Blueberry Biscuits

I mentioned in passing earlier this week that I made biscuits for our friends who came to town. It was those friends who turned me on to something very important: BoBerry Biscuits.

Just like KFC is popular everywhere, or Canes in Texas. Carolina has Bojangles. And Bojangles makes something called Boberry Biscuits, which is essentially a blueberry scone. And really, what is a scone but a much sweeter biscuit.

But just like that, I was inspired (doesn't take much), and I couldn't get the idea of making a blueberry biscuit out of my head.

I just sort of followed the same recipe I used to make normal biscuits, but I added sugar and some cream cheese. You know, to jazz things up a little bit!

First I mixed all the dry ingredients together, then added in the cubed and chilled butter and cream cheese. I used my hands to cut the butter/cream cheese into the flour until the mixture started to resemble crumbs.

Then, I formed a little well in the middle of the flour mixture and poured in all the milk. Still using my hands, I gradually mixed the flour mixture in with the milk until everything was combined, but not over mixed.

On a heavily floured cutting board, I dumped the dough, sprinkled some flour on top, then added the blueberries.

I folded the dough a few times to get all the blueberries incorporated. I then flattened out the dough and cut out circles using the rim of a drinking glass (I don't have a biscuit cutter).

I placed the circles of dough on a baking sheet so that they were all just barely touching. I find that this helps them fluff UP instead of OUT. After about 15 minutes in the oven, I took them out and let them cool.

These were delicious and not overly sweet like a scone. Still very light and flaky like a biscuit should be. These are wonderful on their own, or with some butter and honey. Probably not a good idea to smother gravy all over these guys, but, to each his own!


Blueberry Biscuits by Follow the Ruels
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp cold butter, cubed
2 tbsp cold cream cheese, cubed
1 cup butter milk (or a little less than 1 cup milk and 1 tsp vinegar)
1/2 to 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions
1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda.
2. Add in the butter and cream cheese and cut into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter, two knives, or your fingertips, until the mixture resembles small crumbs.
3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and butter mixture, and pour in milk. Gradually mix in all the flour until just combined. Te mixture will be very sticky.
4. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface, place the blueberries on top of the dough, and gently fold the dough into itself a few times, until the blueberries are incorporated. 
5. Flatten the dough into a 1 to 1 1/2 inch thick disc, and use a biscuit cutter or other circular rimmed object (like a glass) to cut out circles of dough.
6. Place the dough on a baking sheet or round cake pan so that the edges of each biscuit are just touching.
7. Bake at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
8. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

Linking up with Thursday Thoughts, GYB Blog Hop

Oh How Pinteresting

I imagine you can judge a lot by a person and what they pin. Judging by my pins I should be 500 pounds and be surrounded by puppies at all times.

Not going to lie. That sounds amazing.

Homemade Neutella. I know what I will be doing this weekend.

I don't know where I would wear it, but I love it.

True story.

Creme Brulee French toast sounds like the perfect way to start and end a Sunday.

Floating books. So cool.

I am going to have to try these homemade Peeps!

Peanut butter and Neutella cookies...literally two of my favorite things.

Love this for the wedding!

My heart just melted. I need this Beagle-Lab mix. I've already named him Snickers.

And I am going to end on that, adorable, note!

Hope you have a great Wednesday!!

P.S. I am co-hosting an awesome giveaway ($95 in gift cards to some of your favorite stores) with some other wonderful bloggers. Go check it out!!

I'm Gonna Pop Some Tags

My mother will be the first one to tell you that she did not raise no fool. Right mom? (I'm sure she said "right" when she read this).

It is no secret that this girl (me) loves to shop. And where do you think that came from? Right. Mom. But she always taught me never to buy anything unless it is on sale. I mean, just about everything goes on sale eventually!

Unfortunately, there is one thing that she failed to teach me. Something that I am still working through on a daily basis. That is: just because something is on sale, does not mean you have to buy it! Like I said, it's a daily struggle.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) there are some new websites out there that allow me to track items that I like to wait until they go on sale. I have been searching for a site like this for a long time. Eventually I started using Pinterest as a way to organize all these items and track their price, but that required me to actually check back on them. Now there are at least two great sites that I use often that will do the work for me! Hukkster and Shelf.

My Hukkster page

Hukkster is a site I learned about while watching the Today Show. You might be familiar with it's two big investors: the Winkelvoss twins (the MarkZuckerbergstoletheFacebookideafromus Winkelvoss twins). You "hukk" an item using a browser button (like Pinterest) and you can put in the size you need and at what discount you want to buy it.

Shelf Inspiration Board

Shelf is very similar in concept, but meant to be much more social, where Hukkster has no social aspect to it. Both utilize the Pinterest-looking boards and endless scroll feature. Both will email you when something goes on sale (if you want). Shelf will actually suggest other items for you to add to your Shelf. And you and your friends can all share your Shelf's and see what everyone is adding.

Shelf Promo Board

One other cool thing Shelf does is that it will track all those specials going on at your favorite stores. Like the days where Banana Republic has 40% off new arrivals or JCrew is giving an additional 30% off sale items. That way you don't need those pesky spam emails from those stores to keep you in the loop.

Hukkster Browser button

Both have their pros and cons, and I will probably continue to use both simultaneously because I am crazy like that.

Do you know of any other cool sites like this that will track things that go on sale?

Oscars Best and Worst Dressed

There was a clear winner for me when I was watching all those beautiful actresses walk down the Red Carpet.

Charlize Theron.

Charlize Theron

 1. She insanely beautiful and rocks that short hair. 2. She has a killer body that can pull off anything. 3. Her dress sort of reminds me of a much edgier version of my wedding dress. Which kind of makes me feel stylish.

There were a few other ladies who were some stiff competition for Charlize and could have easily been my top pick.

Jessica Chastain, Naomi Watts, Samantha Barks

Jessica Chastain's dress was gorgeous and perfect for the Oscars. I loved the beading on it, which is hard to see in this picture. Naomi Watts' dress was very unique and unexpected, which is why I think I liked it so much. And it fit her perfectly. Samantha Barks (from Les Mis) went with this understated black dress, but it was just so classic.

These next few women had some gorgeous dresses on and looked stunning, but just could not compete with the ladies above.

Amy Adams, Jennifer Gardner, Sandra Bullock

Keri Washington, Reece Witherspoon, Jennifer Lawrence

So, now to the fun part. Those dresses that I felt didn't quite make the cut. Not that these women looks horrible, but there was just something about their dress that I would have changed.

Zoe Saldana, Amanda Seifried, Halle Berry

Zoe Saldana's dress just had one too many details for me. I loved the multicolored skirt and the ruffled top. And the belt was nice, but all of them together was kind of a mess. I didn't really care for the color of Amanda's dress. Maybe its just how it is photographing, but it basically blends in and washes her out. The high neck and updo also make her look a little matronly. I remember being pleasantly surprised by Halle's dress choice, but the more I look at it, I wish it didn't have sleeves. I think it would have been beautiful in either a strapless or sleeveless cut.

Unlike the three above, there was more I disliked about these next looks than I liked.

Helen Hunt, Kristen Stewart, Nicole Kidman

I LOVED that Helen Hunt wore a dress by H&M. Loved it. And on principal, she probably shouldn't be on this list, but it was just so plain and prom dress looking. I mean, it looked like a dress from H&M. Albeit, a really nice dress from H&M. Kriten Stewart's dress was actually really beautiful, but she looks like a mess and ruins the whole thing. Nicole Kidman, on the other hand, looked beautiful. Hair and makeup were flawless, but I didn't quite care for the dress as much. Maybe its the picture.

And the final three listed here had no competition for the worst dressed at the Oscars, in my opinion. Sometimes, you just don't know what people are thinking when they put these dresses on.

Kelly Rowland, Anne Hathaway, Olivia Munn

Doesn't it look like Kelly Rowland's dress just needs to be yanked over to her left (our right) a little. It just looks off. I still wouldn't like the dress, but I think it would have helped her. Oh Anne. Anne, Anne, Anne. Why did you pick a dress that you could have worn to prom in the 90s. I am pretty sure I had a top in middle school that looked like that. And the darting. Oh the darting. How unfortunately placed. And Olivia. I am not sure why you are at the Oscars, but it looks like you just ripped some curtains down and wrapped them around yourself. Also, you are at the Oscars....look excited!!

So, what do you thing? Do you disagree with any of my picks? Who was your favorite look of the night? Your least favorite?

All photos from of EOnline

Linking up with the GFC Blog Hop and Just Because

Left on Lexington

We had our first house guests this weekend, which has inspired me to open a bed and breakfast. Ok, not really. But it was really fun cooking and entertaining and showing them around town.

1) Friday, I started out the night with a nice glass of wine, or two.
2) Since the weather was terrible, we stayed in and played Cards Against Humanity....the best game ever. Especially when you are shoving your face with chocolate.
3) Saturday I made breakfast for everyone, including some yummy biscuits.
4) Since the weather was still terrible, we took our friends to one of our new favorite stores in Charlotte, the Paper Skyscraper. I want to cover the whole apartment in their beautiful wrapping paper.

5) We also stopped by Ikea, which is the place to go when the weather is cold and rainy, and got these cool wine racks.
6) Sunday the sun came out and it turned into the perfect day for a run! This time I wrote directions down on my hand so that I wouldn't get lost, like last time.
7) When I got back on my run, I checked in on the blog and realized I had reached 200 followers! Freaking incredible! I love you guys!
8) I broke in my new camo Skimmers from Gap. I felt pretty tough in them...until I put on Jack Purcels.

And of course I ended my weekend watching the Oscars and had a lot of fun discussing some of the high points (or low points) with friends and bloggers on Twitter. I stayed up late just to see if Argo won. My picks were not so far off, either.  I was 6 for 8 on the night! 

I will definitely be posting my favorite looks either later today or tomorrow.


Also, don't forget to go enter the Giveaway I have going on with some other lovely, lovely bloggers!


Linking up for Weekend Shenanigans, The GFC Collective, This Weekend I

$95 Gift Card Giveaway

Do you need a reason to go shopping?

Okay, I will give you one.

How about $95 worth of gift cards to some of your favorite stores? Pretty awesome, right?

This giveaway is brought to you by some pretty cool ladies. I encourage you all to check out their blogs after you enter the giveaway. Or before. I don't want to tell you what to do. :)

 

 1. $20 Target Gift Card- http://followtheruels.blogspot.com

2. $15 Starbucks Giftcard- http://simplesouthernways.blogspot.com

3. $15 Victoria's Secret giftcard- http://astoldbykendahl.blogspot.com

4. $15 Francesca's giftcard- http://tobystailsblog.blogspot.com

5. ad space for a month- http://simplyclarke.com

6. $15 TJ Maxx/Marshalls giftcard- http://ncbelleinboots.blogspot.com

7. $15 Sephora giftcard/2 months ad space- http://demureindiamonds.com

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Good Luck!!

 

It's Friday!

I feel like I have done a lot this week: Made a headboard, filed my taxes, ate lots of jelly beans and Girl Scout cookies. Lots of stuff.

1. My mom sent B and I a belated Valentine's care package with some yummy treats, to add to the other Girl Scout cookies that I already bought.

2. We have friends coming in town this weekend, so that motivated me to get the guest room put together.

3. I filed my taxes, which is a good feeling. I have lots of plans for what to do with my refund.

4. I am getting in the Oscars mode. B and I watched Django Unchained this week and I made my Oscar picks.

5. Thursday had a rough start, as you can tell by my email to B. I did not want to let a perfectly good outfit go to waste. But I had some hush puppies for lunch, which will turn any frown upside down.

So, how was your week?

Linking up with High Five for Friday, That Friday Blog Hop, 

And the Oscar Goes to...

The Oscars are on Sunday, which means that promises I made to myself to watch all the Best Picture nominees will go unfulfilled, yet again.

I have actually seen quite a few of the Best Picture nominees this year, so I feel like I can actually make educated guesses on who I think will win. Below is my list of who I think will win as well as who I want to win (not always the same) for some of the main Oscar nomination categories.

**legend** 
Bold = seen it

Red = I think will win

Blue = I want to win

Purple = Both

Best Picture

Amour

Life of Pi

Argo [Winner]

Lincoln

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Silver Linings Playbook

Django Unchained

Zero Dark Thirty

Les Miserables

Notes: Argo was definitely the best movie I saw all year. Zero Dark Thirty was a close second. Lincoln was disappointing. Django was...well, interesting. Typical Tarantino. The Oscars clearly hate Ben Afleck for some reason, so I doubt Argo will win.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Joaquin Pheonix, The Master

Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln [Winner]

Denzel Washington, Flight

Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Notes: Obviously DDL is the favorite in this category. He did an excellent job, so I won't be disappointed to see him win. But Denzel was pretty incredible in Flight.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook [Winner]

Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Notes: I don't have enough knowledge to really weigh in here. I thought Jessica was great, but I have heard great things about Naomi, too. I would LOVE to see Quvenzhane win, though

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin, Argo

Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Christopher Waltz, Django Unchained [Winner]

Notes: This one is hard for me. Christopher Waltz was soo good in Django, and since saw it recently it, his performance in Django sticks out to me the most.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams, The Master

Sally Field, Lincoln

Ann Hathaway, Les Miserables [Winner]

Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook

Notes: Again, not enough information here. I did not, however, care for Sally Field's performance. At. All. 

Best Directing

Amour, Michael Haneke

Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi, Ang Lee [Winner]
Lincoln, Steven Spielberg

Silver Linings Playbook, David O. Russell

Notes: Ben Afleck's direction of Argo was outstanding and he definitely deserves the Oscar. He's not nominated?!? Well F*CK you, Oscar nominating committee...

Sorry, just needed to get that out.

Best Writing -Adapted Screenplay

Argo, Chris Terrio [Winner]

Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi, David Magee

Lincoln, Tony Kushner

Silver Linings Playbook, David Russell

Notes: I have not been hiding my feeling for Argo very well, so clearly you know which way I'm leaning. But it would be cool to see BotSW win!

Best Writing - Original Screenplay

Amour, Michael Haneke

Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino [Winner]

Flight, John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

Notes: Just like the supporting Actor category, this one is hard for me. I think all 4 were very well written. I might give the edge to Django, though, despite the excessive use of the 'N' word.

So, what do you think? Do you agree with any of my picks? Disagree? Would love to hear what you think!

Buttercream Basics

One of the things that I was looking forward to most about our move to Charlotte was our proximity and access to cooking classes through Johnson Wales University. As soon as we moved here, I immediately looked into the classes they offered.

They offer everything from a "Tour of Tuscany", to sausage, barbeque, and candy making classes. Being that this is a very well known culinary school in the area, these classes fill up fast. So you could imagine how happy I was when there was still space available in the Buttercream Basics class.

Happier than a pig in sh*t, kind of happy.

Buttercream Basics was all about filling, frosting, and decorating a cake. Obviously, not a skill that I can use on a daily basis, but I got to spend 5 hours around cake and buttercream. Like I said: Pig. In. Sh*t.

I will save you the in depth overview of the class and just give you some of the highlights, like the recipes we used and some of the techniques and tips that the Chef taught us.

Tip #1: To keep the cake moist, spray or brush a simple syrup onto each layer before applying the filling/frosting. This will ensure that your cake does not dry out. For simple syrup, dissolve 1 part sugar into 1 part water. You could also use honey or agave.

Tip #2: When using homemade buttercream, whip it with a spatula before icing the cake. The buttercream will develop air bubbles as it sits which will make it harder to spread. If you take breaks between a crumb coat and the final coat, make sure to whip it up between.

Tip #3: Use a bench scraper to create the perfect edge on the cake. Place one edge on the turntable at a right angle to the top of the cake and spin the cake around, evening out and smoothing the sides of the cake.

Tip #4: Before piping, put the buttercream in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up (emphasis on few). This will prevent it from getting to soft as you hold the pastry bag, which will make it harder to create flowers or other decorations. 

On of the coolest things we learned how to do is make a buttercream rose. Obviously, the Chef made it look really easy, but after some practice, I think I got the hang of it. I asked her to demonstrate it for me again so I could share a video of her method with you.

What she is using is a pastry bag filled with a #104 rose tip. She is holding the pastry bag in her dominant hand with the narrow end of the rose tip facing up.

Rose tip

First she creates a fairly large mound of icing in the center of the rose nail. On the top of the mound she makes a cone by putting pressure on the bag and twisting the rose nail in her fingers. This cone should be the highest point of your rose.

Then she pipes 3 inside petals in the shape of a rainbow (or frown, depending on how you are feeling that day). Twisting the rose nail in her fingers as she pipe out each petal. She made 3 layers, repeating step one on the second layer, then on the 3rd layer, she angled the tip so that the top (narrow) end was further out than the bottom. On the bottom layer she puts 4 to 5 petals.

To remove the rose from the rose nail she used scissors, but you could also use or a small offset spatula and gently place it on your cake or cupcake.

Trust me, I know she makes it look so easy, but after some practice, I bet you can get it down!

If you live in the Charlotte area, I highly recommend this class. I don't know how often its offered, but they do have other pastry classes that I plan on taking.

Oh, How Pinteresting

Pinterest never fails to disappoint. Here are some of the things I have been pinning lately.

I need this for my runs!

In love with this bedding from JCP.

Love the 70s inspired look from Marc Jacobs.

Where do I find these shoes?

Definitely going to try to copy this idea in the apartment.

How awesome is this cobalt suit?

Good advice.

These are some gorgeous shoes.

I wish I was this stylish.

What have you been pinning this week?

Also linking up with Random Wednesday and Living the Journey