dad's biscuts

2 cups cold all-purpose flour plus more for your work surface and hands

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1 Tablespoon plus two teaspoons sugar

1 ½ Teaspoons salt

3 Tablespoons cold vegetable shortening (such as Crisco) cut into several pieces

3 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into several pieces

1 cup cold buttermilk

1. Heat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium-size bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly with a fork and transfer to a food processor fitted with the chopping blade. Toss the butter and vegetable shortening into the food processor and pulse the mixture in two-second increments until it resembles coarse crumbs with a few pea-size pieces of butter mixed in-about five pulses. (If you don’t have a food processor, cut the fats into the dry ingredients in a bowl by mashing with a fork, a whisk, or ideally, a pastry blender; it will take about five minutes.
2. Transfer the mixture back to the bowl, pour the buttermilk over it and mix with the fork for about a minute, until the dough just comes together. Turn out the dough onto a floured board, knead it with floured fingers once or twice, and pat it into a rectangle about six by ten inches and about an inch thick.
3. Fold the rightmost third of the rectangle over the center third and fold the left third on top. Turn the dough a quarter turn, pat in into a six-by-ten rectangle, and fold the dough upon itself in thirds again. Repeat twice more, and then pat the dough into a six-by-ten rectangle about an inch thick.
4. Using a floured two-inch biscuit cutter (or an upside-down glass), cut the biscuits from the dough and place them about an inch and a half apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the tops begin to brown. Serve warm with eggs and bacon or any good and greasy southern food you can cook up. (Sausage gravy is particularly wonderful!!!)

Pasta Sausage Soup

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs sweet or hot Italian sausage (I use hot, but if you don't like spicy food, use both hot and mild. The spicy gives it a very good flavor so don't be afraid of the spicy.)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium green pepper, cut into strips
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 1/2 cups bow tie pasta, uncooked
• 6 cups water
• 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes (or 1 14 1/2 oz can chicken broth)
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Remove casings from sausage. Cut sausage into 1/2-inch pieces. Brown. Drain off any fat.
2. Add green pepper, onion and garlic to sausage and saute until tender.
3. Add remaining ingredients.
4. Cook until pasta is done, about 15-20 minutes.

NOTE: The pasta soaks up the soup base, so if you don't eat all of the soup immediately, you can 1 1/2 times the soup base recipe and then there will be plenty of soup base for the next day instead of having a dry soup.

Rosemary Roasted Chicken

Yum! Yum! Our Favorite Roast Chicken or Turkey! This is by far the best roast chicken or turkey that you will ever taste! Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
• 3 ribs celery, peeled and cut into thirds
• 3 onions, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 (3 1/2 to 4 pound) chicken, rinsed and patted dry
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons cracked white pepper
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 6 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 4 sprigs rosemary, roughly chopped, plus 1 tablespoon for gravy
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons roasted garlic
• 1 cup dry white wine

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

In a 9 by 13-inch roasting pan, add the carrots, celery and onions. Season the chicken both inside and out with the kosher salt and white pepper. Squeeze the lemon halves over the chicken and place the rinds inside the cavity. Place the bay leaves inside the cavity. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, rosemary, olive oil and butter. Rub the chicken both inside and out with the garlic rosemary blend and place in the roasting pan.

Place the pan in the oven and roast the chicken for about 20-25 minutes (depending on the temperature of your oven), turn it over and then roast the other side for another 20 or 25 minutes, or until the juices run clear. To test this, insert a thermometer in the thickest part of a leg. It should register at 160 degrees internal temperature. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

Pour off excess fat from pan and return to heat. Whisk in chicken stock, roasted garlic, white wine and chopped rosemary, scraping up the bits on the bottom of pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Reduce gravy by half, until thickened.

Serve chicken with gravy on the side.

This is literally the best roast chicken recipe you will ever have!

Easy Indian Curry

2 chicken Breasts cubed
1/2 of a summer sqash cubed
1/2 of a zucchini cubed
1 medium onion diced
2 potatoes cubed
(these veggies can be replaced or added to with any veggie)
1/2-1 t. minced garlic
1/4 - 1/2 t. minced or grated ginger
1- 1 1/2 t. curry powder
1 t. salt
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c. water
splash heavy cream

Puree the can of diced tomatoes with the one cup of water and set aside.
in a pot with 2 tablespoons oil cook chicken until brown. Remove chicken. In same pot add onions with a little more oil and cook until tender. Add any other veggie and the garlic and ginger and saute. Once sauted, add the curry powder and salt. Pour the tomato puree in the pot and use it to scrape up the bits at the bottom. Let simmer for 20 min - 45 min. Remove from heat and add the cream. (about 1/4 cup. ) not too much!!

Serve with rice or couscous, and fried tortillas. I did homemade tortillas and they were perfect! they were like nan!

French Bread

2 C. Water
1 T. shortening
1 T. sugar
2 t. salt
2.5 t. yeast
5-6 c. flour

In mixing bowl cover shotrening, sugar, and salt with 3/4 c. boiling water. Once shortening is melted, add another 3/4c. room temp water.
Meanwhile, mix yeast with 1/2 c. warm water. Sit 3 min.
Stir to dissolve then add to shortening/water mix.
Add 5 c. flour and mix until a nice stiff dough. (I do 3-4 min.)I also put in a few shakes of rosemary and garlic powder! it's best that way!
put in greased bowl and allow to double (about 30 min)
Punch down and divide into 2 portions. Form into loves and place on cookie sheet.
Allow to rise until double again. Once doubled make 2 crosswise slashes per loaf.
Pour a little olive oil in slashes before baking.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400 for 25- 35 min.

Lime Soup

1 whole chicken, about 3 - 4 pounds

Water to cover, about 12 to 14 cups

1 large Spanish onion, choped

1 tsp. salt

Fresh pepper to taste

28-ounce can whole tomatoes

1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro

Tortilla chips

Cheddar or Jack cheese

Lime wedges

Wash and dry the chicken. Place it in a 1-quart kettle and add water to cover the chicken. Add the chopped onion salt and pepper. Simmer for two hours or so, until the chicken begins to come off the bones. Remove from the heat and lift chicken with a slotted spoon, placing it into a bowl to cool. Cool broth and remove fat accumulation from surface. Add the canned tomatoes, crushing by hand as you add them. Simmer broth gently. Remove skin and bones from chicken and return shredded chicken pieces to the simmering broth. Add chopped cilantro and cook for 30 minutes. (Opt. - You can add black or pinto beans, corn and/or green beans to make a heartier soup.)

To serve: Ladle into large soup bowls and serve with a basket of crisp tortilla chips, grated Cheddar or Jack cheese, and wedges of fresh lime. Garnish with some of each. You may also want to garnish with a dollop of sour cream and/or fresh avacado.

Makes 8 servings.