. 

It's a tradition: all of the women in my family make ridiculously delicious foods, and everyone binges for hours. This year, as a newly married woman, I was finally included on the cooking crew. I was excited to finally get to show off my kitchen prowess...

and I was asked to bring a salad. *sigh*

Not to be deterred, I was determined to wow with my side dish. I was going to make the best darn salad my family had found. There wasn't going to be any croutons in my greens! 

I went online for fresh, new salads, and found this great orzo salad recipe.  I tweaked it to my family's preferences, doubled it in size to feed the entire crew, and went to work. 

It was a hit. I got compliments (even when I wasn't begging for them). I figured, why not share this one with the world? There's a chance others will be like me, and yearn to be upgraded to hot dishes for their next family gathering. Who knows; maybe this dish will get me up to the big leagues. 

Effortless Orzo Salad

Ingredients

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 pound orzo

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, or to taste

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, finely minced

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 to 3 red or yellow bell peppers

½ pound fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

4 cups chopped baby arugula leaves

2 cups chopped radicchio 

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. 

• Place your pine nuts in a rimmed sheet and roast them in the oven. Place them on the middle rack for approximately 8 minutes. 

• As your oven heats, cook your orzo in salted water until it's tender. Do not overcook; it's important for the grain to be al dente. Drain, and set aside.

• Dice your garlic finely.

• In a large bowl, combine the garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and oil. Whisk them together. 

• Add the hot orzo to your dressing and toss the grain. Do not add any of the other ingredients together until the orzo has cooled completely. As the grain comes to room temperature, make sure to toss occasionally.

• As your orzo cools, cut your radicchio into thirds, then cut each fourth into bite sized slivers. Separate with your hands. 

•  Slice your bell peppers, and place the slivers into a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil.

• Once your peppers start to blacken and soften, pull them from the heat and dice them into bite sized pieces.

• Finally, add your pine nuts, peppers, mozzarella, arugula and radicchio to your orzo. Toss well. 

• Season salad with salt, pepper, and additional lemon juice, if desired. Enjoy!

Really Good (and Real) Spanish Rice

Is there anyone who doesn't love side dishes? Sometimes I wonder why people don't immediately serve huge portions of sides. I firmly believe that a good side could easily be made into a main dish. 

That's how I feel about my Spanish rice. It's got a lot of flavor packed into a small grain. 

Doesn't this enchilada plate look so much better with rice?

That said, it's also pretty easy to make. If you end up with leftovers, do what I do: put some cheddar on the rice, add sour cream, salsa and go to town.

Really Good (and real) Spanish Rice

1 cup long grain rice

1/8 cup chopped white onion

1 roma tomato, diced

2 1/4 cup water **chicken stock may be substituted for up to 1 1/2 cups of water 

3-4 tablespoons chicken bouillon, to taste

2 tablespoons cooking oil

• In a pot, begin browning your onion and your oil to cook on medium high heat. 

• Once your onion becomes aromatic (approximately 4-5 minutes), mix in the rice. Stir your rice every 3-4 minutes, allowing your rice to be coated in oil. Your rice should become toasted and begin browning.

Your rice should be a beautiful color, and  your kitchen will smell like heaven.

• Once your rice has reached a light brown color, carefully pour in water or stock. **Be careful not to burn yourself with the steam that comes up the moment the water makes contact with the pot.
• Stir in the tomato, and add chicken bouillon a tablespoon at a time, stirring with each addition. Once the broth has reached the right level of flavor, cover the mixture.

• Once the water comes to a boil, lower the heat to the lowest setting. Allow the rice to continue cooking for approximately 12-15 minutes. The rice should be soft, with no water left in the pot.

Do not lower  your heat until the rice bubbles, like so.

• Immediately remove from heat and serve.  Enjoy!

Don't you just want to grab a spoon and go to town?

Quick Zucchini and Corn Succotash

I tend to compulsively buy vegetables without a plan for them. I figure, at some point I’ll eat them, since we’re all eating vegetables every day, right?

Well, what ends up happening is that most of my favorite veggies get consumed immediately, with only a few stragglers left behind because they were bought in bulk. I had some extra zucchini that was going to go bad if I didn’t do something with it immediately, so I scrambled to find something yummy and filling. I found this recipe on Stamps Postings, and gave it a try.

Veggies. So much better than pizza.

I love succotash, and felt that pairing up my zucchini with something spicy and sweet would be the best way to make it disappear. I was right. This makes a great side to chicken, or even a snack. Have fun with it!