Miracle Drop Biscuits

Only 2 ingredients can produce biscuits.

Mix the two gently together, drop on a pan and put in a hot oven.

And then you have biscuits for dinner.

Tastewise, I thought they turned out basically like a Bisquick biscuit. I don't like buttered biscuits, but I probably should have at least brushed some melted butter on them. That may have made them a little better. They did taste good crumbled up in my tomato soup the next day though.

Breakfast Shrimp Gravy

Moving on into the Gravy chapter. Is there any other cookbook in America that has a gravy chapter?

The first recipe is from South Carolina, a Breakfast Shrimp Gravy, clearly the birthplace of the shrimp and grits which once upon a time seemed innovative, but now have been on menus so long that I never bother with them. And I won't bother with restaurant shrimp and grits anymore now that I can make these.

Here's all it takes.

Basically you cook bacon which produces grease and into that you add onions then flour to make a roux. I'm sure you could make the roux lighter or darker depending on your preference. Mine is a light copper. Then you cook the shrimp in the roux

and serve over grits. (I confess I used quick grits, never instant!; I didn't want to cook grits for longer than it took to cook everything else.)

As good as any shrimp and grits I've paid $20 for.

The recipe was easy to follow, but I did find I needed to reduce the heat and/or the cooking time throughout.

Cheese Boxes

Recipe No. 3

Combine shredded cheese (I did it by hand), softened butter, spices including dry mustard and cayenne which gives them their kick. Then whip an egg white. I did this by hand too. What a workout. Fold in the egg

and spread on bread cubes made from a loaf of soft white bread. I bought an unsliced loaf from Fresh Market. Allow to chill in the fridge until the spread re-hardens.

Then bake for 10 minutes.

Really delicious little bites of cheesy buttery bready goodness. I served them with the chili on Day 2 of the chili's life.

I froze the unbaked bites and cooked as directed the next day. They were equally delicious. This is definitely something I want to make again.

Benedictine:The Spread

Second recipe from "the book." The theme of this area of the book is things you might eat while you cook. So in other words, you cook before you cook. Fun, right? Well it might be if you had people over watching you cook. This would keep them out of your way; at least that's what the author suggest.

Here are the ingredients for this cream cheese/cucumber concoction.

I included the grater in the photo because it was key for getting the cucumber and later the onion to look like this.

As a pre-party dish this one requires a lot of pre-planning. The cucumber had to drain for two hours and finished spread had to chill for one. So not really something you can just whip up. Though once it's whipped (my food processor has had quite the workout this week) you get this.

Kind of bland looking, but it tasted very good and refreshing. Well as refreshing as anything on white bread can be. Nevertheless I think it was very good, and if I was hosting a ladies lunch or baby shower I would consider serving this as tea sandwiches.

Blue Ribbon Pimento Cheese

So this is why I made the mayonnaise. It held up overnight just fine. It was a little bit spicier in fact for sitting in the fridge.

Now this is what you have to know about me and pimento cheese. I love pimento cheese. What's more I make a delicious, very easy pimento cheese that combines extra sharp cheddar (shredded by hand is best, but you can use a food processor shredder; never EVER buy pre-shredded cheese), diced pimentos, a can of rotel and just a smidge of mayonnaise. So I was very interested to try this alleged Blue Ribbon winning pimento cheese.

Here's the ingredients.

I shredded the cheese in the food processor, then had to empty it out, insert the blade and put the cheese and pimentos back in. The recipe said to pulse the processor, but I found that took forever to get the pimentos close to the blade. I actually removed cheese and put it back in to make it work a little better. Then you added the mayo, pulsed again, then the spices, pulse again, and a little more mayo. And here's where it goes off the rail for me.

The consistency is supposed to be a thick paste. Here's where I stopped it.

This may not even be as processed as she meant. But it was as "smooth" as I could take it. I like my cheese much, much more looking like actual cheese than cheese spread. It also is a little bland, to my taste, despite the cayenne. Nevertheless, I made a sandwich.

And I'll definitely eat it all, but I won't be making this one again.

Update (1/5) -- And just like the mayo, it turns out that once you let this sit in the fridge it gets better. Texturally it is still too smooth for me, but the bland criticism is no longer valid. It has a nice flavor, especially on the Milton's Multi-Grain Baked Snack Crackers than came in some Christmas basket we received. My mom also was a big fan, but then she doesn't like things to be spicy.

First Recipe -- Part 1 -- Lella's Mayonnaise

The first recipe in the book is for pimento cheese, but it requires you to make mayonnaise first. So here goes.

Here are the ingredients assembled.

First add everything except 3/4 cups of oil into the food processor.

Here's where we are after the blending.

Then run the processor and drizzle in the oil to get here.

The cayenne adds a nice spice, but all in all I'm not sure it was worth this effort. It wasn't that hard actually, but of course now I have to wash the four pieces of the food processor before I can make the actual pimento cheese. So that will have to wait.

I've put the mayo in the fridge. Hopefully it will keep at least a day. The recipe fails to state how long it will last.