Oh Suh-weet Biscuits!

So this recipe is a throwback from a post I found from about a year ago. It had been left all alone in my blog-draft attic, getting dusty and lonely. But now, it's coming back out into the world!  Make lots of friends little recipe, I know you can do it!

The Tale of Sweet Biscuits

I had to search high and low for a sweet biscuit recipe so y'all better appreciate this one. Apparently they're a southern thing cause I couldn't find any websites with recipes... except for one! They turned out really well, it was my first time making homemade biscuits... and it will not be my last!!

PLUS David and I made this and our delicious Black Bean Quesadillas while building a dresser. I know, we're beasts. Just look at those sweet biscuits.

Beasts.

David actually made these while I made a quesadilla casserole, so do not be alarmed by the manly hands in the photos. It's just David!

Ingredients

1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cold butter

1 eggs
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

Mix sugar, flour, and salt in large bowl. Cube butter and add to mixture. Stir in mixer until the ingredients become grainy. 

Crack and whisk the eggs in a bowl. Add to dry ingredients along with milk.

Stir and mash with hands until mixture forms a flaky dough. Knead three times and roll out onto floured surface so that dough is 1/2 to 1in thick.

Using a cookie cutter or jar, cut circles out of dough and place on greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and bask in their thick, flaky deliciousness.










This is David with his ginormous biscuit. Feel free to make one of your own if you wish, but leave it in the oven for a bit longer. It was so delicious - at least the small part that I was able to steal was delicious.

Oh, but we didn't stop there. You see, this adventure began when I received some berries from the leftover sangria at my work. YES. They were about to throw away perfectly delicious, juice and alcohol-soaked berries. Well, I put a stop to that.

Sooo, we decided to make sweet biscuits to serve them with!!

Heres the situation. I just heated the berries and a little bit of their juice over medium high on a nonstick skillet until they simmered. I added a bit of sugar and let them cook for about 5 more minutes to thicken up. Finally, we poured all the delicious goodness along with some local honey over the warm biscuits. It was a night to remember. However, David and I aren't really drinkers, so we ended up ditching the berries and opting for peanut butter and honey as toppings as well.

Nevertheless, it was delightful to make, and it looks really pretty!

Kale Pesto

Hello all! 

I think it goes without saying that it's been some time since I've posted. Thaaats not because I've renounced cooking and the blogging world all together. I would never do that to you. Its actually because I graduated, got married and moved into a new house. 

The good news is I also got a new job! So I'll be able to make some money, learn about food, and spend time with the people (and food) I love - you being included in that. 

So my husband and I compiled a cooking adventures list where we listed out all the grand, exotic, and strange things we wanted to try to cook. Needless to say, its quite exhaustive. 

Here is one of our first adventures into the vast gastronomic universe: Kale Pesto. 

That's right. This recipe was inspired by 

1. Our disturbing love for pesto

2. The equally disturbing amount of kale I end up purchasing from the farmers market each weekend. 

So this recipe is adapted from one by the ever-lovely Giada DeLaurentiis. I doubled it and added kale. Then after I realized I was out of olive oil, I substituted some leftover pasta water - it still had all that starchy goodness bubbling inside it. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pine nuts

1 clove of garlic

1/2 cup basil (loosely (packed)

2 1/2 cups kale leaves (loosely packed)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 and 1/4 cup grated parmesan

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup pasta noodles

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spread out pine nuts on baking sheet. 

2. Fill a medium pot with water and set on oven to boil.

3. When oven has heated up, toast pine nuts for approx 5 mins or until slightly golden. Set aside to cool.

4. When water has boiled, add in 1 cup dried pasta (I used shells cause they're awesome and make me feel like a little kid!). Reduce heat and let cook for 5-8 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

5. Place a small bowl under colander in your sink. drain pasta through colander, collecting some of the pasta water in the small bowl. Place drained noodles back in pot. 

6. Place garlic, basil, kale, pine nuts, salt and pepper in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. DO NOT simply hold down the blend button. Pulsing helps to ensure that the veggies don't get too overheated and loose their pretty green color. 

7. While pulsing, slowly add in the olive oil then 1/3-2/3 cup pasta water. You want a smooth, creamy consistency. 

8. Add 1/2 cup grated parmesan and pesto to noodles. Stir until the cheese melts. 

Now you're ready to serve! Dish it up and top with remaining parmesan cheese for a lovely display. 

Have a lovely afternoon! Take kale!

North Lime Study Blitz

Studying our new favorite coffee shop in Lexington, North Lime Coffee and Donuts. The donuts here are the best in Lexington! Check them out!

I'm currently enjoying some Swell Season, heated air, and a peanut butter honey donut. Mmmmmm...

Roadtrip Snack To Remember

Hello friends and loved ones. This morning I made one of the greatest purchases of my young life. David and I went on a little road trip this morning with our friend Simon and all Lexingtonian foodies know that a Lexington-roadtrip can't be complete without a $5 box of doughnuts from Doughdaddy's. Essential.

So naturally on our way out of town, we stopped for gas at the lovely Doughdaddy's station and I entered to purchase one of said boxes. I took a quick survey of the box pile and then began my search. I dug and sorted through hose boxes like it was my job, and it was looking grim until I uncovered the last box in the pile. I am not exaggerating here. It was beautiful. I inside this box were all the Doughdaddy's flavors that David and I adore, in perfect portions to share equally.

Blueberry, Blueberry Cream Cheese, Buttermilk, and Buttermilk Cream Cheese. Real. Life.

But oh these aren't your regular doughnuts. They're cake doughnuts. So, SO bad for you but mind-bogglingly delicious. I don't understand how they're so good and I don't really care. Some things in life are better left in secret.

So in my giddiness I had to share. Thank you for basking in this glory with me.

STAPLE DINNER: Black Bean Quesadilla Bake

So I have done it again. I know I've been MIA for the past couple weeks but this will be the last time that happens.
...I hope.

I have moved again, this time to an even BIGGER KITCHEN! (insert evil laugh here). Therefore I have been scurrying to try and put together my house/room. Plus school starts on Wednesday so I've been trying to deal with that emotionally as I will no longer have as much free time to cook delicious meals and spend shameful amounts of money on food to feed my friends. But nonetheless, my cooking will continue and hopefully I will refine my pitiful abilities to put together a meal.

Sooo I decided to christen my kitchen with a Collegiate Contessa Classic - Black Bean Quesadillas. The planets were aligned for this one folks. My fiancé's mom had given us a fresh jalapeño pepper a few days before and David had given me two cans of black beans the previous week. If that's not destiny frankly I don't know what is.

So let's get cracking. I added a few more ingredients to this one than I normally do, but please feel free to add some extra pizzaz to it yourself. Add your favorite salsa or veggies or obscure cheese. It's too easy.

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans
1 can of corn
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 jalapñeo pepper
Shredded cheese (I used Mexican blend but your favorite classy cheese is fine)
Soft tortillas





Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Get ready for action.

Open tomato can and drain about 3/4 of the juice into a small bowl. Chop up jalapeño and place in a bowl with cheese, drained black beans, corn, and tomatoes. Mix it up. Now you have the insides of your quesadillas! Yippee!

At this point in the process, I realized that I left my can opener at my old house (rookie mistake) and my lovely fiancé, David volunteered to run to the neighbors and ask for a can opener and make friends (if your reading this, thank you Chad!).

While you're preparing this, it's probably a good idea to heat up the tortillas in the oven for about 3 minutes. You just want them to get a little soft, making them easier to roll. NOTHING - I repeat NOTHING is worse than watching a tortilla rip mid-rollup. It's like watching a cat get hit by a car. Just look away. 

After the tortillas are soft, place a heaping spoonful of the quesadilla-insides onto the middle of the tortilla. Roll up the quesadilla, folding in the edges as you do so. Place quesadillas (I made 4) in a greased baking dish - 8x8in usually works well for 4-5 quesadillas.

3. 

1.          2. 



Pour tomato juice and a little bit of leftover insides on top. Heap on cheese!

Bake for 20-25 mins. 

So good! We devoured these. I hope you do too!

Now what? ... Nachos!

If you only make a few of these, you'll probably have a good deal of leftover insides. In order to remedy this dire situation, you can make nachos as an appetizer to complement your quesadillas. I know, right? This is what happens when I get horribly distracted and leave the tortillas in the oven for too long, creating crispy tortillas.

Simply cut your tortilla rounds into triangles, and place them on a cookie tray in the oven for 5-10 minutes. It would be a good idea to do this when you bake the tortillas for the quesadillas. Next, place chips in an oven-safe dish and pour your leftover quesadilla-insides over the chips.  Bake this delicious mixture in the oven for about 8-10 more minutes.

Angsty Protein Shake

The other week I was feeling super angsty after a dramatic phone conversation. So naturally, as soon as I got back to the apartment, I ran to the kitchen to let my emotions out by cooking. You can see how this is becoming a problem (financially and psychologically).







In a frenzy, I grabbed the first ingredients that suited my fancy and current sweet/chocolate craving. Thank goodness I had chocolate protein powder and my roommate had some cherries in the fridge that were on the brink of death. God was watching out for me that day.




Luckily for me, this angst gave birth to a fabulous protein shake, perfect for quenching my hunger and raging emotions after my morning run/phone conversation.

So here you go, all the goodness, with no guilt for you, my readers. Here is my chocolate-cherry protein shake.

Ingredients

1/4 cup cherries
1/4 cup ice cubes
1/4 cup soymilk
1 scoop chocolate soy protein powder
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

Chop up cherries.

Add all ingredients to blender and blend to your heart's content.














VOILA! Easy peasy cherry-squeezy. So next time you're feeling moody, head for the shake instead of the ice cream or chocolate bars, my friends. This shake is just as rich and will keep you fuller for much longer.

Egg-Sausage Casserole (less dairy haha)

Sooo... since the egg-sausage casserole was such a hit at the BFD party (yes i made an acronym, its gonna catch on), I thought I would share the recipe with you all since I'm a good friend like that. And so I remember it to make later.





I got the recipe from Mama Fred and it originally had cheese in it but obviously I had to take that out. You can add cheese if you have an insatiable dairy craving. Trust me, I understand. Otherwise I think it tastes fine without it. Plus, its probably a lot healthier.

Also, this recipe is a great way to get rid of you eggs if you suspect fowl play.

...that just happened.

Anyways, I encourage you to add whatever mixins you desire for this recipe to spice it up!

Vamonos!

Ingredients

1 lb sausage
4-6 slices of bread, cubed
6 eggs
1 cup soy milk or almond milk - UNSWEETENED
1tsp salt
2 tsp turmeric or mustard powder
1 tsp pepper
1/2 cup chopped peppers (optional)




- Brown sausage in a skillet over medium heat. Remove from heat.


- Meanwhile whisk the eggs and add the soymilk, salt, pepper, and turmeric.

- Grease a 9x13 baking dish and place bread cubes and sausage (and peppers if you wish) in dish.












- Pour egg mixture over top.

- Let sit in fridge overnight.

Oh, hello 3 cartons of almond milk in the fridge. That's right. My roommates are awesome and we have 3 cartons of almond milk. Cause we live on the edge.

Ta-dah!

- When ready, bake for 30 minutes at 375 or until just a small amount of juice comes out when you turn the dish on it's side.





Devour with friends or alone while watching your favorite sitcom.