PB&J Milkshake

I am a snob.

A peanut butter and jelly snob, that is.

This was told to me by a friend a few years back as we were shopping for PB&J fixings.  He reached out for wheat bread, I wagged my finger and said, "No."  White bread was what was called for.

He grabbed some Jif, and I put it back.  Creamy Skippy, no questions asked.

He didn't even bother getting jelly, but let me peruse the shelf until I found Smucker's Seedless Strawberry Jam.  It's how I roll.

And then he told me I was a PB&J snob.  I just nodded and smiled.  Because I knew it to be true.

So when it was time to make Joy the Baker's peanut butter and jam milkshake and I read the ingredients that said 'natural peanut butter' I shook my head no.  Which might be odd, seeing as almost everything else I eat is under the 'natural' category.  Ok, so maybe I have given up the white bread.  And maybe I used soy ice cream and coconut milk in this shake instead of the dairy stuff.  But don't mess with my Skippy.  There are some things I don't think I will ever change.

Because I am a peanut butter snob like that...

This is actually two shakes in one.  The peanut butter shake (ice cream + milk + peanut butter + a teeny bit of vanilla extract) is layered with the jam shake (ice cream + milk + a bit of jam + fresh fruit blended in).  When they are brought together they make the perfect milk shake combo.

Earl Grey Cupcakes (and some lost recipes...)

Joy the Baker.  She's a favorite of us all, right?  Right.  And Sundays with Joy are such a good part of my week (or -- now -- every other week).  I try a new recipe from her book and then we enjoy something that is pretty darn amazing.  If only I kept taking pictures to keep track of it all...

Like carrot cake pancakes.  Those were fabulous.  But other than my word, there is no proof I tried the recipe. There was supposed to be proof.  I put some in the fridge to save to take pictures as we ate them for dinner.  Carrot cake pancakes for dinner?  Shouldn't that be breakfast or dessert? One might think so.  No regrets.  Except the fact that those pancakes in the fridge waiting for the light of day got forgotten about until two weeks later, when they were no longer beautiful but fuzzy and green.

I did, however, remember to take pictures of the whole wheat honey and goat cheese drop biscuits.

It's just that I never got around to posting them.  Guess I was to busy eating them to post something.  That's because they were delicious in every way.  Not gritty like most whole wheat, not stinky like some goat cheese.  Just lightly sweet and fluffy and all around tasty.

This time I decided to make sure I did it all... Baked. Photo'd. Posted.  So what if I am a week behind the group's schedule with the posting part?  In the end the result is the same: a completely new treat that we enjoyed immensely.  And that's the whole point, right?

Joy's version was chamomile, but I like earl grey, so that's what we went with.  I followed Joy's recipe to a T (ha ha ha, I'm a knee slapper ;) ) except for the type of tea I used.  The rest however went just as she said, even down to 'share with lady friends over tea'.  Thank you for the suggestion, Joy.  I did, we all enjoyed, and now I have one more baking recipe I can file away in the 'I really can bake!' category.

To get the recipe for Joy the Baker's Chamomile Tea Cupcakes, visit her blog or go buy the book.  Either way, you will be happy.

Red Velvet (from beet juice) Cupcakes

It is the week of L-O-V-E!  And you know what?  I couldn't care less about Valentine's Day, honestly.

I know, I am such a February Grinch.

But you know all those years that you didn't have somebody to celebrate with except your girlfriends, going out together pretending that you would rather be with them than with some hot dude, all knowing you were lying to each other, but for the sake of the holiday, that lie must go on?  Yeah, that was me.  Forever.  And so at some point between passing out little grocery-store cards in elementary school and getting dressed up to pretend celebrate in college, I just gave up.

Of course, now I have my Valentine, and a forever one at that.  It does make the day seem a little more appealing... except all those people all trying to make dinner reservations for the same night, and all those expectations of roses and candy and cards and... AH!  It makes my head hurt.  Besides, Valentine's Day is celebrated on a completely different day in Brazil, so my husband would never even remember anyway.

But you know what we do remember, every single year?  President's Day.

Think about it: no crowds and you (or at least WE) get the whole day off, and it is close enough to V-day that you don't feel totally like a love-grinch.  And so, we celebrate President's Day.  I know, how romantic. ;)

In the spirit of President's Day - slash - Valentine's Day (for the rest of you), I give you kinda-red velvet cupcakes with no artificial coloring.  Ta-da!

For Sundays with Joy this week we were supposed to make her red velvet marble cake.  That sounded good and all, but I really wanted cupcakes, and not marbly ones.  And all that food coloring really just turned me off.  So I set out to see what I could do instead.  Google kindly informed me that beets were my go-to pigment changer and I just so happened to have some in the fridge, straight from the farmer's market.  Even though I didn't follow Joy's recipe, she did inspire me to create one that is amazing.  Very little sugar, no added colors, and a most-excellent taste.  PERFECT.  And just in time to celebrate President's Day... or Valentine's Day, if you are into that sort of thing.  :)

My Valentine.  (Ok, I guess I am not a total grinch!)

Red Velvet (from beet juice) Cupcakes
adapted from the Bake Cakery Blog

ingredients

• 2 large beets
• 3 tablespoons cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 heaping teaspoon plain greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wrap beets individually in tinfoil, unpeeled.  Bake on baking sheet for one hour or until you can pierce with a fork.  When finished, peel beets and cut into large chunks.  Reduce oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put beets, lemon juice, and vinegar in blender and blend until a puree.  Add other wet ingredients and blend again.
3. Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Add beet mixture to dry ingredients and beat with cake beater until well mixed.  
4. Pour into cupcake liners (2/3 full) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.

**For the frosting, I used this buttercream recipe and added the beet juice that pooled inside the tin foil to make it pink. 

**My cupcakes came out dark, but adding more lemon juice is supposed to make it brighter.  You can play around with that.  The color was bright pink batter, but dark pink/brown when baked with my amount of lemon juice. The taste was fabulous, though.

COST: $2.52   COST PER CUPCAKE (12): $0.21

Lavender Lemon Bars {Sundays with Joy}

You know those days when you think to yourself, "I've got this!" but then you don't?  Maybe it is walking into a test during your college years, ready to rock it, and then you realized you studied all the wrong stuff.  Come on, where is the part on the heart? I know the heart, not muscles!  Yeah, as you can tell, that happened a lot to me in anatomy.  Good thing I didn't go into medicine.

That was me with these lemon bars.  And like the bad tests in college, I only have myself to blame.  A combination of not checking ingredients before I started cooking and trying to multi-task during (I just had to catch up on The Bachelor!) led to creative substitutions and not the best consistency.  Le sigh.

Consistency/schomistency.  That's what I am saying today.  The taste isn't that bad (actually quite nice, really) and the pictures are beautiful.  They kind of remind me of France.  Not that I have ever been...

Whether or not they turned out perfectly, it is nice to be back in the kitchen.  And very very nice to not be on a low-residue diet anymore.  Hallelujah for ingredients that have flavor!

To get the original recipe (which I am sure is better than my version of 'very-little-sugar-let's-use-honey'), pick up a copy of Joy the Baker's book.  Otherwise, click here to get your standard lemon bar recipe.  Not as French-feeling as Joy's, but pretty good to be sure.

Feliz Ano Novo! (The Wednesday Files)

Happy New Year, Friends!  I know this isn't officially my first post of the year, but it is my first Wednesday post, which makes me happy.  I love Wednesdays and the freedom I allow myself to share anything I feel like for that day.  Cooking is fun, but it does make up my entire life, and Wednesday is the day I can share some of the rest with you.  Like talking about New Years...

So, did you make resolutions this year?  And more importantly, do you plan on keeping them?

I, for one, did not.  I used to.

Make the bed everyday
Floss more often
Eat sugar less
Exercise more

The lists were good.  All of those things, good, for sure.  But inevitably I would fail and then I would feel guilty, which would lead to discouragement.  So this year I am trying something new.  Another kind of list or two, if you will...

Things I want to keep doing...   and things I want to do a little more.  No real measurement tool, just hopeful growth.

Things I want to keep doing:

1. trying new vegetables and fruits
2. getting dressed up for me (as in, who cares if I am going to be running errands and won't bump into anyone I know?  I know me, and I want to feel good when I look in the mirror.)
3. focusing on the moment.  This past year was really good for me in this area, and I feel more blessed than ever.

Things I want to do a little more:

1. create things
2. get up early and seize the day, even on weekends
3. listen to the unexpected stories of others

Happy 2013!  May it be one of great memories, real growth, and love.

What things would you like to keep doing/do a little more of in this coming year?

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PS -- I never posted it, but I made Joy the Baker's bourbon-spiked chocolate banana bread this past weekend for my Sundays with Joy group.  Didn't change the recipe, just did it as it was, and it was to die for.  Grab her book off your shelf and make some!

Perfect Hot Chocolate {Sundays with Joy}

'Tis the season.  For lights and jammies.  For peace and joy.  For hot chocolate.

'Tis the season for learning how to make Christmas goodies from scratch, too.

Before tonight, the words "hot chocolate" were synonymous with "Swiss Miss".  Or maybe "Nestle".  But now they sound like "Oh my goodness, there is amazingness in my mug".

Cute Christmas mugs deserve amazingness, I think.  You do only get to use them for a little bit each year, after all.

You probably like marshmallows in your hot chocolate.  Good, go for it!  I am not a marshmallow girl, but that did not stop this from still being the perfect cup of hot cocoa.  As my husband said, "Now THIS is what I call hot chocolate, not that watery stuff!"

Go get a little Joy in your life, and celebrate the season of joy and happiness on Earth with the light twinkling in the background and a warm mug in your hand.

Recipe from the Joy the Baker cookbook.  For a similar recipe, visit her blog HERE.  And enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

** There are a lot of families today in Connecticut who are not going to be able to feel peace and joy for quite some time, if ever again.  My thoughts and prayers are constantly with them as I realize Christmas will never be the same again.  One more example of why we cannot take the people we love for granted, at this time or any time.

(This post is a part of the Sunday with Joy baking group I am a part of.  Since we are going through the entire book, recipe by recipe, we do not post the recipes online unless we have changed them and made them our own.  This one was perfect as is.)

Vegan Pumpkin Walnut Bread

Apparently, I am a bad neighbor.

I mean, I try really really hard to be a good one.  Tip-toe through the apartment at night to not disturb the people downstairs, offer to help the old lady next door to carry up her groceries... see?  Proof that I TRY to be a good neighbor.  And I would have said that I was ACTUALLY a good neighbor, until the other day showed me otherwise.

My neighbor was walking toward her apartment, laundry basket in front of her large, pregnant belly.

"Baby is almost here, right?" I asked.  "Probably just a few more days?"

She looked at me with an odd expression for a few seconds and then said, "She is already here.  She was born three weeks ago."

WHA...?  I walk past their door how many times a day?  How on earth did I miss that?!

See, not as good of a neighbor as I thought.

But this weeks 'Sundays with Joy' recipe totally made up for that.  I mean, who could think I am a bad neighbor when I bring them a nice, fresh loaf of vegan pumpkin walnut bread?  And on Pumpkin Day no less?  Yeah, that's what I thought.  I pulled it out of the oven and let it cool, and then wrapped it up (with what I had on hand, which is why that is yarn), and headed over, being all good-neighborly.

So maybe I am not so much of a bad neighbor as an unaware one...

Wanna be a good neighbor?  Joy's recipe makes two perfect pumpkin loaves, great for sharing.  Or great for keeping all to yourself.  It's OK, I won't tell anyone ;)

.For this week's recipe, visit Joy's blog HERE or go buy a book HERE.  You will be happy you did.

PS -- Yes, I am sharing my usual Sunday post today, on a Friday.  That's because today is National Pumpkin Day and, more importantly, I have very special thing to share with you on Sunday.  So come back and check it out!  See you then :)

COST: $6.30   COST PER LOAF (2): $3.15

Pumpkin Black and White Cookies (Sundays with Joy)

Let me tell you a tale.

Once upon a time there was a fair maiden who soaked up the California sunshine everyday.   Except when it was rainy.  Then she stayed inside her house, and ate all of her mini pumpkin black and white cookies AFTER she made pumpkin puree from scratch, whipped up a batch of brigadeiro for the frosting, and discovered how to make powder sugar at home (true story), but BEFORE she took any pictures.

Blame it on the rain...

Luckily for me, I have a few friends who are sharing their recipes with us.  Why?  Because you are going to want to try these.  How do I know?  Well, I did eat them all before I took pictures of them, right?

These lovely cookies were made by Aimee, using the recipe found in Joy the Baker's cookbook.  Don't they look beautiful?

For a caramel twist, go visit Ellen at Indigo Scones.  She is always brilliant in the kitchen, and this time was no different...

You know what else is brilliant?  Sharana's whoopie pie take on the recipe.  Same taste, different style.  She shares her recipe with us on her blog, Living the Sweet Life.  Looks like her family lives up to the title!

Want to hear the ending of the story?  Ok...

That fair maiden, with her belly full of pumpkin cookies and her camera void of pictures, found out that great friends near or far can be found to help you out when you are in a pinch.  So she didn't take any pictures to share with you... but now you have three ways to enjoy pumpkin cookies instead of just one.  It sounds like a win-win for everyone!

Honey Mustard Roasted Cashews

Cashews + honey + mustard = yum

Don't believe me?  Try it for yourself...

It's quite easy, really.  Mix some honey, add some dried mustard (or if you are like me and don't have any, some dijon), and a little bit of vegetable oil together.  Toss in the cashews and mix until they are coated.  Then you just bake for about 15 minutes.

I told you it was easy.

And the good news?  Totally unprocessed.  (As long as that mustard you use is the real deal.)  This makes it a perfect snack for the month of October, and all of us doing October Unprocessed.  As a friend said, "It's like eating Lay's.  You just can't stop!"  Yes, like Lay's, but healthy.

Imagine that.

Thank you, Joy the Baker!  You have given me a wonderfully delicious treat.  And this is just one of many...

Recipe from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.

COST: $6.43 cents per batch

Sweet Potato Chocolate Chip Cookies (Sundays with Joy)

"Oh, come on, try some.  You'll like it, I promise!"

How is it that every single time someone says those words they turn out to be a liar?

This is how my dear, incredibly honest aunt became a liar every single Thanksgiving.  The food she was talking about?  Yams.  Yucky yams.  I tried them, I did not like them, and then the next year we would go through the same thing.

You know what else I didn't like? Every year?  Sweet potatoes.  Because they tasted like yams.

Vegetables are not supposed to be sweet!  It is against the laws of nature, right?!

This week's Sundays with Joy recipe is sweet potato chocolate chip cookies.  Sweet potatoes + chocolate chips.

Yes, you read that correctly.

But... but.  Hold on a second.  When I was in Nashville this summer I went to this local joint called the Pancake Pantry and I was told I had to try the sweet potato pancakes.  "Come on," they said, "try them.  You'll like them.  Promise."  Liar liar, pants on fire...

Except when I did try them (a bite off someone else's plate) I DID like them.  A lot.

So this recipe by Joy the Baker did actually sound like it had some good potential.

Yes, those are some large 'heaping tablespoons' there.  And yes, my cookies came out quite large.  But whatever, they taste GOOD.

Sweet potatoes, you are no longer on the Yucky List!  Maybe vegetables can be sweet, in sweet things.   Now I need to try some yams...

Nah.

Since I am participating in October Unprocessed this year, I made these so they would be 'unprocessed'.  (I know it is not October until tomorrow, but I will be eating them in October, so I figured I should just go for it.)  These cookies were made with unbleached flour, raw sugar, and some chocolate chips that are made out of the same types of things (pure sugar, unsweetened cocoa, cocoa butter, and salt -- that's it, no more, no less).  You, of course, can make them any way you like them, but however you do it, they taste good.

Go ahead, try some.  You'll like it.  I promise.

And I am not lying!

Recipe adapted from the Joy the Baker Cookbook.  Do yourself a favor and buy a copy HERE.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup baked, mashed sweet potato (pierce skin with fork and bake at 400 for 40 minutes on tin foil-lined baking sheet)
• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon Allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup packed raw brown sugar (smells a little different but tastes great)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup 'fresh' chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheet and set aside.
2. In large bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Set aside.
3. In medium bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together.  Add oil and vanilla; whisk again.  Fold in mashed sweet potato.
4. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients, all at once.  Using a spatula, mix until now flour remains dry.  Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Scoop cookie dough, by the heaping tablespoonful, onto greased baking sheet, 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before placing on wire rack to cool completely.

COST: $5.34   COST PER Cookie (18): $0.30

Main-Bait Apple Crisp (Sundays with Joy)

Fall is good for many reasons.  Scarves, Thanksgiving, pumpkin-flavored-everything.  And apples.  Oh yes, it is time for apples!

Not only do I have an apple recipe for you all, but I have a good news for you ladies looking for that special man in your life... main bait apple crisp.

What does apple crisp have to do with catching a man, you ask?  Well, according to Joy the Baker, this will have the men crawling to your door.  I am no man, but shoot, apple crisp?  Apples, sugar, and cinnamon topped with streusel?  Um, yes please.

Apple crisp is the perfect Fall treat.  It is easy, has baked apples (my favorite way to eat them), and makes the whole house smell good.  Really, what's not to love?  Yeah... 

Since this dish is super-American feeling to me, I invited my Brazilian friend Dani and her little boy over to help make and eat it so they could start off Fall in America the right way.  Good thing I did, because it proved Joy correct:

Man-bait.  It works :)

For the recipe, visit Joy's blog HERE or buy the book so you too can enjoy all of her great recipes!

COST: $8.33   COST Per serving (10): $0.84

In-N-Out's Animal Fries, At Home

You all should know by now that I am a Californian girl.  And being such, I am an In-N-Out girl.  There is nary a native Californian that is not.

In-N-Out.  It's a place of beauty.  The menu is simple, the food is made right when you order it (as in the potatoes are turned into french fries right then... you see it happen), and the customer service is excellent.  Although it doesn't happen often, we sometimes crave fast food, and when we do, In-N-Out is the place we go to.  (I can't remember the last time I had other fast food... and I plan on keeping it that way.)

When I saw last week's Sundays with Joy recipe (my super baking group I belong to) was chili cheese fries, I was a little disappointed.  Not in Joy the Baker; the recipe looks amazing for those who like chili-cheese things.  But my husband does not anything spicy and my belly does not like anything cheesy.  So it was a no-go for us.  (You however, should totally check it out.  Joy shared it on her blog this week and it looks GREAT!)

I didn't stay disappointed for long, though.  I needed a fry recipe I could do and like, and it was a no brainer -- Animal Fries from In-N-Out.

Animal Fries, or French Fries Animal Style, are one of In-N-Out's items on their "secret menu".  Sure, the big menu says you can only get a hamburger, cheeseburger, or a double-double, but if you are in the know (AKA you are from the West Coast) then you can also get a Grilled Cheese (burger without meat), your burger animal style (with grilled onion and extra sauce), or many other things.

Luckily for me, I am in the know.

Some people say that the secret to In-N-Out is their "spread".  I disagree.  I think the secret to In-N-Out is their everything.  Yet I get it, the spread is great.  And now we can enjoy some of it at home, where ever we are, In-N-Out nearby or no.  (I would actually never recommend for you to not go to In-N-Out, because they are just plain awesome.  But if for some reason you cannot, well... I've got your back.)

Animal Fries -- you take the french fries, place a slice of cheese on top while they are hot so it can melt, top that with grilled onions, and then scoop some Spread on top.  Those are Animals Fries.  And they are GOOD.

My suggestion?  Take a fork, mix it together, and dig in.

And make a little extra of the spread.  You will want to eat it again.  And soon.

Friends who have left California for Brazil or Michigan or WhereEver, you are very welcome :)

For more information about why In-N-Out is so incredibly awesome, read this great article I found.  Then you, too, will understand why we Californians are so crazy about it.

IN-N-OUT SPREAD

INGREDIENTS

2 Tablespoons Mayo

1 Tablespoon Ketchup

1/4 teaspoon mustard (some recipes called for it, some did not.  I did it.)

1 teaspoon dill pickle relish

pinch of sugar

half a cap of white vinegar

DIRECTIONS

Mix.  Eat.  Enjoy.

(I made a batch of baked french fries and caramelized some onion.  I do not have cheese on my Animal Fries, but you should do it.  It will be perfect that way!)

COST (Animal Fries): $1.30 per serving

Apple Pie Crostatas (Sundays with Joy)

My kitchen and I have a love/hate relationship as of late.  Really, it is quite simple --

I hate that I spilled rice all over the floor.  All over.  I hate even more that I did it twice.  I am still finding little rice kernels here and there, even though I have swept at least 18 times...

On the other hand, I love that I made, for the first time in our marriage -- and my life -- perfect Brazilian rice.  Each little piece completely separate, no piece stuck to another one...

Or, for example, I hate that I tried to make cheez-its from scratch and I totally failed.  Instead nice little cheesy squares, I got one huge cracker that was waaaaaaaay too salty.

It is in the trash right now as we speak.

But I love that I was able to make this week's 'Joy recipe', apple pie crostatas. I made them and they turned out perfectly.

Yup, I love that.

Honestly, I was terrified about this recipe.  It seems that every time I tried to do dough from scratch I botch it up.  [See Cheez-it reference above.]  And the pressure was on, because I had no choice but to make this recipe.  It was up for this week, and when I committed to this cook-every-recipe-in-the-book thing, I committed to it.  So, I made the dough.

And you know what?  It turned out superbly!

Apple pie crostatas... another way of saying hand held apple pies.  Who wouldn't want that?!

So right now, my kitchen and I are on happy terms.  And it shall remain that way, until I step in some more rice kernels.

Since we (the 'Sundays with Joy' group) are going through the entire cookbook from Joy the Baker, we are not sharing the recipes online unless we adapted them (which I did not for this recipe) to keep the entire book from living online.  That is up to Joy to decide if she wants to do that... buuuuuut if you would like to make something similar, visit Joy's blog to see the recipe for Apricot Crostatas.  And she gives you a step by step visual guide.  Perfect!

If you would like to get Joy's book and join us as we bake our way through it, you can get it here.

Happy baking!

His and Hers: The tale of two biscuits

This week's Sundays with Joy recipe was jalapeno, chive, and cheddar biscuits.  I like cheddar and chives, but I am a little afraid of jalapenos.  Probably stems from the time my best friend and I decided that we were Native Americans and needed to go hunting and gathering... in our neighbors yard.  Picked up some good stuff, too.  Except for the jalapeno.  Darn thing was hot, made us cry, and then we rubbed our eyes with our jalapeno-juice-smeared hands.  Now the tears were really falling, and our noses were runny, and of course we tried to rub the snot away... with those same jalapeno-juice-smeared hands.

Let's just say I never went "gathering" in someone else's yard since.

Or let a jalapeno get anywhere near me.

But I decided I would be bold.  I heard, from Joy the Baker herself (the source of this recipe), that if you take out the seeds the jalapeno isn't that hot.  So bold I did.  And I had some jalapeno, chive, and cheddar biscuits.

You know what?  I can do jalapeno in biscuits!  I was just really cautious as I was take out the seeds... there was no accidentally touching my eyes at that moment.  No sirree, I learned that lesson years ago.

My husband, on the other hand, said, "NO WAY!"  He is a hater of all things spicy and is actually allergic to some peppers, so he was not even willing to attempt being bold with me.  When I asked him what we wanted instead he thought about it and then settled on kale.  He wanted kale biscuits.

Different.

But whatever.  Different can be done.  Besides, I still had my yummy biscuits all to myself anyway ;)

Since I was putting kale in there, a favorite Brazilian veggie, I threw in some other favorite Brazilian items: mozzarella and red bell pepper.  And some cheddar as well, because cheddar tastes amazing and everyone should eat it every chance they get, Brazilian men included.

What did we discover?  Kale biscuits -- they sound weird, but they taste GOOD.

You know, I believe in that whole 'what's your is mine and mine is yours' mantra in regards to marriage.  Except for these biscuits.  Both were great, but I guarded mine and he guarded his.  I guess we can say, once again, Joy's recipe was a success.  And so was mine.  SCORE!

For the jalapeno biscuit recipe, get yourself a copy of Joy's fabulous book.  

For the kale biscuit recipe, here you go:

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup of milk + 1 teaspoon of white vinegar mixed to make buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced
1 large handful of kale, chopped small
olive oil
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup cubed cheddar cheese
1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
Coarse sea salt for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil.

2.  In skillet over medium heat. saute kale in small amount of olive oil until just tender, about 3 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 of the milk combo and egg. In another small bowl, toss together the kale, cheeses, and bell pepper.

3. Add the butter to the flour mixture and use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until the flour resembles coarse meal.  

4. Toss the kale mixture into the flour mixture. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk and egg mixture all at once. Toss together with a fork, making sure that all of the flour bits are moistened by the buttermilk. Dump the biscuit dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly, just enough to bring the dough together.

5. Pat the dough until about 1 inch thick.  Cut the dough into 2 inch squares. Gather the dough scrapes, pat into a new circle and cut more squares. Repeat until all of the dough has been used.  (You can use a round biscuit cutter if you are fancy like that.)

6. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheets, brush the tops with buttermilk and sprinkle them with the sea salt. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top. If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. You can eat them straight from there the next day, or reheat in a 350-degree oven until warmed through.

COST: $4.89   Cost per biscuit (12): $0.41