Category: What’s Cooking?

Food & recipes

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What's Cooking?

Buttermilk biscuits

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 cup buttermilk (I use powdered buttermilk, which is 4 TBSP powder + 1 cup water)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 450.
  2. Combine dry ingredients, including the buttermilk powder.
  3. Cut in butter.
  4. Add liquid.
  5. Mix until combined.
  6. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake until golden (about 10 min.)

This makes about 20 small drop biscuits.

 

Slightly modified from original recipe at http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/southern-buttermilk-biscuits-26110

Categories
What's Cooking?

Pressure cooker “hard boiled” eggs

Easter Eggs.
Eggs in their cardboard carton, sitting on a rack in the pressure cooker.
Eggs in their cardboard carton, sitting on a rack in the pressure cooker.

Wow. Just tried these for the first time and they peeled easier than anything I’ve ever seen before.

Test 1:
Put 1 cup water in pressure cooker.
Put steamer tray in pot.
I put the eggs (still in their cardboard tray) into the pot.
Close up the lid.

settings:
Steam setting
manual: 6 minutes
natural pressure release: 5 minutes

Cool in cold water when done.

3 of my 9 eggs cracked a bit, but I couldn’t see the cracks in 2 of them after the cold water soak.

Test 2:

5 of my 18 eggs cracked, but the cracks on 3 re-sealed when I put them into the cold water bath.
5 of my 18 eggs cracked, but the cracks on 3 re-sealed when I put them into the cold water bath.

Same except for using “low pressure” rather than “steam” settings.

2 eggs broke. I think the “steam” setting was better; when I did natural pressure release with this one I heard a loud pop, which I’m sure was the eggs cracking from the pressure change. Next time, I think I’d give it a longer NPR and use “steam.”

 

We have these 2 Instant Pots:
Duo 60 (6 quart)

Duo 80 (8 quart)

Categories
Home Sweet Home Life and Stuff What's Cooking?

Thoughts & plans

I feel a sudden push to make sourdough & kefir & kombucha. I miss the “elephant ears” we used to eat when I was a kid in Alaska – huge fried wedges of sourdough, drizzled with honey. It makes me sigh just thinking about how good they were.

We are also working on plans for the gardens. Perhaps some asparagus? And we’re talking about putting in another 40 apple trees. Last year’s location isn’t going to work; we’re afraid of the chemicals they’re spraying on the new cornfield next door, so we need to move our beds somewhere in the back yard.

Oh, and now that it is finally spring & the chickens can go outside, I expect we’ll be back up to about 7 eggs/day. So I need to come up with some good ways to use them up.