Mile High Biscuits

Here you are, Mary Jo! These are the best, richest-tasting biscuits I've ever encountered! Even though I don't worry about incorporating natural fats into our diet on occasion, I do feel compelled to limit how often I make recipes this rich:o)

It works just fine to substitute up to half whole wheat flour for the white. I've never tried to make these entirely with wheat flour, so can't comment on how that would taste. I've also substituted regular milk for some of the cream when I didn't have enough. They weren't quite as good that way, but it worked in a pinch. Hope you enjoy!

4 c. flour
2 T. sugar
2 T. baking powder
2 t. salt
2 c. heavy whipping cream, additional as needed
1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Gradually mix in enough cream to bind. Stir liquid into the flour until just moist. (Excessive stirring makes the biscuits tough.) Turn dough out onto a floured surgace. Knead about 30 seconds. Pat dough into a round 1/2" thick. (Or, roll dough out in all directions, starting from the middle. A back and forth rolling motion makes the biscuits tough.) Cut with a biscuit cutter. Plunge the cutter into dough and pull straight out. Twisting will cause the biscuits to not rise as high. Dip each biscuit into melted butter, coating top and sides. Place--buttered side up--on prepared baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes, or until light brown. (These may be prepared ahead, covered and refrigerated for up to 2 hours before baking.) Yields: 24

From: Stop and Smell the Rosemary, pg 208.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I made this for dinner tonight, using both fresh broccoli and cauliflower that I had needing to be used. I think it's just as good or better (and probably healthier!) than Panera's Broccoli cheddar, and Micah liked it too! Plus, it was very easy to make. I served this with homemade whole wheat biscuits and fresh blueberries topped with yogurt. (I'm sorry I didn't get a picture!)

(My notes are in italics below)

4 c. chicken broth
1 c. water
(I used 5 c. chicken broth, because that's how much I had, and no water)
1 c. half & half (or 1/2 c. milk + 1/2 c. cream)
1 c. shredded cheddar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. dried minced onion, or fresh onion to taste
1/4 t. black pepper
4 c. bite-sized broccoli florets (experiment with adding other vegetables! We thought the cauliflower worked great with the broccoli)
I also added a few shakes of salt

Combine first seven ingredients in large saucepan. Whisk to combine and break up any lumps of flour. Bring soup to a boil. Then reduce to low. Add broccoli, simmer 15-20 minutes or until broccoli is tender. Garnish with shredded cheddar and minced parsley, if desired. 6 servings.

Living in a small home #6

And one last picture...
...just 'cause I like it:o) These are my $4 daisies from the grocery store. (Walmart also has bouquets for about $4). I like to pick up some fresh flowers now and then when I do my grocery shopping...I think it's worth the four bucks of my grocery money to add some a cheer to my house. Since I don't have any beautiful gardens to gaze out at from my window, I'll have my own teensy one inside:o)

Well that's it for tonight. If anybody actually made it through the entirety of my posts, well...I'm impressed! I'm afraid I tend to be over-enthusiastically rambly when it comes to writing about organizing, decorating, and improving our homes (as inexpensively as possible!). It's just one of my "things":o) Thanks for letting me share my recent home project with you!

Living in a small home #5

Moving to the right of the kitchen/new workspace...the before shot:
See how this shelf (the one that's now behind the couch) used to take up an entire wall? It jusn't wasn't the most efficient use of space. To the left of that, was old hand-me-down desk that I used to keep my good china on. I was always worried about it, because the desk was really too flimsy to be holding such a heavy, fragile load.
Here's the same space now. Last year, I got a great deal on the solid wood french country china cabinet at an auction, and was able to almost fully pay for it with my birthday money. I love it:o) The other wood piece is actually being lent to me by my grandparents. (They bought it at the same auction where I got my cabinet, and haven't been able to transport it back to their home in OH yet. I'll be happy to house it for them as long as they let me!:o) These two pieces have really helped me expand my VERY limited kitchen storage space.

If you're ever in need of nice furniture pieces, I highly recommend checking out local auctions. I don't know if they're good everywhere, but the one by our house is AWESOME. (To give you an idea...here's how we paid for our china cabinet: We got it for $350, as well as a vintage corner cabinet for $150. We resold the corner cabinet on Craigslist.org for $275 cash, and sold the old flimsy desk where the china used to live for $35. So that's $350 - $160 profit = $190, which my birthday money from generous family members nearly covered. Believe me, I had been looking for a nice china cabinet for a couple of years, and most of them are well above $1000. Since there was no way I was paying that, I was pretty motivated to get creative to get what I wanted:o) If you attempt something like this, though, definitely do your research and have a good understanding of what the pieces you're considering are worth in different markets!

Living in a small home #4

My workspace, the "before shot":
This is where our little dining table used to be...now my workspace! (This is the view opposite the fireplace. The kitchen is to the left) It's a big mess right now, but it's my plan to get this space cleaned and organized over the next couple of days. The desk used to be white, but needed to be repainted. I decided to be bold and try green instead. (I stole the desk from our study/2nd bedroom, where Micah works, and he's currently using one of those fold-up tables from Sams.) The brown shelfy-thing next to it is one of those rolling kitchen carts....a hand-me-down from my mom. It won't fit in my kitchen, but I'm trying it out here instead to give me more room to work and store things. I'll post an "after" picture when I get this area set up!

I'm already really enjoying having my own space to work. I like having it out in the main part of the house because I can keep an eye on things cooking in the kitchen while I'm working or quickly check something online, etc., while I'm doing housework. But having it in the public area of our house does mean that I'll have to work extra hard at keeping it looking neat. Uh-oh ;o)
Our dining table now sits in front of the sliding glass doors (which we don't use very often), in between the couch and the kitchen.

Living in a small home #3

Entryway, before (click to enlarge):
Don't you love the built-in mirror over the piano? Must have been an eighties thing (when this house was built). There's also a floor-to-ceiling three-paneled mirror plastered to the wall in our bedroom. You don't know what a temptation it has been for me to take a sledgehammer to them...so it's probably a good thing I don't own a sledgehammer:o)

One thing I've tried to do as I set up our home is determine what my clutter problem-areas are and figure out an inexpensive solution for dealing with them. My biggest trial has been (and still is) paper clutter...mail being a big one. To help with this, I have a white "mail in-box" (see above) right by the front door to collect mail until I have a chance to deal with it. I must admit that I still let it spill over and pile up on top of the piano now and then, but as long as I deal with it daily or even every few days this doesn't happen (and this makes me happy:o) I also had (and still have) a small glass bowl for keys and a decorative wood organizer-box for out-going mail and other little misc. things we don't want to forget sitting right beside the front door. (BTW, Ross is the BEST place to find inexpensive wood organizer type thingies!)

But, alas, we were still encountering "the floating coat problem". Since our coat closet is the only place we have to store the vaccuum and cleaning supplies (there is no utility room or closet in our house--the washer and dryer are in the garage), and we're sometimes (Ok...usually...always) too lazy to take our coats all the way to our bedroom closet when we remove them, I installed the following shelf/hook rack:
It may not be ideal, but it works! And they coats look better there than sitting on my couch. (I also took down the set of three EMPTY picture frames that have been hanging by the front door for 2 1/2 years waiting for pictures, and moved my crosses there instead. Phew...that's better!:o) The key bowl and organizer-box I mentioned live on the little white round table. Handy.

Living in a small home #2

The living room from different angles (click to enlarge)...
This bookshelf (which desperately needs to be repainted, but I probably won't get to that for a while!) provides extra storage without being too intrusive or taking up a whole wall (as it used to before the rearrangement) Right now it holds my cookbooks, CDs and a few decorative things, but I'm looking forward to getting it reorganized more efficiently soon.
The wicker chair used to live in our bedroom, but has been moved to make room for baby stuff (baby will be rooming with us for the first few months). The wooden box on the coffee table holds all the remotes. (BTW, wouldn't the fireplace be SO cute if we could take down those two ugly brick trails climbing up the wall, whitewash the brick, and put up a real wood mantle? Do you think the landlord would notice?;o)