Recipe for Holiday Biscuits and Ham

I hope you're having a peaceful and pleasant holiday season!  Growing up in the south, biscuits were a table staple.  There were more biscuit recipes than beehive hairdos!  Mayonnaise biscuits, butter biscuits, rolled biscuits, drop biscuits,... and one of my favorites, cream biscuits.

These yummy little cream biscuits, spread with some jalapeno (or raspberry) jam,  nestled around a piece of ham, and sprinkled with some lemon salt are sure to be a favorite.  I served them for both brunch and as an appetizer for a dinner party this holiday.  They can be made ahead of time and served room temperature or warmed briefly in the oven.  Be sure to use the biscuit cutting technique as described so the biscuits can rise properly and pull apart beautifully when you are ready to add the ham slices.

Recipe for Simple Biscuits-Daring Bakers

Mmmm, fresh out of the oven!  We don't eat biscuits as a general rule although I used to eat them frequently enough when I lived in the South.  I was surprised how much we both enjoyed these when I made them for our monthly Daring Bakers challenge.

Recipe for Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Scone Muffins

When I'm out for my morning bike ride, I sometimes have some creative ideas for the kitchen.  Take these scone muffins...I wanted to make something portable for a brunch time snack.  Thinking about what was on hand during my ride, I came up with the idea of using a package of King Arthur Scone Mix as a base for some savory muffins.  These were really good and around 180 calories each!

Book Review: "On A Stick" by Matt Armendariz (and recipe)

Photo by Matt Armendariz, used with permission

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate to receive a free review copy of a new fun and quirky cookbook, “On a Stick!” by photographer and blogger Matt Armendariz, published by Quirk Books, May 2011.   Ha!  Quirky cookbook, published by Quirk books-unplanned, honestly!  OK, moving on.  I follow Matt’s blog (mattbites.com) so I was enthusiastic to see what in the world he had come up with for his “anything on a stick” cookbook.

Well, Matt did not disappoint!  Now, I’m not saying I’d make everything in this cookbook. However, there are plenty of fun appetizer or snack ideas that I would make and others that will inspire me to adapt the recipes to my ingredients/style. 

Recipe for Blueberry and Goat's Cheese French Toast

You’ve probably had French Toast spread or stuffed with cream cheese.  Mmm Mmm good, right?  I wanted to give it a try using goat’s cheese instead.  The thought was it would be a bit tangy to cut some of the richness.  I also had some frozen blueberries that were defrosted and needed to be used and figured their tartness would fit in with the tanginess of the cheese. 

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Recipe for Leek and Bacon Tart

I had 2 large leeks hanging out in my fridge from our week’s veggie delivery.  The rest of this came together in my head during my morning bike ride.  Great flavors, if I do say so myself!  This would be lovely for brunch.  We had it for dinner, room temperature, with some grilled sausages and then I had it cold from the fridge the next couple of days for lunch with a small green salad.