Yummy Garlic Butter Biscuits And A Few Other Favorites

My family loves this recipe for Garlic Butter Biscuits, so I thought I would share it with you and yours!  It's one of Paula Deen's!! :)  They will melt in your mouth!!!

Ingredients for Biscuits:

                     1 and 1/4 cups of Bisquick
                     1/2 cup of sharp cheddar cheese (grated)
                     1/2 cup of water


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ingredients for Butter:

                     1/2 stick of butter
                     1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
                     1/4 teaspoon of salt
                     1/8 teaspoon of parsley flakes

Start by mixing up your biscuit dough...

 

Then place on a greased or sprayed cookie sheet a few inches apart to allow for rising...

 

 

Bake the biscuits at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.

While those are baking, mix up your garlic butter.  Melt the butter with the garlic powder, salt and parsley.  I use garlic salt instead of garlic powder and salt and that works just fine.

 

 

 

Now, brush the melted garlic butter on your biscuits straight out of the oven! 

 

These biscuits taste like the Red Lobster biscuits and they are sure to disappear in 3...2...1!!!!! You might want to make two batches! :)

 

 

 

Since  I'm sharing one of our favorite recipes, I thought I'd share a few other favorites of mine...

 

My Favorite Dish Soap

$1.00 for this size at Dollar General

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Furniture Polish

This smells so good, you will actually want to dust!!! ;)

 

 

 

 

 

My Favorite Seasoning

I love to add this to green beans!

 

 

 

I will share more favorites later this week!  I will stop for now.

 

Oh, just one more...

 

My Favorite Kids

Ashley, Avery and Austin

January 25, 2014 <3

 

 

 

I hope you have a beautiful week! 

 

Acts 2:38 <3

 

"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

Slowing Down And Enjoying The Beauty

Today was an ordinary Thursday, really.  The only difference was that today, I took a little more time to "smell the roses".  Sometimes, life gets so busy that it's hard to stop and relax and enjoy the day that God has blessed us with!  I don't want to be so busy that this happens. I want to enjoy every breath, every scene, every moment!

It all started when I got off of our normal "schedule" and ran to pick up a few sale items before we started school.  Austin went with me and Avery chose to stay home and get started on school.  While I was in the store pre-occupied  with my coupons, little did I know that Austin was working on a little surprise!  He bought these beautiful flowers and left them on my car seat in the car!  <3  Sweetest EVER!! 

Well, we got back home and got our school done.  Then Avery and I went on a small trip to a nearby wildlife area this afternoon and hiked up to look at a waterfall that he had found and told me about.  I asked him to take me there so I could snap a few pictures.  It was so beautiful!  Some of the water was frozen.  We were even able to catch the sun setting on our way home! 



 I was reminded today of how beautiful God's handiwork is... 

Prayerful that I slow down and enjoy each and every day like I should! <3





<3 Psalm 19:1

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork."



<3 Psalm 73: 28

"But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all thy works."



<3Psalm 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

A Little Experiment In The Kitchen...

I am one who makes homemade biscuits pretty often.  I realize that I have more time than some, because I work at home and having time to do that when working out of the home is probably close to  impossible!  Well, hopefully this post will help you and  your family be able to enjoy homemade biscuits on the run for little time and  for a fraction of the cost of bought ones! 

 A while back, I saw on Pinterest, an idea for Homemade Freezer Biscuits.  I pinned it onto my "Kitchen Board" and hoped to give it a try later.  I sort of forgot about it until the other day and I was reminded and thought it would be a great thing to share on my blog!  So, here goes...

This recipe originally comes from the  Moneysavingmom.com website.  (Thank you  to my friend,  Danette Head, for telling me about this website years ago!! ) :)

If you are like me, you probably have most of these ingredients in your kitchen already, so there's little to  no new expense at the grocery store. 

Homemade Freezer Biscuits

Ingredients: 4 cups of all purpose flour

                        2 tablespoons of baking powder

                        1 teaspoon of salt

                        1 cup of Crisco

                        1 3/4 cup milk (I did use buttermilk)

Start by blending your flour, baking powder, salt  and Crisco with your pastry blender or a fork.  Remember, I got my pastry blender for $1.00 and it's my favorite utensil!!  I LOVE mine!!

Speaking of things I love... Thank you to my sister-in-law, Tammy and my honorary sister-in-law, Leigh Ellen for the big Ball jar canister!  It was the perfect gift for me!  I love to keep my flour in it!! 

Ok, back to the recipe.  Now that you've blended the dry ingredients with your Crisco, it's time to add the buttermilk.  I work it in with a fork and then turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat out into a circle.  Cut your biscuits out and put onto a sprayed or greased cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 1-2 hours.  (I chose 2 hours) 

After the 2 hours, put the frozen biscuits into freezer bags!  It's as easy as that! 

When you are getting ready to eat them, take out the number of biscuits that you want to bake and let thaw for 30 minutes - 1 hour on a cookie sheet.  Then, bake at 450 degrees until light brown on the bottom.  I brushed ours with melted butter when they were nearly done and then returned them to the oven for them to brown on top a little bit.  :)  These were delicious and held up well in the freezer! 



Well, I wanted to know if my biscuit recipe would hold up in the freezer as well since our recipes were very similar.  So, I tried it! 

My homemade biscuit recipe:

Ingredients: 

3 cups of self rising flour

3/4 cup of Crisco

1   1/4 cups of buttermilk

Again, you blend your flour and Crisco with your pastry blender.  Then, you incorporate the buttermilk into the dry mixture. 

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and cut the biscuits out.  Place the cut biscuits onto a sprayed or greased cookie sheet and place into the freezer for 2 hours.  Take out of the freezer after the 2 hours and place in freezer bags.  You thaw them out just like the others and bake at  400-450 degrees just like the others.  I again, brushed them with melted butter and returned them to the oven for just a few minutes.  They tasted just like my regular biscuits!  We loved them!! 

The only thing that differed from me baking them fresh was that the freezer biscuits just don't rise like my normal fresh baked biscuits do.  Normally my biscuits are   HUGE and these have a tendency to be flatter than they normally are, but looked like the ones you would buy in the freezer section of the grocery store. I had all of the ingredients, so all it cost me was one morning of baking (Saturday) instead of several days!  I will try to keep these in the freezer for when I don't have time to cook in

 
 
 

the morning (like on Sunday morning when the devil tries his best to get in our way while we are trying to get to church), but I will still be baking my HUGE homemade biscuits when I have time too! Baking is therapeutic to me!  I just love it!!

 

My experiment results...



Freezer biscuits are a must try!!!!  My family, especially Anthony, LOVED them!  I hope this will give you and yours a little taste of Homemade on your busy mornings! <3






My best tips for baking biscuits...  * I always use buttermilk!!

                                                               * I place my cut biscuits very close together on the cookie
                                                                sheet.  It's supposed to help them rise. ;)

                                                                * I preheat my oven to 500 degrees and then turn it
                                                                down to about 400-450 degrees  when I put the biscuits
                                                                 in.  This gives them a "shock" and they will rise better.

While I'm at it, I will share two recipes that I am often asked to share for Strawberry Jam and Apple Butter.

Here's a secret... I use the Surejell recipe for Strawberry Jam! I try to tell people that, but they still want me to share it with them, so here it is...




Homemade Strawberry Jam

Ingredients:  5 cups of crushed strawberries

                         7 cups of sugar

                         1/2 teaspoon of butter

                         1 packet of Surejell

I start by sterilizing my jars, new caps and rings in boiling water.  Then, I wash, cap and crush my strawberries right in the pot.  I use a deep, large pot.  I measure out the sugar into another bowl and set it aside to be used later.  I mix my crushed fruit, 1 packet of Surejell and 1/2 teaspoon of butter with a wooden spoon and place on the stove heat at medium/ high.  Bring that to a full rolling boil.  Continue stirring and add the sugar all at once to the mixture.  Return to a full rolling boil  and boil for 1 minute exactly!  Remove from heat and skim off any  foam bubbles  from the top of the jam.  Pour into sterilized jars and wait to hear a (((POP)))!!  When you hear that, you're all set!  ;)



Homemade Crock Pot Apple Butter

Ingredients:
 
5 1/2 pounds of apples, peeled and chopped

4 cups of sugar

2 to 3 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon salt


Place all ingredients in a large crock pot and stir to mix.  Cover and cook on high for 1 hour.  Turn temp to low and cook for 9-11 hours or until thickened and a dark brown color.  I time this so that it cooks on low while I'm asleep at night.  Uncover and cook on low for 1 hour longer if needed.  I use a wire whisk to get the smooth "apple butter" consistency.  Process into sterilized jars.  Enjoy the wonderful smell of apples all throughout your home while this cooks!! LOVE!! <3 

Hope you enjoy these recipes and tips!  <3


Matthew 7:12

"Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them for this is the law and the prophets."

Baking Homemade Bread

Today, I spent some time doing one of my very favorite things  in the world!  I baked homemade bread.  If you know me at all, you know that I'm all about  baking and that my big dream is to one day have my own bakery!  <3  I would looooove that!!  

The recipe that I used today was one that I got off of the Duggar's website,  as in Michelle Duggar from 19 Kids and Counting,  a long time ago.  Again, if you know me at all, you know that I'm also all about the Duggars! ;)  I wanted to share this recipe because it truly is one of the easiest yeast breads that you can make and it is very delicious!  I only wish that you could smell it too!  There is just nothing else like the smell of your home while  baking bread!<3

Here are the list of Ingredients:

1/2 cup of shortening
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
2 packages of yeast
5 cups of all purpose flour, plus some flour for kneading
2 eggs
2 cups of hot water
1 stick of real butter, melted

I started with my favorite BIG bread bowl!  We were working in Ohio a couple of years ago and I spotted it there on the shelf of a store called Meijers and I fell in love! xoxox 

 

Isn't it beautiful????

Ok, getting back to the recipe...  Start by combining the shortening, sugar, salt and yeast and just 2 cups of the flour in your bowl and cut with a pastry cutter. 

My pastry cutter is my favorite utensil in my kitchen!  I use it every time I make biscuits or pie crust.  I used to use a fork to work my flour and butter and shortening in , but after using a pastry cutter, I will never go back!  I got it at  Walmart for $1.00!  SUPER DEAL! 

In another bowl, beat 2 eggs in a 2-cup measuring bowl and add HOT water to the 2-cup mark.   Pour that over the dry mixture.  Then slowly add the remaining 3 cups of flour. I love to use my wooden spoons for this!

Look!  It's some of my eggs from my coupon deals on Monday!  :)  I know this might seem funny to you, but I just love the little stamp on each egg!  I can't explain why such things make me happy, but they do! ;)

Now, you cover your bowl with a towel or foil and let your dough  rise in a warm oven for about 20 minutes.  I had turned my oven on before I put the dough in to rise, but had cut it off when it was in the oven.  You don't want it too hot in there, just warm.

When the dough is about double in size, take it out of the oven and pour it onto a floured surface.

 

Now, knead your bread with generously floured hands, but try not to handle it too much.  It will be tough if you knead too much. 

Flatten with your hands into a large circle and cut into triangle shapes. 

Roll up from the wide end to the point for crescent rolls.  You can cut them however you want to.  I've cut them like biscuits, rolled them in balls and made crescents. Today, I chose crescents!

I had some help on this part... ;)

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Bake the rolls for about 15 to 20 minutes.  Your house will smell wonderful!!!!!!!!! 

When they are golden brown on the bottom, take them out and brush them with melted butter .  You will absolutely love this bread and it really is so easy!  <3

Matthew 4:4 <3

"But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

A Happy and Thrifty Monday...

Hello there!  Hope all of you had a happy Monday!  I did!  I had a Happy and Thrifty Monday!

I have always been a "couponer".  I guess it's in my blood!  I remember when I was growing up, my mama and her friend taking all of us kids and going to the nearest Kroger about 30 minutes away with loads of coupons and then spending MANY hours shopping for the big deals!  Then afterwards, they would treat us to a lunch out like McD's or Krystal. :)  Then... I loved those restaurants.  Now...not so much! HaHa!   I never knew then, but I was actually learning the ropes! ;)

Anyway, in Georgia I was doing lots of couponing, but when we moved to Alabama, I sort of stopped.  Between losing my favorite stores, not finding coupons here and the travel we always do, I just stopped. 

Well... I'm baaaaaaaack!  I had so much fun getting these deals at two stores today!  I just had to share my finds! 

I got these deals at Publix:  1) Two Dozen Egglands Best Eggs

                                                  2) Two boxes of Great Grains cereal

                                                  3) Two  boxes of Kellogs Krave cereal

                                                  4) Four jars of Ragu pasta sauce

                                                   5) Two boxes of frozen breadsticks

                                                   6) Four boxes of  Quaker granola bars

                                                   7) Four bags of Ricola cough drops

For a grand total after taxes of.....$24.13!!!  WoooHooo!!

Well, then I headed over to the CVS!  Anthony has to have Coke everyday, so I buy 12 packs and keep them in our fridge for him.  CVS was having a deal $20.00 for 6 12pks.  If you did that, they give you $5.00 Extra Bucks.  So I did the figures and realized that was a great deal for me! 

Transaction #1:  6 12pks of canned drinks at $20.00.  They gave me $5.00 Extra Bucks back.

Transaction #2:   I combined the Extra Bucks  with some coupons that I had and was able to get a 6 roll pack of Scott paper towels and a shampoo and only pay after taxes....

$1.23!!!!!!!!  WOW!!

So, my grand total for today was...  $47.36 !!!! 

That makes my heart happy!! <3 

One more thing that I've found... $1.00 at Dollar Tree

 

I LOVE this soap!!  It smells great and it has little beads that get your hands super clean and leave your hands feeling super soft!  You should try it!<3

 

Get out there and get those deals!! Have fun!

 

 Philippians 4:19

 

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus."

 

January 6, 2014 ~My Very First Blog Post

Welcome to my Blog!  I am hoping to share day to day thoughts and experiences that make my heart happy!  Here, you're sure to find lots of cooking, scripture, couponing, home schooling and household talk and let's face it...I WILL be talking about my kids!!  I just can't help myself!! Basically, things that make me have "A Happy Heart"!

"Let not your heart be troubled..." John 14:1