This Is What Forgiveness Looks Like

This is a picture of a dad and his daughter.

A dad that has had some very strong hate directed at him by people all over the country. 

A daughter that he hadn't seen in four years. 

A dad that lost two daughters but is getting one back. 

A dad and a daughter that are healing. 

What you don't see in the picture is the momma that is healing. 

And the friends and family that are healing. 

Hearts that are softening.

God is great.

Here is the proof:

What Does Forgiveness Look Like?

Buttermilk Biscuits

I hate canned biscuits. There's something bitter about them. 

Unless, of course, they are deep fried and smothered in sugar...but that's a different blog!

But I love fluffy, buttery, biscuits. So I went in search of a recipe. I came across this one and tweaked it a little and I think I've finally got the perfect recipe and technique! 

Here's my tweaked version.

Buttermilk Biscuits

3 C flour 
1 1/2 t. salt
1 T. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 stick butter
3/4 C buttermilk (or 3/4 c. milk + 2 T. vinegar)
1 egg
1/8 C water 

I read somewhere that the secret to fluffy biscuits is the butter. It needs to be cold and in bigger chunks. I put mine in the freezer, then let it set for a bit so my food processor can handle it. So it's not quite frozen, but colder than fridge temps. 

I rarely plan ahead enough to have buttermilk when I need it, so I make mine. You can do it with lemon or vinegar, but the magic of baking soda and vinegar in baked stuff is awesome, so I use vinegar. I let that sit in a bowl for a minute while I mix up the dry ingredients and butter in the food processor. 

Then I whisk the egg into the "buttermilk" and add the water. 

Dump all the dry ingredients in with the wet. Then stir til it just starts to stick together. 

There's a fine line between "fluffy" and "flat rocks" when it comes to biscuits. It has a lot to do with how much the dough it worked. So once I get it mixed together, it's still really wet. I put a pretty generous amount of flour on the counter and on my hands and knead it a few times til it looks a bit smoother. I DON'T roll it out with a rolling pin. They never come out fluffy when I do. I just kind of smush and pat them out til the dough is about an inch thick. 

Then I dip a cup in flour and cut the dough into biscuits. (I have circle cutters and they would probably work great but I'm way too lazy to dig through the cookie cutter box to find them and cups are just sitting right there in the cupboard!) This is where the flour on the counter comes in. The dough stays pretty sticky and it's almost impossible to get them off the counter if there's not a lot of flour under them. 

Then they go on a greased pan for about 14 minutes at 425º. I pull them out when I see the bottoms start to get brown and the butter is melting out of them. 

My next "tweak" with these is going to be herbs and bits of cheese! 

My Favorite Chili

I can't remember where I even found this recipe. I've had it for years, floating around my kitchen, handwritten on a scrap of yellow paper. I love this recipe, and I think it could hold it's own in a chili cook-off! 

I figured it was time to give it a proper place!

Chili

2 lbs browned ground meat
1 (46 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (29oz) can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 C chopped onion
1/4 C bell pepper
1/4 C chili powder
2 t cumin
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1/2 t oregano
1/8 t cayenne (more if you like it to bite you)
1T brown sugar
2C beans

Dump it all in, heat it all up. Done!



Here are some of my additions and changes, because I can't just leave a recipe alone. You can do whatever you want with your chili, it's your life. I'm not about to tell someone how to make their chili! ;) But here's what I do! 

Obviously, I typically use deer or elk meat. I suppose sausage would be good too. Or no meat and go vegetarian with it (blasphemy…..).

I use WAY more bell pepper than 1/4 C, but I like bell peppers a lot. 

Sometimes i throw in a couple handfuls of shredded zucchini or carrots to give it a bit more balanced nutrition.

I don't usually use canned beans because dry beans are cheaper, and I'm a cheap wad. I soak them overnight and use the whole bag (usually red kidney beans). I don't know if it's close to 2 C or not, but it works out well. 

I usually do it in the crock pot too. Prepare it all in the morning and let it simmer all day. 

THEN I serve it with cornbread, sour cream, and shredded cheese! YUM!