Paula's Cheese Biscuits

Poor Paula is getting a bad rap these days. Love or hate her, Paula Deen can cook. I have pinned or bookmarked almost her entire site of recipes and continue to adore her. I have yet to find a recipe of hers that wasn't incredible.


Including these biscuits. I am much more of a biscuit girl than a roll kind of girl. I could serve them with every meal and often make a big batch so I can have them for breakfast the next morning. These biscuits are light and fluffy and crumble in your mouth. Mmmm....


Ingredients:
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar
1/3 cup shortening
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups self rising flour


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt together, using a fork. Cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal. Add cheese. Stir in buttermilk all at one time, just until blended. Do not over stir! Drop by tablespoons full, or use and ice cream scoop, onto well greased baking sheet. Brush dough with melted butter. 


Bake 12 to 15 minutes. 

Bacon, Egg & Sausage Breakfast Cups

Tomorrow is Spencer's last day of school. I cannot believe how fast the year went! I am super excited to be able to spend the summer with him as I have been lucky enough to rearrange my work schedule for the next 3 months to be able to stay home with him. No daycare and time with my boy! I plan on sharing lots of fun pictures and recipes as we go along.


Here is another one of those recipes that while meant for breakfast, we had for dinner. Fairly easy, light and the whole family loved them. The single servings made them easy to fix up and serve. Again, you can add your own favorites easily into this to suit your family. 


Ingredients:
24 oz. bag of shredded hashbrowns
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 TBLS. olive oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
8 - 10 pieces of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
12 eggs


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Mix hashbrowns with salt, pepper and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese.


Equally divide among standard sized (lightly sprayed or greased) muffin pan.


Bake for 15 - 18 minutes.


Remove from oven and lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.


Crack an egg into each of the cups. Top with bacon, sausage and remaining cheese. 


Bake for another 13 - 16 minutes or until the eggs are how you like them. 


Slide a knife along the edges of the muffin cups to remove.

Photoblog Challenge ~ Orton Effect

One of the reasons I enter Photo Challenges is they can force me out of me norm. I tend to take macro, completely in focus, straight on photos. I have gained so much experience by going out and around the box of this type of photography.


Take the Orton Effect, created by Michael Orton. The original technique involves sandwiching two or three transparencies of the same composition together. One slide contains the detail component, in focus and overexposed, the second and /or the third is the color component, and is out of focus and overexposed. Gives the photo an ethereal quality that I am completely in love with!


There are many tutorials out there for the Orton Effect, using photoshop. If you want to go to that next step with your photography, I recommend at least trying it. It is most often used with landscape and scenery shots and while I have also seen it used on portraits, the scenery shots are by far my favorite.


I linked up with Photoblog Challenges.

Brown Rice Taco Bake

My wonderfully talented sister over at Sundaybaker.net has a great variety of healthy recipes. We can always use a little more healthy at our house and I have been trying to add some lower calorie meals and snacks to my weekly menu. 


While I didn't use low fat cheese like Tanya did, I otherwise followed her recipe. I meant to but forgot to add it to my grocery list. Using the low fat cheese will keep this to 287 calories per serving. Great flavor and it fills you right up! 


If you haven't tried brown rice before, you are missing out. We loved the flavor and texture. Thanks, Tanya!


Crust:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
2 TBLS. butter, cold
5 TBLS. cold water


Filling:
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 lb. very lean ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
3 tsp. minced garlic
3/4 cup water
1 packet taco seasoning
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup shredded low-fat cheddar cheese, divided into 1/2 cups


Mix together the flour, baking powder and garlic. Cut in the cold butter with a fork, blending until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the water and mix well to form a soft, sticky dough. Roll onto a floured surface and form a rectangle. Lay dough in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and spread flat with your fingers until the bottom is covered. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.


Brown beef, onion and garlic in a large skillet, seasoning them with salt and pepper. Drain. Mix taco seasoning and water. Add to the browned beef. Add in rice. Bring to a soft boil and continue to cook until it thickens. Remove from heat. Add beaten eggs and 1/2 cup of the shredded cheese. Stir well. Pour over cooked crust. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.


Cut into squares and top with remaining cheese and any of your favorite toppings. 

White Chocolate Cake Batter Truffles

 recipe from sixsistersstuff.com

I get asked a lot how I maintain my weight and make all this delicious food. For one, I have been blessed with good metabolism and even greater willpower when it comes to knowing my limits on my calorie intake. Second, I share! Either myself or John are taking any extras to work with us. 

I was flattered when a co-worker asked if I take requests. I definitely do. He sent me this recipe from sixsistersstuff.com. Truffles are new to me. This is a recipe I probably would have not made otherwise. I would have really missed out! Everyone loved these, including myself and I am not even a fan of white chocolate. Little mouthfuls of rich cakey goodness. Absolutely divine!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup yellow cake mix

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

3 - 4 TBLS. milk

2 TBLS. sprinkles

Truffle coating:

16 oz. (8 squares) almond bark (I used vanilla flavored)

4 TBLS. yellow cake mix

sprinkles

Beat together butter and sugar using electric mixer, until well combined. Add cake mix, flour, salt and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Add 3 tablespoons or more of milk to make dough consistency. Mix in sprinkles by hand. Roll dough into 1" balls and place on parchment paper. Chill in the refrigerator 15 or more to firm up.

While dough balls are chilling, melt almond bark in the microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Stir in between intervals. Once melted, quickly stir in cake mix until completely incorporated. Using a fork, dip truffles into almond bark and shake of excess bark by tapping the bottom of the fork on the side of the bowl. Place truffles back on parchment paper and top with sprinkles. Repeat until all truffles are done.

Chill in refrigerator until serving.

Makes 25 - 30 truffles.

NOTE: I waited until I had dipped all truffles before I added the sprinkles. They didn't stick very well this way. I would recommend immediately adding sprinkles after each dipping if you want them to be more decorative. Also, I used leftover Easter sprinkles but think more color would be great!

Bacon Parmesan Potato Wedges

It's no secret how much we love our bacon in this household. I always have some on hand and incorporate it into any recipe I can. Bacon often makes a recipe that much better or in this case, makes the whole thing. I paired these wedges with The World's Greatest Sandwich. After trying them, I deemed they might be the world's greatest bacon wedges? I think the key is using fresh potatoes instead of frozen fries and cooking the bacon just until it is crisp, leaving it a little soft but yet able to be crumbled. All I know is after making these, I will forever be biased against all other potato wedges.


Ingredients:
1 lb. potatoes
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
3 TBLS. olive oil
6 slices bacon
2 TBLS. cornstarch
2 TBLS. Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
cayenne pepper
black pepper


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Scrub potatoes and cut into wedges. Place in a large bowl. Chop onion and add to the potatoes.


Mince garlic clove and mix with olive oil. Pour over the wedges, mixing until the oil, garlic and onion are well distributed throughout.


Cover bowl with plastic wrap and microwave about 8 minutes. While potatoes are in the microwave, fry up the bacon until just crispy. Drain on paper towel.


Combine cornstarch, onion powder, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper in a bowl with the thyme and Parmesan.


Crumble the bacon. Mix bacon and cornstarch mixture and toss well to distribute everything as evenly as possible. 


Your wedges should be done by now. Transfer them to a lightly greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle seasoning mixture over the top of them and then use a spatula to flip and mix (gently) the seasoning all over the wedges. You can sprinkle a little extra Parmesan on top after mixing, if you want. 


Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until they are lightly browned and the edges are crispy.


To take these a step further (even though the flavor is amazing alone), add your favorite dipping sauce. I am partial to dipping them in ranch dressing. 

World's Greatest Sandwich

recipe from thekitchn.com

The World's Greatest Sandwich or the Spanglish Sandwich. Yep, from the movie Spanglish with Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni. Have you seen it? I have and can't remember being terribly impressed with it (kind of a depressing movie, wasn't it?). However, when someone calls something the greatest, they leave you no choice but to give it a try.

John and I both agree, this really could be the world's greatest sandwich. I'm not even joking one bit. 

If you follow the recipe in the order it should be done, you will see what I mean and you will be glad I am a sucker for catchy titles. The egg yoke dripping down the layers of the sandwich is not only the key but pure genius.

Ingredients: (per sandwich)

3 - 4 slices of bacon

2 slices Monterey Jack cheese

2 slices of your choice of bread - toasted (I used split top butter)

1 TBLS. mayo

4 tomato slices

2 leaves lettuce

1egg

Cook the bacon until crisp; drain on paper towels.

Place slices of cheese on one side of toasted bread. Place in toaster oven or broiler until just melted. 

Spread mayo on other side of bread and top with bacon, sliced tomato and lettuce.

Melt butter in non stick skillet over medium heat. Fry egg, turning over briefly when bottom is set, keeping the yolk runny.

Slide finished egg on top of the lettuce. Top with other slice of bread. 

Place sandwich on a plate, slicing it in half and letting the egg yolk run down the sandwich.