The Best Buttermilk Biscuits You'll Ever Make!

Dinners this week have all been pretty laid back.  Not much cooking has been going on.  Sunday I baked some chicken thighs and made mashed potatoes and gravy, served with corn.  Monday we had leftovers of that for dinner.  And last night we had leftover sausage gravy with these homemade buttermilk biscuits.  

I don't cook much when my husband isn't home, which is okay with me!

A few years ago I was at our local library and I stumbled upon this cookbook.  

Cooking Up a Storm

It has lots of old fashioned recipes and fun stories to go along with it.  I liked it so much, that I bought it and have made a few recipes from it.  But let me tell you, I found one recipe in it that is the BEST recipe I've ever stumbled upon for Buttermilk Biscuits.  Look no further if you've been on the hunt for a good biscuit recipe!  It's in this book!  

I didn't have any fresh buttermilk on hand, but I did have a can of dry buttermilk, so I mixed some of that up and used it in place of the fresh.  The biscuits still turned out just as good as ever!  If you decide to use reconstituted buttermilk or even regular milk with vinegar or lemon juice in it, to sour it, you will have to use less.  Real buttermilk has a thick consistency, and the other two options are thinner, so you have to gauge by feel how much liquid to put in.  If you use real buttermilk, then just put the amount in the recipe and they will come out perfect!

Buttermilk Biscuits

As seen in the cookbook Cooking Up a Storm (Good Old Days)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Sift together:

1 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Cut in:

5 tablespoons butter or 1/4 cup lard (I always use lard)

Add and lightly mix (25 strokes only):

3/4 cup buttermilk or regular milk mixed with 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice

Turn dough onto floured board and knead gently for about 30 seconds.  Pat dough to a thickness of 1/2 inch.  Cut with biscuit cutter or a glass.  Bake on greased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes.  

    Note: It is best to stack to cookie sheets, one on top of the other, to prevent over-browning the biscuit bottoms.

Breakfast for dinner was a quick and easy meal to put on the table with leftover sausage gravy over hot biscuits and scrambled eggs with cheese on top.

Total cost for this dinner: about $2

Sourdough Bread

A couple of months ago I was reading up on how to make sourdough bread, I was intrigued by the fact that sourdough bread uses absolutely no yeast!! So, I thought that sourdough would be the perfect option for having bread during a situation that you might be living off of food storage and might have run out of yeast. So, I made a starter and let it grow and ferment and sour and now, I have some awesome bread!! All from water and flour. Granted, when I actually make the bread I do add a little oil, sugar and salt, but no yeast at all. And it's so yummy! I encourage all of you to start a sourdough starter, this way you can always make bread, with or without yeast!

Now, I'm not an expert about sourdough, so I'm going to lead you to a website by S. John Ross, who is an expert. You will learn everything you need to know about sourdough, from the feeding and care of your "pet" to the hooch that forms on the top. You can check out his website here. This is the recipe that I used to start my starter and to ultimately make my bread. I have two starters, this way I can have an extra in case one dies, which is pretty unlikely. Plus, we've been enjoying bread weekly and even pizza from the dough!! As you can see from my pictures I shape my dough into baguettes, we like it this way the best, but you can shape it in a regular loaf pan or as a round, it's up to you. It does take a lot of time, but not a lot of hands on time. And when I want to make bread I have to think about it about a day in advance, but that's not that big of a deal. Just read up on how to make the sourdough here and mostly, have fun!

Basil Garlic Sun Dried Tomato Bread

My favorite method of making artisan style breads is using a big pot to bake the bread in. Using this method always gives me an end result that has a crusty crust and chewy inside. I just love the fact that I can make high quality, delicious bread at home and it's just so easy! I'll never again pay $5 a loaf or more on specialty breads. The possibilities are nearly endless when it comes to the flavor combinations that you can make using the basic dough of this bread. I'll soon be trying a rosemary bread! I can't wait!

Basil Garlic Sun Dried Tomato Bread

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water
¼ cup julienne cut sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped

In a large bowl mix together all of the ingredients until just combined. Let sit, covered with plastic wrap for 4 hours. Sprinkle a fair amount of flour onto a clean surface and plop the dough onto the flour. The dough will be very wet, this is how it should be. Once all of the dough is on the floured surface, fold together in thirds. Then fold the dough in half and shape into a round loaf and sprinkle with more flour. Cover with a towel and let rise for about an hour. Half an hour before the bread should be done rising, place a large oven proof pot with a lid into the oven and preheat to 450° F. Once the pot has preheated in the oven for a half an hour, plop the dough into the pot (it might not look pretty right now, but that is okay) and cover with the lid. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, when done cooking, cool the bread on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting into it. Enjoy!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

This pasta was so yummy! If you love chicken Alfredo and also like a little kick, you'll love this pasta! We eat a lot of pasta in my house, simply because it's filling, makes a lot of food (which equals leftovers for my hubby's lunch the next day) and it's cheap. As I've said before, I shop sales and then stock up on items so that I don't have to pay full price later. This is exactly what I do with pasta! About once a year pasta goes on sale for 50 cents a pound out here. That is when I stock up! I buy tons of it and then store it all in a big Rubbermaid tote in my food storage room. At 50 cents a pound, you can eat good and cheap! So, I have to be creative with pasta since we eat it so often. And if you know my husband, he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, who isn't actually all that fond of pasta. But, he understands that we're on a budget so he eats what I make regardless. This recipe was easy to put together using some store bought help and my husband raved over it!

You could easily make this recipe into a food storage friendly recipe by using canned chicken chunks, dried garlic and instead of the cream cheese using another half a jar or so of the Alfredo sauce. And, don't forget about powdered milk, it's a great substitute for regular milk in recipes!

Cajun Chicken Pasta

1 pound linguine pasta (or other shape pasta)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into slices
2 teaspoons Cajun season salt
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper (or leave it out if you don't like too much spice)
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounce can sliced mushrooms, drained (or fresh)
1 (15 ounce) jar creamy Alfredo sauce
¼ cup milk, plus more if desired
8 ounces cream cheese
paprika & dried parsley for garnish

Cook pasta according to package directions, once cooked, drain and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large skillet heat olive oil over high heat. Add chicken breast slices, seasonings and garlic and cook until chicken is no longer pink. Add drained mushrooms and mix well. Pour jar of Alfredo sauce into skillet, mixing well to coat all of the chicken. Measure out milk and then pour it into the empty Alfredo sauce jar and shake around to get any extra Alfredo sauce out, pour into skillet along with all of the other ingredients. Break small pieces of the cream cheese off and place them into the skillet, stirring well so that they are evenly distributed and can melt evenly. Stir until cream cheese is completely melted. Add the cooked and drained pasta into the skillet and toss well. If the pasta is too dry for your liking, simply add a bit more milk until you reach the consistency that you like. Garnish with sprinklings of paprika and dried parsley on each individual plate.

Kicked Up Pintos

These beans are another great food storage recipe that can be completely food storage friendly if you use dried onion and garlic in place of the fresh. I personally keep real cooked bacon bits in my food storage. I buy them at Costco in the large bags and just keep them in a big plastic tote away from the elements. That is exactly what I used in this recipe when I made it. I love those things! They have less fat in them then if you were to fry up the bacon yourself and it's really convenient. These spicy beans are so yummy, any fan of spice will be sure to love them! If you aren't too into spice, just cut down on the jalapeños a bit, but do keep some of them in because they add so much flavor. I hope you enjoy this recipe!


Kicked Up Pintos

1 pound dried pinto beans, cooked and drained
½ cup cup onion, chopped (I used red)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup cooked bacon pieces
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 ounce) can water (use the empty tomato can)
1/3 cup chopped jarred jalapeño peppers

The day before you want to eat these beans, soak and cook the pintos according to package directions. When done cooking, place in refrigerator overnight. The next day, dump all of the ingredients into a crock pot and mix well. Cook on high for 5 hours or low for 8 hours. Serve with shredded cheese and sour cream. Enjoy!

Yummy To The Tummy White Bread

Every now and then I mix things up with our bread and make this instead of my whole wheat bread recipe. This bread is soft, sweet and doesn't stick around for long! Our favorite way to enjoy this bread is making egg salad sandwiches out of it. If your family is a white bread loving family and you've been wanting to start making your own bread, this is a great recipe! To learn more about why I use vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer in my breads, read my Awesome Whole Wheat Bread recipe. In this recipe, if you don't want to invest in those two ingredients, you could replace the all-purpose flour with bread flour and leave out the dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten. Your bread won't turn out as soft and delicious as my original recipe, but it will still be yummy.

Yummy To The Tummy White Bread

2 cups warm water
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ tablespoons yeast
1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup oil
1 tablespoon dough enhancer
1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
5 – 6 cups all purpose flour

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the water, sugar and yeast. Let sit until the yeast has proofed, about 10 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with dough hook attachment until combined. Then let the mixer knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, about 5 – 7 minutes. Turn dough into a greased bowl and cover with a towel, place the bowl in a warm place and let dough rise to double it's size. After it has risen, punch the dough down and divide into two portions. Form loaves with the dough and place into greased bread pans. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until the dough is about an inch above the pan. Once risen, place the bread into a preheated 350° F oven and bake for 30 minutes. When done baking remove from pans immediately and let cool on a wire rack. Makes 2 loaves.

White Chicken Chili

This is for sure a family pleaser!! We've been enjoying this recipe at our house for a few years now and every time I make it it gets gobbled up really quick! My young children love it and they don't mind the little bit of heat in it one bit. If your family doesn't like too much heat, just use one can of the green chilies instead of two. To make this recipe food storage friendly, you could replace the fresh chicken with 2 large cans of chicken breast meat, like the kind you might find at Costco, if you do this just be sure to take out the chicken broth and leave the juices with the chicken. And you could also use a can of evaporated milk instead of the sour cream. I hope your family loves this recipe as much as we do!

White Chicken Chili

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes {or 2 large cans chicken chunks}
1 medium onion, chopped {or you can use the equivalent in dried onions}
1 garlic clove, minced {or use the equivalent in dried garlic}
1 tablespoon oil
2 cans (15 1/2 ounces each) pinto beans, with juices
1 can white hominy, drained
1 can (14 1/2 ounces) chicken broth {leave out if using canned chicken & just use the juice from the canned chicken instead}
2 cans (4 ounces each) chopped green chilies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cilantro dried or fresh
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups sour cream {or a can of evaporated milk for food storage version}

In a large saucepan, saute chicken, onion and garlic powder in oil until chicken is no longer pink. Add beans, hominy, broth, chilies and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in sour cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if desired. Serve immediately. This is really good with tortilla chips or cornbread. Serves 4-6.

Authentic Refried Beans

Here is another great food storage recipe! To make it completely food storage friendly, you could use dried onions and garlic, both of which I keep in my food storage. Just be sure to rehydrate them before you make the recipe. With these refried beans, now you can have the delicious restaurant style refried beans that you love, right in your own home!! Since moving to Idaho I've had to teach myself how to recreate some of my favorite restaurant meals that I grew up eating in California, a good authentic refried bean recipe being one of those. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Authentic Refried Beans

1 pound dry pinto beans
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 Tbs. chopped garlic
3 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Soak beans over night in water. In the morning rinse and put beans into a large pot. Cover beans with water. Cook on medium heat uncovered until boiling. Cover and reduce to a simmer, continue cooking until beans are soft, about 2 ½ hours. Drain beans, but reserve the water that they cooked in. In the same pot melt lard, cook onion and garlic until soft. Add beans and a small amount of the reserved water. With a hand held blender, blend the bean mixture until it is nice and smooth. If you need more liquid, add more of the reserved water. Add salt to taste and enjoy. Serves 6-8.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn

I bet that you don't look at that picture and think that this gourmet looking popcorn is a food storage recipe, but guess what? It is!! Everything in the recipe is completely shelf stable, which equals food storage! Wouldn't your family be delighted to eat this if you had to live off of your food storage? I know mine would! Food storage doesn't have to be all wheat, rice and beans. Although those things are really good to have in your food storage, you should have a variety of things, like popcorn, peanut butter and chocolate!

I love peanut butter and chocolate combined, those two together is probably my all time favorite flavor combo. If you're like me, then you'll love this tasty popcorn treat! Not to mention that it looks so gourmet that you'll impress your family and friends!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn

¾ cup light corn syrup
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 cups popped popcorn
1 cup chocolate chips

Make the popcorn either with an air popper or on the stove top according to the directions on the bag, set aside in a large roasting pan or two large cookie sheets. In a saucepan over medium heat mix together the corn syrup, sugar, peanut butter and vanilla. Bring to a boil stirring constantly, once it has reached a boil, cook for one minute. Take off heat and pour over popped corn, working fast stir in all of the peanut butter coating, mixing well so that all of the popcorn is evenly coated. Let popcorn sit for about 10 minutes and then mix again to break up the pieces. In a bowl melt the chocolate for 20 seconds at a time in the microwave, stirring in between each 20 second cooking, until the chocolate is melted through. Be sure not to burn the chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn either with a spoon or by spooning the chocolate into a small zip loc bag and then cutting a small hole at one of the tips and then drizzling over by squeezing the bag over the popcorn. Let set for 30 minutes and then break up the popcorn! If the chocolate isn't setting you can put your cookie sheets or roasting pan into the fridge for 15 minutes and then you should be good to go! Enjoy!

Awesome Whole Wheat Bread

I'm pretty into food storage, partly because I'm LDS and partly because I just want to be prepared and have food in my house in case something happens. You never know when you might not be able to buy food! What if your husband lost his job or there was a big snow storm and you were stuck in your house for days? So, I store food in my house. Not a whole ton, but I do have some just in case. And what's food storage if you don't know how to use it? So, I'll be featuring some of my food storage recipes along with my regular recipes. This recipe however is so good, you'll want to eat this bread every day! Who knew food storage could be so tasty?! When I make this recipe at home I grind my wheat kernels in my wheat grinder to make the flour for this bread. This way I have the freshest flour I could possibly have! If you don't have fresh flour, store bought whole wheat flour will work perfectly fine! But, if you are going to become a serious bread baker and bake all of the bread that your family eats, as I do, you might want to consider getting yourself a wheat grinder! I highly recommend the one that I have, which is the Nutrimill! Check it out!

There are a couple of ingredients in this recipe, namely dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten that you may not have heard of before, that is unless you live in Utah or Idaho. So, I'm going to introduce them to you! Dough enhancer is a product that helps to rise your breads higher and better than if you didn't have it in your dough, it also helps to prolong the life of your bread. Vital wheat gluten adds more gluten to your dough to make it softer and more delicious! You can buy both products here or you can try looking for them in your local grocery store in the baking section. You won't regret buying them at all, you'll use them in all of your bread doughs once you try them once. Trust me!

Awesome Whole Wheat Bread

2 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon yeast
1/3 cup oil
2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup vital wheat gluten
2 tablespoons dough enhancer
5 to 7 cups whole wheat flour

In a large mixer (such as a Kitchen Aid or Bosch type) combine the water, yeast and honey. Let sit for a few minutes to give the yeast a chance to start working. Add the salt, oil, vital wheat gluten, dough enhancer and 3 to 4 cups of whole wheat flour. Continue to add more flour until the dough does not stick to the side of the bowl and does not feel sticky to the touch. Knead for 10 minutes in mixer. When dough has finished kneading let it rise once until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough and divide it into 2 pieces and form into loaves and set in greased bread pans. Let dough rise in warm, but not on oven until it is about an inch over the pan. Turn oven on to 350° F and set timer for 30 minutes, do not preheat the oven. When done baking remove from pans immediately and let cool on a wire rack. Makes 2 loaves.

Have you tried this recipe? Come and rate and review it over at Tasty Kitchen!