As a food blogger our mission is to support the local as much as possible. Buy local, dine local. But what about local writers?
Few weeks ago I received an email from Karen Peek, the author of Be your own Chef cookbook asking me if I’d be interested in reviewing her book. After she told me more about the book I agreed to review it and received a copy.
I did some reading and learned quite a lot from it. Every recipe comes with tips and substitution idea like
- Rub fingers on stainless steel underneath water to remove garlic smell from hands
- To maintain freshness, wash herbs immediately when you bring them home from the store. Dry off and store wrapped up in paper towels in a ziploc bag in refrigerator
- Store leftover pesto in refrigerator for a few days in sealed airtight container. Top off with a thin layer of olive oil or plastic wrap directly on top. For long term storage, place in the freezer.
- Do not salt mushrooms until after browning them. Salt draws out the moisture from the mushrooms and slows down the cooking process.
- Prevent brown sugar from hardening by storing it with a terracotta disc that has been soaked in water for 15 minutes and dried off. If hardened, place a damp paper towel or apple slice in airtight container for several hours to make soft again.
- Avocados ripen faster when stored with bananas and/or apples
and so on.
The cook is divided in 11 chapters :
- Spicing it up
- Tongue pleasers
- Breakfast and breads
- More than salads
- Go-withs
- All in one pot
- All in the middle
- Something smells fishy
- All about the meat
- Beyond the border
- Something sweet
The book is for everyone, especially if you’re a novice cook. It has tons of family friendly recipes. Each one can be easily made in your own kitchen, with ingredients found already in your pantry. Don’t you just love these recipes? I for one I do.
Even if you’re vegan, you’ll enjoy this book. At the end of most of the recipes will find vegan substitutions.
Read about Karen on her website Inspired art of cooking and order your own copy. You’ll love it too.
Now, in the theme of the book I picked one recipe and adapted to my own taste.
I have to say this is the first time I made dropped biscuits. I changed here and there the original recipe and here’s what I come up with
Dropped biscuits
*I apologize for the lack of step by step photos
Ingredients:
2 cups self rising flour
4 tbsp shortening
1 cup shredded cheese – I used a blend of sharp Cheddar, Parmesan and Gruyere
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 egg whites
3 small green onions finely sliced
1/2 cup fat free milk
Preheat the oven to 425F. Grease a cast iron skillet. (a 8-9 inch skillet is possible)
Place everything in a bowl and mix until everything is combined. With a 1/4 measuring cup drop dough balls into the skillet.
Just before baking I sprinkled some grated Parmesan on top.
Bake the biscuits for about 25 minutes. Leave them to cool a little bit and enjoy!
That’s about it for today, wish you all a wonderful summer time.
Sending lots of love,
Roxana
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Those look really good!
Oh, I love the thought of cheesy bisuits. The addition of sour cream sounds fabulous, too. I will try these with our dinner soon…thanks, Roxana!
these look delicious
I can smell them form here Roxana!!! they must be amazing! they sure do look amazing! Have a wonderful summer too
Nver made them in baking pan before.Love the name:)
These look wonderful! I love cheesy biscuits!! Sounds like a great cookbook too!
I love biscuits, and these sound great – especially with the sour cream and green onions!!
Thanks for sharing this recipe with us, Roxana! 
I hope you are having a wonderful summer too! 
These cheesy biscuits look great! I always make cornbread in my skillet, but I've never tried biscuits. I'll have to look up this book- I'm all for supporting local authors!
wow great tips! especially the one about the garlic.
biscuits in a skillet~ LOVE it! i made garlic bites before in the same style and it was scrumptious!
These drop biscuits look delicious! Perfect for any time of the day. I love all the different cheeses you added!
Those are some great tips, and some even greater biscuits, how divine! I bet they are irresistible!
Happy 4th of July.
*kisses* HH
What a great concept for a cookbook! And your biscuits look perfect! Have a wonderful 4th of July!
I love cheesy biscuits. Never thought to make them in CI. I'm saving this idea…and will take it on a trip down the more fattening side of the street. HA HA!
I just looooved the recipe. I am bookmarking this and trying this ASAP
Happy 4th of July!
US Masala
Oh, how I love biscuits. They're the best! Especially like these with cheese and green onions. Yum!!
Roxana
what a beautiful biscuit, I was just thinking I needed to make some biscuits at home, after being in Asheville, my southern roots surfaced a bit. Thanks for a great recipe to follow!
Dennis
Sounds like a really cook book Roxanna! You pulled out a winner, nice toasty biscuit. Great post!
The biscuits are absolutely beautiful. I love the color that the extra cheese gave the top. Great job.
Thanks too for reviewing the cookbook and passing along those handy tips.
I love these cheesey biscuits…but I'll have to bake in normal baking pan as I don't own an iron cast skillet:P
These look so simple and delicious!
Biscuits in a pan! They look gorgeous, and love the name..dropped biscuits
Oh Roxana, you did amazing job reviewing this book..sounds interesting! And your biscuits..ohh just one thought on my mind "I want one too":))) Looks sooo delicious!
What great tips, sound like a good book. Your dropped biscuits look amazing! Congrats on the top 9
Thanks for sharing about the book of tips…will for sure check it out.
These drop biscuits look not only beautiful, but delish!
Congrats on the Top 9 today!
Seeing those biscuits in the cast iron pan makes me anxious to start unpacking my kitchen….I just have to get there first! I love the cheese and onions you put in those biscuits…sounds yum!!
Looks delicious.
The biscuits look amazing! And congrats on making Top 9!
Congrats!!!! They are lookin fine!
You have such a nice blog! I love your recipes, and most of them ara original and diferent from those i usually see. I'm following you now!!
Loved it they look so gorgeous and tempting…
Oh my, don't these sound amazing! Beautiful job, Roxana… if I ever write a book, you are going to review it first!!
Congrats on Top 9!!!
Pan fried biscuits?! I love the idea and they look sooo good Roxana! Your book review is wonderful and thanks for sharing some tips too. I'm keeping this biscuits recipe. I love the cheese on top…. Congrats on Top 9!
If it weren't so darn late, I would go make these right now! They look amazing…..as in I would eat the whole pan amazing!!
Ohhh these look delicious! I ADORE cheese, so these are right up my alley!
I m in awe of you..:))
Tasty Appetite
I love drop biscuits, they were one of the first recipe sI learned to make. great tips~pasta tip for storing in fridge.
This looks an interesting book – love the chapter title, "tongue pleasers" and the tips are always handy. Your dropped biscuits look fabulous and light with the egg whites. Must try them – thank you!
Never made dropped biscuits but they look fantastic and easy! I'll have to try them. And the book sounds great too. I'll check it out. Love me some cookbooks!
Lots of yummy love,
Alex aka Ma What's For Dinner
http://www.mawhats4dinner.com
They look amazing Roxana, gloria
I bet these smelled so good coming out of the oven. I sense something different for breakfast in my near future, I have some jams that would be so good on these. Hope you had a relaxing holiday weekend.
-Gina-
These biscuits look wonderful! My grandfather used to let me sit on the counter while he made various typed of biscuits and I always remember that when I see a delicious looking biscuit
And sounds like an interesting book…
wow that looks very delicous. Now i am hungry T.T
i have book the receipe, i will try it out^^
Roxana…mmm! mmm! recipe and review. I tried Karen's Breakfast Hash with my own twists and posted it on my blog
I sure love her cookbook that encourages us to "play with our food". 
Roxana, I'm wonderin just how you managed to let them cool a bit before digging in! You have presented us with beautiful biscuits; I'm heading to the kitchen to try them now!
KC Quaretti-Lee
http://www.KCintheKitchen.com
Its so great to be back and catch up on your blog!!! These biscuits look so yummy!!! Thanks for passing along the wonderful tips from the cookbook!!
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