It's raining so I have to bake

At least that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. I am currently roasting some beets and carrots and I just put some chicken-cheese biscuits in the oven. What is that you ask? Well if it is as tasty baked as the dough was I'll give you the recipe shortly. Basically it is a batch of biscuits made with chicken fat (left over from making soup last week while I was sick) and some cheddar cheese mixed in.

It's cold and rainy today. It was fairly nice earlier in the week though. I got some good biking in over the weekend. Actually I got some baking in too. I helped Megan make cookies for her party Saturday morning and then I had to make some cookies for my coworkers on Sunday. Here's the respective pictures:

Megan's black and white cookies

Cranberry cookies that I took to work

At work I finished my second underwriting review today. This was what we call an (a)(7) for the section of the act that authorizes HUD-insured refinancing of properties that are already HUD-insured. Since it is already in the portfolio we already know more about the property and the insurance fund is already at risk for their mortgage. So it is supposed to be a shorter and simpler review. I seem to keep getting complicated ones that take longer though! But they are good learning opportunities I suppose.

We also had to pack up and move the office today. They are renovating the air and ventilation systems in the HUD building and the section I am in is the next area of work. So we are all moving down the hall, luckily they managed to find us space in the main building and we don't have to shift to the infamous Capitol View swing building. I suppose the fact that the 6th floor office is relatively small made it easier to squeeze us in too. So hopefully my computer will be hooked up and working tomorrow... The tech people are supposed to be handling it.

On a cheerful note, here's my antidote to the rain:

Cheese biscuits

Roast beets, yellow beets, carrots

The biscuits are very tasty. I tried one Mimi-style with strawberry jam on a cheese biscuit. I bet apple butter would be really good too.

Here's the biscuit recipe I used:
Cut together:
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup ww pastry flour
1.5 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
4 T rendered chicken fat
Toss in some finely chopped cheddar cheese (how much? some, whatever looks good)
Add 6 T cold milk and stir until just blended.
Drop by tablespoonful onto cookie sheet.
Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees F.

If you use low protein flour it is too sticky to roll so just drop it in blobs. The cheese stuck to the sheet. I think parchment paper would be helpful.