Mmmm...biscuits

As much as I'm into whole grains for rice, and now pasta, I've been reluctant to use whole wheat flour for baking, even savoury items. Those unfortunate, leaden whole wheat products of my youth must have left a scar.

But a half whole wheat pizza crust I made a few weeks ago was perfectly fine, and with my personal cheffing client looking for whole grains and low fat, I went on the hunt for a healthier biscuit recipe to go with the veggie-packed beef stew I made for her.

Dinner with Julie http://dinnerwithjulie.com/ had a promising looking recipe, (half)Whole Wheat Biscuits with Olive Oil, which I tried yesterday. A classic biscuit, it substitutes half the butter for oil, and bakes up as a crisp-edged, flaky and tender biscuit with delicious wheat and olive oil flavour. I'll definitely make these again.

I saved some for supper, and since the sky was spitting pellets of spring snow, I made Italian Tri-coloure soup to eat with them. I use Marcella Hazan's recipe but tweak it by roasting the veggies to caramelize them. The basic trifecta is carrot, celery and onion (the colours of the Italian flag) but I had a few stalks of kale, so I chopped those and added them at the end, which was a much better green for the flag anyway.

Here's the recipe for 2:

4 small potatoes, chopped in inch chunks. I leave them unpeeled, since so many of the nutrients in potatoes are just under the skin.

4 cups chicken broth

2 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 1 small onion, chopped fine

(other veggies can also be used, I had a yellow pepper so I chopped that too, zucchini, sweet potato, eggplant, etc could be caramelized; frozen peas, swiss chard or chopped green onion could be added at the end)

1/2 cup milk

salt and pepper

Hubby thinks this soup demonstrates some kind of magic because it's so simple and yet it tastes so comfortingly good. He's right - it is a kind of alchemy, and one within your grasp!

Put the chopped potatoes in a pot with the chicken broth. Simmer until the potatoes are soft. Mash the potatoes in the pot with the broth, leaving them a little lumpy.

Saute the chopped veggies in a frying pan with a little oil until soft and golden in places. Or, you can toss the veggies with a little oil and roast them in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Put the veggies in the pot with the mashed potatoes; add the milk and more broth, if necessary, to make the soup the consistency you like. Add any other veggies that taste better fresh - kale, peas, etc. Heat through; taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.

Eat with fresh biscuits and enjoy a delicious homemade meal with the investment of about 20 minutes of work, an hour of time and under $5 in groceries. Yummm.