An Obsession & Biscuits!

It's time I come clean--I am a cookbook addict!  I love the pictures, the ideas, the colors, the possibilities...  Some say cookbooks are dying, but for those of us who love to cook cookbooks are cherished items in our households.  My absolute favorites aren't the most popular, nor from the Food Network stars, instead they are often the Junior Leagues and Southern classics.  Here are my most used Texas Cookbooks (another obsession of mine--home!):

Cookbooks are more for generating ideas instead of feeling restricted.  I truly love them. I will sit in my atrium and just look through them and create ideas for future meals.  Perhaps I am from a different generation--I don't know.  They bring me such joy and happiness---like a video game for my nephews or a history book for my husband. :o)  Just different.  

With my love of cookbooks comes my quest of the best biscuit recipe.  If you are from the South or had a Grandma (Gran-MAW) who made them well you know what I am saying when I say "Why in the HELL would you eat a canned biscuit?"  Whoops--was that too rough?  Sorry, but DARN!  They are SIMPLE and when made well they melt in your mouth!  I love savory biscuits, sweet biscuits (for shortcake--not really a cake at all), and my fave is with HONEY!  

One would think that with my biscuit obsession that I have settled on one recipe--nope.  I continue to explore new ones, and revisit ones from the past.  This morning I whipped up these 

and "HELLO FLUFFY & FLAKEY BITES OF LOVE!"  Silly as it seems, biscuits to me are a bit of nostalgia!  They bring back fabulous memories of my youth, they bring me home a bit!  I hope you decide to put away the can and try these next time you crave biscuits.  

Thank you, Terry Thompson-Anderson for writing Texas on the Plate and for this fabulous biscuit recipe

Biscuits

Makes 12-16 biscuits (depending on your biscuit cutter size or glass!)

Ingredients:

3 cups flour

1/4 cup powdered milk

2 Tbsp baking powder

2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cream of tarter

1/2 cup shortening (yep, crisco or Spectrum makes one that is trans fat free) COLD

1/2 cup butter--COLD

3/4 cup buttermilk (MUST USE!)

Directions:

1. If you have a food processor, break it out!  If not, get a pastry blender ready.  Preheat oven to 400*F. In a bowl (or your processor) mix together flour through cream of tarter--pulse.  
2. Add in COLD fats (shortening and butter, cut into chunks), pulse for 30 seconds.  Should resemble pea size crumb, clusters.  Note: you never, ever over mix biscuit dough--they will be brick like!!! 
3. Make a well in the center and pour the buttermilk in.  Mix with your hands or a large spoon until it comes together.
4. Flour a cutting board or counter top and run your hands under COLD WATER.  Yep, it's a trick!  This keeps the heat of your hands from melting the butter when you knead it--trust me!!!
5. Gently knead the dough, but no more than 5 times!!!  Roll out to 1 inch thickness and cut, roll and cut, roll and cut--you should be done and ready to bake now! Place on a cookie sheet and you can brush the tops with additional buttermilk if you'd like--I did not, but sometimes I do. :o)
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. 
7. Tasty the flakey goodness!!!!

It might just be the ONE!!!  

Beef, Beer & Barley Stew

Just saying the words, "Beef, Beer, & Barley" makes me think of a Kevin Fowler song (Beer, Bait, & Ammo).  It's probably what made me break out the Shiner Bock to enjoy with it! This recipe is perfect for the wet, rainy weather we are having in San Diego tonight. You can do this on the stove top or in a Crock Pot.  I hope you get the chance to enjoy the flavors, too! PS--Don't skip the horseradish at the end, because it really finishes the flavors of the stew and make it dance (to above said song) in your mouth! ;)

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons  olive oil
• 3  pound  beef stew meat
• 2  teaspoons  salt, divided
• 1  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 onion,  coarsely chopped onion
• 3  bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 3  tablespoons  tomato paste
• 2  cups  (1 1/2-inch-thick) slices carrot
• 2  cups  chopped peeled turnips (about 1 pound)
• 1  cup  uncooked pearl barley
• 5-7  garlic cloves, minced and divided
• 2  (8-ounce) packages mushrooms, quartered
• 1  cup  water
• 4  cups  low-salt beef broth
• 3  tablespoons  Worcestershire sauce
• 1  (12-ounce) bottle dark beer (such as Shiner Bock)
• fresh parsley, chopped
• prepared horseradish

Directions

Toss stew meat with flour, salt, and pepper. Heat oil in a stockpot over medium-high heat. Add beef to pan; sauté 10 minutes or until browned. Remove from pan. Do this in batches instead of crowding the pan and cooling the oil.  

Place the cooked meat into a crock pot. Add onion and cook for 3 minutes then add garlic and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Add broth and scrape up brown bits.  Pour over meat in crock pot.

ingredients

turnips (peeled and chopped, whole on the right)

Shiner Bock Beer--HECK YES!

Pearl Barley

Stir in tomato paste.  Add carrot, turnips, barley, and mushrooms to the crock pot. Add water, Worcestershire, and beer. Toss in bay leaves and thyme. Cook for 6-8 hours in a crock pot. 

Season with salt & pepper to taste. Ladle about 2 cups stew into each of 8 bowls. Top each serving with parsley and 1 horseradish. Crack open a beer and ENJOY!!

Enjoy!

Some Texas Crunch

One of my most favorite holiday scents are spiced pecans! When they are baking in the oven you have the aromas of cinnamon and sweet, roasted nuts wafting throughout the house! Yum! Nuts, albeit high in calories, are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids or "healthy fats." Some researchers' suggest that a 1/4 cup of nuts per day can assist with weight loss goals. The key is limiting your portion to a mere 1/4 cup (about the size of a female's palm, laid flat). Some bags of nuts can contain over 1,500 calories in the entire bag! To get some of the added benefits from nuts eat a variety and choose raw or dry roasted, when possible. Roasting your own is simple! Here is one of my favorite recipes, Texas Toasted Pecans, from my sister, Jody:
In a mixing bowl, whisk one egg white, 1 Tb. water, 1/4 ts. salt, 1 ts. cinnamon, and 1 cup sugar. Add 4 cups pecans to the mixture. Spread nuts out flat onto a jelly-roll pan (cookie sheet with edges). Bake at 300*F for 30-40 minutes, stiring every 10 minutes. Watch that the nuts don't brown up too much! Some ovens heat hotter than others; thus, the range in time to bake.

Once your nuts are toasted, allow them to cool and put into storage containers. I have kept mine for a couple weeks without any problems. They make a great gift, too! I attach a recipe card for the following salad:

Baby greens or spinach, chopped tomato, green onions, dried cranberries, goat cheese, Brianna's Blush Vinaigrette (my favorite!) and my Toasted Texas Pecans, of course! It's simple, festive, and perfect for the HOLIDAYS! Enjoy!