Ben's Never Fail Biscuits

Biscuits may seem to be an easy bread to make unless it just doesn't work for you. I have attempted to made biscuits for a very long time and they never looked or tasted right so off we would go to the store to buy the canned jumbo biscuits or frozen ones. Finally I was going to make them right.

My son-in-law, Ben, make very delicious biscuits and gravy often at their home so I asked for his recipe. And it really is - NEVER FAIL biscuits.

Ben's NEVER FAIL Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup butter COLD, cut into small pieces

3/4 - 1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly grease or coat with cooking spray a large cookie sheet. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, sugar and cream of tartar. Stir.

3. Cut in butter with pastry cutter or fork until it is crumbly and pea-size.

4. Add milk gradually, stirring with a fork just to make a soft dough.

5. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead about 6-8 times.

6. Pat out to desired thickness, about 1" is good.

7. Cut with a biscuit cutter or glass cup.

8. Place on prepared pan about 1" apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Mild Pork Chile Verde

Pork Chile Verde

Okay. I love to try new recipes but this one worried me. Our teenage son LOVES this when he goes to any good Mexican food place so I had to make it good enough for my worst food critic - the teenager himself! He and a couple of his friends were over to "try it out". They all said it was as good as The Taco Man's - that a compliment I'll take any day. Wahoo!!!
*Warning: This takes a LONG time but is well worth it. It also makes a very large batch so you can freeze some for another day.



Mild Pork Chile Verde
4 lb. pork roast
2-3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
4 cups chicken stock
3 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 green peppers, chopped
1 can chopped green chilies (or 2 Anaheim chiles, finely chopped)
2-3 jalapenos, seeds removed, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped
1 1/2 lb tomatillos, roasted, peeled, chopped (or 2 small cans crushed tomatillos)
1 tbsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 bay leaves
1 bunch cilantro leaves, cleaned, chopped

Directions:
Season pork meat with salt and pepper; place in 5 quart crock-pot with chicken stock. Let cook until tender (4-5 hours). Remove; cool. Remove all fat and gross stuff off meat. Cut into small 1/2" pieces or shred. Skim off fat from broth and return to crock-pot along with cut up meat. Add all remaining ingredients. Simmer for 2-3 hours covered. Adjust the seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.

(I cooked the meat one day, cooled it in the fridge overnight to get all the fat and gross stuff off and combined everything the next day.)

Country Honey and Oats Wheat Bread

After fiddling with a few recipes for my new bread machine, I finally am satisfied, at least for this first recipe. This bread looks like white but.....guess again.

Country Oats and Wheat Bread

1 1/2 cup warm milk

4 tbsp butter, melted

2 tbsp honey

1 large egg, slightly beaten

1 tsp salt

2 cups bread flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup quick oats
2 tbsp vital wheat gluten

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Measure and add milk, butter, honey and egg to bread machine pan. Add salt, bread flour, wheat flour, oats and gluten. Spread dry ingredients over liquid so yeast never comes in contact with the liquid. Add yeast last. 

Mix in machine on dough setting. Remove from bread machine and form into one or two loaves. Place in greased or sprayed bread pans. Let rise 1" above pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Rub top with butter. Let cool.