Cooking with L-O-V-E

On Father's Day - way back on June 16th - I made some delicious flaky biscuits to serve as the base for my husband's favorite Southern breakfast.  I cooked the whole meal in about an hour that Sunday morning so both of these recipes are worth it and they tasted delicious according to him.

(My very own flaky biscuits)

Grandma's Flaky Buttermilk Biscuit recipe came from Ann at Cooking Maniac.  She talks a lot about how wonderfully flaky these biscuits are and they did not disappoint. They were very easy to split open and serve with our favorite toppings; Groovy Girl and I had ours with vegan butter and jam; he had homemade sausage gravy. I would definitely go back to her website when looking for authentic homemade recipes. I searched and searched for a good homemade gravy recipe and I found the perfect one on the Food Network from (not a surprise) Ree Drummond.  My husband enjoyed several helpings and there was enough for leftovers for him to eat two other mornings.

(See link below)

I created another special meal for longtime friends of ours. Tim is retiring and moving to their cabin home in Maine while his wife, Lynne will remain here and teach for another year or two at UNI. We wanted to have them for dinner before the major move. I made this perfectly summery Lasagna with spinach and roasted zucchini; a recipe I found using my NYT food app.  It was light with minimal cheese and fresh sauce and it didn't feel wintery heavy.  I had a fresh pea shoot salad and fresh baguettes for everyone. I love to cook and browse recipes so much that this app is better than Instagram for me.

(See link below)

Last night we had a Cedar Falls Food Co-op potluck at 2nd State Brewery downtown and Groovy Girl and I made a really delicious pot of Quinoa and Wild Rice Salad with Ginger Sesame Dressing.  This was a last minute recipe and I did not want to run to the grocery store during a perfectly good lazy summer day and after all, I had most of the ingredients. I did not have cilantro, or fresh lime, spring onions/scallions, or Asian sesame oil. I substituted fresh basil from my porch pot, Rose's Lime Juice (hey, it worked), left out onions and sesame oil.  Our dressing instead was a spicy ginger-lime with a little cayenne and curry compliments of Groovy Girl. She can't help herself with the spices - she just goes to town with our well-stocked spice cabinet. I would definitely make this recipe again and we had lots of wild rice and quinoa left over to repurpose.

Have a delicious rest of your week!