I'm Back!

Hi everyone!  I have definitely been MIA for a ridiculous amount of time.  I know, I know.  I guess I can blame that on the fact that I wasn't really cooking or baking enough to blog about, since I was single up until almost 6 months ago.  Combine that singleness with a stupid busy work/school schedule and you get nothing to blog about (food-wise, at least).  But enough excuses, no one cares about all that. 

What matters now is that I'm back.  Baking, cooking and blogging is something I LOVED to do, and I found myself truly missing it.  My life has really changed in the past few months.  I met an absolutely AMAZING guy, Garrett, who treats me like a princess.  I fell in love with said guy, and have since moved in with him.  He loves food just as much as I do (cooking and eating it!) and thankfully he's not a picky eater!  He's an amazing cook and an amazing taste-tester.  It's truly a blast to come home to him everyday.  <3 font="" nbsp="">

Cooking for Garrett is one of my most favorite things to do these days and a few days ago, I found myself making a meal plan for the week.  Yes, a meal plan.  If you're one of those people who wants to barf at the sight of a meal plan on a blog, I feel you.  If you'd have asked me a year ago, I would've been right there barfing with you.  And I'm no Martha Stewart, but even in the past few days, making a meal plan has been such a stress-reliever.  And it's been fun, really!  I love going through the 1600 bunches of recipes I've bookmarked over the past few years and deciding what to eat for the week!  It's actually saved us a lot of time and a lot of money on eating dinner out and buying lunches at work (since we have tons of leftovers).  So I've converted over to the meal-planning camp.  If you hate meal plans, I hope we can still be friends.  Just bear with me, because I'm going to be sharing some amazing recipes.  You don't have to be a meal planner to ogle food.  Am I right?  

So if you're still sticking around, I'm going to share the first amazing recipe I made this week (well, second.  The first was chili, but that involves me opening cans and dumping them in a pot with some ground beef and macaroni and a bunch of spices...maybe I'll share that one later.  Maybe).  

I saw this recipe for Chicken Broccoli Casserole Cobbler on A Cozy Kitchen and it seemed like the perfect comfort food to me.  Yes, it has more than one "cream of" soup in it.  Sorry, not sorry.  I grew up and live in the South.  "Cream of" soups are a staple.  If you don't like them out of a can, you could make your own I suppose, or just skip this recipe.  But you'll be missing out.  Just trust me.  Plus, it's topped with homemade cheddar biscuits, which might just be the best drop biscuits I've ever made.  It's a pretty simple dish to prepare, and it's even better leftover.  I may or may not be eating this out of a Tupperware right now.   Don't read that last sentence.  

Note: I altered a few things, since Garrett is allergic to mushrooms, but you can get the original recipe if you click on the link above.  

P.S.  Would you look at this grated butter?  Ohmahgarsh.

You can't go wrong with chicken, cheese, and broccoli.

Chicken Broccoli Casserole Cobbler

adapted from A Cozy Kitchen

makes 6 servings

Ingredients

Filling:

1 large can cream of chicken soup (26 oz)

1 small can of cream of broccoli soup

3 Tbsp softened cream cheese

1/2 store-bought rotisserie chicken, shredded

1 head of broccoli, cut into florets

1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 tsp black pepper

Cheddar Biscuit Topping:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cold

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, plus more for topping

1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp buttermilk

1 large egg

black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the cream of chicken and cream of broccoli soups with the softened cream cheese.  Stir in the shredded chicken, broccoli, and cheese until combined.  Pour into a 12-inch cast iron skillet (or large rectangular casserole dish) and set aside.  

3.  To make the biscuits, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.  Using a cheese grater, grate the stick of butter on top of the dry ingredients.  Place bowl in the freezer for about 5 minutes.  While the butter is chilling, whisk the buttermilk and egg together.  Remove bowl from freezer and gently crumble the butter into the flour with your hands, until you have pieces about the size of small peas.  Then add the 1 cup of cheese and mix until evenly distributed in the flour mixture.  Next, add the buttermilk/egg mixture and knead until the dough comes together.  

4.  Drop mounds of dough around the edge of the chicken and soup mixture, and add cheddar cheese (as much as you want- the more the better!) to the center.  Bake 20-25 minutes until biscuits are light golden brown and cheese is bubbly.  

Enjoy, y'all!  

P.S. Please don't make fun of my food photography skills.  I'm working with the camera on my phone for now.  Maybe someday I'll get a "real" camera.  

P.S.S.  My next recipe will involve pumpkin (are you shocked?).  And it is not a dessert.  I promise I'll hurl pumpkin desserts down your throat soon.  Stay tuned!  :) 

Happy New Year!

Yeah, it's technically not the "new year" yet.  But I will probably be hungover and asleep most of tomorrow so I wanted to write this today.  Warning: this might be a little sappy, so don't read if you don't want.  Just my own little personal reflection of 2011.

This has definitely been a transition year for me.  2010 sucked.  Bad.  Probably one of the worst years ever for me.  Some good things did happen, but overall, not such a good year.  I'm actually looking back in my journal that I started on Dec 26, 2010 as a sort of New Year's resolution.  I always start a few days early for some reason.  Anyway, it lists all the reasons 2010 sucked and what I was going to do to make 2011 the BEST YEAR EVER. 

First of all, I don't believe in resolutions.  They're always broken by February.  I called these "goals."  Anyway, my goals last year were pretty much resolutions:  lose weight, go on more trips, move to Tampa by February, budget better and save money, make more time for family and friends, and do the absolute best job that I can do every day at work.  Then I told myself I would write about what I was doing every day to meet my goals.  Well that lasted until.....late February.  I did an update in July.  And that's it.  See?  Resolutions don't last.  But I've kind of kept these goals in the back of my head throughout the year and have definitely made some progress. 

Anyway, here are some highlights of my year:
-Moved to Tampa (and have made it through almost a whole year without cable!)
-Met Khloe Kardashian!!! (you laugh, but she's the most normal one of the bunch and I love her.)

-My BFF Michael came to visit and we celebrated his bday at the Columbia (one of my favorite restaurants!) and by spending the day at Clearwater Beach.

-Celebrated my BFF Megan's birthday in Orlando with some Moroccan food, belly dancing lessons (in the middle of the restaurant- hah!), and chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter icing.





- Had some fun with this crazy, amazing, hilarious lady.

- Was asked to be a bridesmaid in a dear friend's wedding



- Caught a couple of Rays games



- And ogled some hottie football players at the Bucs training camp

- Spent some time with my amazing family (and yes, we had a few beers...)

- Went to a super-crazy Jason Aldean concert with friends and had a blast!!!



- Took a trip to St. Louis for work and met some great friends.  Plus I got my certification as a Medicolegal Death Investigator.  Holla!





- Spent time and reconnected with my mom's side of the family in Southern Illinois.  Huge reunion!  Got a bunch of the first cousins together for the first time in a LONG LONG time.

- Got really lucky with a job I love and some amazing coworkers who have turned into truly great friends.

-Got my little sister in October and have had so much fun hanging out with her! (Wish I had some pictures!!!!)

- Spent the weekend in Savannah for my birthday with my BFF Michael.  SO MUCH FUN!

- Annnnd....got into just a little bit of trouble ;)

It's definitely been a fun year.  There have been some downs, but not near as many as in 2010.  I think 2012 is going to be full of changes and it's kind of scary and exciting that for me, it's a blank canvas and I have no idea what's going to happen.  With a few exceptions:
- Starting off the year with a trip to Providence, RI and NYC for my above-mentioned dear friend's bridal shower and bridesmaids/wedding dress shopping.
-Moving into a new place in a few weeks (the rent is MUCH cheaper and the place is quite a bit bigger!)
-Hoping to plan a trip to San Francisco in the spring to visit another dear friend who recently moved there.
-Also hoping to plan a cruise? (This has been on the list for the past few years and hasn't happened yet).
-Do a LOT more baking and blogging.  I have a bazillion recipes I want to try. 

In the meantime I will be celebrating with some friends tonight.  I hope everyone has a SAFE and Happy New Year.  :)

A Couple Easy Fall Recipes

Ohmigosh.  I am in heaven. It's finally fall (well the weather is the appropriate temperature), the windows are open and a cool breeze is blowing through my house.  I have my Pumpkin Patch candle lit.  I have some Eric Church singing to me in the background.  I just ate a yummy baked apple (more on that later).  Life is good. 

The past week, I had the bubonic plague.  Life sucked.  That's why I temporarily disappeared.  I literally did not get out of bed for more than an hour total for about 4 days.  I read lots of books and slept (when I could breathe).  I am still having some trouble breathing and a lingering cough, but I feel 95% better.  I should be back to 100% in a couple of days.  About time. 

I do have a couple of recipes to share, but first I have to tell you about my Little Sister, K-.  I applied to be a Big Sis back in April with Big Brothers Big Sisters.  It took a few months, but they called me about a month ago and told me they found a Little Sis for me.  I couldn't wait to meet her!  She is 9 years old.  It turns out she has a 12 year old (real) sister who also got matched with a Big Sis, so we had a double meeting on Friday.  It was our first time all meeting.  When I pulled up to the house, I saw a little girl in a sparkly dress sitting on the front porch, and when I walked up, she said "Are you for me or for my sister?"  I said, "are you K-?"  And she squealed with delight, jumped up and down, and gave me the biggest hug ever.  She instantly melted my heart.  We sat outside and talked for a few minutes, when her 12 year old sister came outside to see what the ruckus was.  Such sweet girls.  Once the other Big Sis and the BBBS lady got there, we went inside and met mom, signed some paperwork, went over rules and guidelines, etc.  K-'s mom told me that she had been sitting on the front porch waiting for me for 4 hours.  After the meeting, K- and I went back out onto the front porch to start talking about what kinds of things we would like to do when we hang out.  Our first hang-out is going to be Tuesday.  We decided that I would pick her up from school and we would go to the park and just talk and get to know each other.  Then we started a list of things we like to do, and things we would like to do together. 

K: Do you like to sing?
Me:  Yep!  (In my car by myself or with Ali and Michael...lol)
K: I do too, but my sister says I'm a bad singer.
Me:  Well we can be bad singers together.  (I wrote "sing" on my list)
K:  Put down dancing too.
(I wrote "dance" on my list).
K:  Have you ever been fishing? 
Me:  Yep!  Have you?
K:  No.  Can we go fishing? 
Me:  Erm...sure!  (Gonna have to borrow some fishing poles, lol).

This went on for a bit, while we added activities.  Then I asked her what kind of food she does and doesn't like to eat.  Luckily, she likes most food.  And she likes to cook and bake.
K:  I had the best food one time! 
Me:  What was it?
K:  A Cuban sandwich.  And I had coffee too!  It made me hyper, but I liked it!
Me:  We're going to get along just fine....

This girl just puts a huge smile on my face.  I can't wait to get to know her better and hopefully have a positive impact on her life.  And I just KNOW she's going to have a positive impact on mine.  She is just full of cheer and curiosity and questions and giggles and hugs and excitement for life.  Something most of us grown-ups all need a little more of.

Well, the weather in Florida decided to finally be fall-appropriate yesterday.  Maybe it was waiting for October 1.  To celebrate, I went to Starbucks first thing in the morning (and I mean first thing- 6am on my way to work) and got a Pumpkin Spice Latte.  Oh I was a happy girl.  Weather has been in the upper 70's-low 80's during the day and got down in the 60's last night.  My phone tells me it should get in the high 50's tonight, but I don't know if I believe it.  We'll see. 

Last night, when I got home from the work, I cranked open the windows (all 3 of them in my old house that will open...gotta talk to the landlord about that) and got to work on dinner.  I've been eating very healthfully the past few days and had a lot of veggies begging to be roasted.  Sweet potatoes, baby carrots, and onions sounded perfectly fall-ish.  Here's my recipe:  (P.S. I measure when I bake, but not so much when I cook...sorry!)

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Roasted Fall Vegetables

makes 2 servings

2 sweet potatoes, cut into cubes

1 small onion, roughly chopped

a few hand fulls of baby carrots

2 cloves of garlic

3-4 Tbsp olive oil

dried rosemary, dried basil, dried oregano, dried thyme (to taste- I used about a Tbsp of each, I guess)

salt and pepper

1.  Preheat oven to 425.  Cover a baking sheet with foil (makes cleanup easy!) and spray with cooking spray.

2.  Dump veggies into a large Ziploc bag.  Use a garlic press to smoosh the garlic and throw in the bag with veggies. 

3.  Add olive oil, spices, salt and pepper.  Zip up the bag (make sure it's closed tightly!) and squish around until all the veggies are coated with olive oil and seasonings. 

4.  Dump veggies onto cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes, until roasted and brown.

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I'm a doofus and didn't take any pictures.  I was too busy eating.  But they were yummy.  Perfect recipe to start off October. 

Tonight, I discovered my new love.  Honeycrisp apples.  Oh.  Em.  Gee.  First, let me tell you I'm not a HUGE apple fan.  I love Granny Smiths.  But otherwise, I can take or leave apples.  I love them in baked dishes, but I hate biting into them, and I can't STAND when an apple is grainy (hence: my aversion to pears).  Lately, I've been craving baked apples.  It's fall fever, I tell you.  My friend G- lives in Rhode Island and recently blogged about picking Honeycrisps.  (Look at her pictures, much better than mine!) Just the name honeycrisp sounds appetizing.  I've heard from lots of people that they're amazing, but I had to find out for myself.  I had no idea what I was missing.  I picked up a couple at the store the other day.  And they're HUGE.  Like the size of softballs. 

I was DYING for a baked apple tonight when I got home from work.  I've kind of been avoiding baking lately because I am trying to eat healthy, but I figured this wouldn't be such a bad dessert.  Wow.  It was amazing.  The apple was so big that I "baked" half of it and just ate the other half.  And then I texted G- (who is an apple-lover).

Me: OMG.  Just tried my first honeycrisp apple.  I'm in love and I'm not an apple fan.

G:  You can't not be an apple fan.  You just haven't found your apple.  Other recs: opal and jazz- similarly delicious. A bit more tart but still great: macoun. 

So I guess I will have to try those out too.  I didn't know an apple could have such flavor.  It tastes just like it sounds.  Honeycrisp.  Go try one.  And do yourself a favor and make a baked apple. 

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Baked Honeycrisp Apple

makes 1

1 honeycrisp apple

1 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp cold butter

1 Tbsp instant oats

a few drops of vanilla

1.  Preheat toaster oven to 350.  Line a small pan with foil.

2.  Core the apple.

3.  Mash together brown sugar, butter, oats, and vanilla.

4.  Stuff inside the apple and bake for 20 minutes.

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Okay.  I have a confession here.  I am the worst apple-corer in the world.  I don't have a handy little tool to help because I don't eat apples that much.  So i tried with a knife. 

Yikes.  I guess it doesn't look so bad here, but it was awful.  And the apple was splittig dow the sides.  And I almost chopped off 3.5 fingers.  So after all that, I just cut the apple into big hefty slices and dumped them in the pan.  Oh, and I totally baked this in the toaster oven. 

Delicious.  I'm in love with fall, and I'm in love with these apples. 

I got my first Daring Bakers challenge yesterday!!!  It definitely looks...um...challenging.  I have to keep it a secret until the 27th, so check back then to read all about it!  It's probably going to take me until then to read the 10 pages of directions....

Happiness and Tater Bakers

Just had a sweet potato biscuit for breakfast, yum!  I popped it in the toaster oven, split it, and put a little butter on it- delish!  It pairs splendidly with coffee. 

No baking today, unfortunately.  I ran out of ingredients and have a lot of things I need to get done before going back to work tomorrow (I love my 3-day off stretches, but I tend to relax the first two days and wait until the third day to get anything done).  But in keeping with my resolution that I would write, I'm writing. 

I'm reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin for my upcoming book club.  It's really gotten me thinking about starting my own happiness project.  Not that I'm UNHAPPY, but she makes a lot of good points about doing the little things that will make you just that much happier.  I still have a few chapters left in the book, so my project isn't officially starting yet, but I definitely foresee it happening soon.  Now, Gretchen Rubin does go a little bit overboard for my tastes...she did all sorts of research, makes herself do things to be "happy" that really seem to make her UNHAPPY.  That doesn't make sense to me.  Sometimes there is delayed gratification, where something will make you happy later on, but not now.  I get that, but why do something that you think should make you happy, but actually doesn't?  Oh well, I guess the point of the project is to find out what will and won't make her happier.  That's half the challenge, right?

Although my project hasn't started yet, I've found myself actually practicing some of the things Gretchen Rubin talks about in her book.  Like, first and foremost, "Act the way you want to feel."  It's amazing how happy you can actually make yourself by just acting happy.  Just slapping a smile on my face when I'm not in the best of moods tends to make me feel better.  Half the time I don't even realize it's happening.  All of a sudden, I'm not in such a bad mood. 

Another thing Gretchen talks about is "reframing." Reframing is taking something you HATE doing and telling yourself you love doing it.  For me, exercising.  I am NOT a morning person and I cannot function before my coffee.  But when I got up this morning and took the dog out, I realized that, although cloudy and humid from a recent rain, the weather was surprisingly nice and cool.  So I went inside, put on my coffee, and went for a walk.  I hate exercising with a passion (especially when I'm tired and even more so before I've had coffee), but I always feel better when I do it.  So I told myself "I love exercising!  I love the fresh air!  I love that my body allows me to exercise!  I love that I have two feet and am able to walk!"  A few minutes into my walk, I felt much better about it, and now I'm much more awake.  Let's see how this "reframing" thing works for me when I'm trying to cleaning the bathroom later...

She has a few other tips that have kind of stuck with me, but I will write about those in another post.  If you'd like to check out Gretchen Rubin's book or blog, here's a link to her site.  She does have some useful tips on there, just to help you along should you decide to start a happiness project. 

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On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to tell you guys about Tater Bakers.  This isn't something I'm selling or an infomercial or anything like that!  I fell in love with this thing, so just wanted to share it! 



When I was in Illinois a couple of weeks ago, I stayed with my Aunt S- and she taught me to sew.  This was a project she was working on, and she's made a TON.  So I helped her make a few (I designed and ran the embroidery machine, but I paid attention to how she put them together).

What on EARTH is a Tater Baker, you ask?  It's a fabric bag in which you put a potato (or sweet potato or corn on the cob), and pop it in the microwave for 8 minutes, and TA-DA!  You have the perfect baked potato.  Now, personally, I cannot stand baked potatoes.  But I adore sweet potatoes, so this is perfect.  The potato comes out perfectly soft all the way through, and easily separates from the skin.  I haven't tried corn yet, but I will let you know how it turns out.

So- to make the Tater Baker...

1. Choose any fabric you like.  Cut two equal pieces (approx 12" x 23").  Cut a piece of quilt batting with the same dimensions.

2. On one piece of fabric, use an embroidery machine to embroider "Tater Baker."  (The only person I know who has an embroidery machine is my Aunt S- so if you don't have one, you can skip this step, or use iron-on letters).  Cut out potato shapes from brown fabric, and use iron-on paper to iron onto your piece of fabric.  Applique around the potato and make little "eyes" on the potato with brown thread (this is all totally optional, but makes the Tater Baker cute). 

3. Place the quilt batting between the two pieces of fabric.  Turn in raw edges of your fabric and sew around all 4 sides.  You now have a rectangle.

4.  Lay the rectangle in front of you so the embroidery is facing you, but is upside down.  Fold the top down approx 3" making a flap. Fold the bottom part up to meet the top of your flap.

5.  Sew up the sides, all the way to the top.  Turn inside out, and you have a Tater Baker! 

***Please note, I am NOT  a sewing expert, by any means.  This was me watching my Aunt S- make her Tater Bakers, and me interpreting in my simple way.***

The fun thing about these is you can make them with any print or color fabric and embroider and decorate with anything you like.  I picked the cow-print with red embroidery because it matches my black and red kitchen.  I've tried this thing out and I LOVE it for my sweet potatoes.  In fact, I used it last night when I made my Sweet Potato Biscuits and it made everything simple. 

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Time for me to start cleaning, getting my laundry done, etc. Hopefully telling myself that I LOVE cleaning my house will help.

I'm ashamed of myself. But I'm baking again.

I truly am ashamed of myself.  I hate the part of me that starts projects, does them for 2 or 3 days, and then quits or forgets about the project all together.  The past week or so I have been OBSESSED with reading baking/cooking/crafting/DIY blogs and feeling the urge to make a blog.  And then I thought "Um..Jill?  You DID do a baking blog.  For 3 days." 

I found that baking my way through the Baking & Pastry book was quite a lofty goal. And as much as I believe in setting big goals, I think I need to just do what makes me happy right now. And not let a goal become a stressor. So I'm going to not only write about baking on here, but other things that make me happy. Who knows what that will be? We'll just have to find out.  But I do know, I'm not quitting this time.

So, let's recap for the past 20 months or so.  In a nutshell.  I hated my job.  I found another job (which I LOVE) about a year ago.  I moved to Tampa 7 months ago.  I've been barely making ends meet, what with living in the "big city" and taking a pay cut with my new job.  But it's all been worth it.  I'm happy.  But lately, I've found that something is missing.  And that's baking.  See, with all of this relocating (and working lots of overtime to be able to afford to live here!) I've been pretty broke.  And I'm so tired on my days off that I don't feel like doing anything.  But maybe that's because I'm just not doing something I love.  Baking relaxes me.  It puts a smile on my face (and inches on my waist...).  So I've been reading baking blogs.  And I've had the urge to bake again.  And write about it (besides baking, another thing I love to do is write; I just haven't found my niche). 

A few nights ago, I decided that I was going to bake.  And I started with...No-Bake Cookies.  Riiight.  Well, I was just hemming and hawing around in my kitchen and saw that I had all the ingredients for No-Bake Cookies.  Just about.  Instant oats, peanut butter, cocoa powder...now all I needed was a recipe.  I found what looked like a pretty good recipe on Brown Eyed Baker  (one of my current blog obsessions).  However, I had to make a few substitutions- and this just goes to show you how I've lapsed in my baking.  I used to keep REAL butter on hand at all times, just in case the baking mood struck.  No more.  I had margarine in a tub.  The recipe calls for a stick of butter, so I figured I would just use 1/2 cup of margarine in a tub.  I had all of the other ingredients except milk.  I don't drink it and just use a little bit in cereal (and I had just come home from a 2 week trip) so I didn't have any on hand.  Keeping in mind I had NO money to go to the store, I improvised.  I had a little bit of sour cream in the fridge.  So, I just mixed that with some water until I had some milk-like substance.  Seemed to work out fine.  So I followed the recipe with a few alterations and the no-bake cookie batter looked and smelled DELICIOUS.  I heaped tablespoons of batter onto cookie sheets and put them in the freezer to set (I was in a hurry to eat them!).  I popped in a movie and watched for about 30 minutes, then went to check on my cookies.  Still sticky.  Went back to my movie for another 10 minutes, then checked again.  Still sticky.  At this point, I couldn't wait and put a couple on a plate to eat with a fork anyway.  They tasted quite yummy (and just what I was craving). 

Maybe it was my weird milk substitution, or the fact that I used margarine instead of butter- I don't know, but those cookies never set.  I left them in the fridge overnight and the next day, I plopped them in a plastic container, spread them out, and made a fudge-like treat.  Still tasted great, but just not in cookie form.  Anyway, here is the REAL recipe- maybe I will try again with the CORRECT ingredients and let you know how it turns out. 

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No-Bake Chocolate, Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Cookies

Courtesy of Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: 2 to 3 dozen cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cooling Time: 30 minutes

½ cup (1 stick) butter

2 cups granulated sugar

½ cup milk

4 tablespoons cocoa powder

½ cup peanut butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1. Add the first four ingredients (through the cocoa powder) to a 4-quart saucepan.

2. Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for 1 minute.

3. Remove from heat.

4. Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth, then stir in the oats.

5. Drop by heaping tablespoons onto wax paper-lined baking sheets.

6. Let cool until set.

***Hopefully yours turn out to be more cookie-like than mine!!***

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Sorry I didn't take any photos.  I truly didn't get the chutzpah to re-start my blog until tonight, so photos weren't in my mind at the time. 

Well, tonight the baking bug hit me again.  A few days ago I came across a recipe on another new blog obsession of mine, 17 and Baking.  (TANGENT ALERT!) First, let me just say that I started at the beginning of this blog and am reading it the whole way through.  This girl is amazing.  Elissa started her blog when she was 16 years old and she's 19 now.  To read the passion she has for baking truly inspires me.  Her blog almost reads like a biography- I can't wait to find out what keeps happening in her life! 

Back to my story.  I was kind of keeping an eye out for recipes that I had all the ingredients for, since again, I'm pretty broke until the next pay day.  I found a recipe for Yam Biscuits and drooled.  I had all the ingredients (with the substitution of a sweet potato for a yam...close enough) and they seemed pretty simple to make. 

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Sweet Potato Biscuits

Adapted from 17 and Baking

Here's a link to the original recipe for Yam Biscuits
Makes 8 wedges

1 tbsp butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 large egg

1 cup mashed sweet potato (about one large sweet potato)

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.

2.  In a large bowl beat together butter, sugar, and salt, then egg and sweet potato (make sure your sweet potato isn't too hot- if you just cooked it). Stir until smooth.

3.  Sift together flour and baking powder. Stir into sweet potato mixture until flour is completely mixed in. Dough will be sticky, but it shouldn’t be wet – add a couple tablespoons more of flour if that’s the case.

4.  On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough a few times before shaping it into a circle about 3/4″ thick. Cut the circle into 8 equal triangle shaped wedges and separate. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

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I did actually take some pictures of these, and they turned out very pretty! 

And they taste wonderful!  First, let me tell you I will eat anything with a sweet potato in it.  These totally got me in the mood for fall.  They're a pretty golden-orange color with a crispy outside and a cornbread-like texture inside.  They're dense and just sweet enough.  Almost like a scone, but not quite as crumbly.  These will be perfect for breakfast when the weather gets cooler (which won't be until December for us folks here in Florida, but I like to make fall come early).  Overall I'm very pleased with them.  Although next time, I may add some cinnamon and replace some of the white sugar with brown and see what happens. 

I know I wrote a lot.  I guess all of this has been waiting to get out for awhile.  And I have to say, I have a lovely sense of calm from baking and writing.  And a smile on my face.  Almost as effective as a great yoga class.  Almost.