Puddle of Butter Biscuits

I know these aren't traditional Southern biscuits but they are equally yummy in their own way.  I happened upon this recipe on a blog I read sometimes called The Big Red Kitchen.  She calls hers 'Pool of Butter Biscuits' but when asked the name the first time I made these, Puddle replace Pool and it stuck.  My Dad requests these every time he gets a chance and there's usually a battle for the last crusty corner piece.  They are amazing with Heather's homemade strawberry jam.

I doubled the original recipe and tweaked it a bit to make it work for me.  This recipe makes a lot of biscuits so share with a crowd or be prepared for leftovers... not necessarily a bad thing!!  I haven't had any success halving the recipe or using her original one without doubling it so if you try it and it works out, let me know!

Puddle of Butter Biscuits
Adapted from Big Red Kitchen's 'Pool of Butter Biscuits'


1 stick butter
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. table salt OR 2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/3 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk

*Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients.

When your oven is preheated, cut the stick of butter into pats and melt them in a 13x9 pan by putting them in the oven for a minute or two.  Keep watch!  Butter will burn and it's not pretty.

Then mix your buttermilk or sour milk into the dry ingredients adding the regular milk if the dough seems too dry.*  Plop dough on top of the melted butter.  It really is a 'plop' not a 'pour'.  Your dough should be dough, not batter.

Spread the dough to the edges of the pan.  It's okay if some of the butter seeps onto the top of the dough.  Then use a spatula that you've dipped in the melted butter to cut the biscuits into squares.  

Bake for approximately 15 minutes and ENJOY!

*A really long note about milk:  In the ingredients list, I say you'll need 1 1/3 cups buttermilk or sour milk and 1/4 - 1/2 cup regular milk.  Let me explain.  I noticed when I made these with buttermilk that the dough wasn't thin enough to spread properly if I only used 1 1/3 cups; however, if I added more buttermilk, the biscuits tasted a little sour.  So, if you get to this point and experience the same thing, thin out your dough with a little regular milk, just until you think it will spread well.  I did not have the same problem when I used sour milk so you should only need 1 1/3 cup of sour milk if you're using it in place of the buttermilk.  What's sour milk, you ask?  Well, since this really long note about milk isn't quite long enough, I will tell you how to make sour milk.  Pull out your measuring cup.  Put a Tablespoon of lemon juice for every cup of sour milk you need in the measuring cup and fill to the desired amount with milk.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes on the counter.  Presto!  Sour milk.  So, for this recipe you would put 1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice in your measuring cup and then fill with milk to the 1 1/3 cup line.  I've heard that this can also be done with white vinegar but I have never tried it. End really long note about milk.  Phew!

**04/15/12 - I tried to make these this morning from this recipe and notice a few things were missing.... like baking powder and a cup of the flour.  I've edited the recipe.  It's correct now.  Oops.  Luckily (?) it seems that no one is trying my recipes since I didn't hear about any flat, runny biscuits.  lol.

Lucy and Biel

"What do you mean by this word 'bath'?"

I kind of felt bad about posting Mao and not paying equal homage to our other pets.  Lucy is my dog and Biel is Heather's other cat.  I don't have very many pictures of them together.  The ones I do have aren't very good.  Here's the best of what I've got of both of them... separately.  Just they way they like it.

This is how Biel lets us know she wants inside.

 One of Biel's favorite perches.

 Biel on the hunt!

 "I can see you.  How do I get in from here?"

 Lucy in flowers.

 Lucy in grass.

 Lucy being cute.

Lucy "helping" me read.

Our Newest Addition: Mao

This is Mao.  He's the newest addition to our home.  I'm not a cat person myself.  I prefer to love cats that live with someone else but Heather has a soft spot for kittens.  And I have a soft spot for pets that need good homes.  Isn't he cute?  Cats are really cute when they're this tiny, right?

Cuteness alert... I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves...

Spaghetti!

I love spaghetti.  It used to be my very favorite meal.  I was even known by close relatives as 'The Pasta Queen.'  Yep.  That's right.  Pasta.  Queen.  It's still on the short list of my faves.  This recipe is something that has evolved over the years.  I started out just eating spaghetti sauce out of the jar.  Then I got into "doctoring it up" and the rest is history.

Amy's Weeknight Spaghetti Sauce


1 lb. ground turkey or beef
1 large can traditional tomato sauce (I use Hunt's)
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp. dried parsley
2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried oregano
salt, pepper, and Tony's to taste
1 tbsp. butter

*Brown the ground meat in a frying pan large enough to hold all of the sauce.  Drain off fat.  Pour can of tomato sauce over the meat.  Add parsley, basil, and oregano.  The measurements I've listed for these are approximate.  I don't really measure them.  I sort of think of it like this:  if you were dating these herbs, at the end of the date you'd politely say thanks for the date to the oregano, quickly running inside;  kiss the basil, giddily dreaming about him for days; and have breakfast with the parsley.  (Side note: I said that to my intern the other day when telling her how to make my chicken soup and she didn't laugh.  She didn't even crack a smile...until I told her it was supposed to be a joke...sometimes I wonder about my sense of humor.)  Stir in some salt, pepper, and Tony's.  Wait.  You don't know what Tony's is?  Hold the phone.  Tony Chachere's is a creole seasoning mix.  If you don't have any, *go get it*.  It's great on everything.  *Everything.*  Let the sauce bubble away for a minute or two.  Taste.  If it's too acidic, add the pat of butter.  That'll mellow it out.  Serve over spaghetti noodles.  Add some parmesan, if you'd like.  Enjoy!

Bruschetta

We were meant to make this awesome bruschetta.  Last week we arrived at the Farmer's Market early enough to get a ginormous bunch of fresh sweet basil (for $2!) and some nice-looking heirloom tomatoes.  Then we found fresh mozzarella on manager's special and a take-and-bake multi-grain baguette on the over-bake shelf at our local Kroger.  It was like the food gods were shining on us from above.

This meal came together so simply and quickly that we were eating it less than a half hour after we got started.  We decided to make fresh pesto with the basil.  Heather is the resident pesto-maker in the house but I got her to tell me how she made it.  She also took some of the pictures below.

Heather's Fresh Basil Pesto


1 cup fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup of walnut pieces
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp minced garlic
olive oil

* Combine all ingredients in blender except oil.  Start blender and pour in oil through top.  Stop pouring oil when the ingredients start to look like pesto instead of like ingredients.  They'll sort of let go of the side of the blender.  You'll use about 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil.

While Heather was making pesto, I was chopping these beautiful heirloom tomatoes that I bought from a nice lady at the Farmer's Market - The High Heeled Hippie...

...cutting and toasting the baguette (5 minutes under the broiler)....

... and slicing the mozzarella.

Then it was time for assembly.  Pesto on the bottom...

...then heirloom tomatoes and mozzarella on top.

A quick 5 minutes under the broiler and supper was ready.

We ate all of them.  So delicious!!

There's just something about fresh flowers in the house...

We went to the Farmer's Market in downtown Jackson today with the intention of coming home with a large haul of local produce.  I wanted to get a moon and stars watermelon and some heirloom tomatoes.  Heather wanted to get some eggplants and a few heat resistant tomato plants.  We both wanted some ground cherries.    We came home with all those things but we also came home with these gorgeous flowers!  I bought a bunch of sunflowers and Heather got the colorful ones of which we don't know the name.  They have really brightened the whole house.

 My collection of blue glass bottles and vases are getting some good use.  Some of the blooms from the colorful bunch had broken stems so they ended up in small bottles around the house.  One on Heather's night stand (left) and another atop the entertainment center (right).  There's also one in the bathroom (not pictured) and another one on one of the shelves of the entertainment center (below).

 Then there's my personal favorite.  The one that ended up on my night stand (below).

LOVE!!

Anniversary Carrot Cake

My Aunt Linda called me awhile ago and asked me if I knew how to make a carrot cake.  I told her that I had never made one but I'd be happy to try.  Carrot cake is my Uncle David's favorite kind of cake so Aunt Linda wanted to give him one for their *20th wedding anniversary* (Congrats y'all!).  I told her that I hadn't made one before but I would try.  I must say, my first try turned out quite well.  I have Nigella Lawson and her lovely book How to be a Domestic Goddess to thank.  It's a bit of a quirky recipe but I really enjoyed making it.  The play of spice against the citrus zest really made the cake special.

A batch of buttercream frosting and one marzipan carrot later... we were in business.  

I only had a bite but I heard it was completely devoured within a day (maybe two).  I'm sure the kids helped a bit.  Interestingly, I made the cupcakes version of this today for Memaw's 93rd birthday party.  They're cooling on my table waiting to be iced right now.

Anniversary Carrot Cake

(adapted from Nigella Lawson's Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing)

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (Canola)

4 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

2 pinches salt

zest of 1 lemon

zest of 1 orange

4 medium carrots, grated

1 cup walnuts, chopped

*Beat brown sugar and oil in a bowl until combined.  Add eggs one at a time.  Allow to mix thoroughly after each addition.  Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and zests.  I find that more of the zest ends up in the batter instead of on my beater if I mix it with some of the flour.  Stir in carrots and walnuts.  Bake at 400 degrees for thirty minutes (maybe less depending on your oven and altitude).

Sticky Note

I found this sticky note posted on the cabinet recently.  I think it's from Lucy.

Or maybe Biel.  I'm just not sure.  In any case, can you guess what I'll be making soon?  Gonna have to find a recipe.

A few pictures...

As promised, here are some photos from my neighbor's tree that was struck by lightning recently.  Oddly enough, it is thunderstorming while I write this.  Don't worry, I haven't had to hit the floor again.

And this little guy kept me company while I took the photos the morning after it happened.

I know it's been awhile since I've posted.  I've been really lax about it.  Other stuff going on... yada, yada, yada... I know.  But I've got some neat stuff headed your way soon.  Promise.