BEEF & BISCUITS

I have nothing in the fridge or in the cupboards. When I say nothing I mean the Americanized sense of the word. I have a can of something here, half an onion there, crackers...stuff when blended together doesn't usually make a meal. But, Eureka!

I found a recipe on Southern Food and had to alter it due to the lack of resources.

BEEF & BISCUITS

 

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 small can mild green chilies (4 ounces)

2 teaspoons chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup of assorted tomatoes chopped

1 can of 10 refrigerated biscuits

1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup sour cream

1 egg, lightly beaten

 

In a large skillet, brown ground beef with onion; drain. Add chilies, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and tomato sauce. Simmer while preparing biscuit crust.

 

Separate biscuits, then separate each biscuit into 2 layers. Press 10 biscuit layers over the bottom of an ungreased 9-inch square baking dish. Combine 1/2 cup cheese, sour cream and egg. Remove meat mixture from heat then stir in sour ream mixture. Spoon mixture over biscuit dough. Arrange remaining 10 biscuit layers over the top of the meat mixture then sprinkle with 1 cup of shredded cheese.

 

Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until biscuits are nicely browned.
Serves 4.

 

Overall, the meal was pretty good. It was a little greasier than the usual meals I make, but, for a mom who is on the go this would be a good, filling, fast meal that can be pre-made and then popped in the oven when you get home. You could even make meatloaf or hamburger patties while you're at it for another night.

Margherita Pizza (with a twist)

We have tomatoes coming out of our ears. Tomatoes of every kind. We have Roma, early girls, cherry tomatoes, black cherry, yellow cherry, beef steak. Don't even get me started on the zucchini. Did I mention neither my husband nor I like zucchini. We learned this after we let them grow to be the size of baseball bats because neither of us wanted to pick them, let alone eat them. Hahah!

This is a fabulous recipe for getting rid tomatoes if you have a plentiful stash.

INGREDIENTS:
2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour divided
2 tsp sea salt
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes (all kinds makes for lots of color)
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup light packed basil (or you can find the jar kind that keeps longer, but cut amount to 1/4 ;)
2/3 pound of fresh mozzarella (I like the kind that's packed with oil, see pic)
1 tsp dried oregano

1. In a medium bowl whisk 1 cup of room temperature water w/ yeast and let stand 15 minutes.

2. Use dough hooks and mix 2 cups of flour, 2 tsp of salt, 1 tablespoon of olive oil and yeast mixture. Then add remaining 1/2 cup of flour and mix about 30 minutes until smooth and elastic. I personally through all ingredients in the bread mixture and let it do it's magic :)

3. Meanwhile, make tomato sauce. In a medium sauce pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil on medium heat, add garlic and simmer for a few seconds. Stir in chopped tomatoes and allow to simmer for 25 minutes. Set aside to cool.

 

4. Blend remaining olive oil and basil leaves. Stir 1 tablespoon of basil oil mixture into tomato sauce w/ a pinch of salt.

5. Divide dough in four and roll into 4 tight balls. Place on a flour sheet and allow to rise for 1 hour. If you would like to make one large pizza like mine just make one ball.

 

5. Roll our 4 individual pizzas with dough. Bake dough 3-6 minutes @ 400F on a hot stone (stoneware from Pampered Chef in my fav). Remove from oven add tomato sauce, sprinkle basil sauce everywhere and all mozzarella cheese and return to oven for 2-5 minutes or until cheese has melted. Take out sprinkle with salt and enjoy.
* One pizza will need a beginning cook time of about 10 or so and 15 minutes after toppings have been applied.

I even had leftover sauce which I will be using to make Chicken Parmesan tonight :)