The Biscuits

I got up this morning and made biscuits. It was an absolute culinary disaster. Epic fail.

My 10 year old son Avery gave me his breakfast order last night before he went to bed. "Pancakes and biscuits." After I explained to him the "either or" in my question, he decided on the biscuits. (By the way, this child loves breakfast so much he is typically telling me what he wants for breakfast before we even finish dinner.)

So back to this morning. I made the dough, rolled it out, cut out the biscuits, popped them in the oven and 10 minutes later as the smoke alarm was going off and I was shoving brown flat discs of "biscuits" into the trash can and mixing up the pancake batter.

Sometimes things just don't go as planned. My intentions were good, I got up a little earlier than normal, I thought I followed the directions accurately, I thought I used the proper ingredients, but alas, no. Culinary disaster. Big flat flop. Mom of the year award down the drain...I digress.

I learn a lot of life lessons in my kitchen. Cooking, just like other things in life, can go downhill quickly when even one small thing isn't quite right. After my son was happily eating his nice fluffy pancakes made from the mix, I reviewed my culinary disaster and found a few things to share with you.

 "If something's too hot, it will probably burn."

Maybe it was through my blurry, sleepy, no- coffee- yet eyes that I saw 450 degrees for the oven temperature instead of 350 degrees. Either way, 100 degrees hotter than your oven should be will burn your biscuits. Not trusting your intuition, you momma's gut instincts-will burn you too. I have felt that feeling before of "something just isn't quite right" "something feels too hot" "something is off here" and I didn't always stop and wait to make a decision or change my mind. I have been burned in that instance also . I am still learning how to trust myself. How to take my true temperature.

"The little things are important too."

I don't use baking powder that often and when my culinary disaster happened, I went back through my ingredients and found that I somehow had 2 cans of it on my lazysusan. One can good through Nov 2012 one can good through April 2009. Well guess which one I used for my flat biscuits.

With 4 kids, my hot front man of finance, a demanding job, etc. It's easy to focus on only the major things sometimes. Who has games this weekend...what deadlines are going on at work...birthdays coming up..and on and on. But it's becoming more and more evident to me that the little things, the daily one step at a time things, tend to add up and mean even more. Making breakfast for the boys. Texting my mom. Telling my hot front man of finance that I can't wait for him to get home. Thanking my sister extra for cleaning up the kitchen for me after I make a messy meal. The little things mean more over time. Check your baking powder date. Hug your teenager.

"Not every day will be perfect."

Just like of you, I strive every day to at least do my best. Most days are probably more like today. Hardly anyhting gourmet about flat biscuits! But my sweet boy, after he finished his pancakes (at least I tried to make the mix from the box a little special by adding some fresh grated nutmeg and vanilla!) he turned to me and said smiling, "Can we have cinnamon rolls tomorrow? You know, the ones out of a can?"

Not ever day will be homemade from scratch, beautiful biscuits. Some days will be cinnamon rolls out of a can. But as long as we appreciate the effort someone puts in, the thought behind the gesture, and the love it takes to simply show up at times, I think we will not just just be better cooks, but better people too.

Culinary disaster biscuit