Cold Weather & Warm Biscuits

Today has been another upside-down day. My days & nights are mixed up again. When that happens, I sleep all day & am up all night. There are pros & cons to this, but I've learned to just make the best of it. The temperatures have been horribly cold these past few days with nights dipping down to -20 or so and days not getting above the single digits on the thermometer. I heard that the windchill dropped the temperatures to almost -50 in some areas. This is much too cold for this Southern girl. Springtime has to come soon ... I have seed catalogs! Instead, we have almost two foot of snow piled on our yard. The neighbors are going to think I've gone over the deep end when I get the hoe out and start digging through the snow to find my gardens.
While I wait for spring and more immediately for morning, I think I'll surprise my family with warm buttermilk biscuits for breakfast. (It seem to do my best baking in the middle of the night.) Here's the secret recipe that my family thinks I slave so hard over:

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

Ingredients=
2 pkg. dry yeast (or 5 tbs. loose yeast)
1/4 c. lukewarm water
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda
3/4 c. oil
2 c. buttermilk
3 tsp. baking powder
5 c. flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water, add sugar to yeast. Add remaining ingredients. Either roll out & cut with biscuit cutter or pinch off amount needed. You can bake immediately or let rise in warm place until biscuits rise to desired size.
Bake 15-20 minutes at 400 degrees.
Dough will keep in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Have a wonderful day &
May the Lord bless you.

Blizzard's Coming

Yesterday was spent in preparing for the coming snow storm. Depending on which weather forecast we listen to ... we should get anywhere from 1-3ft. of snow by Thursday morning. That's a lot of snow, even for the old-timers around here. All of the grocery stores were packed with folks stocking up in case they become house-bound for awhile. My mountain man checked his truck and plow equipment so he'll be ready to roll as soon as the snow gets to six inches. Then he ate an early supper and slipped off to bed. There's a good chance that he'll be working non-stop until sometime Thursday. (He enjoys his work or else this could be really miserable for all of us.)Everyone else around here will work diligently to keep the snow shoveled off the roof & sheds, and keeping the paths cleared. Everyone has a job to do when the weather turns bad. In a few hours the kitchen will be in full swing with beef stew in the crock pot, chili on the stove, and rolls in the oven for the tired & frozen workers when they wander through.
The weather often dictates the craziness around here sometimes, but after the storm passes there will be a time for rest. My mountain man will be out in the workshop with the smell of the wood stove, a mug of hot coffee, and his guitar snuggled in his lap playing praises to God. More than likely, I'll be right there with him listening and thanking God for blessing me with such a wonderful man.

May the Lord bless you.

Family Night Pizza

Family time seems to have become very rare these days. Growing up, the family was home every night for supper. Now, I hear from so many that families have to set aside special nights to get together.
Pizza Night is always a favorite around our house. Take out pizza is too expensive & frozen pizza just doesn't seem to have the right taste. Over the years, I've tried, tested, and modified a lot of pizza recipes. Here is the hands-down favorite among my fast-food lovers. It's amazingly easy and fast to make.

Pizza

Dough ~
1 tsp. sugar
1 pkg. dry yeast (or 2 1/2t. yeast)
1 Tbsp. flour
1 C. warm water
2 Tbsp. oil
1 Tsp. salt
2 1/2C. flour
Pizza pans or cookie sheets

Combine yeast, sugar, flour, & water. Let set for a few minutes to test the yeast & let it start working. Add cooking oil (or olive oil), salt, & flour; stir into a ball. (I let the dough rest for several minutes while I start the sauce, etc.)
Divide dough in halves for smaller pizzas or use the whole thing for a thick crust or cookie sheet pizza. Pat into pizza pans. Cover with sauce & toppings. Bake pizzas for about 15 minutes @ 400 degrees. (Adjust time & temp. to suit your particular taste.)

Pizza Sauce~
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cans tomato sauce
olive oil or cooking oil
garlic powder
bell pepper, chopped
onions, chopped
parsley flakes
oregano
basil
salt & pepper to taste

Saute' garlic, onions, and peppers in oil. Add tomato sauce. Spice sauce with herbs to taste. Simmer to blend spices.

Toppings~
Italian Sausage (breakfast sausage works good too), hamburger, pepperoni, cheese galore ( I use all types of cheeses ... velvetta & cheddar combo is my family's favorite.) Imagination is the key to good pizza!

I've learned that a recipe is only the basic guide to a good meal. I like to enhance just about everything with our favorite herbs, sauces, & spices.

The pizza sauce can become an awesome spaghetti sauce by chopping tomatoes and using them in place of the tomato sauce. I also increase the other ingredients to add more zing to the spaghetti. The dough then becomes bread sticks. Just pinch off bits of dough, roll out like bread sticks, place on lightly oiled cookie sheet, brush with melted butter, and sprinkle with garlic powder. Bake for about 10 minutes. (check them frequently the first time until you know how fast they cook in your particular oven.)

May the Lord bless you.

Let It Snow

My honey just left for work. It's 3:30AM and the snow has stopped coming down. This last little storm dropped around 4 inches, give or take, and it's time to plow the driveways. Around here, snowplowing is just part of the property maintenance business in the winter. He has about 40 or so driveways, and it takes him about 12 hours to plow all of them in a little storm like this one. It's taken me years to get used to all the snow here. I still don't like it ... but it helps pay the bills. So, to console myself, I wander down to the mud room where I have recently seeded some herbs & flowers. It perks me up to stand next to the trays of tiny seedlings and plan for the spring ahead. In some ways I feel like I'm planting 'hope'. Hope for a deck full of beautiful flowers & herbs, and wonderful treats from the kitchen when the herbs are harvested and used. A good season will provide us with about two years of dried herbs. Fresh is better, but even dried, they have much more flavor than the ones I used to spend of fortune for in the grocery store. So, let it snow. I'll be in the mud room impatiently waiting with my tiny plants for warm weather & sunshine.
May the Lord bless you.