Just a bit of last minute pin-inspiration for the 4th tomorrow!
1. Fourth of July Ice-Cream Sandwiches, Say Yes
2. Let it Wave, The Adventures of Tartanscot
3. Red, White & Ruffled, Bakerella
4. Americana, It’s A Southern Thing
5. Red, White & Blue Sprinkle Popcorn, A Pretty Cool Life
Nothing better than fresh biscuits and strawberry jam for breakfast! I made the lovely Carrie of Callie’s Biscuits, Buttermilk Biscuit recipe! The only thing that would have made them better would have been to enjoy them with a glass of iced tea on my own Charleston porch.
Happiness is…
I’ve included Carrie’s biscuit recipe below:
Callie’s Classic Buttermilk Biscuits
This is the recipe that started it all. Sitting in my mother’s kitchen and watching her prepare the pans of these highly sought-after, melt-in-your mouth bites of goodness for her catering business gave me the lightning bolt of inspiration for Callie’s Charleston Biscuits. It took some convincing to persuade my mother that a biscuit business was a good idea. She was under the impression that people still made their own biscuits! Once I convinced her that the art of biscuit making was far from a daily ritual for most, she warmed to the idea. I don’t think she ever dreamed that in a few short years, we’d be making 110,000 biscuits a month and I’d be featured on The Martha Stewart Show.
The beauty of this recipe is that biscuit making can be part of your family tradition. Just save it for a day when a little bit of a mess in the kitchen won’t derail the rest of your plans, because this dough is wet and sticky. If the dough gobs between your fingers with the consistency of pluff mud (what we in the South call marsh mud), don’t worry! That’s a good sign! Getting my hands dirty is part of the fun for me, but if you are a little more averse to gooey hands, you can certainly use a rubber spatula to mix the dough.
Makes about 10 (2-inch) biscuits
1. Preheat the oven to 500°F. Make sure the oven rack is in the middle position.
2. Measure the flour into a large bowl. Incorporate the cubed butter, then the cream cheese into the flour, using your fingers to “cut in” the butter and cheese until the mixture resembles cottage cheese. It will be chunky with some loose flour.
3. Make a well in the center. Pour in the buttermilk and, using your hands or a small rubber spatula, mix the flour into the buttermilk. The dough will be wet and messy.
4. Sprinkle flour on top of the dough. Run a rubber spatula around the inside of the bowl, creating a separation between the dough and the bowl. Sprinkle a bit more flour in this crease.
5. Flour a work surface or flexible baking mat very well. With force, dump the dough from the bowl onto the surface. Flour the top of the dough and the rolling pin. Roll out the dough to ½-inch thickness into an oval shape. (No kneading is necessary—the less you mess with the dough, the better.)
6. Flour a 2-inch round metal biscuit cutter or biscuit glass. Start from the edge of the rolled-out dough and cut straight through the dough with the cutter, trying to maximize the number of biscuits cut from this first roll out. Roll out the excess dough after the biscuits are cut and cut more biscuits. As long as the dough stays wet inside, you can use as much flour on the outside as you need to handle the dough. Place the biscuits on a baking sheet with sides lined with parchment paper, or in a cast-iron skillet, or a baking pan with the biscuit sides touching. (It does not matter what size pan or skillet you use as long as the pan has a lip or sides and the biscuits are touching. If you are using a cast iron skillet, no parchment paper is necessary.) Brush the tops with the melted butter.
7. Place the pan in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 450°F. Bake 16 to18 minutes, until light brown on top (or as dark as you prefer), rotating the pan once while baking.
Note: You can freeze any leftover biscuits. To reheat, do not defrost. Wrap the biscuits in foil. Bake in a 400°F oven 25 to 30 minutes. Open the top of the foil for the last 3 to 5 minutes to brown a little on top.
{Please Note: The recipe listed above is copyright to Callie’s Biscuits. I have eaten her biscuits at a number of events I have attended when at home in the South and was enraptured with their heavenly flavour and as any good Southerner knows, biscuits are a hot topic (no pun intended!), everyone has their favorite recipe and some are a closely guarded secret. I have a few favorites of my own and this is definitely in my list! This recipe was originally posted on the Design Sponge Blog}
We had lumberjack sized blueberry pancakes this morning for breakfast. They were heavenly! While the pancakes cooked, I worked on turning our leftover spicy carrot and celery slaw into a pasta salad. Made homemade pimento cheese and threw a couple of chicken breasts into a buttermilk marinade for the fried chicken I am making tonight in our new cast iron skillet!
Last night we made these buffalo chicken burgers, with a few minor changes. I used turkey instead since I can’t get ground chicken at my grocery store and I was so busy singing to a song I was listening too that I threw the chopped green onions in with the onions that were sauteing, instead of putting them in the slaw, but that was just fine. I also didn’t put any blue cheese in the slaw, but we did put cheese on top of the burgers, which I cooked in the oven and we toasted our buns so they would withstand the juicy slaw. So, I guess I really made more than a few changes.
Anyway it was delicious! So I made another batch of the slaw added it to the small amount that was left over, threw in some pasta and viola, pasta salad for our fried chicken picnic tonight! I love having cooking days where you can accomplish so much in a good space of time and this will help set us up for the week, because the first week back after a break is always a doozie!
Tonight is date night! And while I am still enjoying it, I just couldn’t wait to blog about dinner! I have wanted a Lodge cast iron skillet for ages, but in the many things that I always stuff in my suitcase to bring back to London, I could never truly justify putting a large heavy skillet in my suitcase, since all of my bags are usually marked HEAVY anyway. The skillet is where Mr. Michie drew the line.
My Nana has had her cast iron skillets for over 50 years and they are still beautiful! So, when I saw this gorgeous Lodge skillet at West Elm yesterday, it just jumped into my hands. Now, I broke all of my Southern upbringing rules today, because the first thing I should have been cooking in this pan was either fried chicken or a fresh batch of biscuits. I went to my Italian roots instead and the first thing we made was a cast iron skillet pizza.
It is a recipe I mentioned in my post yesterday. I used my favorite dough recipe from Annie’s Eats, although it isn’t quite her recipe any more. I have made it so many times and have incorporated elements from an Ina Garten recipe I like and some of my bread making techniques.
Mr. Michie made a delicious fresh sauce with wispy strips of basil ribboned through it, while I rolled out the dough. I was in charge of pizza making, he was in charge of pizza cooking. Now, just like the gorgeous Jessica, I don’t own a pizza peel either. So, we improvised, I wasn’t a Girl Scout for nothing!
Once the pizza hit the blazing hot pan, dinner went 1,2,3, literally! In 3 minutes we had dinner and you would have thought that we cooked it in a wood oven grill in our backyard, not in a cast iron skillet under the broiler!
It puffed up, some of the edges charred, the cheese was perfectly melted. We let it set up for a few minutes and then transferred it to our cutting board. Mr. Michie cut it and we couldn’t even wait to get it onto plates before we devoured the first slice. Oh My God! I don’t think we can ever go back to our normal pizza methods ever again! This was fantastico!
On a side note there was a bit of smoke, so while Mr. Michie took care of the pizza, I had the front door ajar and was busily fanning our smoke detector. It was like an “I Love Lucy” episode in here for a few minutes. Also, one section of the pizza stuck to our skillet, so next time I might need to use a bit more flour. I managed to get it all out and after re-seasoning my pan, it looks as good as new.
What a perfect date night. The pizza was so good we never even bothered making the salad or opening the wine. We split a beer, listened to music and ate dinner by candlelight! What could be better?
It was one of those days today. I didn’t feel so great last night because my sinuses have been bothering me and ended up getting sick. Mr. Michie made me a cup of tea and we just sat on the couch in silence, like zombies after our long day, holding hands and listening to music. We finally went to bed not long before midnight, but I got woken up at 3:21am to be exact by a huge downpour that didn’t let up for quite awhile. I didn’t mind, it was nice to just listen to the rain and Mr. Michie breath and watch the patterns that were reflected onto the ceiling.
This morning, I got up even earlier than normal and rushed to get ready so I could get a broccoli and cheese soup started in our crockpot, Mr. Michie helped me with measuring out the ingredients and I left with high hopes. I even ran to the grocery store on my lunch break to get some nice crusty bread to go with dinner. It was a recipe I had found online and it had gotten really rave reviews, well, I wish I could tell that lady where she could stick her crockpot because that soup was nowhere near the picture.
Yes, yes, I know I was deceived by a picture, what a fool. I think she opened up a can of cream of broccoli soup and took a picture of that, because there was nothing creamy about this soup! I was at work late and had to fight with people to get on the tube and the train, something I despise doing, but I had a loaf of crusty bread and I was going home to finish off the soup before Mr. Michie got in and light our candles and turn on some music, so he had a nice atmosphere to come home too.
Well, I opened the door and our house smelled like a boy’s locker room, with really really stinky socks. That soup was so watery, it wouldn’t have even been served to Oliver Twist. I hate days like this, days where you were planning on something and then it just didn’t work out like you had expected. I know that is life, but after a very, very long day I just wanted coming home to be simple. Oh, well! That is one crockpot meal I won’t make again. Our first bad one! So, we ordered Chinese food. C’est la vie!
Here’s to tomorrow, for it is Wednesday and we are almost at the weekend!
Last weekend we went to the market and came home with bags of apples. I peeled, watching the skin tendril down from the delicate pinky white flesh of the apples, while Mr. Michie sliced them up.
Together we made our first batch of apple butter of the season and it is delicious! The house smelled of Christmas. A sweet tangy cinnamon scent filled the air, while it slowly simmered down. We have spent this past week, gobbling up our first jar. We have had it smeared over toast, biscuits, sandwiches and last night I had some mashed into a baked sweet potato! MMM!
So, our first batch is ready and jarred up for us to feast on and to give as Christmas presents.
I would have liked to make a grilled cheese sandwich with the always witty Seth Meyers:
{From Vogue, Elettra’s Goodness}
Last night we feasted on Butternut Squash Chili and fresh cornbread and ate Halloween cupcakes for dessert. All while watching Hocus Pocus and listening to the rain pour down! It was the perfect Halloween evening.
{The Chili recipe is from the lovely Jenny Steffens Hobick. We made it last year and just can’t stop making it! We have made a few changes to suit our tastes, it is a wonderful and easy recipe to make!}
We were awoken early this morning by the winds and rain of St. Jude. But, so far, so good today. We have had to tuck a few of our plants away and tie up the olive tree, so it doesn’t keel over in its pot. But we aren’t going to be hit as hard as others have been, but, it doesn’t sound like that at the moment as the wind is howling around the house.
Mr. Michie has coffee brewing, I am about to start working on making us a little breakfast and then we are going to finish making our first apple butter of the season. My mom gave us her recipe and so far so good, it looks just like her’s looks at this stage, so I am really pleased. And the whole house smells like apples, it reminds me of my days working on the farm at the Shed, that heavenly apple scent was infused into everything! It doesn’t get much better than that!
Isn’t she cute? The pink suit, the adorable shoes, the HAIR! It is huge and I LOVE it! Her little “Hey, Y’all” wave.
The weekend is here and I am so excited. We are going to relax, run some errands, maybe go to the movies…
Last night we had a truly Fall dinner in the form of, pumpkin pancakes, the mix was made by Target’s, Archer Farms, it was delicious! On, a side note, I adore Archer Farm’s packaging as well and the mix was already in a pouch that onced open could be ziplocked! Target is always making my life easier! We had sausage on the side and I made a spiced cider recipe that Mr. Michie spotted on my Pinterest page.
Those pumpkin pancakes, were mouth watering! I love having breakfast for dinner! My Fall food has continued as this morning I was able to get a pumpkin spice latte from Starbuck’s, the very sweet barista made me one, even though they don’t launch them until October 3rd. Happiness is…
This Friday is already shaping up to be wonderful:
Well, here’s to the weekend, long may it last!
{Faye Faires, itsbetterthanbad Flickr}