Sweet Blueberry Biscuits

I made these blueberry biscuits the other morning for breakfast, and they were pretty much out of this world!

Buttery, yummy, light, sweet, blueberry-filled goodness!

Sweet Blueberry Biscuits
Original Recipe found here at “See.Try.Eat.”
Printable Recipe

2 cups flour
1 T baking powder
1 1/2 t salt
3 T sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (very cold)
~3/4 cup buttermilk (I make mine by mixing a tad of vinegar with regular milk)
1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 stick melted butter (The original says “salted” but I used “unsalted”, and there are no complaints here!)

Sauce: (I made this amount but only used half so I will make half in the future)
1 cup powdered sugar
3 T milk (or more to make thinner)
1/2 t vanilla

Cut butter into small pieces and lay out on a cookie sheet on waxed paper. Stick in the freezer for at least 10 minutes. (I happened to skip this part, and the biscuits still came out well. However, the bigger biscuits started to lose a bit of their shape during cooking, so I recommend using very cold butter, as the recipe says).

Spray a 12 inch cast-iron skillet with cooking spray or season with bacon grease.

Preheat oven to 500.

Mix together the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) together and then cut in the cold unsalted butter. Cut in until the butter is about pea sized, relatively well mixed in. Add buttermilk. Add slowly until  the dough separates from the sides of the bowl. Stir until just combined and put onto a well-floured surface.

Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Press the dough out and flatten to about 1/2″ thickness. Put blueberries over dough. Knead a couple of times and flatten back out to about 1″ thickness. The berries will likely start to bleed onto the dough and you’ll start to see flecks of blue as the berries defrost.

Cut out 12 biscuits with a biscuit cutter (about 2 inches).

Place biscuits in a cast-iron skillet and be sure biscuits are touching.
Bake at 500 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Somewhere around 6 to 8 minutes, take the skillet out of the oven and brush the tops and sides of biscuits liberally with melted butter. This is an integral part of the baking process. When you begin to see the tops lightly brown (and the blueberries burst), take them out. The temperature in the middle of the biscuits will remain very hot once out of the oven and will continue the cooking process.

If you have to leave your biscuits in longer than 12 minutes, watch the biscuits continually so they don’t burn.

When you take the biscuits out of the oven, let the pan cool for about 10 minutes. Pour the sauce over the biscuits after 10 minutes. Use as much or little of the sauce as desired.

Serve immediately!

Living a Life of Faith: Looking Beyond Circumstances

Our circumstances are very real to us. They are what we live and breathe. They are what we see, hear, and feel every day.

Good and bad experiences flood into our lives continually with the power to shape our thoughts and emotions.

However, if we are going to live a life of faith,
we have to live beyond circumstances.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1

Faith has so much to do with the unseen. As the above verse says, it is the evidence of things NOT SEEN and the substance of what we HOPE FOR.

As I’ve said before, sometimes it takes work to see God. In order to see God, we must seek Him. We must look for Him, and He says we WILL find Him.

And you will seek Me and find Me,
when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 29:13

Faith is not - looking at good circumstances and seeing the hand of God or looking at bad circumstances and seeing His absence.

• Faith is looking BEYOND circumstances
  to see God and His character.
• Faith is looking BEYOND circumstances
  and trusting that God is at work.
• Faith is looking BEYOND circumstances
  and believing that God can CHANGE
  our circumstances if He desires.

If we want to live lives of faith, we must continually challenge ourselves to keep our focus off the tangible realities of life and seek our God who is currently unseen by human eyes.

Quick-Fix Chicken Noodle Soup

In comparison to my usual chicken noodle soup, this soup is a breeze. Typically I make my own broth and shred the chicken off the bone, and therefore, it takes hours to make the soup. With this recipe, I just used packaged broth and boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Also, my family actually said they liked this recipe better. Part of me felt a little disappointed. “What? You don’t prefer the recipe where I pour in a little more love over a lot more time?”

I may have to tweak my other recipe a bit. ~wink~

Quick-Fix Chicken Noodle Soup
Printable Version

1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
3 carrots, sliced
4 chicken breast halves, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup frozen peas
salt and pepper
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 T parsley
1/2 - 1 package of wide egg noodles (I used 1 entire package. It made the soup very full).

Saute onion, garlic, carrots, and chicken breast. Stir occasionally.

When chicken is almost done, add peas and salt and pepper. Stir and cook until chicken is cooked thoroughly, stirring occasionally.

Add chicken broth, water, and parsley.

Bring to a boil and add egg noodles. Cook until noodles are done.

Serve!

Potato and Bacon Hash

 

Potato and Bacon Hash
serves 6
Printable Version

4 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
4 slices turkey bacon, chopped finely

Put about 1 T olive oil and 1 T butter in a large skillet.

Once butter is melted, add potatoes. You may need to add more oil or butter during cooking.

Cook for a few minutes, stirring once or twice. Then add bacon.

Cook mixture until potatoes are nicely fried and cooked through (test with a fork). Stir every couple minutes to avoid burning., but don’t stir too often so you can get a nice crisp.

Season with salt and pepper.

Choose your garnish. I chose grated cheese and a broiled egg. YUM!

Loving People When It’s Hard

It’s easy to love people when it’s easy.

You know… It’s easy to love people when you feel like it.
It’s easy to love people when they love you back.
It’s easy to love people when you get something in return.

It’s not so easy to love people when it’s hard.

Sometimes loving people hurts.
Sometimes loving people feels empty.
Sometimes loving people is completely sacrificial.

Jesus said this,

Love your enemies,
Bless those who curse you,
Do good to those who hate you,
and Pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.

Wow! That doesn’t sound like it’s easy; does it?

So, I’m supposed to love the people who hate me, speak evil of me, reject me, use me, and persecute me?

Got it! … Or do I?

I’m learning. All of us are, if we are yielding ourselves to God’s Spirit.

God desires that we love people,
whether it’s easy or hard.

Do you know why?

The next verse in Matthew 5 tells us:

That you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

God wants us to be like Him.
He wants us to be kind, gracious, and merciful.

How have you been loving people?

Are there people in your life whom are hard to love?

God wants you to love them. God wants you to give, even when it hurts.

Dear Lord,
Give us strength to be the people you want us to be. Help us to love people, just as you do – humbly, generously, and sacrificially.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Give Yourself Grace

I’m in a season of life where I need a lot of grace, yet I realize I’m not always good at giving myself grace.

I’m a firstborn, you see. One of those firstborns who likes her ducks in a row, has a hard time being flexible, and wishes everything in life were black and white and completed, of course.

I like to give myself goals, responsibilities, and even … guilt, but grace? I’m learning.

We must give ourselves grace.

I’m convinced that grace is as necessary
to our lives as air and water.

It is necessary, not just for surviving
but for thriving.

There are times when we need wiggle room in life.

We need room, just to be the imperfect,
needy humans that we are.

…Not in a bad way, of course, but in a realistic way. We need room to admit that we will not always be perfect. Actually we will fall very short, at times, and we need to give ourselves grace.

We need to admit that we won’t get everything done all of the time.
We won’t always be everything we want to be.
We won’t always live up to our own expectations.

We WILL fall short and have extra needs sometimes, and that is okay.

We are humans, relying upon a loving and gracious God to mold us and shape us
into the people He wants us to be.

If you need extra sleep, take it.
If you need more quiet, get it.
If you need to take a break to spend time with God, do it.
If you need to let go of your routine for the day, hack it.
If you need to avoid your “To Do” list, neglect it.

Do what you need to give yourself grace each day.

Grace is activated as we mercifully
enable ourselves to live imperfect
but good lives.

Giving yourself grace might equal:

• Sleeping in
• Ordering out
• Simplifying your task list
• Saying “No” to something
• Accepting a less-than-magazine-cover household appearance
• Taking a break when there’s still much to do
• Canceling an appointment or event

Giving yourself grace is letting go of the way
you think life *should* be
and accepting the way it *must* be.

Give yourself grace today!

Quick, Rustic Breakfast Parfait

My oldest son, especially, likes breakfast parfaits. Oftentimes I do not make them because I don’t have granola on hand. The other morning I decided to make one, a bit rustic-style.

I chopped up some pecans and almonds and toasted them with some oats in my toaster oven at 400 degrees for a couple minutes. The items toast quickly, so watch them carefully while you are toasting.

After I took the crunchy mixture out of the oven, I put it in a bowl and drizzled maple syrup on top. Then I gently stirred the mixture.

Then came the layers: creamy, plain yogurt, the nutty oat combo, and some wholesome fruit – frozen blueberries, chopped pear, and sliced banana.

It was rustic, delicious, and nutritious! … and Quick!

Enjoy!