BoBerry Biscuits

*WARNING*
This recipe is NOT gluten-free (apologies to my gf readers out there.)

A couple of friends of mine from North Carolina are constantly singing the praises of a restaurant chain called Bojangles. Their rhapsodic descriptions of BoBerry Biscuits inspired my to dig up the recipe online and surprise them with my best efforts at recreating the BoBerry.

BoBerry Biscuits:
- 2 cups Flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1/3 cup of sugar
- 5 tbs of low-fat butter or margarine.
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup dried (dehydrated) blueberries

Glaze:
- 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar
- 1/8 cup of water
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- ½ teaspoon of fresh lemon juice

Directions:
One hour before baking cut up the butter into 1/8 inch - 1/4 inch slices and place in freezer.

Preheat oven to 450F. Mix salt, sugar, flour, blueberries and baking powder in a bowl. Add cold milk to dry ingredients and mix.

Add the slices of butter and fold them QUICKLY into the dough. You do not want them to melt, they will create the layers in your biscuits.

Once the butter chunks are evenly distributed, move dough to floured cutting board and roll flat to about ¼ - ½ thick (or to desired thickness) and cut Biscuits with a 2" biscuit or cookie cutter. Place in oven and bake for 7-12 minutes, until golden brown at the edges.

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave, and paint finished biscuits with pastry brush.
Mix glaze ingredients in a bowl, and drizzle over BoBerry Biscuits.
ENJOY!

If the guys' reactions were any indication, this recipe was pretty close to the real thing. Even if you've never been to Bojangles, I can pretty much promise you will love these babies. They are flaky, buttery, easy to make and the slightly tart coating is bowl-licking good.

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Zukesketti

Since becoming a (mostly) gluten-free lady, the thing I miss most, hands down, is pasta. Yes I have tried potato pastas, brown rice pastas, white rice pastas, corn pastas, you name it. As a pasta snob, I just haven't found a noodle that gives me al dente firmness without being gummy, mushy or having a weird aftertaste. This recipe for zucchini "spaghetti" tastes remarkably like the real thing and best of all, it comes out al dente! You have to try it to believe it. Oh yeah, also zucchini is a vegetable, not a bloat-inducing carb monster. It has Vitamin C, Protein, Fiber, Potassium, Folate, Vitamin A and Lutein. Does your average noodle have all that?

Makes 1 serving
- 2 small to medium zucchini
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/2 clove garlic, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup toasted, unsalted sliced almonds
- 14 cup shaved parmesan cheese

Using a mandolin slicer set to shred or julienne, slice zucchini. (This is a little tricky. I've included a picture of the mandolin so you can see what it looks like.) Cut off and discard the ends of the zucchini then set it on it's side on the mandolin. Be careful not to cut off your fingertips as you slide the zucchini into the blades. Rotate the zucchini after a few passes over the blade. Discard the soft, seeded center once you've shredded all the way around. It gets too mushy when it cooks and it's also too soft to slice.

If you don't have a mandolin, simply use a knife to cut the zucchini into "matchsticks."

In a small non-stick skillet heat 1 tbsp butter and chopped garlic until garlic begins to brown.

Toss in the zucchini "noodles" and stir until they absorb the butter and begin to soften, about 1 minute. Add the remaining butter and continue to stir until the butter is absorbed and the zucchini is slightly softened but still firm. Taste it to make sure the texture is to your liking (for me it was about two to three minutes.)

Remove from heat and top with almonds and parmesan and enjoy!

You can also try this with your favorite pasta sauce! YUM!

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Cheesy Asparagus Risotto

I always thought risotto must be really hard to make because I only had REALLY good risotto at fancy restaurants. Turns out, it's not hard at all. The trick is to stay with it. Put on some music in the kitchen and be patient, don't go too far away from the pan. Also: taste! The best way to prevent your risotto from turning to glue is noticing when the rice starts to soften and finishing it up at that point. If you wait to long, you will have asparagus flavored gum. Mmmmmmmm. If you baby your risotto, it will pay off. Also, you can experiment with cheeses. The gouda makes this dish really rich and a bit nutty.

- 10-15 medium to thin spears of asparagus (fewer if you use big ol fat ones)
- 32 oz chicken broth
- Approx. 2 tbs. olive oil
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 cup uncooked arborio rice
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese plus a little extra to sprinkle
- Splash of good white wine
- 1/4-1/3 cup grated gouda cheese
- 1/4 cup half and half
- finely chopped chives to suit your taste

Break off the tough ends of the asparagus


Set the asparagus in a basket steamer in a pot with water, cover and bring to a boil. Steam, covered for 5-10 minutes depending on the thickness of your asparagus stalks. Test with a fork to make sure the stalks are tender but just slightly firm. Remove asparagus and chop into 1/2 - 1 inch pieces and reserve. You can steam the asparagus at the same time as you are working on the rice mixture.

Heat broth in a small pot, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer, keep at a simmer.

Heat Olive Oil in a medium pan on medium heat and onions, cook until they begin to soften then add garlic and cook until both just begin to caramelize (the garlic cooks faster than the onions so don't put them in together. Learned this the hard way.)

Add the rice to the onions and garlic and cook for about two minutes, stirring frequently to prevent the rice from burning or sticking.

Add 1/2 cup of the simmering broth to the rice and shake the pan around to get the rice to absorb the liquid. As soon as most of the liquid is absorbed, add another half cup of broth. Continue this until most or all of the broth is gone, the rice is tender but not soft and the mixture is thick and creamy. This whole process takes about 15-20 minutes. Add a splash of good white wine to taste. I LOOOOOOVE King Shag from Trader Joe's and it's the perfect wine to drink with this dish once you finish.


As you add more liquid you can try to "flip" the risotto in the pan. It's kind of fun but can also be dangerous so be cautious.


Remove the mixture from the heat and add the cheese, half and half and asparagus. Reserve a few asparagus tips and some cheese for garnish.

Transfer the risotto to bowls, snip some fresh chives on top using kitchen scissors and garnish with the cheese and asparagus tips.
YUM!

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Tomatermelon Goat Cheese Salad with Avocado

I had some leftover goat cheese from my pizza and wanted to use it up in something easy and tasty. I decided to make a summery salad with a tangy dressing and a surprise element. The avocado in this dish may sound a little weird but the creaminess balances out the acid in the tomato and the sharp tang of the goat cheese. The slightly salty dressing makes the watermelon extra sweet and juicy. There are a million ways you could play with this salad to adjust it to your tastes (try basil or fresh mint instead of chives) but it's pretty fantastic as is (if I do say so myself)

For Dressing

- 3-4 oz goat cheese (reserve a bit of goat cheese to put on top of the salad)
- 4 tbsp buttermilk
- 3 tsp. white wine vinegar
- 1 tsp. dijon mustard
- 1-2 tsp. sugar to taste
- sea salt and pepper to taste
- 2 stalks fresh chives, snipped into teeny tiny pieces
- splash of white wine

For Salad

- 3-4 large Heirloom tomatoes, cut into sections
- 4-5 Cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 1/2" - 1" chunks of watermelon (as much as you like, I used about 2 cups)
- 1 avocado cut into small chunks
- 1-2 tbsp goat cheese

Mix veggies and fruit together in a large bowl.

Whisk together dressing ingredients.

Plop a few dollops of goat cheese on top.

Pour dressing over salad and enjoy!

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Freshly Made Corn Tortilla Tacos

When I found out how easy it was to make corn tortillas, I wanted to make them IMMEDIATELY. I made my honey walk with me to the corner Mexican market and got a blister on the walk back. Totally worth it. I picked up some Maseca corn flour (gluten free natch), an avocado and some soy chorizo.

Shout out to my friend Elizabeth for recommending Reynaldo's Soy Chorizo. SOOO good. WAY less greasy than regular chorizo plus none of the salivary glands (what, you didn't know that's what chorizo is made out of?) I have tried other soyrizo brands and Reynaldo's is hands down the best. This isn't much of a recipe, just the basics to making easy, yummy, warm corn tortillas that you can stuff full of anything you like.

Tortillas
- 1 cup of Masa Harina (corn flour)
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
Filling
- 1/2 tube of Reynaldo's Soy Chorizo
- 1 avocado cut into slices
- Sour cream
- Shredded sharp cheddar or crumbled cotija cheese

In a bowl, slowly add water to the masa and salt while you stir. The texture will be slightly crumbly. When the mixture just starts to form a ball, get your hands in there and smoosh. You should be able to easily form a large ball. If the mix is too dry or crumbly, add a tiny bit of water until it comes together. Split the large ball into four equal sized balls. Place a damp paper towels over the balls while you roll out and cook the tortillas.

Cut two pieces of wax paper. Place a ball on the paper and set the second sheet of wax paper on top. Press down and flatten the ball. Roll the ball out with a rolling pin until it is super thin but not so thin that it rips when you try to peel it off the wax paper. You'll get a feel for it.

Heat a dry, nonstick skillet on medium high heat. Toss a tortilla onto the skillet and heat for about one minute then flip with a spatula. Heat the other side for a minute and if both sides are crisp and slightly brown at the edges, pull it off, stuff it and eat it! Repeat with the rest of your tortilla balls.



Soy chorizo is so easy to make. Squeeze it out of the package into a skillet, heat it up on medium high and cook until it gets a little crispy. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

I made these tacos with regular chorizo for a group of friends and they seemed tickled. Try these for yourself!

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Herbed Roasted Lamb Shank

An old friend of mine was given a gorgeous lamb shank and had no idea what to do with it. I looked around for some good recipes and then messed them about to come up with this. This old friend also has a nice camera and some major photog skillz, hence the pretty pictures for this installment.

This recipe takes for ever but the results are so worth the long wait. Be patient and don't give in to the temptation to peek.

- Lamb Shank (you can do this with more than one, we just had one)
- Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
- Olive Oil
- Fresh Herbs (we used Rosemary and Thyme and a few sprigs of fresh Sage)
- Garlic cloves, peeled and crushed (we used about 10. You could always use more)

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees

Line your roasting pan with foil, put the shank in and drizzle it with olive oil. Sprinkle both sides of the shank liberally with sea salt and black pepper. Pop the pan in the oven for 25-30 minutes, you are just browning the shank at this point. It will look delish but don't eat it yet. The best is yet to come.

Turn the oven down to 200, YES 200 degrees.

Crush the garlic with the flat of a chef's knife then sprinkle it all over the shank. Place your herbs on and around the shank then wrap the shank in the foil that was under it. Pull out another swath of foil and wrap it the shank up completely, no holes. You are more or less going to steam the meat that's already brown and crisp so that it will be literally fall-off-the-bone tender.

Once your bundle of joy is all wrapped, put it back in the 200 degree oven for 3 hours. 3 whole hours. Wait. When it's ready, take it out, let it cool a few minutes and open it up. Warning, your house will smell amazing and you will want to yank the lamb out of the oven and devour it with your hands. Don't do this.

For an easy side dish we used ready made mashed potatoes, heated them up with a pat of butter and tossed in the roasted garlic cloves from inside the lamb shank bundle. It was perfect with the herbed, tender lamb.



Bon Apetit!

P.S. Here is my Frenchie Violet enjoying the bone as much as we enjoyed the lamb!

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Springtime Pizza

I had some leftover asparagus from my Asparagus Risotto (recipe forthcoming) and I thought it'd be perfect with some prosciutto. I came across gluten free frozen pizza crusts at Whole Foods and inspiration struck. This was my first time trying crusts like these. They were not traditional pizza crusts, more on the crispy/chewy side but after going pizza free for 6 months, they really hit the spot. This recipe was super simple because most of the stuff I used was pre-made. You could make any of the pre-made bits from scratch if you were feeling ambitious. I was just feeling hungry.

There are no real measurements here, just do what works for you, it's hard to mess up pizza.

- Frozen Pizza Crust (I used Nature's Highlights brand from Whole Foods. If you use a different one, follow directions on box)
- Pre-made Pesto
- Buffalo Mozzarella cut into slices
- Chevre (crumbled)
- Asparagus (about 5 thick stalks or 8 thin cut into 1"-1 1/2" pieces)
- Toasted Pine Nuts
- Prosciutto
- Parmigiano-Reggiano

Let the pizza crust thaw and pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees.

Cook the plain, un-topped crust right on the oven rack for 4-5 minutes.

Remove the crust and let it cool for a minute then top with the pesto, mozzarella slices, crumbled goat cheese, asparagus, pine nuts, prosciutto and then sprinkle with parm.

Reduce the heat in the oven to 425 then put the pizza back on the rack. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until cheese melts and starts to bubble. Remove from the oven, let sit for two minutes then cut and DEVOUR!

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