As you may already know, I gave birth to an amazing, beautiful baby girl 8 weeks ago! Wow, people were not kidding when they said that time would fly with a newborn. It certainly has!
My day's priorities are now determined by my daughter. Despite my "to-do" lists and "need to try" recipe spreadsheet, even if the only thing I accomplish during the day is keeping my daughter happy, healthy and active, that is enough.
But, here's the catch. A girl's got to eat at some point. And it's not the eating that's the problem. It's the "what to eat" that is. For me anyways. I mean, there are times when I learn to settle with a pile of cheese and crackers, or even just a pile of crackers, but a girl can only last so long on the basics. Especially someone like me that strives to make every meal healthy, fresh and tasty. And really, that boils down to homemade. Not store bought or pre-packaged or take away. Homemade.
Yup, homemade is hard to do when you are juggling a newborn on one arm and trying to brush your teeth with your free hand. Or, try doing the dishes with one hand. Yes, it's possible, but takes about four times as long to do. So, if I had to cook and bake everyday? Would not happen.
Don't get me wrong. I still cook and bake. But I do it on her time, not mine. That means that when I finally get her down in her crib for a nap, I frantically cut veggies, cook quinoa, make bread dough and do as much as I possibly can. And the thing is, I never know if that time I have is 5 minutes, or 2 hours. I just use every minute-- every second-- and do as much as I can.
And then there are the days when I can't do anything extra. My daughter won't nap, is extremely hungry, and needs me to hold her and rock her from morning until night. Those are the days when I am thankful for my organization and "to-do" lists. The ones that reminded me everyday in the last 2 months that I was pregnant to make meals ahead and freeze them. The ones that convinced me to make these cornmeal freezer biscuits so that one day, when I didn't have time to make a batch of fresh biscuits (which at the time I could not fathom-- I mean, after all, there is always time to cook or bake, isn't there?), that I could reach into the freezer, pop a few of my homemade frozen biscuits onto a tray, bake them, and enjoy them.
Yes, I am able to enjoy fresh, homemade biscuits with a newborn!
Cornmeal Buttermilk Freezer Biscuits
Makes 24 Biscuits
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups Yellow Cornmeal
4 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Salt
1 cup Butter, cold and cut into pieces
2 cups Buttermilk
These biscuits are super easy because they are a drop dough. No rolling or cutting required!
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Mix all dry ingredients together in large bowl. Add cold butter pieces and cut into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. (Stir in additions if desired--- see below). Add buttermilk and mix by hand until just combined.
Drop the dough by large spoonful onto baking sheets, leaving a couple inches between each.
Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack. Eat plain or serve with butter, jam or whatever condiments you like.
If you want to mix things up a little, you could mix in grated cheese, chocolate chips, chives, herbs, raisins. Stir them in where specified in the recipe.
To freeze, drop dough onto parchment lined sheets and place in freezer until completely frozen. Then place in an airtight container or bag.
To bake from frozen, place biscuits onto lined baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake for about 25 minutes or so, until golden brown.
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