Cheddar Bay Biscuits/Bean & Bacon Soup

On a daily basis, Hunter Man does not know whether he can expect to find dinner ready or in progress when he gets home from work.  That is partly because I never know when he is going to get home, but also because I may have been too busy to even think about cooking, I haven’t been home all day, or I am just not in the mood to cook.  My life is complicated!

But, I do like to have a good dinner and I know that we can’t afford to eat out as much as we have been in the last couple of years.  I keep hoping that things will get better both financially and in the complicated sense, but so far, it is not looking like my hopes will be fulfilled anytime soon.

Last night I was in the mood to cook and I was looking online for dinner ideas.  I came across a recipe for some copycat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits.  I love those biscuits and immediately wanted to have them for dinner with homemade Bean and Bacon Soup. 

I compared a few of the online recipes for the biscuits and found that one of the ingredients that they all had in common was Bisquick.  Bisquick.  I never, ever have Bisquick on hand.  Now what? Oh, yeah look for homemade Bisquick ideas online!

Sure enough, I found many recipes for it.  I had to combine several of them until I came up with one that seemed like it would work with the Cheddar Bay Biscuit recipe. 

Forgive me--I am not an expert

food photographer
at this point!

My recipes never end up exactly like the ones I start with.  One reason, that everyone will need to remember is that I can be quite picky and there are a lot of things that I don't like to cook with (like real onions, garlic, peppers, etc.)  So, I often use onion powder, garlic paste, and one of my favorites--Mrs. Dash Garlic Seasoning. 

These cheesy garlic biscuits turned out to be the BEST!  They were so good that I almost couldn’t stop eating them. 

Hunter Man said that he liked the fact that they were very moist.  He declared that they were better than the real Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits. 

Awesome.  I love it when a cooking experiment works out so well.

CHEESY GARLIC BISCUITS

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with baking spray.

2 c. flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 T. margarine
1 T. sugar

¾ tsp. Mrs. Dash Garlic Seasoning
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. milk

3 T. margarine
1 tsp. Mrs. Dash Garlic Seasoning
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

First, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, margarine, and sugar with a pastry blender.

Stir in the Mrs. Dash Garlic Seasoning, cheese, and milk.  Eventually, you will have to start mixing it with your hands to make sure that the cheese gets evenly distributed.

Take a handful of the dough and form it into the general shape of a ball.  Place on the baking sheet.  You should have 12 biscuits.

Bake for 10 minutes.  After they have baked for about 8 minutes, melt 3 T margarine in the microwave.  Mix in 1 tsp. Ms. Dash Garlic Seasoning, and 1 tsp dried parsley.  (Do not do this step too early because the parsley will absorb the margarine and make it less easy to spread).

Remove the biscuits from the oven at 10 minutes and brush each biscuit with the melted butter and spices.  Return to the oven and bake for 5 more minutes.

The bottoms of the biscuits should be slightly browned.

Ty and I were talking about the biscuits and he thought it might be interesting to try different kinds of cheeses in them.  That was a good idea and he gets the credit for it!

I came up with my recipe for Beans, Ham, and Bacon Soup because I love Campbell’s Bean and Bacon Soup.  But, I don’t eat it anymore because it has monosodium glutamate in it and msg is on the list of things that I try to avoid in order to prevent migraine headaches.  My own recipe for this soup does not taste exactly like the original, but I like it and Hunter Man does too. 

You can either make this about 30 minutes before dinner, or put it in the crock pot on low for few hours.

BEANS, HAM, AND BACON SOUP

4 cans Great Northern Beans, drained and rinsed
1 package thin sliced ham, cut into pieces
2 T. real bacon bits
12 baby carrots
1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 ½ c. water
1 ½ tsp. garlic paste½ tsp. to 1 tsp onion powder¼ tsp. pepper¼ tsp. celery salt
2 bay leaves
1 ½ cups instant potato flakes

Cut the mini carrots into tiny, tiny pieces, cover with water, and cook them in the microwave for about 5 minutes until they are soft.  If you don’t do this, they will never get soft in the soup. 

Combine all of the other ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the carrots and all of the water they are in to the soup. 

As this soup cooks, it tends to get thick, so be prepared to keep adding water a little at a time to keep it at soup consistency.  Simmer over medium/low heat for at least 30 minutes, stirring often to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Before serving, remove all of the Bay Leaves. 

When I eat this, I always add a splash of milk and a few saltine crackers.