Healthy Biscuits to Help Stamp out Hunger!

Howdy folks! I’m taking part in the fight against hunger along with 100+ food bloggers today.  Hunger is a real problem, right here in our country. The average food stamp benefit is $3 a day to spend on a meal.  This is barely livable and UNACCEPTABLE! When money is tight, folks are going to get as much as they can for it; and sadly, the cheapest foods are often times the least healthy. You can help! Send a letter to congress asking them to support anti-hunger legislation by clicking here. It only takes 30 seconds to make a difference!

I’m primarily a dessert maker, but I make many breads as well. I came up with a recipe that’s budget friendly, made with pantry staples found in your local grocery store, and contains protein and natural foods that are good for you and not to mention, filling.  And, it also tastes great! Take that, processed cheap food with empty calories and no real health benefits!

the good stuff.

Before I share my creation, I wanted to take a second and ask that you watch this trailer, for “A Place at the Table”  now showing in a city near you and on iTunes.  Please take the time to see this movie – it will change the way you think about food and hunger. The issue is real, and YOU can help!!

Now heeeeeeere’s the recipe!

Raisin and Cereal Biscuits

What you’ll need:

2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking power

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup shortening

¾ cup milk

½ cup fiber cereal (such as Fiber One or the generic store brand version)

½ cup raisins

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Cut in the shortening until the mixture has a fine crumb texture. Mix in the raisins and cereal.  Stir in the milk with a fork so it makes a soft dough. Knead the dough with clean hands about 10 times – do not overknead – it will become too stiff! Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter (or a glass turned upside down) cut out biscuits, and place them on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes (or until the edges being to turn golden brown).  Makes 22 – 24 biscuits.

Serve with butter or jam, or enjoy them as is!

Green is the New Biscuit.

For the first time since I started writing the blog, I have more posts than I have time to write them. The backlog of ideas is getting bigger and bigger, and I really can’t complain – it’s great to have a wealth of material to draw from! For instance, I recently got the idea in my head that I wanted to make biscuits. I honestly couldn’t remember if I had ever made biscuits from scratch before – we may have in pastry school, but I was drawing a complete blank. I know I’ve made those ones in the cardboard tube, where you twist it and it pops open, exposing tube-shaped dough to be cut into equal parts and baked. But I’m talking from scratch. I started looking up recipes online. I found three that were very similar, and also rather simple, which I liked – that meant this was a good base for plenty of experimenting! I decided to start with this recipe from allrecipes.com as a guide, but made a few adjustments and additions (which I’ve included at the end of this post for your baking pleasure) to make it more personal.

a dough like no other.

I rolled the dough, and cut it into biscuits with a circle cutter.

a cut above.

I baked them, and shared them with friends.

just grab ’em in the biscuit.

As you may have noticed, I also added swirls of green to these biscuits. The day I was making them also just so happened to be St. Patrick’s Day, so I decided to add a little Irish flair to the fun. These really are great for any day of the year though, and as a breakfast, lunch or dinner item. The beauty of biscuits is that they are extremely versatile.

As promised, here’s the recipe. It’s so simple and delicious. you’re going to wonder why you haven’t been baking biscuits all along.

Green Biscuits.

What you’ll need

2 cups flour (sifted)

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup fat-free half and half

a few drops green food coloring

What you’ll do:

Preheat the oven to 400. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening until it reaches a mealy texture.  Stir in the half and half with a fork. As soon all the liquid is mixed in, Add a few drops of green food coloring. Knead the dough about 10 times, until it forms a ball. Do not over-knead – it will become too tough! Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface, about 1/2″ thick. Using a circle cutter, cut dough into biscuits, and place on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Let rest for about 5 minutes, than bake for about 12 – 15 minutes. They’re best when they are warm, but they can always be reheated later on. Makes about 15 – 20 biscuits, depending on the size of the cutter.