Kids Dish

Tonight I made pepperoni bread for the third time. It’s the best batch I’ve made so far. This is a recipe I came up with myself. None of the recipes online looked quite right so I decided to wing it and it’s worked out pretty well.

Pepperoni bread is like a stromboli, only not quite as heavy. I took the basic ingredients of a pepperoni and cheese stromboli and scaled them down so it wouldn’t be quite as greasy. You can start the dough the night before to cut down on the total time for the recipe.

1 recipe pizza dough
2/3 cup mozzarella cheese
1/4 lb thin sliced sandwich pepperoni
2 tsp coarse ground mustard
olive oil

Make one recipe of pizza dough, adding a tablespoon of Italian seasoning or a combination of dried herbs before mixing. Let rise for an hour or overnight.

Stretch the dough into a thin rectangle, about 14×10″ on a half sheet of parchment paper. The parchment will keep it from sticking and help you transfer the bread in and out of the oven. Brush coarse mustard evenly over the dough. Sprinkle about a third of a cup of shredded mozzarella over the dough. Add a thin layer of sandwich pepperoni. Sprinkle with another third of a cup of cheese. Roll it the long way, jelly roll style, using the parchment to help. Turn the bread seam side down and cover the bread with lightly greased plastic wrap.

Preheat the oven and the baking stone to 425 degrees. If you don’t have a baking stone turn a large baking sheet upside down. Spray the top of the bread with a mist of olive oil. Using another baking sheet, slide the parchment onto the preheated stone and let the bread bake for about 25 minutes, until lightly browned and a little bubbly. Let cool on a rack. Slice into rounds and serve warm or at room temperature.

This is one of the only bread recipes I’ve used that is impossible to screw up. Whether I knead by hand or with the stand mixer, whether I use all whole wheat flour or a mix of white and wheat, whether I forget ingredients, let it rise too long, don’t let it rise long enough, or put the kids to bed while it’s in the oven and miss hearing the oven timer so it overbakes by a good fifteen minutes the bread always turns out okay. But for the record, I recommend not letting it bake for 20 minutes too long. The color isn’t nearly as attractive and the crust is a bit crunchier than a sandwich bread should be.

This recipe makes two loaves. Freeze one or give it to a friend. The bread toasts well and is great for sandwiches, especially peanut butter and jelly. It’s a kid favorite. You’ll need two loaf pans.

Oatmeal Wheat Bread
adapted from Gourmet
* 2 cups milk- whole milk is best but 2% or skim are fine too
* 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats plus additional for topping
* 1/2 cup warm water
* 2 tablespoons active dry yeast (3 packages)
* 1/2 cup mild honey
* 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for buttering pans
* 3 cups whole-wheat flour
* About 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (you can use white whole wheat flour instead if you want an all whole wheat loaf)
* 1 tablespoon salt
* Vegetable oil for oiling bowl
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water (to brush the tops of the loaves- you can omit this and brush with milk or melted butter instead)

Heat milk in a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan over low heat until hot but not boiling, then remove pan from heat and stir in oats. Let stand, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until cooled to warm.

Stir together water, yeast, and 1 teaspoon honey in a small bowl; let stand until foamy, 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn’t foam, discard and start over with new yeast.) Stir yeast mixture, melted butter, and remaining honey into cooled oatmeal.

Stir together whole-wheat flour, 1 1/2 cups unbleached (or white whole wheat) flour, and salt in a large bowl. Add oat mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until a soft dough forms.

Turn out onto a well-floured surface and knead with floured hands, adding just enough of remaining unbleached flour to keep from sticking, until dough is smooth, soft, and elastic, about 10 minutes. Dough will be slightly sticky.

(If you want to use a stand mixer, stir all the ingredients together in the mixer bowl on low, then knead with a dough hook on medium for 5-10 minutes. Don’t add too much of the additional flour.)

Form dough into a ball and transfer to an oiled large bowl, turning to coat. I just use the bowl I mixed the dough in. Cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel; let rise at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Lightly butter loaf pans. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead several times to remove air. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a loaf, then place 1 loaf in each buttered pan, seam side down, tucking ends gently to fit. Cover loaf pans loosely with a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly brush tops of loaves with some of egg wash (or milk or butter)and sprinkle with oats, then bake until bread is golden and loaves sound hollow when tapped on bottom, 35 to 40 minutes. (Remove 1 loaf from pan to test for doneness. Run a knife around edge of pan to loosen.)

Remove bread from pans and transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

After several overly dense loaves, loaves that did not rise, loaves that were raw on the inside, loaves that tasted cardboard, and rock hard balls of dough I just had to throw out, I’ve finally become confident in my ability to bake bread. It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t so much practice that made it happen as it was advice from others. Here’s the advice that has worked for me.

1. Use good flour. If you can’t get freshly milled flour use King Arthur Flour. There’s something about the protein content that makes it far superior to the generic supermarket brand or Gold’s.

2. If your house is freezing cold like mine is, preheat your oven to 175, turn it off and let the bread rise (tightly covered in plastic wrap, not just covered by a kitchen towel) in the warm oven. It will rise.

3. If you want to make 100% whole wheat bread buy some vital wheat gluten. A teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half added to each cup of flour will help your bread’s texture and height.

4. Make sure you’re using the correct yeast and make the necessary changes if you don’t. If a recipe calls for instant yeast and all you have is active dry make sure you mix the yeast with some of the liquid the recipe calls for and let it dissolve before adding the rest of the ingredients. I always add a pinch of sugar so it gets bubbly and I can make sure it’s active.

5. Use the least amount of flour the recipe calls for, adding a little at a time. If a recipe calls for 5-6 cups of flour start with 4 1/2 and work your way up. It’s better to add more flour than it is to end up with a dry dough that’s hard to knead.

6. Skip the stand mixer and knead by hand. It was only when I started kneading with my hands that I figured out I’d been over-kneading with the mixer. When you use your hands you learn what dough should feel like and you can start to really understand the terminology, for example what a “shaggy” dough is, or “puffy but not doubled in bulk.”

It really is easy for me now. Aside from last week when I accidentally used a tablespoon of salt instead of a teaspoon, I haven’t had any casualties. Good luck!

One of the nice things about not hosting during the holidays is that there’s no need to cook. I have not had to prepare a meal other than a bowl of noodles with cheese and butter or a sandwich since last Tuesday. I think I’m going to have to ease my way back into cooking. My in-laws came over for dinner tonight bringing leftovers and left behind two jars worth of homemade tomato sauce. Tomorrow I think I’m going to make pizza.

I discovered (in my yeast bread frenzy) that pizza dough is ridiculously easy to make. If I’d known this sooner I probably would have started making my own years ago. But hindsight is 20/20 and now I know, so pizza is soon to be a regular menu item especially since I got a pizza stone for Chanukah.

Pizza dough

1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon active dry yeast
½ cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Dissolve yeast in two tablespoons of warm water with a pinch of sugar. Let it sit until it becomes bubbly, about five minutes. Stir dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add yeast mixture, water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can. Dump the bowl out onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball. Use your hands, not a mixer for this, especially if you’re not used to kneading. After a few minutes you’ll notice that the lumps suddenly come together and you’ve got a soft, easy to work with ball.

Lightly oil the bowl you mixed the dough in. Put the dough in the bowl. Turn it to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and leave it to rise for about an hour until doubled in size. If your kitchen is cold like mine is it may take longer than an hour.

Once it’s doubled, preheat the oven to it’s highest temperature with a pizza stone or baking sheet on the rack. Dump the dough back out on the counter, punch it down to get out the air, roll it back into a ball and let it sit for about ten to fifteen more minutes.

Roll out into a 12 inch circle and top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake on the preheated stone or baking sheet for about 10 minutes or until the crust is brown and slightly bubbly.

Sadly the toddler is too smart for his own good and knows that my pizza is different from takeout. I may have to slip it into a box we’ve saved for the entertainment value to try and fool him.

I mentioned that I successfully made a decent loaf of white sandwich bread. It rose like it was supposed to and tasted pretty good. The following day, bolstered by my success, I replaced half of the white flour with wheat flour and tried the recipe again. It was still pretty good.

The recipe calls for letting the bread proof above the top of the loaf pan. I think that in my kitchen that’s just not likely. My kitchen is too cold. So by the time the dough reached the level it was supposed to it had overproofed, causing it to sink in the middle. The top crust became loose and because of the overproofing, which would be great if your kids like the crusts cut off of their sandwiches.

Anyway, Sam loved the white bread and the wheat bread too and has been requesting toast and sandwiches for meals the past few days. Here’s the recipe from the King Arthur Flour website:

3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup milk
1/2 to 2/3 cup hot water, enough to make a soft, smooth dough
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter, margarine or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 packet active dry yeast dissolved in 1 tablespoon warm water OR 2 teaspoons instant yeast

If you’re using active dry yeast: While you measure the other ingredients let the yeast dissolve in the water with a pinch of sugar until it becomes bubbly. That way you know it’s working before you start.

Mixing: In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and stir till the dough starts to leave the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased surface, oil your hands, and knead it for 6 to 8 minutes, or until it begins to become smooth and supple. (You may also knead this dough in an electric mixer or food processor, or in a bread machine set to the dough or manual cycle). Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise till puffy though not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 60 minutes, depending on the warmth of your kitchen. This took a long time in my kitchen, which is between 55 and 60 degrees.

Shaping: Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and shape it into an 8-inch log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan, cover the pan loosely with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the bread to rise for about 60 minutes, until it’s domed about 1 inch above the edge of the pan. A finger pressed into the dough should leave a mark that rebounds slowly. Again, my kitchen is quite cold. I let it go for closer to two hours and it over-proofed.

Baking: Bake the bread in a preheated 350°F oven for about 35 minutes, until it’s light golden brown. Test it for doneness by removing it from the pan and thumping it on the bottom (it should sound hollow), or by measuring its interior temperature with an instant-read thermometer (it should register 190°F at the center of the loaf). Remove the bread from the oven, and cool it on a wire rack before slicing. Store the bread in a plastic bag at room temperature. Yield: 1 loaf.

This is a great recipe for beginning bakers.

Two days ago I started my second batch of the no-knead bread.

Based on suggestions that it would rise better in a smaller vessel I baked it in my smaller cast iron dutch oven instead of my enormous, Le Creuset enameled oven. But even baked in my smaller dutch oven it came out sort of flat. It never seemed to rise. After two hours I moved it upstairs to above the wood stove, hoping the heat would give it some incentive, but after a four hour second rise it never even came close.

Last night it spread out. It definitely expanded and took up more space than it did after being shaped, but never puffed up like it should. I started to troubleshoot. Was the yeast active? I mixed a bit with water and sugar and it started to bubble almost immediately? Was it the wrong kind of yeast? According to the original recipe, no, but according to a follow-up article in the NYT, active dry yeast is fine. Did it stay flat because my house is too cold? My house temperature is between 59-60 degrees most of the time, not the recommended 70 degrees, but the follow-up article does suggest that any temperature is fine. I even added more yeast this time in the hopes that it would make a difference.

The only difference between this attempt and the last failed attempt was that the bread, flat as it was, tasted amazing and had a bread like texture instead of being dense and hard like a rock. It’s seriously delicious. It may be flat as a pancake, but at 11 pm, when I finally took it out of the oven after letting it “rise” for an additional 2 hours, we had to stop ourselves from eating the whole thing right then and there.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. Based on the videos there’s nothing wrong with my technique. I have no problems making yeast breads ordinarily, but this one just seems to elude me. Give it a shot and let me know how you make out.

Since I’m Jewish my knowledge of Christian religious traditions is rather limited. I remember every year I’d see people with dirty foreheads and I never really made the Ash Wednesday connection until I was in high school. I remember smacking myself in the forehead and thinking, “Duh,” when I figured that one out.

Today, the day before Lent begins, is Fastnacht Day, a German tradition that’s also celebrated not too far from me in Pennsylvania Dutch Country. I’d never heard of Fastnacht Day, until a few local bloggers, wrote about the tradition and linked to the wikipedia article.

Jennie wrote:

But most importantly, it’s Fat Tuesday here in Pennsylvania, which means any god-fearing life-long resident with a German heritage is making a batch of oh-so-bad-for-you-but-unnervingly-delicious fried fauschnauts (the counterpart to pancakes and doughnuts in other parts of the world that observe “Shrove� Tuesday). When I was growing up in the rural heart of Pennsylvania, my school actually celebrated Fauschnaut Day by serving homemade fauschnauts at lunch. To this day I am baffled by how a cafeteria renowned for its inedible cuisine was able to churn out these little balls of heaven once a year. My mom also made homemade fauschnauts during much of my childhood, and I adored swiping them straight out of the cinnamon sugar mixture while they were still piping hot. Ah, the memories…

A quick recipe search came up with several different versions of the Fat Tuesday treat but the one I’m going to share comes from Alice Faust, a Pennsylvania native. This recipe was originally printed in Dig It magazine. It’s one of three recipes printed and this one seems like it would be the best dipped in butter and cinnamon sugar.

Alice Faust’s Family Recipe #2: Fashnachts with Yeast

2 cups scalded milk
½ cup lard
1 cup mashed potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
¾ cup sugar
2 well beaten eggs
1 package yeast
7 cups flour, approximately

Scald milk and add mashed potatoes, sugar, salt, and lard. Cool until lukewarm. Add eggs. Add yeast and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead well and place in a greased bowl. Cover with a cloth and let rise about 1 ½ hours. Roll ¼ in thick on a
floured board. Place on a cloth and let rise until doubled in size and fry in hot fat.

I like baking bread but I’m definitely not a purist. I know that in order to be good at baking bread I should be familiar with the various stages of dough and gluten by touch, but I just don’t have the patience. I love the smell of freshly baked bread and I love the yeasty smell while I wait for it to rise, but I don’t find the act of kneading particularly therapeutic so I use my Kitchenaid mixer instead.

The problem with using the mixer (and the food processor which is even more frightening and dangerous) is that Sam alternately loves it and is afraid of it. He wants to turn it on and off and on and off and on and off then runs from it if it’s turned on too quickly. I don’t want him to get too comfortable with it, because the dangers and mess potential far outweigh the benefits.

Sure I could stick to quick breads like biscuits, but what’s the fun in that. Instead I’m going to give no-knead bread a shot. A recipe published not too long ago in the New York Times claims to produce a perfect loaf of bread with no kneading. The secret is a long, overnight rise. According to the NYT, what makes the “process revolutionary is the resulting combination of great crumb, lightness, incredible flavor — long fermentation gives you that — and an enviable, crackling crust, the feature of bread that most frequently separates the amateurs from the pros.�

Sounds good to me. I don’t have the right size cast iron dutch oven required for baking but I’m going to give the recipe a go anyway. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

I realized last week as I posted the Vegetarian Blog Carnival that I’d completely forgotten about Mondays. Z is a few weeks behind, but since there’s not much going on in terms of Z ingredients you’ll forgive me I’m sure. I’ve posted about zucchini more times than I can count this summer so I’ll skip it this week and turn to zest, the brightly colored, outermost peel of citrus fruit. Any recipe that calls for citrus juice, whether it be lime, lemon, or orange, can often be improved with the addition of just a tiny bit of zest. Getting away from the kids part of Kids Dish for a moment, my lime simple syrup*, used in margaritas and classic, shaken lime daiquiris, gets most of it’s superb flavor from the zest of one lime.

To get zest from citrus without taking any of the pith with it you can use a citrus zester, vegetable peeler, or fine grater. I love my Microplane grater, but before I bought it I just used the smallest side of my box grater.

Here’s a great seasonal recipe the kids will love. The recipe is adapted from Allrecipes.com. I added more spice, substituted applesauce for oil and subbed in one cup of whole wheat flour.

Mini Pumpkin Muffins with Orange Drizzle

* 1 (15 ounce) can 100% pure pumpkin or about 2 cups fresh (or frozen) pumpkin puree
* 2 teaspoons ground ginger
* 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1 cup dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup applesauce
* 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt

Orange Drizzle:
* 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
* 1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
* 4 teaspoons orange juice

1. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 36 mini-muffin cups with vegetable cooking spray.
2. Bring pumpkin, ginger, cinnamon and cloves to a simmer in a medium saucepan until puree thickens enough to start sticking to pan bottom, 6 to 8 minutes. Turn hot puree into a bowl. Whisk in brown sugar and applesauce, then slowly beat in eggs.
3. Meanwhile, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; whisk into pumpkin mixture until just combined.
4. Divide batter among the muffin cups and bake until golden and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Let stand a few minutes, then transfer mini-muffins to a wire rack to cool.

For drizzle

1. Sift the confectioners sugar onto a plate and discard any lumps that remain.
2. In a medium sized bowl whisk together sugar, orange juice and zest.
3. Drizzle over warm (not hot!) muffins.

*Since you’re all dying for the recipe, the simple syrup calls for 2 cups sugar dissolved in one cup boiling water. Add the juice of 12 limes and the zest of one lime. It’s delicious in a variety of adults only drinks.

zest, Easy as A-B-C Monday, citrus fruits, recipes, pumpkin muffins with orange drizzle, mini muffins, fall recipe

Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Delicata, Hubbard, Kabocha and fall’s ubiquitous pumpkin are just a few varieties of squashes harvested in late summer and fall. Winter Squashes store well in cool basements for months if they are checked regularly for soft spots or mold.

Unlike summer squash, winter squashes tend to have thick, hard skins so I find it’s easiest to bake first and cut later for the larger varieties like butternut or cut in half and bake in the shell for smaller varieties like acorn. Most squashes are sweet when cooked, making them popular with kids. They’re high in Vitamins A and C, high in potassium and fiber.

To cook most squashes, bake them in a 375 degree oven until the skin is easily pierced with a fork. Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and either serve in the shell or scoop out the flesh and mash or puree. Other squashes are delicious cubed in soups or stews. For these cut first, scoop the seeds, bake for about 20 minutes and peel and cube when the flesh is cool enough to handle.

The flesh of squash when pureed can be baked into breads or muffins for an extra vitamin boost. This time of year pumpkin finds its way into many baked goods like my favorite pumpkin cheese muffins. This recipe calls for canned pumpkin, but if you have access to small, sweet cooking pumpkins, not the large jack-o-lantern types which tend to be tasteless, you can puree the cooked flesh and use the equivalent amount in the muffins.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (low fat is fine. Non fat is not)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons brown sugar

4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons white sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 3/4 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin ( I usually add more)
1/3 cup olive oil or applesauce
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour 18 muffin cups, or use paper liners.

To make the filling: In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until soft. Add egg, vanilla and brown sugar. Beat until smooth, then set aside.

For the streusel topping: In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Add butter and cut it in with a fork until crumbly. Set aside.

For the muffin batter: In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Make a well in the center of flour mixture and add eggs, pumpkin, olive oil and vanilla. Beat together until smooth.

Place pumpkin mixture in muffin cups about 1/2 full. Then add one tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture right in the middle of the batter. Try to keep cream cheese from touching the paper cup. Sprinkle on the streusel topping.

Bake at 375 degrees F (195 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

winter squash, muffin recipe, pumpkin cheese muffin recipe

It’s pronounced fuh-kah-sha in these parts. My husband has a whole other pronunciation but this is a site about kids…
At any rate, I love focaccia. I usually pick it up at our local Trader Joes, though, because I am not a baker. I have no patience for baking. And I want to make breads, I really do, but they just require so much effort.

That’s why this recipe from Family Circle caught my eye. I will admit to not having tried it (yet) but it incorporates veggies and cheese and seems fairly easy - and it involves a grill so you can make it outside (if the sun ever comes out in parts of the world - like the northeast US!).

Grilled Veggie Focaccia
Source: Family Circle

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon rapid-rise yeast
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup warm water (120 degrees F to 130 degrees F)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small zucchini, trimmed and sliced lengthwise into planks
1 small red onion, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch thick slices
3 tablespoons prepared balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
1 medium tomato, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese

Directions
1. Mix flour, yeast, rosemary, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse to evenly blend. Add warm water and oil and pulse until dough comes together in a ball.
2. Pulse dough with an on and off motion to knead, about 30 seconds. With lightly oiled hands, transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat. Set aside to rest while preparing veggies.
3. Heat gas grill to medium-high or prepare charcoal grill with medium-hot coals. Place zucchini slices in a medium-size bowl. Secure onion slices with toothpicks, to keep rings from separating while grilling. Add to bowl with zucchini, and toss with balsamic vinaigrette.
4. Grill veggies, 2 minutes per side until tender and nicely marked. Transfer to cutting board; cool slightly, removing toothpicks from onions.
5. While vegetables cool, pat out dough to a 12 x 8-inch rectangle. Brush with 1 tablespoon oil, and transfer, oil side down, to grill.
6. Grill dough 3 minutes, or until dry on top and lightly browned on the bottom. Brush top with remaining tablespoon oil and flip over using a set of tongs and large spatula.
7. Top dough with sliced tomato and 1/4-cup cheese. Chop the vegetables, and sprinkle over dough. Top with remaining 1/4-cup shredded cheese and close lid on grill. Cook for 2 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Serve warm. Makes 6 servings.

focaccia, cheese, bread, grill

Mmmm. Biscuits.

I was born and raised a Southern girl. My grandmother (I called her “Granny”) made fresh biscuits every day of her life, whether a crowd was gathering or if it was just her and my grandfather. At night, in summer, we would eat a bowl of vegetable soup and a biscuit for dinner. Granny would wash it down with a glass of buttermilk. I can remember those nights as if they happened last week - which is pretty amazing because as a mother of three, I can barely remember what I did five minutes ago.

Kids will love these biscuits plain, with butter, with jelly… It’s a great way to use up leftovers (Easter ham mini-sandwiches). I also recommend serving plain biscuits warm with butter and molasses for a nice treat.

Oops, I think I just caught a little drool…

Southern-style biscuits

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup vegetable shortening (Granny used lard but I realize that’s frowned upon these days!)
1 1/2 to 2 cups buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening using your hands or a fork. Gradually add buttermilk until the dough turns a little stick, but not tacky.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll out to about 1-1/2″ thick. Cut into circles using cookie cutters, biscuit cutters or a drinking glass. Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet at least two inches apart. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until risen and golden brown.

** Why mess with a good thing? But for some variety, you can try mixing some parmesan or shredded cheese into the dough. Adding two tablespoons of garlic also gives it a good punch.

Southern food, biscuits, soul food, comfort food