Menu Mondays – Mile High Biscuits

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My family really likes biscuits but whenever I would make them they just didn’t come out quite right.   But then one night a few months ago we went to my in-laws for dinner and my mother-in-law made these mile high biscuits.  I couldn’t believe how fluffy and delicious they were!  Needless to say I got the recipe and gave it a try.  Now it’s the only biscuit recipe I use.

Ingredients:

3 c. sifted flour
4 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 egg
1 c. milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a medium sized bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, cream of tarter and salt together.  Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it’s in pea sized pieces.  Add the egg and milk and knead in gently.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out until dough is about 1 thick.  Cut with a small biscuit cutter (or, if you’re like me, you can improvise with a cup :-) )

Place cut biscuits on lightly oiled baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Serve warm with butter.

 



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Memories – Mini Townsend

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There are things in life that have the ability to instantly send us back to another time in our life.  A smell, a sight, a song.  The memory is so strong you can almost taste it.  That happened to me as I was out for a walk the other day.  I spotted a section of woods near the road where I was walking.  You know, the kind that is just perfect for running and playing in as a child.  I might be an adult but there is a child within me still, and that child bounced with excitement as I scanned the area. :-)  Most people would have just seen trees and leaves and crisscrossed branches.  But I saw roads, forts and houses and it brought a smile to my face.  It was so clear in my mind that I could have drawn a map of the area.

This happens a lot when I see a stretch of woods that are great for playing in and it always makes me smile, like I have this neat little secret those around me can’t see. :-)

One of my fondest childhood memories is of the woods in our backyard.  My siblings and I created roads, forts, driveways, houses, etc. in our little stretch of woods.   We called it Mini Townsend and we even had a postman :-)  We played for hours and hours out there and I loved it.  I have often wished I had a picture of it.  I’m pretty sure that anyone else looking at it wouldn’t see the same thing I do though.  We just knew what everything was.  Those trees over there about 18″ apart?  Those aren’t just trees…that’s a road.  You go through the trees, never around.  That opening over there?  That’s my driveway.  To most people it probably just looked like trees and branches and stuff.  But to us, it was all so clearly laid out that it would have been like walking through the center of a modern town and I loved it .

And now, when I look at a section of woods along the road, a town forms in my mind and I can see it all laid out.  Evergreens become houses, logs become bridges, trails become roads, etc.   It always makes me smile and wish I was a child again so I could run through it without looking like a crazy woman ;-)

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Menu Mondays – Whipped Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

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My husband loves lemon.  Every year for his birthday he request this Triple Layer Lemon Cake.  It has three layers of lemon cake, lemon filling and lemon frosting.  It’s delicious, but last year we decided we needed to do something about the frosting.  We’re pretty picky about frostings here.  None of us like frosting that much because it’s usually too sweet and this frosting is just too sweet.  So this year I decided to experiment with something new.  I found a lemon cream cheese frosting recipe.  I began making it but cut the amount of sugar back.  It was too thin and kind of an odd texture but I knew if I added more sugar it was going to be too sweet for us.  So I took a cup of whipping cream, whipped it into whipped cream without adding any sweeteners to it, and then folded the cream cheese frosting into it.  The result?  A wonderfully textured perfect lemon frosting!!  My family raved over it!!

Ingredients:

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 c. butter
2 T. lemon juice
2 tsp. lemon zest
4 c. powdered sugar
1 c. whipping cream

Directions:

In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice and lemon zest together.  Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating after each addition until smooth.  Set aside.

In another mixing bowl, beat the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.  Gently fold into cream cheese mixture.  Use immediately.  It may seem a little thin at first but don’t worry about it.  It “sets” once it’s on the cake so it’s okay.  After frosting the cake, I put a little bit of yellow food coloring on a knife and swirled it around on the top a little bit to give it a design on the top but you can do whatever you want.

 



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