Biscuits and Lettuce Wraps

I have a few things to cover in today's post. The first is a photo of my new-fangled biscuits but I have to make a few apologies first. You should know now that I am NOT a photographer and I do NOT have a photographer's camera so I can't even make that great of an attempt at faking it. That said, the biscuits were very tasty and did not look this out of focus in person (even bright and early and before putting in the contacts). [When I previewed this post the picture doesn't look quite as bad as the full res version...Whew!!]

The other night, my dear husband and I were eating some yummy P.F.Chang's food and he asked if I would make some lettuce wraps sometime. So, I found a recipe for Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps and decided to give it a go. I attached a photo even though I'm a little embarrassed by the way it looks. I could not find any cellophane noodles at the 3 stores I tried and used rice vermicelli instead. The result was a bit mushy. For the original recipe, and a MUCH better photo, check out this link: Spicy Asian Lettuce Wraps




I really think I would have liked the firmer texture of the cellophane noodles so I will be making a trip to one of our many Asian grocers before repeating this recipe. Until then, here's the low down...

YUM - 4 1/2 stars - VERY flavorful and I loved the spiciness. It is too spicy for small children, however, so it is not necessarily a good family meal. Again, next time I try it I will be using cellophane noodles.

EASE - 5 stars - It took me about 10 minutes to put this meal together. I used pre-cooked chicken to speed it up.

HEALTH - 4 1/2 stars - Light and filling. A great combination!

An Experiment

Today I conducted a little experiment. I know it can be dangerous experimenting in the realm of baking. Experimenting with a tried and true baking recipe can easily become a flop and mean throwing out a bunch of dough (realistically and figuratively). However, I have really been wanting to make some changes to my family recipe for Freezer Biscuits (previously posted) to use butter instead of shortening and to use whole wheat flour in place of at least some portion of the all purpose flour.

I talked it over with Mom first to see if she had any suggestions for the experiment and she thought I might at least want to let the dough rise some before rolling it out in order to let the yeast increase. Hmmm....makes sense.

So here's the original recipe again:

Freezer Biscuits
Ingredients
5 cups of all purpose flour (I recommend Gold Medal)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 pkgs yeast
1/4 to 1/3 cup warm water
2 cups buttermilk

Mix together the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening. Dissolve yeast in water. Add yeast mixture to flour mixture and mix. Add buttermilk and beat until incorporated. Turn dough out onto a floured dough board and knead. Roll out to about 3/4 - 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits and put them on a pan that can be placed in your freezer. Once the biscuits are frozen, you can store them in a large ziploc bag in your freezer. When you are ready to use them, thaw and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.

And here, is the new recipe:
Whole Wheat Freezer Biscuits
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour (I recommend Gold Medal)
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I used Pillsbury)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
2 pkgs yeast
1/4 to 1/3 cup warm water
2 cups buttermilk

Mix together the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter. Dissolve yeast in water. Add yeast mixture to flour mixture and mix. Add buttermilk and beat until incorporated. Let rise for about 45 min to an hour. Turn dough out onto a floured dough board and knead. Roll out to about 3/4 - 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits and put them on a pan that can be placed in your freezer. Once the biscuits are frozen, you can store them in a large ziploc bag in your freezer. When you are ready to use them, thaw and bake at 400 degrees until golden brown.

The outcome? I'm surprised to say that I actually like the new recipe BETTER! I'll go through the entire batch and get in lots of taste tests before I give the final verdict, but they were super yummy! I can't wait to try them with a little honey in the morning.

Good night, all! Sweet biscuit and honey dreams!

#11 - Freezer Biscuits

Wow, I haven't been keeping up this week. We've been having some sleepless nights and sickies around here and now I'm trying to eliminate gassy foods from my diet to see if it helps my youngest (who is still nursing) to sleep better. This led me to FINALLY make a batch of freezer biscuits that I've been meaning to make for 2 weeks now. I LOVE this recipe and make it so often that I'm about to type it from memory. :)

YUM - 5 stars - I have always loved eating biscuits and honey (mixed with butter) for breakfast. Freezer biscuits are by far my favorite and this is my favorite recipe.

EASE - 3 stars - I think it is very easy but some of you out there are probably not "bakers" and will find this one not so easy if you don't have a good mixer. I highly recommend using a good mixer for this.

HEALTH - I'm not sure what to put here. They're not bad for you but it's not a health food either. :) So somewhere in the middle. Plus, it really depends on what you eat them with...if anything.

Freezer Biscuits
Source - My Mom! Love her! I'm not sure of the original source but this is my Mom and Grandmother's recipe.

Ingredients
5 cups of all purpose flour (I recommend Gold Medal)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup shortening (I use 3/4 cup to keep them a little more firm)
2 pkgs yeast (I use the yeast that comes in a jar... so that is 4 1/2 tsp)
1/4 cup warm water (I use between 1/4 and 1/3 cup...it's hard to mix the yeast in only 1/4 cup)
2 cups buttermilk (I use the low fat version)

Mix together the dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening (I use the whisk attachment on my mixer). Dissolve yeast in water. (I do this while the shortening is being cut in and I let it sit a little bit so that it dissolves well.) Change out the whisk attachment for the beater. Add yeast mixture to flour mixture. Add buttermilk and beat until incorporated. Change out the beater for the kneading attachment and let the mixer knead the dough while you prepare your dough board. Turn dough out onto a floured dough board (or clean countertop) and knead lightly. Roll out to about 3/4 - 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits and put them on a pan that can be placed in your freezer. Once the biscuits are frozen, you can store them in a large ziploc bag in your freezer.

When you are ready to use them, I suggest that you put the desired number of biscuits in a pan and set them in the fridge overnight to thaw. However, many times I forget to do this and just thaw them in the microwave. It works just as well just be careful not to overdo it. Bake at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. YUM YUM YUM!!!