Happy Things.

Flowers from the garden in vintage inks wells from a local antique store (a birthday gift from Margaret and Thomas--thanks guys!). I can't wait to go back and scavenge through that store again!My world famous mojitos (okay, obviously they aren't world fameous, but they are fameous in my world and they are yummy):

Family dinners:

And whole wheat cheese biscuits (lets just pretend they're healthy, okay?):

And since I haven't posted a recipe in ages, here's my spin on the traditional Better Homes and Gardens biscuit recipe on page 123 of the cookbook. (If you've ever gotten married you were probably given two or three copies of this cookbook). Remember the two cardinal rules of biscuit making: Use very cold butter and always use buttermilk regardless of what the recipe says. It's the difference between flaky biscuits and hockey pucks. The women in my family have mastered the art of the biscuit, and they all have the recipe memorized except for me. I made hockey pucks for years. No more.

Whole Wheat Cheese Biscuits

3 Cups of King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

4 tsp of baking powder

1 T sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

3/4 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 c butter

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

6 ounces of sharp 2% milk cheese coarsely grated

1/3 cup Italian parsley chopped (or whatever you have on hand--thyme or dill would be good--I used fresh but you could reduce the amount and used dried)

Stir together dry ingredients, cut in butter until mixture resembles course crumbs, add the cheese and parsley, make a well in the center and pour in buttermilk. Mix with a fork. Roll out dough and cut biscuits (I use the top of a wine glass to cut mine, you can just drop them by the spoonful if you want). Bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. I ended up with 28 small biscuits.