Making Biscuits

We had a cozy dinner here with Nana, Papa, Summer, & Seth tonight. It was wonderful to all be together. Papa watched the news and paid close attention to the weather. He quietly attended to that entertainment while all the commotion of cooking was going on. He came in a few times to read the paper and the share the forecast for the next few days with us. He was amazed at how cold it is supposed to get here tonight (17 to 20 degrees) and for the high expected tomorrow (45) so he warmly welcomed his hot cup of coffee.

Braxton and the twins played between squabbles and had to be quietened down more than once. Their highlight of the evening was making their own little biscuits! Each got a turn on the old step stool from Mamaw’s house at the work table to pat, roll out and cut tiny dough circles for dinner.

{Summer}

{Summer & Seth}

{Braxton}

Nana wrote the recipe down and took one she had been waiting to get on making all-purpose flour into self rising. (For every one cup of all-purpose flour, you just add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder and ½ teaspoon of salt)

J.P.'s Big Daddy Biscuits

Servings: 6

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon white sugar
1/3 cup shortening
1 cup milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl.
3. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times. Pat or roll dough out to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2009 Allrecipes.com Printed from Allrecipes.com 2/4/2009

As the biscuits were cooking in the oven, I made a batch of rice fried in the WOK and tomato gravy in a cast iron skillet. When the rice was hot enough, I filled a small bowl for the children and tossed an onion/pepper/garlic mixture in the rice still in the WOK and heated all until it was hot.

For the tomato gravy, I drizzled some olive oil in a cast iron skillet and let it start heating up. I sprinkled some flour in and used a whisk to stir this all until it was smooth and starting to turn golden or golden brown. I added milk and kept stirring until it was smooth and at the exact consistency I wanted it. Then, I added a box of chopped tomatoes, a small sprinkle of sugar, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. As soon as it was hot enough, we made the plates up. Hot biscuits, tomato gravy over them or on the side and rice served on the other side. We had ice tea with lemon, water, or milk to drink.

My mother said she hadn’t had tomato gravy like that since her own precious mother made it! Papa loved it and the kids ate it up. My husband even got home in time to eat a plate of lunch and he commented a few times on how good the meal was.

I’ll try to figure out a way to share the biscuit making pictures of the kids. The twins are Summer & Seth (four years) and the Army jacket is Braxton (five years).