"Cheesy" Garlic Biscuits

Yum…. Reminiscent of those biscuits one gets at Red Lobster. Except I do not have a tank of pathetic looking live lobsters in my foyer. Hell, I don’t even have a foyer. Anyways. The household ate the whole batch, and I know I’ll be making them again soon.

2 cups self-rising flour

2 teaspoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¾ cups vegan “buttermilk” (made with apple cider vinegar)

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 cup shredded smoked cheddars style sheese (though I suspect Daiya cheddar would work. I wouldn’t know. All I could find was the mozzarella style. Though I do like the smoked sharpness of the sheese)

3/8 teaspoon garlic powder

¼ cup earth balance

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Combine sheese, 2/8 garlic powder, flour, sugar, and baking powder in a bowl and make a well. Add in the “buttermilk” and vegetable oil and mix with a spoon until thoroughly combined. Divide the dough into 12 pieces, roll into loose balls and pat down to about ½” thickness. Place on a cookie sheet. Melt earth balance and add the remaining 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder. Brush on the dough. You can also sprinkle some dried parsley on the biscuits if you want to add to that faux red lobster biscuit taste. I ran out of dried parsley months ago and never bothered to replace it, but the last time I attempted to make similar biscuits, I went this route with no regrets. Bake for 10 minutes. Eat. Repeat whole process.

the oyster stew experiment

There are two recipes in this book I’ve been dreading. This is one of them: oyster stew. The other one is a roast possum recipe, but we’ll get to that later. Back to the oyster stew. Why anyone would make oyster stew in the first place is beyond me, but it’s in the book, and had to be done sometime. So I guess I thought today seemed like as good as any other.

Oysters:

Faux fish seitan recipe from La Dolce Vegan. Use smoked salt. Tear the seitan into small pieces when placing it in the boiling broth. They kinda turn out in the shape of oysters. Weird.

1 lb. potatoes

1-cup bacon bits (vegan, duh.)

1 chopped white onion

1 cup chopped celery

Corn from 2 ears corn

4 cups regular unsweetened soymilk

2 cubes vegan bouillon

2 teaspoons vegan Worcestershire sauce

1-teaspoon salt

1-teaspoon black pepper

Herbamare to taste

1/3 cup minced fresh parsley (optional)

Boil the potatoes in two batches (1/2pound each), 1 batch whole, 1 batch cubed.

Sauté celery, corn, and onions until celery is soft.

Heat up soymilk, bouillon, and whole potatoes and use a hand blender to blend until smooth (or throw the soymilk, bouillon and whole potatoes in a vitamix and blend until smooth. Then heat up in a large pot.

Add Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper, and bacon bits.

Add corn. Celery, onions, cubed potatoes, and faux oysters

Cook for 10 minutes. Add herbamare to taste.

Serve in bowls and add parsley for garnish

I found it quite tasty, although a bit strange. My wife and roommate ate the biscuits and ignored the soup. I guess, unless you’ve had oyster stew and really miss it, don’t bother making it. On that note, if any workfolks want some for lunch Tuesday, hit me up. I have a ton. After that glowing review of this strange stew, I can imagine how many messages I’ll get asking for this concoction.