Easy Cream Biscuits

I've developed a bit of an obsession with cream biscuits. Truthfully, I didn't love eating them when I was kid the way the rest of my family did. Whenever we went to Tennessee to visit my grandparents, we would wake up to the smell of freshly baked biscuits at 4:30am. My grandpa's internal clock was a little off. By the time we were all awake and ready to eat, it was at least 8am (maybe later during those sleepy teenage years) and the biscuits were freezing cold. I can't recall a time when I actually got to eat one of my grandfather's biscuits just out of the oven.

While my experience with biscuits as a kid may not have been the greatest, mostly because I was too lazy and didn't know what I was missing, I still have this need to eat a good biscuit every now and then. I've really loved making cream biscuits the most because I usually have all the ingredients on hand and I don't have to mess with butter. For a self-proclaimed non-baker like myself that is a relief. After a lot of practice, I've gotten pretty good at making cream biscuits that rise like a charm and have a flaky, rich crumb.

And I get to eat them hot out of the oven.

My favorite way to enjoy a freshly baked biscuit is with a slather of my mom's homemade strawberry jam. Or, if I don't happen to have anything that good, I go with a good store bought strawberry or raspberry preserve. Simple, delicious comfort food at its best. I may not use bacon grease in my biscuits the way my grandpa did, but I think about him every time I cut the biscuits out. I'm relatively sure he's peaking over my shoulder trying to convince me to do it his way, which also means using an entire stick of room temperature butter mixed with jam as the main course.

True story. That was his favorite snack.

Food should remind us of people and places that make us happy. Biscuits take me to Cookeville, Tennessee with my sweet grandparents, my giggly little sister, and lazy days spent climbing trees and tying June bugs to a string and taking them for a walk.

Easy Cream Biscuits

Makes 6-8 biscuits

Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together.
3. Add the cream and stir just until the dough comes together. (It will be ragged at first but will smooth out as the dough is kneaded.)
4. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until the dough is mostly smooth. Pat into a 3/4-inch-thick round.
5. Using a circular biscuit cutter cut out 3 or 4 rounds and place them on your prepared baking sheet. Bring the scraps together and pat out to 3/4 inches again. Repeat until all the dough is used. You should end up with 6-8 biscuits, depending on the size of your cutter.
6. Bake the biscuits for 15 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Notes

I've noticed that here in Denver (high altitude) I have to adjust the amount of cream I use. Sometimes it inches nearer to 2 cups and sometimes 1 1/2 is plenty. Pay attention to what the dough is telling you. It should be ragged, which means it will be a bit wet and sticky but not so much that it sticks to your hands. And it shouldn't be so dry that you can't knead it into a smooth dough.

Cocktail Friday: Honey Rhubarb Martini

My sister, Rebecca (who also blogs here), will be taking the reigns on Fridays for a while and I am SO excited about it! Armed with her trusty iPhone and lots of Happy Hour experience, I know she will be bringing some great stuff to Set the Table! This time, she and my mom teamed up to bring us this beautiful Honey Rhubarb Martini.

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My mom and sister cook the same way. They throw things together without thinking too hard about it; they sense it. Meanwhile, I'm leaning over their shoulder like a pest asking,

"Why are you doing that?"

"Is it really supposed to look like that?"

"Are you sure it'll turn out? What if it doesn't turn out?"

They cook the way I play music. The next chord is a four chord and the next is a minor sixth and there is a little change in rhythm here and let's throw in a seventh chord here. I can't explain it. I sense it. When you feel like that about something, pay attention. It probably means you've found the thing you are supposed to be doing.

Last night, my mom improvised a cocktail out of one of the only things ready to pick in our Minnesota garden: rhubarb. At first, it was going to be a rhubarb margarita but, by the time she was done, it was a gorgeous, cold, pink rhubarb martini.

And as always, it was delicious.

Honey Rhubarb Martini

Makes 2 cocktails

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup rhubarb cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
• 3 shots vodka
• 2 shots rhubarb syrup
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 large lumps ice

Instructions

For the Simple Syrup:

For the cocktail:

1. In a small saucepan, combine the honey, water, rhubarb cubes, and grated ginger.
2. Heat and stir at medium heat until the rhubarb is soft.
3. Place hot saucepan into a larger bowl filled with ice.
4. When cooled, strain into a small jar or pitcher.
5. In a cocktail shaker, combine the ice, vodka, rhubarb syrup and lime juice.
6. Shake until well chilled and pour into your favorite martini glasses.
7. Garnish with fresh lime and/or rhubarb.

Healthy Carrot Salad

Ah summer. It appears you have arrived. This Healthy Carrot Salad is proof.

Some of you are probably jumping for joy at the warm temps and hot sun. I am too, for the most part. But yesterday I was reminded of what summer means here in Denver. It means HOT. Lots of HOT. Like, I can't even look at my oven because the temperature in the house will go up at least 10 degrees.

Not my favorite.

Thus begins my search for no-cook recipes that will help me get through those unbearably warm days. It's a challenge I'm happily accepting because I have the opportunity to look at food in a different way. For much of the year I'm all about stewing, braising, roasting and the like. So looking at food in a way that showcases its natural flavor and beauty is quite refreshing.

I've made it sound like my mind goes directly to healthy recipes. Not true. Not at all. Summer salads are a huge weakness for me. I love the dressings, the fresh produce, and their cool, creamy textures. I don't love how quickly all the extras make the calorie count sky rocket. Mayonnaise and sugar galore. Not good. 

To give myself a healthy go-to summer salad, I took the classic carrot salad (typically heavily laden with mayo and sugar) and made it lighter. It is studded with golden raisins and salty capers and dressed in a combination of plain yogurt, apple cider vinegar, and a tiny touch of mayo. I added a little honey to my salad, but you could easily omit this since carrots are already so sweet on their own.

What are your favorite no-cook recipes for summer? I need more ideas, ASAP!

Healthy Carrot Salad

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 1 lb carrots, peeled and grated
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon mayo (homemade if you can, otherwise choose an organic, no sugar added brand)
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons clover honey (optional)
• salt to taste
• fresh herbs for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk the yogurt, mayo, apple cider vinegar, honey and salt together until smooth.
2. Add the carrots, raisins and capers to the bowl.
3. Toss well to combine and coat with the dressing.
4. Garnish with fresh herbs like lemon thyme, basil, dill, or parsley.

Cocktail Friday: Cherry Vodka

My sister, Rebecca (who also blogs here), will be taking the reigns on Fridays for a while and I SO excited about it! Armed with her trusty iPhone and lots of Happy Hour experience, I know she will be bringing some great stuff to Set the Table! Here is her first shot (no pun intended) at Cocktail Friday: a delicious and beautiful cherry vodka recipe. My name is Rebecca and my drink of choice is Vodka Soda with Lime. And I'm not sorry. To me, it's like a palatable, unsweetened limeade. Simple and clean.

Vodka is traditionally made from potatoes or grains and distilled three(ish) times in a process that renders it nearly flavorless. The word itself is a diminutive of the word for water in Russian. I've read that the earliest vodkas had an unsavory smell and, as efforts evolved to clean up the smell, so too went the taste. Or maybe that's conjecture ...

The lack of flavor, however, has a surprising way of making other flavors go gangbusters. Certain foods have flavor profiles that can only be brought out by alcohol (that's why we use vodka in tomato sauce - it amps up weak tomatoes). Vodka, with it's clean taste, brings out these new and stronger flavors without adding additional complexity.

Last summer, I bought fresh cherries at the farmers market, put them in an extra large canning jar, covered them with vodka, and let them sit on a dark shelf until Christmas. They were sour cherries so I didn't know what to expect. Let me tell you, t'was delicious. I drank my cherry vodka plain with soda water and ice and a lot of happiness. You can do this with any fruit, vegetable, spice, herb, edible flower, or combination thereof.

One more thing: from martinis "Shaken, not stirred," to Bloody Marys, to vodka red bulls (um, yuck?), vodka is surprisingly ubiquitous. And, while many of us have an eye out for all things locally crafted, vodka also comes across as annoyingly corporate. Enter: Local (to the Twin Cities) newcomer, Norseman Distillery's Vodka. It has my complete and *completely unsolicited* endorsement.

Cherry Vodka

Ingredients

• 1 bottle of vodka
• 1 lb cherries, or enough cherries to fill the bottle halfway

Instructions

1. Fill a jar with peak season cherries (or whatever).
2. Completely cover cherries (or whatever) with vodka and twist on lid.
3. Put on shelf and wait at least a month.

Chive Blossom & Cheddar Scrambled Eggs

My garden looks like an actual garden this year. Last year, thanks to my black lab who thought I must have left all those plants in there by accident and decided to...ahem...rearrange them...my garden looked disorganized and random. That experience made me feel like a bit of a gardening dummy. Fortunately, this year has gone more smoothly, everything is in nice, neat rows, and has remained in their intended places. At this moment, the most beautiful thing in my garden is the chive plant that came back from last year. It is a vibrant green with purple poof-ball flowers in a halo around the top. It killed me a little to cut those pretty blossoms, even if it was only a few. However, if you know me even a little, you know that I'd do anything for eggs. So in the end, it was all worth it for the Chive Blossom & Cheddar Scrambled Eggs.

I made these perfectly creamy, fluffy scrambled eggs this morning while the air outside was still somewhat cool and I had a 2 year-old batman running around in circles in the kitchen. I whisked the eggs with a touch of milk, which some purists may not appreciate, but I think it adds an extra bit of luxurious creaminess. A bit of melted butter in a pan over very low heat, some slow but constant stirring with a spatula, and some small cubes of cheddar resulted in the most perfect scrambled eggs. A sprinkling of chopped chives and their blossoms made this an ideal spring breakfast.

Have you used chive blossoms before? They have a delicate and sweet onion flavor that is even more mild than the chive itself. Chive blossoms are lovely sprinkled over soup, dips, and salads. What would you do with a bunch of these purple beauties?

Chive Blossom & Cheddar Scrambled Eggs

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons whole or 2% milk
• 1/4 cup small-cubed cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped chives
• 3 or 4 chive blossoms, roughly chopped
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a small pan over low heat.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the milk in a small bowl until smooth.
3. Pour the eggs into the pan along with the cubed cheddar and let sit for 30 seconds before pushing around in the pan with a spatula.
4. After about 3 or 4 minutes, the eggs should be mostly cooked through but still slightly wet. Remove the pan from the heat, continue to gently move the eggs around in the pan, and add the chopped chives.
5. Transfer the eggs to a plate and sprinkle with the chive blossoms and salt and pepper to taste, if desired.
6. Serve immediately.

Cocktail Friday: Gin & Tonic

One of my favorite cocktails is the classic gin & tonic. It isn't fussy or complicated and it always makes me think of sitting outside in the sun, leaves rustling in the trees overhead and birds darting back and forth in the blue skies. There is something so wonderful and peaceful about these first few weeks of spring and early summer. Everything is new and fresh, just begging to be enjoyed. Kind of like a gin & tonic, yes?

A good G & T starts with a good quality tonic water. I didn't used to feel like the difference was great enough to warrant anything but the typical grocery store brand. While there is nothing inherently wrong with using what's most available, I find searching for something of better quality results in a less sugary, subtle flavor allowing the gin and lime juice to shine through. On that note, make sure you use a good gin. My favorites are Heritage Distilling's Elk Rider Gin & Prairie Gin.

I've mentioned before that having a few crunchy, salty bites during cocktail hour and sweet potato chips are at the top of the list. Their lovely color and light crispness works beautifully with a light, refreshing gin & tonic. I've also been known to enjoy a few classic potato chips...the saltier the better! I know- I'm judging myself a little too. But everything in moderation, right?

Gin & Tonic

Serves 1

Ingredients

• 2 oz gin
• 1 oz tonic water
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• lime wedges for garnish

Instructions

1. Fill a short cocktail glass with ice.
2. Add the gin, tonic water, and lime juice.
3. Stir gently to combine.