GF Buttermilk Biscuits

I hardly know where to start! In the last two weeks we have had chicken pox, colds and the flu in our house. This means I haven’t had a lot of time to write, but I HAVE had a lot of time to cook, so there will be a lot of posts in the upcoming days!

We recently made homemade butter and were THRILLED with the results. One of the by products from butter is fresh buttermilk. Many years ago I liked buttermilk biscuits but we haven’t had any in years. I was inspired by the fresh buttermilk though so I altered and fussed and came up with these. They were very good! Denser than I remember buttermilk biscuits to be, but they rose, they were fluffy and they were gone in the blink of an eye!

Fresh GF Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups gluten free flour4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

12 turns freshly ground salt, it ends up being about 1/2 tsp
4 TBSP cold (we used fresh) butter , chopped
1/2 cup fresh buttermilk
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in butter and mix until flour has a grainy texture.

Beat eggs in a separate bowl, mix in milk.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Form into biscuit shapes and bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

Butter and Dry ingredients

 

Form into biscuit shapes with your hands.

 

ENJOY!!!!!!

Garlicky Mashy Potatoes

Yummmmm…..

I like garlic. Luckily it’s good for me cause I really do eat a LOT of it. Take these potatoes for example, there are 13 cloves.

I sadly did not get pictures of these but I am working on the whole photograph thing. I get so focused on the cooking that I completely forget to take pictures until later. I am working on it though I promise.

GARLICKY MASHY POTATOES

8-10 medium sized red potatoes, quartered

13-15 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

salt and pepper

water

Put potatoes and garlic in a pot, cover with water. Boil until soft.

Drain, mash and season.

ENJOY!

 

Steak Diane

There are some recipes that you hesitate trying because they are such a classic that you KNOW you will screw it up. Besides, it has to be complicated. Steak Diane was one of those recipes to me. It is last meal ever kind of good so I was sure it was complicated and I would be extremely disappointed. NOT SO.

I have to admit that there was a little bit of processed goodness in this meal. The one thing we can find at both grocery stores here is Lundgren Farms Risotto. It is ummy. We eat it a lot. Okay, maybe not a lot but a couple times a month. That’s a lot. And it goes REALLY well with Steak Diane. I highly recommend it as a side dish.

 

Steak Diane

Steak, as much as you need. Tenderloin is best but we used Sirloin Tips.

Salt and Pepper

2 TBSP EVOO

1/2 onion, minced

3 cups sliced mushrooms

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup brandy

2 TBLSP dijon mustard

2 TBSP Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 TBSP butter

Heat the oil in a pan. Meanwhile salt and pepper one side of each steak. Place the steaks season side down in the pan and season the other side. Sear on each side about 3 minutes.

Remove steaks to a plate and cover with foil.

Put onions and mushrooms in the pan and saute 2-3 minutes stirring FREQUENTLY.

Add the garlic, stir a few times then add Brandy. They say it may ignite so be careful. It didn’t ignite on me but still. Add mustard and Worcestershire. Stir well. I warn you it looks sooo good already. Simmer a couple minutes.

Add wine. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

Add steaks back to the pan. Cook until desired doneness.

Remove the steaks to their plates. Resist. Let them rest. They are tired.

Stir the butter into the sauce and pour on top of steaks.

Now. Devour.

Still cooking...

Resolutions, Beer Bacon Bok Bok

It’s a new year! I made a resolution this year. To post here a MINIMUM of three times a week. In our household I can’t promise more than that since you probably don’t want to read about how I made cheese quesadillas or cereal for dinner on the worst days.

I got a new cookbook for Christmas. It’s a Guy Fieri cookbook. I looked through it and definitely see a few recipes to try but the Beer Can chicken had to start. I have, sadly, never actually made it, and this recipe looked awesome. In true Jen fashion, I of course had to change it though. Hubby says it needs to be called Beer Bacon Bok Bok cause it’s made with beer, bacon and chicken. I think it just needs to be called yummy but here we go! 🙂

Beer Bacon Bok Bok

1 chicken, whole

1 can GF beer, see note

4 garlic cloves, smashed

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp garlic pepper

1 Tblsp onion flakes

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground sage

1 tsp salt

`1 tsp fresh ground pepper

7-9 slices bacon

1 potato per person

Preheat oven to 450.

Mix all the spices in a small bowl.

Rub half the seasoning under the skin, directly on the meat.

Rub the other half all over the outside of the chicken.

Pour 1/2 cup beer out, preferably into your glass.

Put the garlic in the can.

Nestle the chicken butt over the can (as Hubby puts it, shove the can up it’s butt)

Shove a couple pieces of bacon down it’s throat and drape the rest over the chicken.

Place, can as chicken holder, in a roasting pan.

Put in the oven for about 15 minutes, then REDUCE the heat to 350 and bake another hour or so

Until the internal temp reaches 165.

Let it rest for about 10-15 minutes.

I put the potatoes in an hour before it was done cooking.

Serve, enjoy, savor.

**NOTES**

I used Bard’s but I prefer New Planet. I don’t know how easy it is to find GF beer where you are, but there is only place within an hour of here that sells it and that is hit and miss….which is why you see a bottle, not a can in the picture. Here’s what we did. Wash and dry an empty can of regular beer. Hubby drinks the regular stuff so this was easy for us. Pour half a cup of the GF bottled beer into your glass, or drink it out of the measuring cup. Pour the rest of the beer into the can. Wala. GF beer in a can.

Pea soup…warm and comforting.

You probably think I have fallen off the face of the planet and to a degree it occasionally does feel that way. It has been a rough couple of months. After my grandmother passed away September 9, we flew to Portland, OR to help with the funeral and estate. On October 6 we lost our babies. Our twin sons were basically stillborn at 30 weeks. On October 8, Diva was diagnosed with Asthma and an allergy to dust and grass. She is handling it well though and is starting to breath better!

We realized that we have more support than we knew. For over a week we had people, some that we didn’t know all that well, offering to make us dinner. They went out of their way to accommodate our diet. I will be forever grateful but it has been WONDERFUL to get back into our own routine. I find I cope better when I am busy.

That being said we have gotten back into creativity in the kitchen. School has been a little slower, but we are catching up there as well. Lunches have always been the bane of my existence but I am getting better! Today’s menu was leftover soup and some ‘sandwiches’ but oh what leftovers! And the cute factor of the sandwiches. I have managed to misplace my camera in the last month or so….no pictures today but I will do my best!

I made Pea Soup last night, left it simmering on the stove while we tricked and treated so the kids (and us parents!) had a nice WARM meal at the end. Today, the children were very disappointed that there wasn’t more left over for lunch, they each only had one bowl, poor kids. So we combined that with ‘sandwiches’ made from peanut butter and jelly spread on corn tortillas and cut into cute little leaves courtesy of little metal cookie cutters.

As we settle more and more back into our pre- devastation lives I promise to be back here more often~~ Thanks for your patience!

PEA SOUP

• 3 quarts water
• 1 bag split peas
• 1 ham bone, with meat still attached
• 1 onion, diced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 dashes dried basil
• 2-3 dashes dried oregano
• 2-3 slices of ham, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 large potatoes, diced

 

In a large stockpot soak the peas in 2 quarts of the water for about 2 hours.

Add the ham bone, onion and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Remove the ham bone and add ham, carrot and potatoes. Simmer another 30 – 40 minutes or until the veggies are soft. Take an immersion blender to the soup to blend the carrot and potatoes in. Don’t blend too much, a few turns through the soup in probably sufficient.

Serve and enjoy~

 

 

 

Busy Night Dinner

Tuesdays are really hectic for us. With dance classes at 4 and 7, Awanas at 6:30, school pick ups for the daycare kids and more, finding time to cook dinner is a challenge. For those days I rely on standby’s.

I may have mentioned my serious thing for pork these days. Risotto is another favorite of mine and all the kids. So I combine them in an easy, no fuss dinner.
Lundberg Family Farms makes fabulous boxed gluten free risotto. I usually use two boxes, one garlic and one parmesan. You can, however just use rice and broth instead of the risotto and water. Just use two cups of rice to 4 1/2 cups of broth.

Baked Pork Chops and Risotto

• 4 center cut pork chops
• 2 boxes Lundberg risotto (or rice… see above)
• 4 1/2 cups water (and broth)
• 2 Tbsp garlic pepper
• 2 Tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
• 2 Tbsp freshly ground pepper

 

Preheat your oven to 350.

Pour risotto and seasoning packets  into a glass 9 x 13 casserole followed by the water. Put the pork chops on top (they will sink a bit) and sprinkle the remaining ingredients evenly over top.

Cover with foil and bake about an hour.

Serve with any vegetable. We made garlic green beans.

A New Home with Garlic Sage Pork Roast

Out of the oven and ready to be sliced....

I didn’t move much when I was growing up but I did move once.  When I was 11 we moved from the suburbs of Portland, OR to the suburbs of Salt Lake City, UT.  It was a big move and put the bug in me.  I like the promise and potential of a new house.  I am,  however, tired of moving.  Packing, and unpacking, are no longer full of promise but just a lot of work.  I am ready for our forever home but in the meantime, since we can’t yet go where we want to be but really needed another bathroom, we have bought a new house and are in the process of unpacking our new home.

It seemed fitting that the blog got a new home as well. Tell me what you think! What would you like to see in this new home? It truly is full of promise and potential! Speaking of…..I have a new stove!

We finally got one (the most important) appliance! We have an itty bitty little mini fridge but we had no stove. Now that I have one I have wasted NO time in getting back into the swing of cooking! I (prego as I am) have been craving pork roast. Don’t ask. With the oldest I couldn’t come anywhere NEAR pork but this one is the solid opposite. I pride myself on my indoor garden and use the fresh herbs whenever possible. I also have a thing for garlic so here is tonight’s to-die-for dinner. Buy the roast when it’s on sale and freeze the leftovers or use for other meals to keep it frugal. Growing your own herbs and garlic helps keep it frugal as well … not to mention the fabulous taste!

Garlic Sage Pork Roast

• Pork Roast, split lengthwise and tied at intervals around (ours was 5 pounds)
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
• 3 TBLSP Olive Oil
• 1 tsp freshly ground sea salt
• 8-10 garlic cloves

Combine the sage, olive oil and salt in a mortar and pestle then grind it to a paste. Peel the garlic and smash it a little to release it’s oils. Insert a clove into the center in each opening between twine all the way around. Insert two in each end. Spread the sage paste all over the top and sides of roast, rubbing it in with your hands.

Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes per pound which means this cooked at 3 1/2 hours. Let rest for 15 – 20 minutes to save juices.

We really like garlic so I served this with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a salad. ENJOY!