Bacon and Cheese Biscuits with gravy.

Yes, bacon and cheese biscuits with gravy. They are as awesome as they sound! I think it's my new favorite meal. But a warning, it is not for those on a diet. HAHA. No, no, no. But after tasting it you may just give up that diet anyways. :)

I couldn't fine a recipe that I liked for biscuits, because I don't have buttermilk and I don't like cutting them out, or kneeding them. So, pretty much I just wanted a lazy biscuit recipe. Couldn't find one though. Here is what I came up with.. I think.

Bacony cheesy goodness.

Biscuits
Bacon-I used 5 strips but I think it definitely could have used more than that.
2 1/4 cups Flour
2 Tablespoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Butter- If I had to guess I'd say I used a cup, maybe a little more of butter. It doesn't come in sticks here, though. I know that's a lot, I'm sure if you cut it back some it would still be fine.
1 1/2 cups cheese- I used cheddar.
1 cup milk

Now preheat oven to 390F or 200C. Then fry up that bacon until good and crispy, saving grease if you're making gravy. Crumble up the bacon.
In a large mixing bowl, use a pastry cutter, or fork, (or spoon or hands or really anything you fancy) to combine flour, baking powder, salt and butter, until crumbly. (It works better for me the butter is good and room temperature). Add bacon and cheese. And then the milk. Mine looked too wet at this point but I was out of flour so I went with it. Worked just fine. Now drop onto baking sheet and cook for 15 minutes and they'll get nice and browned. (One more extra note, I had limited flour and I didn't accurately measure anything. So just eyeball stuff. :) )

They went fast so I only got two pictures.

Now for the gravy. Gravy is an enemy of mine. But I love it so I continue to try. It turned out GREAT this time. Was a nice color and no lumps! I'll give the instructions on how I make it but if you're someone that likes to have measurements than this isn't for you.

Shot I got after everyone dug in.

Gravy
Heat up that grease from the bacon. Depending on the size of the group you're feeding that may be enough. I had to add some more butter and melt it in. Altogether probably 10 Tablespoons of grease for me.
1/4 cup of flour, to start with. Whisk it together until it's clump free and blended. Continue adding tablespoons of flour the same way until it's no longer runny. And is more pasty. Once you get that, slowly (while whisking) add 2 cups of milk. Just keep whisking until all smooth, then cook until it thickens up and add another cup of milk. Continue adding milk until yours is thin enough. Just whisk vigorously until smooth.

I know that's not really a "recipe". I'm sure one of these days I'll do real measurements. :)

Enchiladas!

Last night I made enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce. *ohh ahh* Yes. You should be impressed. My mom loves enchiladas so that's why I made them, and they turned out mighty good. They were a hit with everyone, except the four and under crowd. But when do they ever eat what's for dinner?? (How do you get little ones to eat what you make?) Anyways, this was fairly easy. It was more of an enchilada casserole than real enchiladas but still good. Once again no picture. Sorry.

Enchiladas

2 cups diced or shredded chicken breast

½ teaspoon garlic powder
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (10 oz) can red enchilada sauce - (or make your own!!)
Tortillas-Original recipe called for corn, I used regular.
2 cups Mozzarella cheese
1 (8 oz) container sour cream

Preheat the oven to 375°. Heat a large skillet over medium heats sauté chicken with Garlic salt, and whatever else you like to use when you cook your chicken, until chicken is cooked through. Transfer to a medium bowl. Stir in the black beans (and green chili peppers if you and yours like them)

Spread half of the enchilada sauce over the bottom of an 11x7 inch baking dish. Place 4 tortillas over the sauce, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half of the chicken mixture over the tortillas, and sprinkle with half of the cheese and half of the sour cream. (or like I did, mix the cheese and sour cream together because it makes it easier to spread)

Spoon the remaining enchilada sauce over the cheese, and make another layer of tortillas. Layer the remaining chicken mixture over the tortillas.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and dot with sour cream. Continue cooking, uncovered, for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese melts. (I usually skip this step on recipes. I must say, it really makes a difference!)

And here is the enchilada sauce if you'd like to make your own. It was incredibly easy.
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Olive oil
1/2 tablespoon of flour
2 tablespoons of chili powder (ish)
1 cup of water (or chicken stock, I didn't have any though)
6-8 oz of tomato paste
2 teaspoons of garlic salt

Heat oil in a saucepan, add flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 minute.
Add chili powder and cook for another minute.
Add water, tomato paste,and garlic salt
Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and smooth out. Tast it and add seasonings to your preference.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I have to say, I am not the biggest fan of cinnamon rolls. I would trade pretty much any kind of dessert over it. Except for cake. Because I really don't like cake, or cupcakes, or anything else with the word "cake". But recently I just had a craving for them. I had been seeing SO many recipes online for them and they all looked so good. I decide I would just make some of my own. Then I came across this recipe for cinnamon roll cake and I thought it would be faster and easier to make, I was making it for all seven of us so easier is always what I choose.

Cake:

3 cups flour

¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ cups milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup (1 stick) real butter, melted

Topping:
1 cup (2 sticks) real butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 cup chopped pecans, (optional) (always measure the nuts first then chop them)

Glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preparation: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. In an electric or stand mixer mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, milk, eggs and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in the 1/2 cup melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix the 2 sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and pecans until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoonfuls and use a knife to marble/swirl through the cake.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out nearly clean from center. You want to make sure it's done. I like most things underdone but cake is not one of them.
4. Place powdered sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Serve warm or at room temperature.


A few things. One is that I don't have a stand mixer, or hand mixer, or anything except my hands here in Singapore. So that did add to the time and would have been even simpler had I had one. But it can be done! Also there is a LOT of butter in this. The topping calls for two sticks and I thought that sounded a bit much so I only used one but left all the rest the same and I think you would be fine if you wanted to cut that down even more. Once it was baking I kept checking it and it was bubbling and didn't look right. I pulled it out and all the butter had separated from the cake and was just on the top. I was pretty confused cause I had never bake anything that did that before but after letting it sit for a minute all the butter just soaked up into the cake and I served it hot. It was a big hit. Everyone loved it. I would definitely consider making this for a potluck or something in the future.

No time

I've got a recipe I've been needing to post but I've been really busy. We are leaving tomorrow morning! Ah. Can't believe it. Still not even ready. And my grandparents are coming today and a good friend of mine and I'm making dinner for my family tonight cause I feel bad for them in that tiny hotel. Whew. Lot's to do. but baby girl is sleeping so I cant do any of it yet.

Here are the cookies though.

Welp.. Just kidding. Have no idea where that recipe went.

They were pretty good though. Just chocolate cookies, not too sweet, with lots of nuts and chocolate chips. They were suppose to have coconut as well but I didn't have any.

How about a baby picture?
Ok, you talked me into it.

Happy girl..