Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuits

1/2 cup shortening

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup milk

1 3/4 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

(makes about 10-12 biscuits)

Preheat oven to 400*F

Measure flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl

Mix well

Measure shortening and add to flour mixture


Using a pastry blender (or a butter knife), cut the shortening into the
flour mixture

Cutting in

Shortening should look like small crumbs

Pour in milk and stir

just until the dough rounds up into a ball

Sprinkle countertop with a small amount of flour.

Turn dough out onto it and knead for about 2-3 minutes

Roll dough out with a rolling pin till it is about 1/2 inch thick

Choose something round to cut the biscuits out with

pictured are- biscuit cutter, jar lid, glass

Cut the dough, reroll and cut the left over dough
Repeat until all dough is used

Place biscuits on greased cookie sheet

Bake 10-12 minutes in a 400*F oven

Remove from oven and serve with butter, honey, jelly or gravy

Gravy

*Ingredients for two people

but the pictures show it being made for my family of 8

2-3 Tbsp grease

(from bacon, sausage, cooking oil or melted shortening)

Use medium heat

Add 2 Tablespoons flour to grease

Whisk it together and let it brown for a few minutes

if it feels too dry, add a small amount more of grease so it is

smooth and stirrable

Stir in 3 cups of milk

You should not see any lumpy or pasty areas

( I use almost 1/2 gallon of milk for my family)

Allow to cook, stirring constantly until it is thick and bubbly.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

If it gets too thick, you can add a small splash of milk and stir

Serve with buttered biscuits

Tools, tools and more tools

Today we are going to talk about the appropriate tools for measuring when cooking. It is really important for some recipies to be measured exactly in order for them to turn out properly.



This is a glass measuring cup. This particular one is a 2 cup measure, but they can come in many different sizes. They are also sometimes made out of plastic, but are always opaque-you will be able to see through them. These types of measuring cups are made to measure liquid.

Another liquid measuring cup. This set has 4 different cups. The largest measures 4 cups and the smallest measures in teaspoons and tablespoons. They are also slanted so you can see the measurement when you are standing up, instead of stooping to eyeball the measurement from the side. This set came from Pampered Chef, but you can get sets like them at many stores.

These two cups also come from Pampered Chef. The larger one measures up to 2 cups and the smaller one measures up to 1 cup. When the cup is turned the direction that the white one is, it measures liquides. When you turn it over like the pink one, it is used to measure solids. You then push the solid out by pushing the cup down, and there is very little waste of things like butter and shortening.

These measuring cups are used to measure solids and dry ingredients- shortening, butter, flour, sugar, oats... etc.

With this type of measuring cup, it is easy to fill it to the top and then level it off, making sure that you have the correct amount instead of a close approximation. These also come in both metal and plastic. I have seen them in ceramic. They come in measurements of 1/4 cup, 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 3/4 cup, 2/3 cup, 1 cup. Usually the 1 cup measure will also have marking for the other measurments on them as well.

These are the tools used to measure smaller measurements- teaspoon (tsp) and tablespoons (Tbsp). They also come in sets- usually 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp, 1/2 Tbsp, 1 Tbsp. They also come in a variety of materials, usually metal or plastic, but I have seen them in ceramic as well. The red one is an adjustable measuring spoon, from 1/2 tsp to 1 Tbsp. I use it only for dry ingredients. I use the smallest of the Pampered Chef set to measure my tsp and Tbsp measurements of liquids.

In our next installment we will talk about bowls and pots and pans and perhaps knives. Then we will start cooking.