We Should Be Folding Laundry

I love biscuits.

Actually, I have a deep-rooted love of most bread but biscuits, especially properly made, southern style biscuits are especially dear to my heart.

Biscuits from a can are fine. But that’s about as far as it goes. Just fine.

I’m telling you, if you’ve never had a properly made biscuit, you need to put that at the top of your to-do list because once you have one, you’ll throw rocks at those canned biscuits.

I’m not exactly sure what that means but my Dad always says it. Must be a southern thing. Or maybe he just likes to throw rocks. You can never be to sure with him.

Biscuit making isn’t hard. The ingredients are simple and the process is fairly simple as well.

But for some reason, no one does biscuits like southerners do biscuits.

If you grew up in the south, or were ever lucky enough to watch someone who really knew what they were doing, you know what I mean. This last statement usually applies to our Grandmothers or Great Aunts who can make biscuits without measuring or using fancy equipment and while doing ten other things and having a totally unrelated conversation all at the same time.

It’s almost as if these women have biscuit making engrained in their DNA.

I might be particularly partial, having grown up in the south and coming from a long line of southern women, but I know good food – comfort food when I taste it and it’s just not the same whenever I’ve eaten outside of this region.

Are my biscuits perfect? Nope – they’re made with milk and butter instead of buttermilk and shortening – GASP!

But they’re darn good.

And they’d be even better with some fried chicken in between, maybe a little gravy, and a glass of sweet tea on the side.

Whisk together:

2 cups flour

2 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp garlic powder

few grinds of black pepper

Then fold in:

1 cup of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (I used cheddar jack)

Then cut in:

1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces.

You can do this with a pastry cutter, two butter knives, or your hands. Just work the cold butter into the dough until it is the size of small peas and mixed in well to the dough.

Then add:

1 cup milk

Gently work into the dough. Be careful not to overwork it or the biscuits will be tough.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 5-10 times, just until the dough is smooth and no longer crumbly.

At this point you can roll out the dough to about an inch or so thick, cut out biscuits, place onto a sheet pan, and bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until the tops are light golden brown.

I like to cut my biscuits with a sharp knife rather than a biscuit cutter. It’s much easier. But if you must have round biscuits, be sure to press straight down, do not twist or it will keep your biscuits from rising properly.

You can also brush the tops with melted butter just before the biscuits are done baking for extra buttery flavor.

Boy are you in for it today.

Another peek inside the inner-workings of my crazy brain.

More specifically, how my poor family suffers as a result of it.

My husband, son, daughter, and cat all have “special nicknames” given to them by me that no one else knows about.

Until today.

My boys would kill me if I told the internets about the ridiculous nicknames I gave them so I’ll keep those secret – for now.

But my daughter could care less. She’s got a pretty easy-going personality (thank goodness). Plus she’s six and doesn’t read my blog so she’ll never know.

When she was just an itty bitty thing, six years ago more or less, I started calling her Munkaroo.

It’s weird I know, but it stuck. I think it must have started with “monkey” but evidently that just wasn’t weird enough for me.

Soon after, her father and brother also began calling her Munkaroo and that was it.

Over the years, Munkaroo evolved into: Munx, Munxy, Munxatawny Phil, Munkadocious, and Munkasaurus Rex.

All of the above nicknames are used on a constant basis in addition to the more obvious nicknames that any normal person would come up with just by looking at her name.

That child is rarely ever called by her actual name. Unless she’s in trouble. I think we all know how that goes.

Of course now that she’s older and “Munkaroo” has been a part of our daily vocabulary for so long, the name has become synonymous with all little things.

Unless we’re talking about babies. Those are “mini-munkaroos” – just to be clear.

The well goes much deeper folks, that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as the weirdness goes but since I find it’s best to dish up my craziness in small doses, we’ll save the rest for another time.

To give a bit of direction to all my rambling, this snack mix was named after my daughter’s very first nickname because it contains some of her snacky favorites.

It also sounds super cute so why not?

Directions:

Add your snack mix into a large bowl. There are no precise measurements for this part. Just add what you like to a bowl and mix gently.

I used Goldfish crackers, small pretzels, and popcorn this time but I’ll also add nuts, Cheez-its, Chex cereal, and/or mini saltines when I have them.

Then melt 4 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan and add a few shakes of Worcestershire Sauce, 1 teaspoon each of both seasoned salt and Italian seasoning, and 1/2 teaspoon each of both onion powder and garlic salt. Whisk to combine.

Drizzle the seasoned buttery yumminess over your snack mix and gently mix well to make sure everything is coated. It’s best to drizzle a bit and mix gently, then drizzle a bit more and mix gently. That way, everything gets evenly coated.

Then pour the mixture onto a large baking sheet and slide into a 200 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

That’s it!

Leftovers can be stored in a resealable bag or a jar with a tight-fitting lid.

I’d love to tell you how long this mix will stay fresh but it never lasts more than a couple of days. It seems like someone always has their hand in it.

I’d venture to guess that it should stay fresh for up to a week, but I’m telling you, it probably won’t last that long.

To make a special munchy mix for your child, just season up their favorite dry snacks and once cooled, pour their mix into a resealable bag labelled with their nickname and the word “munch” or “mix” written after.