Breakfast Biscuits

... or any time of the day.

As promised months ago (I bet you forgot about them didn't you?), here are the biscuits we have been CRAZY about.  When you see the pictures, you will understand why I have not posted this before now.  I normally make these when everyone is asleep.  But, just special for you today, I made these while Hannah was awake.  She helped me with the photos since my hands were pretty sticky.

WARNING:  These biscuits contain shortening (gasp!).  I know... I know...  You can use only butter.  But, somehow, some way, that little bit of shortening just makes them OH SO YUMMY and I can't give it up in this recipe.

Here is the recipe:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
1 Tablespoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
3/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar
1 stick of butter (cold)
1/4 cup of shortening
1 1/4 cups of milk

-Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
-Combine in a large bowl:  Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar, Salt and Cream of Tartar
-Wisk to mix well.
-Using a pastry blender (or your hands) cut butter and shortening into four mixture.
-Make a well in the flour mix and pour the milk in.
-Mix well with a wooden spoon.
-Spoon out to make 12 biscuits.
-Shape a little.
-Bake at 450 degrees for 10 - 14 minutes.

I chopped up my butter in small pieces.

I use my hands to 'cut' in the butter and shortening because I do not have a pastry blender. 

This is why Hannah had to take all the photos.

This is what the mix looks like when it is crumbly and mixed up good.

Don't forget to make the well in the middle.  Then, pour the milk in.

Mix it up like normal.

I kind of eyeball it to spoon out twelve biscuits.  At the end, I check to see if all of them look pretty much the same and then take from one and give to another until they are all even.

I then shape them around a little bit to make them look more like real biscuits instead of blobs.

They still kind of look like blobs.

When they are finished in the oven, they are slightly browned and if you lift one with a fork, it should be slightly brown on the bottom too.

These biscuits freeze perfectly.  We make a batch and since we don't want to eat them all right then (well, we do 'want' to eat them all, but we don't), we put them in the freezer for future breakfasts.  You could thaw them out by laying them out on the counter the night before, or (shut your eyes) put them in the microwave for a couple minutes on defrost.

I said "shut your eyes" a little while ago because I just despise a microwave. 

Horrible... simply horrible for your body.

Winston

Meet Winston...

We took a little trip yesterday.  Dara is one of our neighbors here in the campground.  Her and her husband, Drew are expecting a baby boy in a couple of months.  Dara has a horse named Winston.  He stays at a barn nearby.  Dara called to see if we wanted to go see him.  I kept it a secret from the girls until close to time to go.  I wish I could have got a picture of their faces when I told them.  They were VERY excited! 
We had so much fun. 

Dara is a natural teacher.  She was explaining everything to the girls (me included).  She was teaching us about caring for the horse; what the different brushes were called, what they were used for and why. 

She showed us how to 'lunge' a horse.

She taught us how to ride and 'steer' the horse where we want him to go.

I really appreciated her patience and time.  You can tell she loved teaching us as much as we loved learning. 

And Cari bought herself a toy horse with some of her birthday money and she named him 'Salem'. 

We are looking forward to many more visits with Winston. Hannah already asked this morning if we could go back again today.

Cari

Happy Birthday my beautiful 7 year old! 

Her real birthday is May 1st. 

I am catching up on my blog posts.

We celebrated Cari's birthday a little early. 
We were happy that Nana & Pop got to celebrate with us!

Cari was very happy that Hannah decorated for the party...

...and baked her a cake.

Everyone had a blast with all the party supplies that Uncle Daniel, Aunt Stephanie, Mason and Cassie sent.  Thank you VERY MUCH!!!

Cari enjoyed opening her gifts. 

We finally blew up the balloons.  Those were SUPER fun!

Even the next day, we were still having fun with the balloons.

And the girls went outside to play with their silly string.

When Cari's real birthday rolled around, she thought of some more ways to celebrate.

She climbed to the top of the rock tower at the Word Of Life Ranch!

After all the excitement...

Happy Birthday my sweet baby.

Nana & Pop

NANA & POP CAME TO VISIT!!!

We had lots of fun while they were here!  Thank you Nana and Pop for taking your vacation time to come and spend it with us. 

First things first - we ate.  Nana & Pop arrived around 12:30 pm on Tuesday last week.  So, lunch was ready!  The menu included, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, knot rolls and Texas sheet cake! These are all my dad's favorites!  My mom loves these too, but you cannot make my mom any happier than to make my dad happy.  And nothing makes him any happier than yummy food. 
(The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree!)

Second on the agenda - Hannah and Cari provide pedicures (minus the polish) for the weary travelers.

Next, we took a tourist ride.  We visited all the main attractions here - The WOL Family Campground, WOL Headquarters, WOL Bible Institute, Schroon Lake, WOL Inn and finally took a turn towards Ticonderoga.  It was a bit foggy, but the mountains are beautiful - even in the fog.

Next on the agenda were homemade bird feeders.  This was one of Hannah and Cari's sience projects - observation of one of God's wonderous creations - birds.  Pop helped them make their bird feeders.  I am glad Pop told us that it would take a while for the birds to figure out that there was food in them.  We are still waiting on the birds to come.

Next was play time.  Pop took the girls on a walk.  Hannah came racing in the house and started trying to tell me they found a snake, inbetween each breath.  Nana & I saw Cari getting on her bike and Nana immediately knew what Cari was thinking.  She was planning to run over the snake with her bike!  Nana was telling her to stop.  We saw Pop making her stop.  Then we saw Pop throwing stones at the snake trying to get it to move.  Hannah took this picture of it.  I asked her why she was so close.  She said, "Well, Pop wouldn't let me get close so I had to zoom it as far as it would go!"

Next, we celebrated Cari's birthday a little early.  We were excited that Nana & Pop were here to celebrate with us.

The next morning, we were still having fun with the balloons - well some of us were.

Next, Michael took us for a ride up to Lake Placid.  The drive is just breathtaking.  All of the beautiful mountains, lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks are beautiful.

Then, we said our goodbyes Saturday morning.

We were blessed by their visit and were very happy that they came, but were sad to see them go. 

Thank you for coming to visit us, we love you and miss you!

Weather Update...

It has now been 80+ for the past few days.  What a change from last week and the snow!  I have sat my boots safely in the back corner, but easy to reach.  This weather has been up and down like a roller coaster.  So, I never know when I will have to pull them back out!  But, for now, my toes are loving their freedom.