Cheddar Biscuits and Roasted Broccoli with Smashed Garlic

For Simon's Birthday I made a birthday dinner at home and I decided to try out a bunch of new recipes.  I  tend to stockpile recipes that I like until an opportunity arises.  I do realize, that making a meal of completely untested recipes (at least by us) could have been a disaster; But I am happy to report: no disaster occurred.  The whole thing was a bit more stressful than meals usually are but that was probably more due to pressure I put on myself rather than the complexity of the recipes.  

   So anyways, I decided not to put all of the recipes on here but, rather, just the two that were both simple and turned out really well!!  

Some background: Seafood- not my favorite.  But I always loved going to Red Lobster for the DELICIOUS cheddar biscuits that they serve all-you-can-eat style! I had heard they were pretty simple to make so I went hunting for a good copycat recipe and here's what I found.  Personally, I think they are  identical!

2 1/2 cups bisquick baking mix 

4 Tbsp cold butter

1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

3/4 cups cold whole milk

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Brush on top

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 pinch

Directionss

Preheat oven to 400°F.   

Combine Bisquick and cold butter. Don’t combine too thoroughly. There should be small chunks of butter about the size of peas.

Add cheddar, milk and 1/4 tsp garlic.

Mix by hand until combined, but don’t over mix

Drop 9 equal portions onto greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-17 minutes or until tops are light brown.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a bowl. Stir in 1/2 tsp garlic powder and parsley flakes.

Use a pastry brush to spread garlic butter over tops of biscuits.

Now, for the Broccoli.  I LOVE vegetables but I don't really enjoy boiling them, so I try and find a variety of ways to make them in the oven while still keeping a lot of flavor.  Another thing that attracted me to this recipe is how few ingredients are needed and how low maintenance the whole thing is!

1 1/2 lbs broccoli florets, cut long with part of stem

6 cloves garlic, smashed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

kosher salt and fresh pepper

Preheat oven to 450°. In a baking dish combine broccoli, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Roast broccoli about 20 minutes, until broccoli is browned and tender.

We had the biscuits for an appetizer, broccoli, mashed potatoes and balsamic glazed skirt steak for the main course and strawberry cake for desert.  (I may put up the strawberry cake eventually because it was so hard to find a strawberry cake that didn't call for strawberry gelatin and/or a box cake mix).