Whipping Cream Biscuits

These were the first biscuits I learned to make and they remain my favorites. My other recipes...well I'd just as soon eat whomp biscuits as make them. They're just too bothersome. Whipping Cream Biscuits are not only easy but o so good! I have never ever once made enough so that there were leftovers. I have successfully doubled and tripled this recipe.

1 1/2 cup unsifted flour
3/4 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder (do yourself a favor and get single action because it will never be bitter, I buy Rumford http://www.rumfordworld.com/htdocs/products.htm
1/2 pint cream

preheat oven 425

Whip cream, blend in dry stuff lightly, the dough will be stiff. Turn onto a floured board and knead slightly and lightly. Roll dough out to about 3/4 inch and cut your biscuits with a knife or biscuit cutter. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Makes 10-12 wonderful biscuits.

Hope springs eternal.

We saw a new psychiatrist this week. Our old one decided to abandon private practice to work for Sonoma Co. Mental Health.
Seeing a new doctor is like falling in love or buying a new face cream. This time we will be saved! This time it will be different! As I said...hope springs eternal.
The new doctor seems very good. He's willing to address T's multiple problems more aggressively. He wants to add two new medications to try and control the rages. That would bring the total up to 6 meds. I have a chart on the fridge just to help me manage 4. For those of you who are interested T takes: Abilify, Trileptal, Wellbutrin SR and Vistatril. All at max dosage for his weight.
New shrink thinks we can do a lot more for symptoms of autism - getting more seratonin and lowering sensitivity to stimuli. Sounds like fun! I'm so there!
We go back in two weeks. I don't know that we will make it that long before another hospitalization. T is on the verge of hurting himself or me badly.
We are charting the rages. Today's entry so far reads:
time: 12:00
trigger: he was asked to stop chewing with his mouth open
duration: 30 minutes
intensity: 8 (on a scale of 1-10)
threw 2 battery packs and kong at my head, then screamed for 20 minutes
what helped: when told that daddy was coming to help me handle him he chose to lie down on the couch, watched tv and fell asleep for 30 minutes.
sleep prior pm: 8-8:30
appetite: hungry
self stimulation: none
notes: therapy this morning, mom might be coming for visit tomorrow. we won't know until this afternoon.
Just wanted to share a slice of my day.
I'm going to make ham, aspergas and au gratin potatos for Easter dinner, decorated cupcakes for dessert. Nothing fancy there.
Au gratin potatos require a good white sauce, good cheese and lots of time.
Since I'll have the ham bone and bits I think my next recipe here will be jambalaya.

Fried Chicken

I have been perfecting my fried chicken for more years than you've been alive missy. This is as near perfect as it gets.
You will need:
Some chicken - I get whatever I have in the freezer. Sometimes it's a cut up fryer, sometimes it's wings, sometimes it's skinless and boneless breasts. All work just fine. You'll be happier if they're all around the same size - so cut the breasts in half.
Some buttermilk - I've used milk and egg soaks and lemon juice soaks - buttermilk is so much better than anything else. Just go get you some.
Some flour - usually about 2 cups
Some seasonings - 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 tsp Beau Monde http://www.spiceadvice.com/brands/spice_islands/index.html
Cooling racks - large enough to hold all the chicken
Some oil - corn or vegetable or peanut. your choice
A pan - my all time favorite is a huge pan from Bialetti's Maestro line http://www.bialetti.com
A cookie sheet - this is to hold the done pieces while the rest are cooking.

Soak the chicken in buttermilk refridgerated for at least 2 hours. I use a zip lock bag but you can use a bowl.
About an hour and a half before you want to eat mix flour and seasonings in a bowl or ziplock bag. Take the chicken out of the buttermilk and put it in the flour - toss it around until it's totally coated. This part is so messy - no way around it - you will have hands all covered in buttermilk/flour glue.
Put the coated chicken pieces on the cooling racks. It needs to sit and rest for 20 minutes. This step is really important to make the crispy golden goodness pretty foolproof. You'd need to ask someone else why this is...I just know that if my chicken doesn't rest in it's coating it sometimes won't work. If you can't abide the thought of chicken sitting out for that long then put it in the fridge. I leave it out. No one has died or even gotten sick yet.
Put enough oil into your heavy frying pan so it's 1-2 inches deep. Heat up your oil when the chicken is nearly done with it's nap. Here is how I tell if my oil is hot enough - when I can smell it from the other side of the kitchen I know it's time to attend. I look at it to see if it's shimmery with heat, then I toss one of the many little bits of buttermilk/flour glue that are sitting around under the racks of chicken into the pan. If it dances and bubbles and gets brown fast then my oil is hot enough. You can use an oil themometer to make sure it's 365 degrees. I don't want to admit I deep fry enough to own one.
Put the cookie sheet into a warm oven - around 200 degrees is fine.
Put the chicken in. When all the chicken is in turn your heat down to medium. At this point you'll just be standing there making sure it's all browning evenly. Cook it til it's all brown and done. Large pieces take 20 minutes, small pieces take 10.
Don't crowd your chicken - if your pan isn't big enough than use two pans or cook it in batches. That's why you have a warm tray in the oven to hold it.
When it's all done you'll really really want to make gravy. Don't know how? How sad! I'll write about making gravy next time.
Until then you can serve the chicken with cole slaw and biscuits.

I am agape.

Believe it or not this is mostly going to be a recipe blog. I would like to preserve 40 years worth of cooking. It's also a way for me to blow off some steam by amusing myself. I often amuse myself.
I need to blow off steam because it's hard right now. Really hard. I have been staying at home full time since last June caring for and teaching my 8-year-old stepson who has the following diagnosis....it depends on which of the many experts you talk to which one is at the top. Here goes: BiPolar, Autistic Spectrum, Persistant Developmental Disorder not otherwise specified, Intermittant Explosive Disorder, ADHD, Severe Mood Disorder not otherwise specified, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, with Abandoment Issues caused by his mother up and going to Austrailia when he was six. That's when our lives changed.
He just got out of the hospital this week. It was the third stay this year. Since he's been out his dad (my fiance who will be my husband when we get married this summer...maybe if we can plan a wedding which is looking pretty doubtful at this point...more on that later) where was I? O yes... His dad had to leave work to help me take care of him because he was out of control, I had to call the sherriff to come and help me because he was out of control and twice we had to take him to mental health crisis (the emergency room where you wait up to 10 hours for a mental health crisis worker)
We are going on a picnic today because we need some semblance of normalcy. We are going to have a Birthday Party tomorrow night for the cat, the dog and the daddy for the same reason.
I think I'm going to make fried chicken for the party. I'll have to put up the recipe when I decide for sure. Thanks for listening. really.