waking up in red, white, and blue

Continuing my tradition of wearing red, white, and blue all week before July fourth, I jumped at the chance to buy these Sleepy Jones pajamas (Alex tank, Tauba short) on sale recently. My mug is a hand me down, stamped with the Carolina Aero Club logo. Three generations of my family have been involved in the club, which played a large part in my parents meeting. 

I'm so glad to have patriotic pajamas that are made in the USA! And below is what our mornings actually look like. 

Happy Independence Day!!!

sweet potato biscuits

As a southerner, I'm ashamed to admit that I don't have a go-to biscuit recipe. I think I made biscuits in foods and nutrition class in high school, and since then, I've only made drop biscuits a handful of times to top chicken pot pie. So I'm taking a break from doughnuts to search for great biscuit recipes. 

Thumbing through a few hand me down cookbooks last week, I left some pages open with biscuit recipes. When we had extra baked sweet potatoes on hand, I decided to start my biscuit making with a recipe for sweet potato biscuits. 

The recipe is fairly quick and easy, but the dough was sticky, difficult to roll out, and more difficult to cut, pick up, and place on a baking stone. If I make this recipe again, I will roll out the dough a tad thicker, as the best biscuit in the batch was the biggest one I made by throwing together all of the scraps.

Do you have a good biscuit recipe or biscuit making tips? Please share!

hand me down breakfast

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I think that has always been true, though I've just now realized it. As I get older, I've become more of a morning person--maybe it's the coffee. These days I enjoy breakfast at 7 instead of at 11 . . . or at 10 after a pure barre class, cooking, and photographing. Have I mentioned that I can't sit still?

I can't even talk about getting up early for breakfast without acknowledging that my dad wakes up around 5 on Saturdays to go to church and cook for men's breakfast. I'll be eating my breakfast when he gets home after cooking, eating, listening to a talk, and cleaning up. I see where I get my lack of sleeping from . . .

As I made this breakfast, I got to thinking about the hand-me-down influences on what I eat.

Growing up, my mom made pancakes as a Saturday morning treat, especially if I had a friend sleeping over. When I wanted to make breakfast more special than my everyday cereal or smoothie, I tended to make pancakes or waffles.

I've always liked bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits/bagels/sandwiches, but I didn't make them at home until a few years ago. This change was the result of special requests for these kinds of breakfasts. My family, friends, and even old boyfriends and their families (plus my sorority house's chef, thanks Mary!) have helped me branch out and try what have become some of my favorite foods. Now, I can't imagine life without grits, avocados, collards, sushi, etc.

I will never be able to cook eggs with my grandfather's skill. I turn the stove on low and try to be patient, but it's just not going to happen. I like to cook bacon in the oven, at 400 degrees for about 15 or 20 minutes. That's a hand me up technique to which I've converted my parents. These yellow grits are locally grown and rich--generously buttered, salted, and peppered. They tasted even better than they look.

So now, who's coming over for breakfast?

extra time for . . . lately

Having time off of work means more time for just about everything.  I've been spending a lot of my time cooking, baking, and eating.  I exercise, too, but somehow it isn't quite enough to offset all the eating . . . 

I love mornings praying and reading my Bible while eating breakfast and drinking iced coffee.  I keep the same morning routine as when I work, I just do it all slower in the summer.  I challenged myself to journal every day in July, and would you know I wrote something every day except July 30 and 31.  The Lord heard my prayers those 29 days and every single time I heard from Him and became more disciplined.  Romans 12:2 is made new to me.  

This time I made some cold brew coffee with beans from Jubala.  

I just really like waffles.  When I moved in to a completely furnished house for a semester in school, I had to bring my waffle iron.  I had gotten it for my birthday.

I typically use Martha Stewart's pancake recipe for waffles, but with extra time and curiosity, I tried this recipe.  The batter was very thin, and it didn't rise, so the top of the waffles didn't make contact with the top plate and didn't brown.  I'm not sure if the cause was my mistreating of the yeast or my waffle iron.  Still good, though!

I was fortunate enough to get invited to a special Christmas in July party that my parents' friends host every year.  They went all out with decorations and food and even gave us gifts!  I was glad to have a reason to make pumpkin pie -- to take to the party.  Here is the crust recipe and pie recipe I used.  Pins here and here.  

These salted fudge brownies (recipe) are the best I've made; there's just not much excuse for using a brownie mix when you could make these instead.  Pin here.

I got the chance to volunteer yesterday with a local ministry that I have wanted to get involved with for a long time.  I enjoyed meeting and playing with the children that came in, and it gave me yet another reason to keep working on my Spanish.  Speaking partners wanted!

What is special about your summer?  Baking anything lately?  Spending time with God?  Serving?  Traveling?  I know I took a big trip to Asia, but since then, I haven't gone anywhere, and I'm going a little crazy.  Traveling partners definitely wanted, too!

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coffee for hot weather

Everybody likes coffee, right?  Until about five months ago, I did not get it at all.  I had always liked the smell but never liked the taste of coffee.  My dad drinks it in the morning, and for a period of time when he was driving me to school every day, I would make it for him.

When I went back to work after a short Christmas break this year, it was just too much for me to handle.  After too many long pauses to yawn while reading a story or giving what should have been quick instructions, I knew it was time for a change.  At first, I liked the boost every few mornings.  But as my mom warned, it didn't take long before I was hooked.

Since I started my coffee habit in January, I hadn't thought about what I would do during hot weather.  I thoroughly enjoy a hot cup in the morning while I study my Bible, but when it started heating up last week, I found myself pouring out half of what I'd made each morning.  Then, I remembered the times my dad made iced coffee.  A few years ago, my mom's friend raved about her iced coffee that she made with a cold brewing system, and she talked my dad into trying it.  She may or may not have actually bought a cold brewing system and chocolate powder for our house.

I saw some buzz on the internet over the Pioneer Woman's iced coffee recipe, so I combined what I learned from my dad and Pioneer Woman to try it myself.  I used our cold brew bucket/carafe and quartered PW's recipe.  Instead of my dad's precise mix of this flavor and that flavor, I got some Costa Rican beans ground at Cup A Joe.  B's parents always get their coffee there, and he had given me the same kind of coffee for Valentine's Day.

I let the 1/4 pound of ground coffee and 2 quarts of water sit for about 20 hours then pulled the plug and let it drain.  I moved it to the pitcher to store in the refrigerator.

The next morning, I tried it as PW suggested: lots of ice, about half a glass of coffee and half milk, with a spoonful of sugar.  Honestly, I was not a fan of this mixture.  Since the drink was cold when I added the sugar (breaking an important rule if you know anything about making sweet tea), the sugar did not dissolve.  Crunching on sugar that I don't normally drink in my coffee anyway . . . no, thank you.

I almost gave up, but the next morning I tried to make it exactly the way I would drink hot coffee: with a generous splash of almond milk.  And now, finally, I have found my solution for summer coffee.  Just trust me on this and make your iced coffee the same way you like hot coffee.

I got my concoction right in time for a pick me up before volunteering at my church's 5K on Saturday.

How do you like your coffee?  Ever tried making iced coffee at home?