Biscuits

I think everyone, at one time in their life, has made biscuits from bisquick. When I was younger, I was pretty sure that’s how biscuits were actually made, till my mom and I made “Drop Biscuits with Wendy” from one of her really old cook books. I hadn’t made them since…until now! Honestly, these didn’t turn out like I expected, and there is a lot that I would do differently next time. They didn’t taste bad, but they weren’t super great either. Next time, I’d make 9 instead of 12 because it was tough to get 12 out of that dough, and I’d go for the soft biscuit version, because they turned out like little hockey pucks (but soft on the inside). And for some reason I kept forgetting the instructions!

Shopping List:
2 Cups flour
½ Teaspoon salt
3 Teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon, plus 2 teaspoons melted margarine (I use I can’t believe it’s not butter light)
¾ Cup nonfat milk

Preheat oven to 450. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl. In a separate dish, mix 1 tablespoon of margarine, and milk together. Add to the dry ingredients. Mix gently but quickly (I wasn’t sure what this meant, so I just mixed it like I normally would, but didn’t beat it to death). Dump onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Flatten out until about ¾ of an inch thick, and cut with a medium biscuit cutter (I used a cookie cutter!). Place on a baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake 10-12 minutes.
Makes 12 biscuits

Nutrition facts (Per biscuit)
Cal – 95 Fat – 2 Pro – 3 Carb – 17 Fib – 1 Sod – 316

Difficulty – Some Skill Required (Not everyone knows how to knead, and it’s really hard to get the scraps to come back together to make more to cut out)
Yumminess - * * * (A little dry, and too crisp for my taste)
Healthy-ness – Can you really beat less than 100 cals for a biscuit? I mean, really?

Total Time: About 30 minutes. That’s actually a total guess 

Bisquick "Protein" Muffins

I put protein in quotations, because it's only 8 grams per muffin, which doesn't seem like all that much. I found this recipe on MyFitnessPal.com under some random forum post. It sounded interesting, so I thought I’d give it a try! It looks a little funky before you bake it (Bottom picture) but afterwards, it looks totally normal! (Top picture) They taste a little like bran muffins, so I think next time I’ll add more sugar, more cinnamon, or use splenda (because it has a more concentrated taste than sugar). But overall, they’re pretty good! I’ve only eaten one, and it was plain, so it might be good with some butter or jam.

Shopping List:
2 Cups Heart healthy Bisquick
1 Cup low fat cottage cheese
2 Scoops protein powder (I used Pure Protein, vanilla flavor)
½ Cup applesauce
½ Cup skim milk
1 Tbs cinnamon
2 Tsp baking soda
1 Tsp sugar

Preheat oven to 450. Mix dry ingredients in a medium to large mixing bowl, and mix wet ingredients – cottage cheese, apple sauce and skim milk – in a smaller bowl. When wet ingredients are fairly blended (cottage cheese curds will still be present), mix all together. Mix until semi-thick, like thick cake batter. If you’re afraid of it getting too runny, start with ¼ cup milk, and slowly add more. Pour in to greased muffin pan (I didn’t grease mine enough on the top edges – they do pop over!). Bake for 10 minutes, or until a toothpick can come out clean from the center. Let cool before trying to remove – you may need the help of a knife to wiggle them out, as they are kind of sticky.
Makes 12 muffins

Nutrition facts (per muffin)
Cal – 117 Fat – 2 Pro - 8 Carb –10 Fib – ? (my recipe builder didn’t track it) Sod – 460

Difficulty – Easy Peasy! Even though there are a lot of ingredients, they’re all measured similarly, and it’s really just mix and bake!
Yumminess - * * * (Like I said, kind of a bran muffin taste, but not bad)
Healthy-ness – Way lower calories than another muffin, and they’re full sized! Fat is low enough too that you could butter them. Just keep an eye on the sodium.

Total Time: about 40 mins (includes baking time – and that’s a total guess)