Easy Whole Wheat Biscuits

I think everyone is concerned with health now days... and I know that my cooking has taken on a new face.  Low fat, no salt, whole wheat.. etc.  Sounds gross? Never.  Only if you don't know how to spruice things up a bit! Not everything in life should be loaded with cream and butter... but Paula Deen sure knows how to do it right! :) I've been experimenting with using only whole wheat pastas and making my own sauces if I need any.  Talk about FRESH! Talk about GOOD!! It is easy, sometimes not the fastest way, but it is so much better for you!

I found this recipe for whole wheat biscuits and thought I would share them with you.  They turned out really well, and not flat and heavy like I thought wheat ones would turn out.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (I used King Arthur’s white whole wheat organic flour)
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup cold unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk (any kind)

In a medium sized bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well with whisk or fork. Cut the ½ stick butter into little pea sized pieces and then mix the pieces into the flour mixture. Using a fork, try to mash the butter pieces as you mix it together with the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. It is okay if the outcome just looks like the same pea sized pieces of butter covered with flour. Then pour in the milk and mix it all together. Knead the dough with your hands 8 to 10 times and then turn out onto a counter or cutting board. Pat it out flat with your hands until the dough is a somewhat even ¾-inch thickness (sprinkle with a little flour if necessary). Turn a drinking glass upside down and cut out biscuit rounds. I have also used shaped cookie cutters (like a heart or star) if you have little ones helping you! Then put them on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 10 – 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Homemade Creamy Broccoli Soup

So after a loooonnnnggg (did I say long?) day of work/chores/stuff, hunger was calling.  Knocking pretty loudly, too. What to do?  GOT IT! So this meal is SO easy, I think that literally anyone could pull it off.  And all in just a matter of minutes. My kind of meal. :)

EASY Creamy Broccoli Soup:

INGREDIENTS:

1 Carton (32 oz.) Chicken Stock
1 Large head of broccoli, diced into small pieces
1/2 cup diced onion
2 celery stalks, diced
1 or 2 carrots, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2% milk
Half & half
2 Tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste


Start by bringing one carton of chicken stock and 5 or 6 cups of water to a boil in a medium soup pot.  Add chopped up broccoli, onion, carrots and garlic and boil until tender. 

Reduce the heat and simmer.  Add 3 cups of milk and 1 or 2 cups of half & half. (I just pour in the ratio that I want... I never really measure, so if you want more half & half, then go right ahead. ) Add a couple Tablespoons of butter and if you desire to thicken it up a bit, take some of the soup "liquid" and place in a small bowl with a couple Tablespoons of flour.  Whisk it up really good so there aren't any lumps and place back in the soup pot.  Turn up the heat a tad and keep stirring so the bottom doesn't burn, and watch the flour do the trick! :) Add 3/4 of the grated cheese, stirring it in until melted and use the rest for a garnish on top if desired.

I also made these whole wheat biscuits to go with the soup...

http://huntressofthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/05/easy-whole-wheat-biscuits.html

I Dream In Vintage....

As plans are taking flight for our wedding, I go onto my handy dandy website help Weddingwire.com.  And for those of you that are Bride's-to-be, this is a MUST have on the "look at" list! I'm not even kidding ya'll one bit! This site has a guest list book/planner that is FANTASTIC and saves you tons of time, a wedding checklist that is so thourough... It also has a running "days-til-our-wedding" calender.

Oh. My. Goodness. OH MY!  We only have 87 days til the wedding! 87 DAYS PEOPLE!

Goodness golly, great leaping jehosephat! I can't even believe what my little eyes are seeing! But... We do have everything under control, so I don't feel panicked at all yet. :) Thank goodness!

My "vision", if you want to call it that, is rustic, vintage, outdoorsy and country wedding.  Here are some of my inspiration pictures!

Write our names on the eggs and use this as a cake topper!

This is definitely my color inspiration for the flowers.. even the same kind if I can find them! The bridesmaids dresses will be "oasis" from David's Bridal (sort of a teal color)

And I am making the boutonniers hand tied like this, only NOT these colors. :)

Brad surprised me with a HUGE treat... He was going to wait until we were pulling into the airport before telling me his surprise for the honeymoon, but being the amazing guy that he is, he figured that I would pack totally different- and would need to put a little more thought into my wardrobe... (What a catch! Seriously- good thinking, honey!) So he told me that we are going to Hawaii!! HAWAII!! I can't wait- I've never been over there! My mom has relatives that live in Kona, and still.... I've never been.  Go figure.  So to say the least I'm super stoked, and Brad was right- I am glad that I know about the surprise.  We will be staying in Maui.... Great.  Now I REALLY can't wait for the wedding!! ;)

Our Engagement Picture Sneak Peek!!

So it is about high time I posted SOMETHING. Sheesh.  I don't even know where the time goes... it just zips right on by and I'm always left in the dust brushing myself off.

To say the least we (or maybe just me.. if Brad didn't have a good time he didn't show it-bless his heart) had a blast getting our engagement pictures taken last weekend! My friend Danielle Shulke is going to be our photographer for the wedding and she is a master mind behind her lens! We had a blast going to the Fire Station where Brad is a career Firefighter and I'm a volunteer, the train tracks, a field with a HUGE oak tree and another Station where we have an old parade fire truck parked there.  We took some funny ones- and I'll give you a sneak peek of my favorites!!

And our take on American Gothic.. hehehe

Indian Chicken Curry

INDIAN CHICKEN CURRY: Warm, spicy notes with tender chicken- I THINK YES!

Start with fresh, washed onion, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic.

Pulse all three ingredients in a food processor... or finely chop up.

Place in a large bowl with 1 Tablespoon of Dijon mustard and mix everything up until the chicken is nice and coated with the pico mixture. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook up Basmati or Jasmine rice... and place a small amount of cilantro right on top to infuse the flavors in the rice. I used a brown Basmati for mine...

Measure out 2 Tablespoons of curry powder and 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder and place in a small bowl.

Add a little bit of water and mix- creating your "curry slurry".

Place slurry into a pan and simmer until spices are infusing your whole kitchen! Yum! By this point your house will be smelling oh, so good!! (And your stomach will be telling you it's time to eat!)

This is my "OK, I think I've taken enough pictures now" face haha

Place the pico and chicken mixture into the pan with the slurry... cook it on up!!

Once things get to cookin' for a few minutes add about a cup of water and the heat down to a simmer. This is to prevent everything from drying out. (And the sauce from burning on the bottom of the pan!)

Should look something like this.... cover and let it simmer until the chicken is tender, juicy and done!

Place on top of your cilantro infused rice and ENJOY!

Crawfish and Sausage Jambalaya

Yikes! Crawfish?!

Yes, please!! I saw these little guys at Winco and I had to get them :) I am currently on the 24 Day Challenge through Advocare... and I have been trying to cook creatively.

Boil up as many crawfish as you desire for your Jambalaya...

Start cooking up your rice. (For my diet, I can have brown rice- I chose a brown Basmati)

Saute desired veggies-

I used carrots, broccoli, onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes (diced) and snow peas.

Cook up sausage- you could use pork or whatever you have on handy- but I used turkey sausage.

(My diet friendly option)

Remove the meat from the crawfish tails and claws and add to the pot.

Add everything to a medium pot and simmer with a little bit of water or chicken broth. Add a little bit of curry, chopped up dried peppers, salt, pepper, garlic powder and any other seasonings that mesh well together. :)

Add rice and let the rice finish cooking in the juices from the meat and veggies.

The finished product:

All of the juices are soaked up into the rice and veggies and the end result is amazing! It is sort of a combo of random things- but the flavors are fantastic!! :)

Hearty Cream of Chicken Soup

What do I do when I'm bored? Think of recipes to share with you! :)

I came up with a tasty and EASY cream of chicken soup that will knock your socks off!! I'm sorry that I didn't snap any more pictures, but at my "genius" moment I was excited and my mouth was watering!

Ingredients:

Chicken (Any quantity you want- I used four boneless, skinless chicken breasts)

6 to 7 mushrooms, sliced

1/2 red onion, diced

2 to 3 stalks of celery, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 packet of onion soup mix

1 can of cream of chicken soup

1 box (32 oz.) Chicken broth

Heavy cream

1/4 cup of butter (1/2 of one stick...1 Tbsp for sauteing, the rest for the soup)

I think the charcoal, smokey, robust flavor a BBQ gives food is the perfect choice for my chicken. So.... I salted and peppered it to taste, then slapped it on the BBQ.  Set your chicken aside when it is finished cooking- you will add it in just a bit.

In a skillet or non-stick pan, add about a Tablespoon of butter and saute your onions, celery and garlic together.  Add the mushrooms last because they don't take long to brown. This process is to give your veggies more flavor - but you can skip and boil them in the chicken broth if you wish.

While all of this action is going on, Place a medium to large soup pot on to boil with your chicken broth and quite a few cups of water.

Add sauteed veggies to the pot and let it simmer nicely.

Shred, chop or tear chicken and place into the soup.

Open up 1 can of cream of chicken soup and stir into the soup, and add the onion soup packet. Mix up everything well.  Add about a cup of heavy cream- more if desired. Add butter...

Salt to taste- and let the soup simmer and all of the flavors combine.

You are done- see? I told you it was easy. ;)

Tutu Love

So with the excitement of getting ready for the WEDDING (Inside my head I have ideas screaming to get out!), the FLOWER GIRLS came to mind.  What will fit the theme of our wedding? The colors? So, I jumped online and started searching.  SO MANY cute little princess dresses popped up- Which one?! The common factor that kept reappearing- the price.  I wanted to find something that was reasonably priced. (I don't see any reason to spend 50 bucks on a pint-sized dress)

So what did I do? I created just what I wanted!! :)

I picked up some SUPER cute tulle (A light pink and a medium pink with sparkles)
Green and pink ribbon with sparkles
Wide lace and a skinny lace
Elastic
Sewing thread in white (or whatever color the elastic is) and a sewing needle

Step one:

Measure around the waist of the cute little girl that the tutu will belong to... cut the elastic one or two inches shorter than the measurement. Sew together.

Step two:

Cut strips of the tulle into two to three inch sections.  Measure how long you want the skirt and make your strips double that measurement. 

Step three:

Place the elastic around your leg or a paper towel roll to make it easier to work with.  Fold a cut section of tulle in half; making sure the ends are even.

Step four:

Slide the loop end of the tulle under the elastic band. 

Step five:

Pull the ends through the loop over the elastic and pull tight.  Make sure the "knot" is at the bottom of the elastic so it lays as flat as possible.

Keep tying on strips until you fill up the elastic. 

When you have completed tying on the primary color, start with the secondary (you can make as many layers as you want) color and tie it every inch or so.  I chose to make mine the same length as the first color, but you can cut it shorter to make it stand out more.

Step six:

Cut your choice of ribbon the same way you cut the tulle.  For the lace cut it  the length that you want it- it will be sewn instead of looped over.

Step seven:

Loop the thin ribbon over the elastic just like the tulle and arrange colors going around to what you like best.

Step eight:

Fold over just enough of the lace to sew it onto the elastic.  I tried looping it over like the thin ribbon but it was way too bulky.  Do whatever works for you, though!

Eight simple steps- one stinkin' cute tutu!! Keep up the good work with your ribbon and lace- making your way all around the elastic.  Use as much or as little as you want- it's so easy and fun!

I can't WAIT to show ya'll some pictures of the wedding with the little flower girls wearing them!