Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Icemageddon!

Mindy here, feeling the need to apologize for being AWOL from the café. You ever have one of those weeks? Well, that was me this past week. First, I was trying to catch up after Thanksgiving, then BAM! North Texas is hit with a major ice storm. Stuff like that just totally messes with my head. Not in a bad way, mind you, just has me shifting gears.
 
So this was the scene when we awoke Friday morning. Nothing compared to Jan's blizzard, I know. Looks kind of peaceful, doesn't it? Like a nice dusting of snow. Except this is layers and layers of sleet and freezing rain. It wasn't fluffy. It was crunchy. And the driveway (note that it's sloped)? Two-three inches of solid ice. Nobody was going anywhere.
Now you folks who live up north may think this is nothing, but Texas is not equipped to handled stuff like this. They have sanding trucks (which finally made it down our street Sunday morning), but that's about it. Schools were closed. Highways were shut down. Over 270,000 people lost electricity. DFW Airport was at a standstill, trapping thousands of weary travelers. In a word, it was a MESS.

But a pretty mess. One that had me opting to stay inside.
 
 
A cold winter's day deserves a nice hot breakfast. Something besides the usual oatmeal. So I decided to make eggs, biscuits, and bacon. Now my biscuits aren't the gorgeous fluffy variety that Jan shared with us here, but they're easy and very yummy. My daughters' great-grandmother taught me how to make these when I was but a young bride.
 
 
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
 
You'll need only 3 ingredients:
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2-3 cups self rising flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable or canola oil, plus more for pan
 
Yep, that's it. Like I said, easy. :)
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now, I like to dirty as few dishes as possible, so I measure my buttermilk into a large measuring cup that will double as my mixing bowl.
 
 



Add the oil and two cups of flour.
Stir to mix. If it's too sticky, add more flour a spoonful at a time. You want it to hold together without being sticky.
 
Dump onto floured surface and knead gently. Fold and push. Fold and push until elastic, but not sticky.
 
 
Prepare your pan (whatever pan you like. I usually use a round cake pan, but sometimes I'll use a cast iron skillet) by coating the bottom with a couple tablespoons of oil or butter. I usually use oil, but butter works just as well.
 
At this point, you can roll it to about a half-inch thickness and cut your biscuits, however, Greatmom taught me to "pinch" off the biscuits like she did.
Simply grab a biscuit-sized blob between your thumb and forefinger and "pinch" it off.
 
 
Now shape it a bit with your hands. I usually roll it in my palms a time or two, then flatten it a bit.
 
Coat each side of the biscuit with the oil in the pan and settle in pan.
 
Repeat the process until your dough is gone and your pan is full.
 
Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until tops are golden brown.
 
Clean up mess and stare at the beauty outside the kitchen window. That is until one of the dogs barks, ordering you to let her outside. Just because she has a fur coat... Sheesh! And she would much rather drink her water al fresco than out of the bowl inside.
 
However...
Imagine her reaction when she saw her water bucket.
After pacing for a while, she gave up and decided to eat the sleet.
 
The warmth from the oven, not to mention the timer, draws me back inside.
Perfect!
 
Now that's my kind of breakfast. One that's usually reserved for the ranch. But hey, it's not like we're ice-bound every day. This is an event, right? And an event like this calls for a hearty breakfast.
 
Church was cancelled Sunday, so we attacked our icy driveway as temps struggled to creep above the 32 degree mark. Not long enough to melt the ice-covered roads, though, so school was called off again for Monday. Now I'm sore from chiseling at the ice with a shovel. We got the job done, though. Even if I was spent for the rest of the day. Hot tea, a comfortable recliner, and some football were all the consolation I needed. Along with the knowledge that I had an ice-free driveway. :)
 
The ice has melted just in time, though. Tonight is my friend, Drenda's, annual cookie swap party. You can read about last year's party here. Now I just need to decide what to take. But that's a blog post for next week! :)

24 comments:

  1. Lovely looking biscuits! I'm glad your ice storm is over in time to enjoy the cookie party.

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    1. Me too, Piper. Drenda's cookie exchange is one of the highlights of my holiday season.

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  2. Ugh. We just went through this and it scares me to death when hubby has to drive a two-lane rural highway 40 minutes to the next town, competing with semi trucks and people who have no sense! It takes years off my life and I'm always so very, very grateful when he comes home! Maybe I'll make him biscuits!!

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    1. I know what you mean, Virginia. I'm confident in my driving, it's those other bozos I worry about. Which is why I stock up before and stay put. What I can't u crest and, though, is why there were so many truckers on the road. Every time they show a shot of the Interstate at a dead stop, the majority of the traffic is trucks. Do these people not communicate? Don't they pay attention to the weather? Instead, they're stuck for days and some even abandon their trucks, which slows things down even more. I just don't get it.

      Stepping down off of my soap box now. :)

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  3. YUM! Those look simple enough that maybe I wouldn't kill them and turn them into hockey pucks. :)

    Now I'm dissatisfied with my toast and jelly. Need me some bacon and biscuits!

    Hope you get totally thawed out this week. I know how it is to get those rare ice storms. Very odd.

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    1. Missy, don't you know not to read the Yankee-Belle over breakfast? (she said, taking a bite of her oatmeal :)

      So long as you don't knead too much flour into the dough, you should be fine. No hockey pucks. :)

      Did y'all get any of the storm that hit us? I know it's moving up the east coast now.

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  4. I'm in envy of your snow days. I know, that's bad. But we have to have a HUGE dumping before they'll give our schools a snow day and even then staff have to make it in because they don't actually close the school, just cancel the buses.

    Love the pic of your swimming pool! And all the icicles hanging from your awning. No wonder your dog was shocked when she went outside!

    Still haven't made biscuits yet. Wonder if it's something you crave when you eat meat along with it?

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    1. LOL! Kav, I crave biscuits with or without meat. Butter and jelly is all the incentive I need.

      Would you believe they closed our school district again today? Completely absurd. The roads are more than passable. Well, at least around my house. However, we're like the only district in the area who closed again today. All these snow days are really putting a crimp in my Christmas shopping. Oh well, he's old enough to stay alone. His brother's college wasn't closed, so at least I'll be down by one. What that really means is one less person to wait on. :)

      And that's just not fair that staff still has to report when your school is closed. How many kids actually show up? Doesn't the administration worry about the safety of their staff? I feel for you, girl. That's just not right.

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  5. I have scoured cookbooks for a biscuit recipe I could make. And have tried many. AND FAILED. Thank you. This looks yummy.

    Ice storms. Gotta love them. We used to get them in Tulsa when I lived there.

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    1. You can make these, Tina. Easy peasy.

      I don't know about loving ice storms, but they definitely are an adventure. I'm just glad we didn't lose power.

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  6. nice! gonna have to try these but as luck would have it I just got back from the grocery store (wanted to make gravy for my frozen biscuits then remembered I used all the milk last night making hot chocolate...) but didn't buy self-rising because the recipe I was thinking of attempting uses regular and adds the rising stuff...sigh...these look like nice biscuits to me and no rolling!
    I'm far enough south I missed the ice thank goodness - had the rain and the cold and low 40s and probably mid-upper 30s but not freezing. and you're definitely right- we don't know how to drive on ice in Texas nor how to 'survive' - a few years ago we hit the teens here and I had a faucet break in spite of being wrapped :-( and unfortunately my job won't close for anything except a hurricane outage and even that has to be to the point they can't run ANYTHING at the plant and find it cheaper to shut down. if we can't make it in we have to take vacation and thensomeone else who was lucky enough to be off has to go in for us.

    was all set to cook breakfast but the 1800 got junk guys arrived earlier than they said by a whole hour. (so far so good on this service- not cheap but they haul away your junk and I have some bulky furniture that's totally trashed and a swing that's trashed and a stereo I haven't used in 20 yrs taking up space I NEED so 2 hunky guys are working on the problem as I type....and since it's cold it'd be pretty obvious I'm a cougar if I stand outside shivering observing their muscles at work..sigh...I'd better wait til they at least get the furniture loaded before I scare 'em off..
    Susanna

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    1. Susanna, I can just see you - "I'm just out here to let my coffee cool...you guys go on working. Don't mind me!" :)

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    2. poor babies are having a hard time- furntture apparently has feet that HAVE to come off- 2 were stubborn so the cuter one got a crowbar and went to town whacking and prying..such muscles.sigh...
      Susanna

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    3. Sounds like you're having your own adventure, Susanna. And I'm not just referring to the broken pipe. ;)

      So are these guys not wearing jackets? I mean, how can you see there muscles? Must be tough guys. Either that or they're working up a sweat doing all that moving, whacking and prying. Sounds like they make it worth the price though. :)

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    4. Almost worth the price! They unzipped their jacket cause sweaty and wasn't a thick jacket and I have a great imagination... ;-) hunky dude underestimated about $80 so with the sweaty look he dropped in my estimation a teeny bit
      Susanna

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  7. arrgghhh I walked Randall's almost an hour and STILL forgot to get butter! how could I forget anything baked uses butter?! well almost anything baked....don't want to make another trip
    Susanna

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    1. Was this before or after the guys got there? Just wondered if you were distracted. ;)

      Take your list next time. Well, unless you're like me and still overlook things on the list. SIGH.

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  8. Mindy, I'd rather have 20" of snow than an ice storm! Those things are deadly.

    Beautiful, but deadly. I'm glad it's warming up for you.

    Your biscuits look fabulous! (as I'm sitting here eating my oatmeal....)

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    1. It was pretty. But you should have seen some of the videos of sheets of ice falling off of rooftops. One gal's car took a direct hit in downtown Dallas. What a mess.

      They say we're supposed to hit 40 today, but last check it was still 30. I went out to run some errands this morning and found most of the roads dry and ice-free. Except for the shady spots. Hubby, however, had to go to the doctor in Ft. Worth this morning. It took him forever to get there. He said the overpasses and the major highways were a mess. With all that traffic, you'd think they'd clear. Go figure.

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  9. hey has anyone ever had apple pie last long enough to figure out if it needs to be refrigerated? I'm thinking about trying that recipe from last week or week before and taking it to something Friday night...IF I make it that far does it go in the fridge or cover on the counter?!
    Susanna

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    1. Susanna, I usually make mine a day ahead of time and leave it out. You could always put it in the fridge once it's cooled, then allow it to come to room temp before serving.

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    2. hmm might try that. ended up making the cranberry bread recipe Mary posted here a couple of years ago - well haven't made yet but one batch is cooking...thinking baking ain't all it's cracked up to be - I'm tired feel like I've lifted weights - shoulders hurt(darned butter didn't wanna mash in) and now I'm staring at a huge mess - sifting flour is for the birds too...and she wasn't fond of the taste when she tried to help me by licking the floor- had to drop an egg to cheer her up :-(
      trying to stay up tonight so I can sleep for night shift tomorrow so maybe I'll start peeling apples once I get a spot cleaned off...seriously feel like I've done pushups or something...
      Susanna

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