Garlic Dill Cheese Biscuits

I’m a firm believer in the theory that dill makes everything better. Now, I may have made that theory up…but I still stand behind it.

And the combo of dill, garlic and cheese? THE BEST.

The other night, we had leftover chili for dinner. However, I decided to spice it up a bit with homemade biscuits. I had bought a huge bunch of dill, so I chopped some up and added it, along with some garlic, to my favorite biscuit recipe.

And it was good…Matt and I polished off nearly the entire batch between the 2 of us. There’s your warning.

Garlic Dill Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup plus one tablespoon buttermilk
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tbsp fresh chopped dill

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Oil a baking sheet. (This is important, as these suckers like to stick.)

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar & garlic powder. Slice the cold butter into the flour mixture. Use a pastry blender (or two kitchen knives, or your hands) to cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have a coarse, grainy mixture

Stir in grated cheese and dill. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and pour the buttermilk into it. Stir just until moistened. The dough should be of a consistency like drop cookie dough or just a bit stiffer. If it is not moist enough, add another tablespoon of buttermilk.

Spoon the dough into rounded mounds on the baking sheet, leaving room for expansion.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the biscuits just begin to brown. I actually ended up turning my oven down to in between 400 and 425 as my first batch nearly burned at 425, so watch them carefully. Remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool.

Cheddar Parmesan Buttermilk Biscuits

I have always had a deep love for biscuits. I remember when I was little, I used to ask to go to Red Lobster every year for my birthday solely so that I could eat dozens of those garlic cheese biscuits they have there. I also remember biscuits being one of the first things I EVER baked, back in a baking class I took when I was in elementary school. I’ve been making, eating and loving them for years.

My sister hosted our weekly Sunday family dinner last night, and usually I get conned into making dessert (which I never object to) but when I phoned her yesterday afternoon, she asked for biscuits (as we were having soup for dinner) – preferably with cheddar in them. So I played around with one of my favorite biscuit recipes, grated up some cheddar and parmesan cheese I had in my fridge, and created some friggen amazing biscuits. I actually had to stop my boyfriend from eating them, as I almost didn’t even have any left to bring to dinner.

Cheddar Parmesan Buttermilk Biscuits
(Adapted from the Prepared Pantry’s Easy Buttermilk Biscuits)

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup cold butter
1 cup plus one tablespoon buttermilk
1 heaping cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Oil a baking sheet. (This is important, as these suckers like to stick.)

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Slice the cold butter into the flour mixture. Use a pastry blender (or two kitchen knives) to cut the butter into the flour mixture until you have a coarse, grainy mixture.

Stir in grated cheese. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and pour the buttermilk into it. Stir just until moistened. The dough should be of a consistency like drop cookie dough or just a bit stiffer. If it is not moist enough, add another tablespoon of buttermilk.


Spoon the dough into rounded mounds on the baking sheet, leaving room for expansion.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until the biscuits just begin to brown. I actually ended up turning my oven down to in between 400 and 425 as my first batch nearly burned at 425, so watch them carefully. Remove the biscuits from the baking sheet and place them on a wire rack to cool.

Comfort Food: Beef Stew & Biscuits

Today, it was just plain yucky outside. After I braved the roads first thing in the morning to hit the gym, I quickly decided to spend the rest of the day indoors. On cold, snowy days like today, all I want to do is curl up on my couch with a mug of tea and some good movies.

I was also craving comfort food. Mind you, I tend to crave comfort food on a regular basis. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that I live in Alberta and we get snow for most of the year and therefore all I want is to hibernate and eat yummy and hearty meals year-round. Or it could also be due to the fact that I grew up eating the most delicious and comforting dishes as my mother is an insanely awesome cook.

Nevertheless, today I wanted stew. Beef stew. I had never made it before but I figured it couldn’t be that difficult.

Thankfully, it wasn’t. I also made biscuits. And they may just be the best biscuits I’ve ever made. AND they were super easy. I actually googled, “easy buttermilk biscuits” because I really didn’t feel like rolling out and cutting dough, and I stumbled upon a great recipe that’s quick and easy, and amazingly delicious.

Beef Stew
(Adapted from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry’s Stew-Pendous Beef Stew)
The longer you can cook this, the better. The meat really needs a good 2 hours to get fully tender and delicious. A slow cooker would make it even better. Unfortunately, I’m still waiting for one…

Ingredients:

olive oil
1-1½ pounds beef (I used eye of round), cut into 1 to 1½ inch cubes
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
1/2 an onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons herbes de Provence (or any mix of herbs you’d like – I made up my own)
3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon each salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into ¾-inch pieces
2 large carrots, diced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup frozen green peas

Directions:

Pat beef dry with paper towels. Sprinkle beef lightly all over with seasoning salt. Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large pot (preferably non-stick) over medium-high heat. Add half the beef cubes and cook, turning occasionally, until all sides are lightly browned. Remove from pot and keep warm. Repeat with another drizzle of olive oil and remaining beef cubes. Set browned beef aside.

Add onions, celery, and garlic to same pot (you may add a bit more olive oil or ¼ cup beef broth to pot if necessary to prevent sticking). Reduce heat to medium. Cook and stir until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Return beef cubes to pot and stir in herbs de Provence (or your herbs of choice). Add beef broth, tomato paste, vinegar, bay leaves, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 1 hour, 15 minutes. (Make sure it is a low simmer and that mixture is not boiling or it will burn.)

Stir in potatoes and carrots. Cover and simmer for 30 more minutes. Mix cornstarch with 2 tbsp warm water until smooth. Add to stew. Mix well and continue to cook until stew is bubbly and has thickened. Stir in peas and cook just until they are heated through, about 2 minutes.


P.S. These are the biscuits I made. They’re seriously awesome. So awesome, in fact, that there were none left over – Matt made sure of that.

Chicken Soup

I love homemade soups. In fact, aside from desserts involving pumpkin, soup is kind of my culinary obsession right now. Making soup from scratch is much easier than people think and generally better for you – especially if you make your own stock – as you can control what goes into it (most importantly: the amount of salt). You just need the time…however, it’s a perfect way to make use of a lazy Sunday. Plus, your house will smell amazing.

I’m also a little obsessed with making my own stock. It’s so ridiculously simple and a great way to use up the parts of vegetables and meat that normally get thrown out. You can also make a whole bunch and freeze it, then just use it as you need it.

Today, I made chicken stock. I had roasted a chicken on the weekend and kept the bones and leftover meat in order to make a yummy chicken soup. My mom makes a mean turkey soup (usually after big family dinners) as a way to use up leftover meat and bones, and it’s one of my very favourite dishes she makes. It’s full of flavour and LOTS of dill.

What can I say? We’re Ukrainian.

Chicken Stock
I don’t really have a specific recipe for stock, as I kind of just like to throw in whatever I have, but here’s a basic guideline.

Ingredients:

bones/carcass of 1 roasted chicken, meat removed
2 unpeeled onions, coarsely chopped
2 celery stalks with leaves, coarsely chopped
2 unpeeled carrots, coarsely chopped
1 head of garlic (unpeeled), separated into cloves
6-8 sprigs of parsley
2 sprigs of thyme (or a tsp or so of dried thyme)
2 bay leaves
10-15 whole peppercorns

Directions:

In a stock pot, combine chicken, onions, celery, carrot, parsley, thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns. Pour in 14 cups of water; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, skimming occasionally, for about 3-4 hours.

Use a slotted spoon to discard the majority of the chicken & vegetables. Strain stock through cheesecloth-lined sieve (or just a regular old strainer) into large bowl, pressing remaining vegetables to extract liquid. Refrigerate until fat congeals on surface, about 8 hours. Lift off fat and discard. Use as needed.

The stock can also be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.

Dillicious Ukrainian Chicken Soup
My spin on my mother's great soup.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons canola oil
half a medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 medium carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
2 quarts chicken stock
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
LOTS of fresh dill

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Cooked egg noodles (optional)

Directions:

Coat a soup pot with oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, carrots, celery and a tbsp or 2 of dill. Cook and stir for about 6 minutes, until the vegetables are softened but not browned. Pour in the chicken stock (and more dill) and bring the liquid to a boil. Add the chicken (and more dill) and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper (and any other spices you want – dill is nice).

Add noodles to serve (I don’t put the noodles to cook directly in the soup as they soak up a lot of the broth).

Enjoy!!


P.S. To accompany the soup, I also made these biscuits. They’re pretty much to die for. You should go make some. Now.