back to basics cooking tips

[FirestopR]

I was wondering if anyone has recipes for making home made biscuits and noodles with basic ingredients. I have tried several times and they end up so bland that my kids won't eat em heck I have thought about dipping my "homemade" biscuits in water just to add some flavor LOL

we have been trying to save money and I know we are paying way to much for processed food.

any tips will help I assure u, and my wife and kids will thank you.

[largentdepoche]

Hi!

Here is a good simple noodle recipe from Shepherd's Hill.

http://thecookhouse.home.mindspring.com/id16.html

I use Hillbilly Housewife's recipe for biscuits. I make the 'drop biscuit' kinds you'll find at the bottom of the page.

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/homemadebiscuits.htm

Hope these help!

Kat

[FiddleKat]

Do you get White Lily brand flour? They have a recipe on the back for biscuts.
Its very basic. This is it.....

White Lily "Light" Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tea. salt
1/4 cup shortening or butter
2/3 to 3/4 cup milk or buttermilk

Preheat oven to 500* degrees
Spray baking sheet or cake pan lightly with cooking spray
measure flour into bowl
blend in baking powder and salt
cut in shortening until misture resembles coarse crumbs
blend in eonugh milk until dough leaves sides of bowl
knead gently 2 to 3 times on lightly floured surface
roll dough to 1/2 inch thick cut without twisting cutter.
place on pan (1 inch apart for crisp sides or almost touching for soft sides)
bake for 8 to 10 minutes for 2 inch biscuits or until golden brown.Brush tops with melted butter if desired.
makes twelve 2 inche biscuits

The idea is to not over knead the dough. Over kneading tends to make the biscuits heavier.
Hope this helps!!

[Terri]

I boil the chicken bones for a good, long time as it adds a bit of chicken gelatin to the water, which increases flavor. A boillion cube adds flavor too, and it is quicker: do both if you wish.

Remove the bones, get the meat off, and return the meat to the pot. Check to make sure you did not miss a rib bone or something! I don't mind the occasional little bone but I am an adult!

IF desired, a little celery and a LITTLE garlic can be added but, honestly, they are not needed.

Also, dark chicken meat makes a MUCH better chicken 'n dumplings!

Get the chicken broth right before the dumplins are even STARTED!
.......................................

To make chicken-vegetable soup:

Start with a whole chicken or two. Cut off the legs, the thighs, and the wings. Slice the breast meat off for boneless breasts. Cook the meat as desired.

Sommer the bones in water with either boillion cubes or salt. Simmer for a good hour at least. Remove bones, pick off the pieces of meat and return them to the pot. Throw out the bones.

Add EITHER a can of mixed vegetables (juice and all), OR an assortments of veggies from the fridge. Don't add too much of any one veggie, and Don't! add too much: this is a soup recipe not a stew recipe! I LIKE my soup a LOT, but not my stew!

[Ann-NWIowa]

Maybe the kids just need to get used to "real" food. My family likes drop biscuits better than rolled ones. With honey or jam they gobbled them down. Or served with hamburger gravy or creamed chicken over the top. You could add chopped or dried herbs like parsley to the dough for a bit of variety/flavor.

For noodles the flavor depends on the broth they are cooked in or the sauce they are covered with. Chicken & noodles, beef & noodles, turkey & noodles, ham & noodle casserole, even plain buttered noodles sprinkled with poppy seeds or toasted sesame seeds are good. For new foods it helps if the kids come to the table hungry and know what's on the table is their only choice. They don't have to eat it, but if they don't they are hungry until the next meal.

[Cyngbaeld]

Be sure you use enough salt. I've known lots of cooks who thought they should leave out the salt then wondered why the family didn't like the food cooked from scratch.

Also, get some onion powder. It is cheap but will fill out the flavor in a lot of foods.

[jerzeygurl]

buttermilk will make all the difference in your biscuits( and your pancakes ect)

to save money you can keep reculturing your own...1 cup butter milk 3 cups plain set at room temp untill yogurt consistancy apx 12 hours(+or minus 6 hrs depending on temp..dont get too hot tho or will kill it) will make 1 quart butter milk always save a cup to reculture.

if you use butter milk you omit the baking poweder by subing half the ammount of baking soda instead...

try lard instead of crisco, more flavor bout the same price....
don't over work or they get tough and dry, dont over flour board or they get dry

[jen74145]

Keep the butter cold and cut it in, makes a world of difference!

Buttermilk (or yogurt) biscuits
2c. flour
1 scant tsp. salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2-5 tbl. COLD butter
scant cup (7/8) buttermilk or plain yogurt

Preheat to 450; mix the dry ingredients well, cut in the butter. You can just rub the mix with the butter in your hands, try to keep your hands chilled, though.
Add liquid, stir just until it makes a ball. Roll out into a 3/4 inch rectangle, cut. Place on an ungreased baking sheet, bake for 7-9 minutes, or until the tops are a yummy crusty yellow-brown.

Drop Biscuits:
Same as above, but use one whole cup of liquid and drop from a spoon onto the sheet.

Angel (not semisour) biscuits
Use four tsp. baking powder and sweet milk in place of yogurt or buttermilk.

I tend to form them into biscuits in my floured hands, I cheat s0ometimes, lol. Serve these within 15 minutes for them to be at their best!

[jen74145]

Oh, and you can make "buttermilk" on the cheap by adding one teaspoon of white vinegar to your milk; I use powdered milk in most of my cooking, and this works fine for me.

Don't be afraid of spices, they're your best friends. Hubby says I make a mean chicken soup, try this....
three leg quarters (or a whole chicken)
whatever veggies are lingering in the fridge (I use chopped cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, broccoli stalks)
Two-three bay leaves
small handful salt
few shakes of black pepper

Prep your veggies, put them in the pot, top with raw leg quarters. Cover with water, I usually go about four inches over the stuff.
Cover, and cook until leg quarters are done. Remove chicken, replace meat.
Serve with a nice crispy salad and maybe some homemade french bread, mmmm.....

I could go on and on, lol.

[Spinner]

I use my mom's old biscuit recipe (I think she got it off a can of baking powder about 50 years ago), then add some herbs, spices, and maybe some cheese to the dough. Makes for some flavorful biscuits. You can add different spices/herbs to get whatever flavor you want at the time. Play around until you find a flavor you like best.

[culpeper]

Have you given a thought to using herbs, fruit and vegetables? You can make a lot of different pasta using spinach, dried tomatoes, garlic, onion juice, and other herbs like basil, oregano etc.

For biscuits (I'm assuming you mean scones - remember we're on different parts of the planet), you can add a host of different ingredients to give flavour-variety. You can make them sweet or savoury to suit yourself. You can add cheese and corn, chives, garlic, dried tomato, mashed pumpkin or sweet potato. You can use different flours - wholemeal, cornmeal, rye, potato, whole-grain, or a combination of any of these.

You can add some honey or treacle, you can spice them up with cinnamon, nutmeg, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, celery seeds, allspice, ginger (ground or crystallised). For a tomato scone, you might like to add some basil. Onion and cheese and chives go well together. The possibilities are endless.

To your basic mixture, you add toss in chopped apples (fresh or dried, apricots (fresh or dried), dates (try using orange juice with the dates!), prunes, oatmeal, oat bran, a mashed banana or two, raisins or currants, dried cranberries, lemon or orange rind, basil and parmesan cheese, chopped bacon or ham (with or without cheese and/or onion), parsley and grated carrot, cheese and dill, cheese and thyme or basil, cheese with a little curry powder, dried fig and walnuts, maple syrup, olives and parmesan, capsicum and onion, pumpkin and chilli, olives and rosemary, strawberries (with or without mint), tomato juice, corn niblets and onion and/or chives or parsley, maple syrup and corn, crushed pineapple (try it with mint or ginger or cinnamon). For a sweet scone, you can also use chocolate, or brown sugar instead of white. Honestly, the list is endless when you start thinking herbs and flavour-combinations!

The last thing you want to do is to increase your children's dependency on salt! I never add salt to anything (even if a recipe calls for it, although of course I do use salt when making pickles), and I've never had a complaint. I do, however, put the teensiest pinch of salt in the boiling water when cooking pasta - it makes the water hotter. The food I cook is anything but bland. It takes about a week for your taste-buds to adjust - after that, you get to taste the REAL flavour of the food you eat! It's GOOD.

Check out this site for flavoured pastas.

http://italianfood.about.com/od/past.../blr0001_2.htm

[ajaxlucy]

When you make biscuits, remember to add the liquid all at once and not to overmix the dough or your biscuits get tough. I barely mix together the ingredients so they're moistened, then turn the mess onto a long sheet of waxed paper. I fold half the waxed paper over on top and use it to turn and knead the dough. My cookbook says don't knead it more than eight times. Then pat out the dough 1/2" thick and use a cutter to make your biscuits.

[MarleneS]

Thanks to marvella, I too have learned the secret of using White Lily self-rising flour. yummy Still haven't perfected her cathead biscuits but it's not from lack of trying

I like to make "moist" dough biscuits that you don't roll or cut...use your regular recipe just make it a little more wet, instead of kneading and/or rollings - place in a greased 8" x 8" pan...level by pressing down with floured fingers. Score into 9 equal sized biscuits. Just be forewarned - they turn out so light and tender that they sometimes tend not to hold together
Great with sausage gravy.

My daddy taught me how to make homemade noodles. Place a couple cups of flour on work surface, make a well in the middle, add a whipped egg or two and a teaspoon to 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt and 1/2 shell of water, start mixing from the center until all the egg and water is absorbed, start kneading the dough - adding very small amounts of water at a time and knead until dough feels like your baby's butt, heavily flour a large cotton dish towel (the really big ones) roll out dough on dish towel until it is a thin as you can get it, hang dough on dish towel over the back of your kitchen chair until dry to the touch. Once dried you can store in air tight containers in cool dark place Remember that these noodles do not usually take as long to cook as store bought ones.


Hugs
marlene

[Ohio dreamer]

Well, I can only make noodles the way my mom, grandma, and down did it.

2 handfuls of flour (cup your hands like a bowl) and put in the middle of your table/workspace. Make a well in the middle crack an egg in. Then add 1/2 an egg shell of water and salt to taste (usually a good pinch or two). Mix the liquids around slowly adding in the flour . Once all incorportaed kneed a few times (3-4 at most).

Roll out then fold over in thirds and cut. They can be dried, but we always use them fresh. Be sure that the fluid you boil them in has a flavor..not just plain water.

[dragonfly1113]

Home Made Biscuits... Ever watch the movie "Fried Green Tomatoes" The book written before the movie (dont remember the name) had different recipes in it. One was the home made biscuits. So here goes...
2 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup crisco (solid kind)
1 cup milk

Here is how I do it... Put flour in bowl and cut in shortening until well blended. Add milk and stir with fork until blended. I put out a piece of wax paper with some flour on it. Pour dough onto floured wax paper. DO NOT ROLL THE DOUGH IN THE FLOUR. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT IT MAKES BISCUITS DRY. Put flour on your hands and pat the dough to the thickness you want for your biscuits. Flour cutter and cut out biscuits. My cutter is a mushroom can with holes in the top. Works like a charm.
After I cut my biscuits out I kind of bounce the flour off the bottom and put them on the pan. Bake @ 450 degrees until brown.
These are really good.

[FirestopR]

thank you all so much . i am really looking forward to trying these tips

[cathyharrell]

I am not home now but my family loves the biscuit recipe in the "Biscuit Basket Lady" book. I think it has 1/2 cup of sugar added to it. She says you can also use them for strawberry shortcake.

[Windy in Kansas]

When I make homemade noodles I add onion powder to the flour to improve the flavor and have even added white pepper too. Rather than just the flavor of the broth giving taste to the noodles they have taste themselves. I also usually add a bit of baking powder which causes them to puff up just a little. You're not making dumplings so use just a little.

[Melissa]

When I make homemade noodles, I put about 4-5 large eggs (real ones, from the free-ranging chickens) in a large mixing bowl, I add about 1/2 cup of sour cream, a tsp of salt, some pepper, and whip it pretty good. Add a mixture of white and whole wheat flour, the ratio depends on how used to whole wheat flour you are, I use about 1 cup of white and 3 cups of wheat. Roll them out and cut them thin. Your broth will be much more flavorful if you brown your meat in some butter or oil first, then deglaze the pan. Brings out the richness a bit.