we always have different kinds of local honey in our house. my favorite kind is from a wildflower called meadowfoam. it kind of tastes like marshmallows. I’d love to have a cute little honey pot and dipper to put it in. this one has a chalkboard exterior, so we could always remember what kind of honey we’re eating!
I love things that combine function with aesthetically pleasing design. aren’t these bottle openers pretty?
good morning! I hope you had a nice weekend. ours was relaxing and productive complete with nursery organization, drinking tea and eating biscuits. not just any biscuits – the best biscuits ever. they’re flaky and buttery and oh so good. I wrote down this recipe 3 or 4 years ago and it’s been my go-to biscuit recipe ever since. it’s definitely well loved.
do you have any recipes like that? one’s that you make over and over because they’re just THAT good? I’d love to know. here’s mine:
favorite biscuits
makes 15 biscuits
2 cups flour {the original recipe I wrote down was for wheat biscuits, so you can use 1 cup white flour and 1 cup wheat if you’d like. I just prefer these with all white flour}
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup milk or buttermilk
mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
cut in butter until mixture is course and crumbly.
stir in milk just until combined.
knead about 10 times on a lightly floured surface.
roll to 1/2 inch thickness and cut with a round biscuit cutter.
place on a lightly greased baking sheet.
bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes or until just lightly browned.
I serve these warm with honey, as sandwiches with egg & cheese in the middle or even with sliced up strawberries & whipped cream. enjoy!
{photos by me}
last night for dinner, I made a vegetarian version of this recipe I spotted on Bliss last week. it’s quite possibly the best soup I’ve made in a long while. you can see the meat lovers version on Bliss, but here’s what I did:
Mixed Bean Soup
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 onion chopped
3 medium carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 bunch of rainbow chard, inner vein removed and chopped
1 quart (32 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 tsp paprika
1 large bay leaf
1 rounded tablespoon pickling spice, placed in a spice sachet {see note below*}
2 cups of mixed dried beans, I used red kidney beans and black-eyed peas {see note below**}
4 – 5 cups of veggie broth
salt and black pepper to taste
in a large stock pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil and saute the onion for a few minutes until they become tender. add the garlic and saute for another minute, then add carrot and celery and let cook for five minutes or so. cook until the vegetables become slightly soft.
add the tomatoes, water, beans, paprika, bay leaf and pickling-spice sachet. bring to a boil, then reduce to medium-low and let simmer for thirty minutes or until beans are tender. during last ten minutes of cooking, stir chard into soup.
serve with cooked quinoa, crusty bread and a small splash of cream on the top.
*I put the pickling spice into a tea strainer and just left it in the soup while it was cooking. worked like a charm!
**I soaked 1 cup of each red kidney beans and black eyed peas together in 5 cups warm water for approx 8 hours. if you’re short on time, you can just use one can of each.
lately, one of our favorite {an easiest!} things to cook for dinner is what we like to call “Fresh Nachos”. we’d developed a rather unhealthy obsession of nachos from a local brewery down the street from our apartment and after thinking about how many calories were probably involved in them, we opted to create our own version! I simply saute some veggies – right now I’ve been using summer squash, broccoli, red onion and garlic. I roast an Anaheim pepper in the oven, remove most of the seeds because I don’t like it too spicy, and dice it up. then we pile all the veggies, some pinto beans, a diced heirloom tomato and feta cheese on top of some tortilla chips, and voilà! Fresh Nachos!!
I’m not much of a coffee drinker. I drink tea and lots of it. in fact, I haven’t had a good cup of coffee since Christmas and hardly miss it.
however, today I got a weird kick in me and ordered a Spiced Iced Coffee from Prasad, my fave local lunch spot. it’s spiced with cinnamon and cardamom and served with coconut milk. I’d say it’s pretty much perfect for this bizarre July weather we’re experiencing in the Northwest. {61 and cloudy and the need for leggings? psh!}
{photo from smitten}
now that it’s officially summer, I need to put our new drink dispenser to use. I suppose I’ll have to patiently wait for blackberries to ripen so I can make this, but I’ll need something in the mean time.
what is your favorite summer cocktail?
{via wit + delight}
