Whole-Wheat Cheesy Biscuits

Cheesy biscuits- are good with stew; Cheesy biscuits bid others adieu

Cheesy biscuits- great with jelly; Cheesy biscuits- get in 2Bit's belly

Cheesy biscuits-are oh-so-scrumptious; Cheesy biscuits- are whole-wheatalicious! 

What You Need:

6 tbsp butter, cut into 1/2 in. pieces

1-1/2 oz light cream cheese, cut into 1/2 in. pieces

2 c all-purpose flour

1 c whole-wheat flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 c parmasen/ mozzarella cheese

1-1/4 c buttermilk, chilled

*Make 16 biscuits; 2Bit halved the recipe.

{Recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen}

Preheat oven at 425

Place chopped cream cheese and butter in fridge/freezer to make cold.

Combine dry mixture with butter and cream cheese in a bowl and mix until small clumps form... Or pulse in a food processor-just make sure the cream cheese and butter are frozen so they don't gum up your machine. Add gated parm/mozz cheese to flour mixture.

Combine buttermilk and dry mixture with rubber spatula, until no longer sticky; then knead. (2Bit made her buttermilk with the ratio of 1 tbsp lemon juice per 1 cup milk. Leave at room temp until thickened, about 10 min., then use.)

Onto lightly floured surface, pat out dough to about 3/4 inches thick. To cut out biscuits, use a glass... or biscuit cutter, if you're into that. 2Bit's not that sophisticated...

Place on greased cookie sheet or pizza stone and bake 12-15 min. Rotate baking sheet half way in if necessary, and lower temp to 400.

You can add extra cheese on top before baking. 2Bit forgot to do this but they were still delicious...

 Jam? No thank you!.. This Bit is a jelly girl...raspberry, please!

Red Velvety Erica!

Happy Birthday to 2Bit's dear friend, Erica Fox!!

2Bit has some fabulous memories with mrs Erica from way back when we all used to live together...

at Jesselin...

Perhaps you remember this lovely poem

An Ode to Jesselin:

We stayed up all day and all night like Bono,

Except for Erica, when she had mono.

The house always seemed to be in disarray, 

Joy fell through the driveway....

We managed to stay away from obesity;

Despite Cara's cookies and the many jars of pb.

Twas the best of times, twas our own little slice of heaven;

We will always look fondly on our memories of 167.

We hope you have had a very blessed day and 2Bit knows that all your wishes will come true, starting with a delicious Red Velvet Cake...aahem...

Happy 26th Birthday, Erica!! 

Lentil Soup

Lentil soup is a Hochhalter staple... 

Lentils are cheap, versatile, easy, filling, high in fiber and extremely healthy...a miracle bean, really! 2Bit loves them b/c you can go so many ethnic directions be it Indian, Mediterranean or French... This recipe is more French.

What You Need:

2 c. Green lentils (you can use red too; green are just cheaper)

7 c. Water or Chicken/Vegetable Broth

3 tbsp olive oil

1 Onion, chopped

2 Carrots

1-2 Tomatoes, diced

3 Tbsp Garlic, minced

3/4 c cooking white wine
1 tsp Better than boullion mushroom(optional)

2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar

Spices:

Salt & pepper to taste

1 tspCumin

1/2 tsp Cayenne (Oh how Bit C loves cayenne)

1 tsp Thyme
1 Bay leaf

As much as we all want to skip the step of rinsing the lentils, breaking a tooth on a small rock or marble just ain't worth it.

This recipe feeds about 4-5. We like to have left-overs.

Chop up all the veggies that contribute much of the marvelous flavor.

Sautee olive oil and veggies together in a skillet. Add spices, vinegar, wine etc and allow it all to caramelize.

This is how they should look after cooking about 25 minutes. If you are unsure of their readiness, just try one to make sure they'r soft. Cook to your liking.

Veggies are ready to add to soup.

You can make it as soupy/brothy as you want...

Garnish with mozzarella, feta cheese, of whatever you please!

Cheesy Biscuits you want??....

Cheesy biscuits shall be the star of 2Bit's next post, so stay tuned for the recipe...

Happy Anniversary

Best of Wishes

to

Mama Jill and Davey Gravy

2-18-06

Congratulations for 5 wonderful years!!

What a handsome couple you are!

We are thankful for how compassionate and nurturing you two are!

Both of your laughs light up the room.

Dave, you bring such joy and laughter to our family. And we can't thank you enough for putting up with our crazy bunch.

We are so blessed to call you our family!!

Blessed are you...

2Bit was reading from Matthew 5 this morning and tried to imagine for a second what our world would be like if we actually lived the way Jesus says to?
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth. ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."


Ponder that! Can you imagine??

Sugar Cookies from the Heart.

 

Are you still searching for the perfect way to show your swee-T some Valentines Day affection? Maybe you want to ask that lovely girl from work out on a hot date or you want to let that hottie mchotterson from BIO 240 know that he is a QT. Well, 2Bit again has come to your rescue. Here are some sugar cookies that can express all of your feelings without you having to say a word. Use a gel icing tube, write your heartfelt message, and hand over the cookie to the object of your affection. 2Bit is almost positive it couldn't get any more romantic than that. 


Recipe from joy the baker.

Recipe:

 3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 Tablespoon milk

 
1.  Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
2.  Beat together butter and sugar in an electric mixer until light in color.  Add egg and milk to the mixture and beat until well combined.
3.  With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour, mixing until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
4.  Divide the dough in half and stain with food coloring if desired (2Bit does desire this).  Wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Color y sans Color. 2Bit liked having the contrasting colors. Diversity is the spice of life. 

5.  Preheat oven to 375.
6.  Remove one package of dough from the refrigerator at a time.  Sprinkle your work surface and a rolling pin with powdered sugar.  Roll the dough to 1/4”, rotating the dough around the work surface, making sure it doesn’t stick. 
              ********2Bit note- be careful not to roll the dough too thinly or your cookies will be crunchy and not as yummy. Sugar cookies are best when they are a little bit thick, agree?
7.  Cut dough into desired shapes and place on a greased cookie sheet, or a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. 

You could use cookie cutters if you have luxurious cooking products such as that. 2Bit however does not and used a knife to cut out the hearts. They weren't perfect, but neither is 2Bit so it worked out perfectly..

8.  Bake for 7-9 minutes, rotating the pan half way through baking.  Remove from the oven when cookies have barely started to brown on the edges.  If you’re not using a silicone mat or parchment paper, I like to remove the cookies from the pan when they are still very warm.  This will ensure they won’t cool and stick to the pan.  Just be careful, they’ll be a bit fragile.

Let them cool completely and go to town on icing them!

The Icing: (from food network

3 ounces pasteurized egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

4 cups confectioners' sugar

2Bit Option- add lemon juice or mashed thawed strawberries in place of some of the liquid from the egg whites.

 

In large bowl of stand mixer combine the egg whites and vanilla and beat until frothy. Add confectioners' sugar gradually and mix on low speed until sugar is incorporated and mixture is shiny. Turn speed up to high and beat until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. This should take approximately 5 to 7 minutes. Add food coloring, if desired. For immediate use, transfer icing to pastry bag or heavy duty storage bag and pipe as desired. If using storage bag, clip corner. 

Use some gel icing to create your Valentines Day messages.

The only real benefit of using a knife as your cookie cutter is that you can cut out shapes or letters specific to your boo.

 Happy Valentines Day to Michael and AJ and all of you 2Bits around the world!

And as always, 

xoxo