Strawberry Biscuits

We had a girls day brunch the other day.   I made Sangria (from Sally's Baking Addiction's recipe) which was amazing.  I just didn't know what to make with it.

Since I went a little strawberry crazy (the recipe calls for 10 strawberries and I bought two quarts), I decided I should do something with those strawberries.  I'd already eaten bowls of them, put them on ice cream and yogurt, and added them to spinach salad.  However, I wanted something a little special to go with the brunch.

I've been eyeballing the blueberry biscuits in the refrigerator section of my local grocery store.  I want them so bad, but I don't need eight biscuits and I know I would eat them all.  I have no control.  With that in mind, I decided to try my own take with these strawberries.

I have to admit that I am not the best biscuit maker in the world.  Whenever I do rolled biscuits, I overwork them and they end up tough.  Really, whenever I make biscuits completely from scratch, I overwork them and they end up tough.  I went with my old friend Bisquick to avoid the problem.

However, I almost didn't avoid eating the whole batch by myself.  Good thing I made them immediately before I needed to leave!

Strawberry Biscuits

3/4 cup Heart Healthy Bisquick
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
 1/4 cup light almond milk (or whatever milk you have on hand)
1/4 cup chopped strawberries


milk for coating
Sugar in the Raw for dusting

1.) Preheat oven to 450 F.
2.) Mix together the Bisquick, sugar, and nutmeg.

3.) Add the chopped strawberries.

4.) Add the milk and mix carefully, just until fairly incorporated.
5.) Divide dough into four parts.
6.) Form the dough into round disks (or just drop it onto the cookie sheet).



7.) Dab the tops with milk to help the raw sugar adhere.
8.)  Sprinkle raw sugar on top.

9.)  Bake until golden brown (about 8 minutes).
10.)  Cool for as long as you can :-)

Obviously, I went for the drop biscuit form.  Also, you may notice that there are fewer here than were in the previous photo.  Yeah.  Meagan and I ate them, before Andrea even got here.

After I told my dad about these, he had a couple of good points.  First, almond extract would highlight the berry flavor a bit.  Second, I could have made a simple glaze for these.  Either (or both) would be a lovely option.  I also thought about adding some lemon zest to the dough.  However, these were awesome just as they were.

I think I may go make these again :-)

Excuse the break

Last week was a little crazy between finals and grading and THATCamp.  I never got around to really making something worthy of a blog post.  Then, I didn't really eat any non-chain/life-changing food to replace my own post.  I almost did a birthday ninja post, but I will save that for another date.

Along with the busy-ness that made me not post on the blog last week, I ate like a crazy person.  I was very disappointed in myself, especially since I didn't even walk Remy (he was at the PetHotel) for exercise.  So part of my plan for this week (and looking forward) is to be back on track with healthier foods and fewer snacks.  Does that mean I am not splurging at all?  No.  However, I am being more thoughtful about what I spend my calories on. 

In order to make up for the lack of posts, I will now post TWO in a row.  Today I am posting a turkey burger recipe that I make (in different versions) all the time.

The great thing about this recipe is that I can vary the meat and the add ins.  Sometimes I make green chili burgers and use bread crumbs or panko.  Sometimes I use beef (my mom calls them Sy's burgers after my grandfather).  I've used different flavors of Cheez-its.  These are easy, fast, and I never feel guilty about them.

Spicy Turkey Burgers

4ish ounces ground turkey
1 Tablespoon crushed spicy cheez-its
1 teaspoon egg beaters
1 1/2 teaspoons milk
1/4 teaspoon dried onions
a dash ground chipotle
a dash spicy Mrs. Dash

Mix all the ingredients together.

You may want to use your hands for it.  With burgers and meatloaf, you just have to use your hands to get it mixed together.

Form into  a patty.  If it is not holding together that well, you may need to add more cheez-its.

Fry until cooked through.  I don't trust any ground meat to be undercooked, so I cook it until it is super super done.

I added a slice of reduced fat colby jack and served it on a multigrain thin with lettuce and tomato.  For a side, I made a salad with light ranch dressing.

These burgers don't really shrink that much (depending on the fat content and brand of ground turkey you use), so I obviously did a great job of forming the patty to the size of the bun.  Oh well.  :-) 

Pistachios, anyone?

Several weeks ago, a professor shared some pistachio brittle with us in the DH.  It was lovely.  I could have eaten the whole bag all by myself....but I didn't. I am not that rude.  However, I did stop by the store to see if I could get a bag for myself.  I won't repeat what I said when I saw the price. 

I have never been a candy maker, but I was sure I could make some pistachio brittle that was equally tasty and much cheaper than the store bought kind.  However, I was not ready--read as too lazy-- to buy a candy thermometer, so I had to find a base recipe that didn't require one.  I used this one, from the Brown Eyed Baker, as a base.  I cut it in half as I only had a cup of pistachios and

Pistachio Brittle

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup pistachios

Line a sheet pan (if you care about its finish) with parchment and spray it with cooking spray.  I was being lazy (once again--it is a very real problem for me), so I didn't go buy parchment.  I used waxed paper.  Also, I didn't want to use my spray, because I was making it to share and it was made with soy (and one of the DH group has food and gluten allergies). I used butter.  Between the two my brittle stuck and we ended up eating a little paper.

Add the sugar, water, corn syrup, and salt to a sauce pan.  Bring the mixture to a boil and cook until the syrup becomes a golden brown color.  This may take about 25 minutes.  It is important to watch the mixture fairly closely, especially when it begins changing color. 

Once it reaches the correct color, take it off the heat and add the rest of the ingredients.  I saved the baking soda for last.  Stir it quickly, then spread it on the prepared baking sheet.

This goes quickly, but no worries if it is not even.  You are breaking it into pieces anyway! Let it cool before you try to break it.  This can take about 15 minutes.

Store it in an airtight container.

I just wish that I had saved some for myself!

In the future, I think I am going to try it with cranberries.  I may also try a peanut brittle with chipotle. 

Maybe the future is now?

Can we try that again?

This has been the week of recipes not going the way I had hoped.  First, I tried a southwestern quinoa burger with the leftover quinoa from my recipe from last week.  It was pretty good, but I wasn't very precise about ingredients (it was more of a throw-things-in-a-bowl-and-hope-it-works-out recipe), and I didn't take any pictures.  Then, I made brown rice pudding.  It was undercooked and really dry.  It tasted good, but it wasn't quite what it was supposed to be. 

I really wish I had taken pictures of the steel cut oat bars I made on Sunday!  They were a hit.

I'm going for easy now.  Instead of those recipes, I am sharing my mini cheesy corn muffins.  They aren't exactly the most difficult recipe ever, or the most creative, but they are comfort food for me.  My sister and I used to make these (minus the chipotle and sometimes plus bacon) for lunch during the summer when we were kids.  What better time for comfort food than the eve of finals week?

Mini Cheesy Corn Muffins

1 package (6 muffin) corn muffin mix (such as Jiffy)
+the ingredients for making the muffin mix
          1/3 cup egg beaters
          1/3 cup light almond milk
             2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup shredded cheese (taco blend is best)
1 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder

shredded cheese and cajun seasoning for topping

First, preheat the oven according to the package directions.  Spray a mini muffin tin.

Mix the wet ingredients (egg beaters, milk, oil for me) into the mix.

Add the cajun seasoning and the shredded cheese.

Fill the muffin cups.

Top with more cheese and cajun seasoning.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean.  Mine took less than 10 minutes.

I took these to a potluck party and they were very popular.  I took all twenty four (Okay, twenty three.  I ate one.) and brought about six home. Then I ate two more.