Week 6 Wednesday: Biscuits with Jelly and Hot Chocolate; Tamale Round About, Squash and Nilla Banana Pudding

 It's Wednesday morning of Week Six.

On today's breakfast menu is biscuits with jelly and hot chocolate - which makes me very happy! It's getting cold and I love this combination. It's seriously one of the very best combinations ever! I love cold mornings started out with flaky slightly salty very buttery biscuits with a squishy middle of raspberry jelly washed down with creamy hot chocolate. Mmmm....

For dinner is a tamale round-about. I cannot tell a lie - I freaking love this thing. Not only is it pretty easy to make - it's super pretty looking! And tasty- with spicy beef and textured, crumbly corn bread casing with just a hint of cheese and lot of spice... plus anything I can put sour cream, salsa and guacamole on tops my list of favorite things. YUM!

For dessert is Nilla Banana Wafer pudding. I totally lost half the pictures for this.. so sorry...but you'll get the gist of how to make this and what it takes. It's really really easy ... and somehow just perfect. My kids love it just as much as I did when my mom made it for dessert. Pudding - what could be more homey than that?




 Biscuits with Jelly and Hot Chocolate

Tamale Round About, Squash and Nilla Banana Pudding


BREAKFAST:

 

BISCUITS

1. I always bring my eggs to room temperature, so the first thing I do is put the 2 eggs in a bowl of warm water. The recipe also calls for buttermilk and since I use soured milk instead, I warm a cup of milk in the microwave and then pour a Tablespoon of vinegar in it. I preheat the oven to 425 degrees and let both the eggs and milk sit.

2. I put one cube (1/2 cup) of margarine, 2 cups four, 1 Tbsp Baking Powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and a teaspoon of salt in the bowl of my stand mixer.

3. Mix it on low, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula until it is a crumbly, uniform mixture.

4. With the mixer still set on low, add the soured milk and eggs.

5. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides but not so much that it isn't very soft (it should never feel stiff or firm, just not sticky).

  6. Grease a cookie sheet. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and if it's sticky, sprinkle it with flour. Then pat it into a rectangular shape about 1 - 2 inches thick.

 7.  I don't have a biscuit cutter so I just use the mouth of a cup, that is the size I like, to cut out circles and place them on a greased baking sheet.

8.  When you can't cut out any more circles, gently gather the dough into a ball and re-pat it into a 1-2 inch thickness again and continue making more until you've used all the dough.

9.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

 

10.  Serve hot with butter and jelly or honey with a steaming cup of hot chocolate. ENJOY!

 

 

DINNER:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Chop bell peppers and place in bottom of greased bundt pan.

2. Heat medium-large frying pan. Grease and put ground beef in it. Begin to cook and crumble the meat.

3. Meanwhile, mix corn bread ingredients. Place flour, cornmeal and sugar in medium sized mixing bowl.

4. Add baking powder and salt. Sift and mix well.

5. Make a "well" in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour milk, eggs and oil into the well.

6. Blend just until mixed. Drain fat from meat. Add cumin and chile powder.

7. Pour salsa into meat mixture.

8. Pour about half of the corn bread batter into the bundt pan on top of the bell peppers.

 

 9. Top with cheese and then the meat mixture.

10. Pour the remaining batter over the meat and spread to cover and "seal in."

 

11. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

 

12. Let cool for 5 minutes or so, then use a knife to "loosen" the tamale round-about from the sides of the bundt pan.

 

 

13. Carefully place bundt pan upside down serving platter. Carefully lift it - loosening as necessary - so that it comes out clean in one piece on the serving platter.

 

14. Slice to serve - top with sour cream, salsa and/or guacamole. ENJOY!

 

 DESSERT:

1. Slice bananas. Get out a pretty glass truffle type dish.

2. Arrange bananas and nilla wafers around bowl.

 

3. Mix pudding according to directions. Fold in Cool whip.

4. Pour half of the  pudding/cool whip mix into bowl with bananas and nilla wafers. top with more bananas and nilla wafers. Top with Cool Whip and more bananas/ wafers.