THE LADY OF SHALLOTS

Warning---more prose than usual. I'll try not to do that too often. ----- I've been trying to intentionally cook vegetarian meals at least twice a week. I like MOST vegetables, but the ones I don't like, I REALLY don't like (I'm looking at you, eggplant). I also have legume/bean issues.  This makes it hard to cook vegetarian as I also want to be low-carb and my hypoglycemic-self needs some protein. So understand that it is with some measure of pride that I substituted chickpeas for cannellini beans in the recipe below.  I actually LIKE cannellini beans (one of the few), but we had none in the cupboard. What we did have was a can of chickpeas, of which I'm not a fan. But it turns out I'm even less of a fan of walking to the store in 88% humidity for one can of cannellini beans. So, I opened the can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas to make sure they were still ok (that can was there for a looooooooooong time), and here's where the pride comes in: I ...

Given how infrequently I bake, I'm always astonished when I try something that involves baking and it comes out perfectly the first time.  I found myself with some leftover buttermilk, and started with a search on AllRecipes.com.  Then I realized I also had fresh strawberries from the Farmers Market and whipping cream. There is absolutely no way I could have passed on the opportunity to make Buttermilk Strawberry Shortcake . I made no adjustments to this recipe , except to add about a teaspoon of vanilla extract in with the buttermilk. I have no complaints---the biscuits were airy, but full of taste and and texture, the strawberries were sweet but not overly sugared, and it really is one of the best strawberry shortcakes I've ever had. Just in case you need more encouragement, here's another angle: