flakey biscuits

kris and i started doing friday night breakfast for dinner (ok so this is only the second time, but there are many more to come!) and tonight was biscuits and gravy. oh biscuits how i love them. they're flakey, they're buttery and they're so easy you can whip them up to accompany a week day meal. everyone should have a simple biscuit recipe on hand, this is mine. it's a super simple recipe that you could easily dress up by adding herbs and spices should you wish. oh and if you're curious, we made the mushroom gravy from vegan brunch. yum.

flakey biscuits
ingredients:
1 1/2 cup nondairy milk (i've used soy and almond and both worked great)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
4 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup cold margarine
1/2 cup cold shortening

preheat oven to 375. in a small bowl mix together milk and vinegar and set aside to curdle.

in a large bowl mix flour, salt, baking power and baking soda. add the margarine and shortening in small clumps and cut into to flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

make a well in center and add milk. use your hands to mix the dry ingredients into the wet (it's more fun with your hands) the dough should be sticky (add more milk/flour if needed). turn onto a well floured surface and fold dough into itself a few times. roll out to 1 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a biscuit cutter/cookie cutter/drinking glass/what have you.

place on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush the tops with milk.

bake 12-14 minutes until golden.

bonus! if you don't want to eat all of these at once you will be happy to know that they freeze, pre-baked, really well. you'll just have to add a few minutes to the cooking time and you can have fresh biscuits all week!

-d

padron peppers

one of my favorite nibbles that has started showing up on more and more bar menus lately is shishito peppers, gently pan fried and tossed with salt. it's a light little munch that packs a lot of flavor. the other day while cruising through the farmers market i saw a stand with a basket overflowing with little green peppers. i know they weren't shishito but i thought they looked like they'd do the trick for making a home recreation. i'm not entirely sure what kind of pepper i bought but i predict padron and i'm sticking to it...i'm even so confidently calling this entry "padron peppers." so there ya go. now obviously i wouldn't go so far as to demand that you track down the same mystery peppers that i did but what you are going for is a small pepper (one bite is awesome, two bites tops) that is on the milder side with just a bit of kick when you eat the seeds.

this is a really simple snack, appetizer, whatever you want, to whip up. all you do is heat a bit of olive oil in a pan, throw in some salt and cook the peppers until they begin so soften and blister; just a few minutes. i let mine go a bit too long but they were still yummy. toss with a little more salt if needed and eat warm.

-d

eating and drinking ourselves through europe

kris and i recently* returned from a 10 day european vacation where we ate tons of falafel, drank a lot of beer and filled in the other parts with various delicious nibbles and drinks. i started writing this post and quickly realized that, at the rate i was going, it was going to be very long and very rambly and nobody wants that.

so in attempt number two i give you the highlights, as short and sweet as i can.

our first stop, brussels, was all about frites and beer.


we went to the cantillon brewery, if you like sour beer buy this stuff if you get the chance

it's really easy to do day trips from brussels. we went to cologne one day and tested out a couple of pretzels. the real winner was the walnut bread though.


after a few more days exploring brussels and day trips to ghent and lille we took off for amsterdam. kris and i love falafel and were on a mission to find the best that amsterdam had to offer. after 5 falafels in 4 days (with one day off) it came to a toss up between maoz and sonny. both places had fantastic toppings bars so that you could load up your falafel to your liking.


and certainly you didn't expect us to go through an entire trip without seeking out bagels. bagels & beans in amsterdam is surprisingly delicious!

a few more yummy things to leave you with:




*ok so it's been over a month. i've been a bit slow getting this post together.

-d