Is your mouth watering thinking of these delicious buttermilk biscuits just right for slathering butter, honey, jelly or even sausage gravy all over them?  

​If it is, you'll be glad to know these are really easy to make in just a few simple steps.  

First you'll bring your ingredients together to make a soft dough.  Let the butter sit out at room temperature for a while and it will be easy to blend into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender.  If you don't have time to let the butter soften, simply pop it in the microwave for a few seconds.  

Put the dough out on a lightly floured board and knead gently. 

Then roll the dough 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter.  If you can't find your biscuit cutter like me since we just moved, a glass will do.  

Place biscuits on a baking sheet and bake until golden about 10 to 14 minutes. Then the best part...enjoy fresh warm homemade biscuits from your own oven!

Buttermilk Biscuits
 
4 C. sifted flour
2 Tbsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter softened
1 ½ C. buttermilk*
 
1.  Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2.  Sift then measure flour.  Add baking powder and salt.
3.  Cut butter into dry mixture with a pastry blender until crumbly.
4.  Add buttermilk and mix enough to make a soft dough.
5.  Gently knead dough on lightly floured board.
6.  Roll dough ½ to ¾ inch thick and cut with biscuit cutter. 
     Place on ungreased baking sheet.
7.  Bake 10 to 14 minutes until golden. 
 
​Makes 10 to 12 biscuits 
 
*If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, pour about 2 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice into your measuring cup then add milk until you have 1 ½ C. liquid.  Let stand a few minutes before using. 

You received a text last night…no school today.  Snow day !!!  At least that’s how your kids saw it.  You saw it more like snow day, right after the weekend!?!  Ok you didn’t have to get the kids up early and get them off to school.  But you think to yourself, what should we do on a cold day right after spending two days at home? 
 
Hmm…Morning chores, kids make beds and pick up hundreds of lego pieces off their bedroom floor.  You wonder how long the clean floor will last before you are stepping on lego landmines again.  Boys start some crafting projects, craft for a while, then you think...what should we do next? 
 
Boys are now running up and down the stairs and all around the house enjoying an adventurous game of chase.  As much fun as this is for the kids, you would much rather enjoy some peace and quiet.  Since the weather is keeping them inside, you decide a trip to Burger King playland might be relaxing for you and entertaining for the kids.  New to the area, your older kids have not been to the playland before and you know it will be exciting and new to them.  Also, you know you can bring your laptop and catch up on emails and blog work while the kids are happily playing which is a luxury since (new to the area) you don’t have internet yet. 
 
So off you go, bundling up to face the cold on your trek to Burger King playland. 
 
Upon arrival the kids settle in happily in the large enough, but cozy play room.  Decked out with a Wii console, a climbing tube play structure, a tv playing one of the Minions movies and a roomy seating area, you know this is going to be a good day. 
 
You order some food and the helpful employees bring it too you when it is ready.  You know you are here for the long haul so no pressure to make the kids eat right away.  You let them play and eat when they are hungry.  You know they will eat everything you have ordered and they do, during play breaks while watching the Minions movie. 
 
You open your lap top while casually eating french fries and begin to work.  It has been three days since you have checked your email.  It takes a while, but you get through it and even get some photo editing done.  You waste some time on facebook, but seriously it has been three days!!! 
 
You realize at one point that you have spent almost three hours at the Burger King playland and that you are now on a first name basis with a very friendly employee who may be a manager…you aren’t sure since you didn’t get a good look at her name tag.  She actually recognized you from your first visit the week before when you first discovered this magical place where you could actually put two thoughts together and concentrate on something for more than five minutes. 
 
Of course you can’t help but watch little bits and pieces of the Minions movie.  The minions are adorable and your kids are having so much fun laughing with the movie during their play breaks.  So you don’t get as much work done as you could, but you enjoy your time with your kids and accomplish more than you normally would.  You think to yourself, I can handle this.  Bring on the snow days!
 
You work hard, so enjoy it Mom, bask in the snow day paradise otherwise known as Burger King playland. 
 
 
 

Linking up at Share the Wealth, Mommy Moments

I have been making slow cooker potato soup for years and my family loves it.  Of course, my boys love anything with bacon, but this soup is yummy (even without the bacon).  It is buttery, brothy, warming and delicious.  

My favorite thing about this soup of course is that I make it in the slow cooker.  I love being prepared and having most of my kitchen work done before the boys come home from school.  It just makes my evening so much easier.

Ingredients:
6 potatoes, cubed
1-2 onions, diced
1 rib celery, sliced
1/2 lb. or more bacon, cooked and crumbled
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. dried parsley
salt to taste*
freshly ground pepper to taste
1/3 cup butter
1 3/4 cups half and half
chopped chives (optional)


1.  Combine all ingredients except milk and chives in crock pot.  I actually add half the bacon now and garnish with the remaining fresh crisped bacon at serving time.  
2.  Cover.  Cook on low 8-10 hours.  Stir in half and half during last hour.
3.  Garnish with chives and extra bacon if desired.

*If using homemade broth you may need more salt than you will with store bought broth.    


​Linking up at Share the Wealth, Create with Joy

It's hard to believe it has been almost a month since I posted here.  You were probably wondering if I did in fact fall off the face of the earth.  I haven't been able to blog because we moved over Christmas break.  Actually, my husband graduated with his PhD this fall and was hired as an Assistant Professor at a University in another state.  We were excited to move our family to our new college town, but could not do it in time for the boys to start school so I temporarily became a single Mom.  

​I am so glad to be back together as a family.  I learned a lot as a short term single Mom, but am glad I don't have to do it anymore.  And to all of you single Moms and Dads out there...WOW...you are amazing!  

So over break, we packed up all of our belongings and moved (happily further south, hoping for warmer weather) to our new beautiful and super friendly town.
We are temporarily renting an amazing house from the University while we search for the right home for our family.  Even though it's not permanent yet, we are so happy to be together.   

The boys on our Christmas morning in our new house.

We moved in about a day and a half before we celebrated our Christmas morning.  We quickly set up our vintage silver Christmas tree the day before.  

I have to share this because it is my favorite feature in our new home.  It is the coolest island ever.  In fact I would love to recreate it in another home someday.  

I love the rustic weathered look of the wood and the wide shelf underneath.

I love the concrete counter top of the island.  Isn't it beautiful!  I have been wanting to make some videos for a couple of recipes for a long time so if I can get my act together, you might just see this amazing counter top at work.  

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