Soda Pop Biscuits

Hello, my name is confidential, and I'm addicted to Pinterest.

Anyone else out there pinning in every spare moment?  Surely it's not just me?

One of the recipes that kept popping up over and over was something called

7-Up Biscuits, or Popeye's biscuits. 

They boast only four ingredients, and let's face it,

I'm always up for something fast and easy.

Original Recipe:

2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup 7-up

1/2 cup melted butter

I had Jiffy mix in the cabinet, and Sierra Mist in the frige, close 'nuff right? 

You cut the sour cream into the Bisquick mix with a fork

until it's a uniform crumble

Then pour in the soda pop and gently stir.

It really foams up!

And if you haven't forgotten to put the card

in your camera, then you'll have better pictures

Sprinkle the counter with mix, and turn out the dough.

Give it a few good kneads and flatten it out to about an inch thick,

Again, memory card and fresh batteries, I beg of you

This should make 9 biscuits.  I cut mine out with a drinking glass

just like Aunt Helen taught me.

I wish she'd taught me to take better pictures.

Pour the melted butter over the top of the biscuits

350* 12-17 minutes until golden brown.

Discovery:  for this batch I melted the butter in the baking pan

in my pre-heating oven, then I flipped them over in the butter and thought I was good.

But they didn't really brown.  They tasted WONDERFUL

but they were beautiful on the bottom, and pale on the topside.

Next time I will actually follow the directions more closely

and pour the melted butter over the top so the whole biscuit gets that

wonderful butter golden goodness.

So this was a thumbs-up find for me, and I will absolutely make them again!

Happy Baking!

Crock Pot Sunday

Well it's about time I got over here to post isn't it?

I started to write some heartfelt post about how real life gets in the way, but blew that off, mostly because the smell of cooking bacon was making me drool.

Today is Crock Pot Sunday -- I love to make a big enough batch of something on Sunday that I don't have to cook on Monday (not that I do much of the cooking these days).

Today is:  Loaded Potato Soup.  The temps have turned cool here in Iowa, and it's rained for nearly 3 days running now, so why not make pototo soup and 7-up biscuits?

Has there ever been a bad recipe that started with the phrase

"Melt a stick of butter"?

I try to always spray my Crock Pot, but not sure it retains the non-stick property 

after I spend so much time stirring things together (?)

I try to keep a bag of hashbrowns in the freezer since I live so far

from town.  I punch a few holes in the bag and microwave this while the

butter melts, so they are nice and soft.  This way the soup is ready to eat in just a couple/three hours

I also buy Vidalia onions when they are in season and chop them up and freeze them for winter use.

There would be a picture of this step .....  however ....

I had a little helper, and she was giving me a fright playing with the gas stove knobs.

"no" is just not in her vocabulary yet.

After the onions are nice and translucent, stir them into the potatos until well absorbed.

I actually hate using canned soups.  In fact, it's a running joke how many of the

quick dishes I make contain them

but honestly

a Grannys gotta do, what a Grannys gotta do.

A brick of cream cheese is added to the pot, this does give the finished soup a silky texture

The original recipe calls for a quart of heavy cream.  I just can't do it.  

I do use whole milk, because with a 1 year old in the house, we always have it on hand.

I'm out of black pepper - sorry.  Salt and Pepper to taste.

It will now simmer for about 3 hours. It can easily be ready for a hearty weekend lunch

if you have it on by 9:00 in the morning.

Meanwhile I bake the bacon

(I just took the stove apart to clean it yesterday I'll be damned if 

I'm gonna fry bacon today)

I overcooked it a bit...but it's all good.

Stir it in just before serving.

A bowl full, with a light sprinkling of cheddar cheese...

A fluffy buttery 7-up Biscuit

(I'll put that recipe up another day)

And there you have the perfect bite.

ahhhhhhhhhh

******************************************************

Loaded Potato Soup

1 stick butter

1 bunch of green onions

     or a 1/2 cup chopped onions if you live too far from the market to just run up and get green onions

1 bag shredded hash browns - thawed and softened in microwave

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 brick Cream Cheese 

1 quart whole milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 pound bacon, cooked and crumbled

Variations:

Use non-fat soups with non-fat cream cheese and skim milk.  Why you would do that, I have no idea.

Try a can of cream of shrimp, and a can of clam chowder, with the cream cheese, then throw in a bag of crab or lobster bites just before serving.  Serve with oyster crackers.

In place of the cream cheese use Velveeta for an old fashioned pot-luck flavor and serve with saltines.

Just play with it....you can't go wrong!

Just don't overcook, or the milk with curdle.  

It's true, I don't cook that often anymore, my daughter does the vast majority of the cooking....but when I do it tends to be things that are fast and easy, and have been child approved by my own picky eater.  I would agree with you that too much of it starts with a mix, or pre-packaged food, but truth be told, as a single mother for the past 21+ years, I just had to take some shortcuts to make life manageable.

So....make a salad why don't cha?

Thank you !

Thank you to my lovely daughter for starting this family blog, and a double thank you for inviting me to participate!

We want to share family recipes, both new and old, and will be asking other members of our extended family to participate...especially my brother, Bubba.  Whom is a grill master supreme!

Let the cooking begin!

(soooo...this week I'm on a liquid only glucose reset diet, so I've been hiding in my bedroom to keep from eating LOL)

Black Bean and Corn Salad

This is a delicious and fresh blend of vegetables that your whole family will love! You can serve it as a side or use it as a topping on hot dogs or in quesadillas!

Start by cleaning your corn cobs and rub a little butter (or coconut oil for a healthier option) and grill your corn cobs until you get a nice char.

Chop up some red onion and a red bell pepper.

fry a good handful of chopped bacon and lay it on a paper towel to soak up the excess grease.

Juice a lime.

Cut all the kernels off your cobs.

Saute your onions and peppers with some olive oil until the onion is translucent.

Add your corn and continue to heat through, about a minute or so.

Then add your lime juice and some garlic.

Saute another 3 minutes or so. I did forget to snag a picture of the finished product but it looks exactly like it does above... It was really good, trust me.



Pickled Zucchini Relish

I have always been interesting in trying out new things, especially when it comes to cooking. I decided to try to make this particular recipe because my hubby hates cucumbers. Now when I say he hates cucumbers I don't just mean that he dislikes them, I mean he HATES them. The sight, smell and taste is enough to send him running out of the room gagging.

There were a lot of different recipes out there so I decided to just eenie-meenie-miny-mo it and chose this one.

I'm usually pretty good about taking pictures of each part of the process, but I was short on time and energy with our little one running around pulling pots and pans out of the cupboard to bother with the details.

But I did snag a nice picture of the product... drum roll please...

Ta-Daa! Doesn't that look delicious?

A lot of people just shred their zucchini but i really wanted an nice and small square chop on these, purely for aesthetic reasons.

This was rather time consuming to do this but it was totally worth it. Even if it did only make 4 pint jars (which was quadrupled from the original recipe.

So here it is(with the larger measurments):

• 8 cups shredded or chopped zucchini
• 4 cup chopped onion
• 2 cup sweet green pepper
• 2 cup sweet red pepper
• 8 tablespoons pickling salt
• 4 cup brown sugar
• 8 teaspoons celery seed
• 4 teaspoon mustard seed
• 4 cup apple cider vinegar

1. Chop the peppers and onions. Shred, or chop, the zucchini. A food processor works well for chopping and shredding the vegetables, but it can also be done by hand.
2. Place the vegetables from the step above in a very large bowl. Sprinkle the vegetables with the f salt. Fill the bowl with cool water until the vegetables are completely covered. Let stand in the brine solution for 2 hours.
3. Drain the vegetables and rinse thoroughly with water. Combine the sugar, celery seed, mustard seed, and vinegar in a large saucepan or stockpot. Add the chopped vegetables. Bring all ingredients to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

If you are new to canning then I would look it up online, the place this recipe came from had some instructions but they were a little too vague in my opinion.

Hope you enjoy!

-Mama Boots