Bites of My Life

If you’ve watched the news in the past week, you’ve seen the crazy snowstorm that came through Texas and surrounding states. The problem with Texas is that the state is not set up for the weather that hit. Massive power outages, wiped clean grocery stores, boil water notices, and below zero temperatures took over the week. I was lucky to ride the storm with electricity, heat, and water the entire time, but I felt extreme guilt sitting in my warm apartment as I watched water pour from the third floor of a townhome behind me, as they suffered no electricity and a frozen pipe bursting. The peak of the week was watching a lot of movies, game night, seeing Texans come together to help each other, and the city covered in white snow for 5+ days!

-A peek at Dallaska. The craziest snow-covered negative degree temperature week that no one in the state of Texas was ready for. She was cute but she was cold!
-I rented this jacket from Rent the Runway, to then find out I think I subconsciously rented it realizing it looked like it was made from my favorite old blanket. Pictured here: one big purple blob.
-Last week felt like we were all in college again. Yes work got done, but a White Russian on a Monday seemed like an excellent late afternoon idea.
-Royal China, to-go. The best Chinese food in Dallas IMO! So good on a snowy night.
-I go on and off the “I want to get a dog” train, but Donut the cream dachshund has me ON THE TRAIN!
-When you can finally leave the house…a round of spicy margs PLZ!
-Hooked on this sundried-tomato, green onion, and smoked turkey omelet. How do you take your eggs?
-The perfect sunny Sunday after a crazy week, full of friends, pimento cheese, and baby back ribs :)
-Have you seen these little “sleep” candies in the checkout lines at grocery stores? I’ve bought them a few times, and they are really working for me. 1-2 before bed and I’m out.

Annie

Bites of My Life

Valentine’s Day is back on my list of favorite holidays! It’s sweet whether single or in a relationship. I’ve always loved it. While I tried to sound like I wasn’t hating it, last year I was feeling rather cynical toward this particular holiday. It can be hard, but it can also be really fun, sweet, and special if you have the right attitude. The cherry on top of the holiday this year was waking up to SNOW in Dallas! And more is on the way!

-Reunited with my favorite Trader Joe’s green juice after the queso-brigade over Super Bowl weekend.
-I polled my Instagram followers if they were leftover fans or not. About 75% said they were and I’m in that camp. Mainly because I’m cheap and I really hate wasting food, but I can stretch leftovers for days. Turned Sunday night’s fajitas into 2 nights of dinner and one lunch for me. Quesadilla’s for him, salad for me!
-Cute little Valentine week crew neck sweatshirts embroidered by my friend Kate! One for me and one to give!
-A very successful Galentine’s party with a great group of gals and enough candy, champagne, and heart-shaped pizza to go around!
-What was supposed to be lunch with a best friend Friday turned into crashing her mom’s Galentine lunch! They had the same idea as us the night before and did pizza, champagne, and gossip. Such a fun way to spend a Friday!
-Saturday morning marked the start of Dallas’ incoming snowstorm. Temps droooooped, so Mom’s Chili was a must!
-Did a February 13th Valentine’s Day dinner and it was equally as cute as it was delicious. I won a hot pink pair of stemless Estelle Colored Glasses at Thursday’s Galentine party gift exchange and I couldn’t wait to use them at dinner.
-Homemade blueberry scones for Valentine’s Day breakfast! Hope to make it again so I can confirm the recipe is 100%!
-He did good (great)!!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Raise your hand if you overdosed on Velveeta queso this weekend? Hand raised! I had such a fun night (not) watching the Super Bowl yesterday, enjoying all of the calories and camaraderie that the big game brings. A really fun dinner with friends Friday kicked off the weekend and then did a lake day Saturday. I’ve been so energized by my weekends lately with unexpected fun plans, they have helped me get through the longer more boring workdays that this time of year seems to always bring.

Wishing everyone a great week and a cozy Valentine’s weekend. It seems that the whole country is dealing with cold weather this weekend so I know I plan on staying mostly in and relaxing. Keep scrolling for some Val or Galentine’s recipes and my favorite heart day playlist!

-Fancy Monday dinner with redfish over linguine with a lemon butter sauce. Cooked for me, not by me - a treat!
-I can’t get enough of my new frother. I’ve been making my Dandy Blend with frothed Nutpods twice a day since I got my frother.
-I’ve been a biscuit-making machine. These flaky homemade biscuits went live on Take A Bite last week. Make them for a special Valentine’s breakfast this weekend!
-A big a$$ salad with the leftovers after making this meal the night before. Pecans, apple, cabbage, shallot, apple cider vinegar, the works!
-Flowers and baguettes at my favorite neighborhood coffee shop made for a happy Friday morning.
-Fruit flavored Mentos immediately transport me back to the snack shack while swimming at the country club pool we grew up going to.
-Spent Saturday with a spritz on Eagle Mountain Lake! The best hour escape outside of Dallas.
-Bought this gluten-free mix to cut corners on price and prep for the Super Bowl. It will now be a more regular purchase. I used olive oil instead of vegetable oil, added 1 tsp. of ground coffee to the mix, and then put more chocolate chips and Maldon salt on top!
-My favorite Super Bowl contribution is always the pigs in a blanket! I use this very easy recipe but then brush with melted butter, sprinkle with Everything But the Bagel seasoning, and serve with spicy brown mustard.

Annie

Love bites: Made this playlist in 2013 and have been adding to it every year.
Love bites pt. 2: Heart-shaped homemade Oreos are sure to win over anyone special in your life!

Best Biscuits

They are here! My best flaky layered homemade biscuits. These things are downright delicious and full of layers, just how I like them. Add a swipe of vanilla bean honey butter and you have a very sinful treat or breakfast.

This recipe was developed out of two different conversations. A good friend had polled our big group text asking if anyone had a good biscuit recipe. She had been trying one she found on Google over the past few weekends and they kept coming out flat and tough. We walked through the recipe together and she was doing everything right, so I took this as a sign to come up with my own biscuit recipe.

Then later in the week when a hankering for breakfast sandwiches struck, and the store happened to be out of biscuits, the nudge yet again to create a biscuit recipe came calling.

No fancy tools like a food processor or pastry cutter are needed for this recipe. All you need are a few simple ingredients, a bowl, and your hands! Cold butter is squeezed into the flour creating a very butter speckled dough! This (and baking powder) is what helps the biscuits puff up and rise, while also creating space between the layers from the butter melting into the dough while baking.

You can’t beat a Grand’s Flaky Layers biscuit, so I knew layers were a very important addition to my recipe. By folding the dough over itself, and then over itself again, and then again, multiple layers are created that then flake off perfectly once baked.

Best Biscuits
Yields 6 biscuits

Biscuit Ingredients:
2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup whole milk
6 Tbsp. very cold unsalted butter, diced
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

Vanilla Bean Honey Butter: (optional)
4 Tbsp. room temperature unsalted butter
1 Tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp. vanilla bean paste (Trader Joe’s sells this at the holidays, but it can also easily be found on Amazon)

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 425°. Add the flour to a medium bowl. Working quickly, squeeze the very cold and diced butter between your fingers until all of the butter is flattened into little flakes and mixed into the flour. Add in your baking powder, sugar, and salt to the bowl and mix with a spatula. Then make a well into the flour mixture and add about 1/2 of your milk. With the spatula gently begin to combine the milk into the flour mixture. Add in the rest of the milk, and then using your hands, work everything together until a dough starts to form. The dough may be sticky in some places and dry in others, just do your best to bring the dough together without overworking it. Turn the mixture onto a floured surface and start to work it into a verticle rectangle (if you have a bench scraper it can be helpful with these next steps). Again it will look dry, but that is okay.

Once flattened into a rectangle fold the dough like a letter. Bring 1/3 of the top to the middle and then the remaining 1/3 from the bottom up and over. See the pictures above for reference. Now you just repeat! Flip your “letter” over so the seam side is down, and with your hands, flatten into that same verticle rectangle shape again, and then fold like a letter. Continue this until you’ve flattened and folded about 4 to 5 times. This is what will create all of those layers. The final time, flip it seam side down again, flatten it into rectangle, and with a knife, cut into 6 equal squares, about 3x3.

Place biscuits on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet. Brush the tops of the biscuits with 2 tbsp. of melted butter and bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

While the biscuits are baking prepare your vanilla bean honey butter. In a small bowl, add the room temperature butter, honey, and vanilla bean paste. Whisk vigorously until smooth, creamy, and combined.

Serve the biscuits warm from the oven with vanilla bean honey butter and enjoy!

Note: These biscuits can be made ahead (unbaked) up to 1 month in advance. Make the dough, cut into squares, and freeze, uncovered, on baking sheet until solid, then transfer to a freezer-safe Ziplock or storage container. Do not thaw before baking just add a few minutes to the baking time.

Tag me on instagram @_annietucker if you make this recipe!

Annie

Bites of My Life

February you came quick! Goodnight! January is usually the slowest (and most boring month IMO), but it went zooming by this year. 2021 you rock compared to 2020 did you know that? Happy to have January behind and get into the year a little more. For me lately, it’s been about really enjoying time in Dallas. I feel like I’ve haphazardly been here since the start of the pandemic and it’s nice to feel like I actually live here again?! Keep scrolling for some bites of last week. I have two recipe posts I hope to share this week and next to switch up all of the bites posts. I purposely just shared that to hold me accountable!

-The pleeniest book arrived early last week! I haven’t had that much time to sit down and read it, but hoping to finish this week.
-Kale salads are still carrying me through launches and this salad to-go with an aesthetically pleasing water bottle was just giving me the mid-day vibes I needed.
-I bought this milk frother and I’ve been frothing everything up in site.
-Breakfast for dinner was the move for the week. Egg and avo taco, maple chicken sausage from TJ’s, and berries!
-Copycat Uchi brussels sprouts with sous vide salmon and a side of Jet the friendly golden retriever.
-These new Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Drizzled Plantain Chips are so good. I bought two bags but finished the first bag in two sittings I had to put the second bag in the freezer to attempt to slow my roll!
-On a Take A Bite approved homemade biscuit recipe quest and I may have nailed it. Remaking these flaky layers this week to hopefully share the recipe soon!
-Said biscuits turned into maple sausage and runny egg b-fast sandwiches.
-Was planning an active long walk down the Katy Trail Sunday. The walk did happen, but so did a pit stop at Katy Trail Ice House for a few beers and loaded cheese fries…

Annie