Sausage, Biscuits, and Gravy

One of my favorite Southern breakfast staples is sausage, biscuits, and gravy. It fills you up and gives your day a GREAT start.

I have to be honest, in terms of food, I was spoiled growing up. My mom always woke up early to make us a "rib-sticking" breakfast. This almost always meant some sort of combination of a breakfast meat (where my love of bacon began), eggs, toast, pancakes, cream of wheat, grits, or biscuits. We almost never had cereal.

I remember I got a real shock on my first few sleepovers when the food was never very good and breakfast meant cereal. I assumed all moms cooked like mine. This was also the way all of my grandmothers cooked. Hearty food and lots of it.

One of my grandmothers would practically force feed you until all of the food was gone.

Anyways, this has always been one of my favorite breakfasts and it's so easy to make!

You will need: sausage patties, 2 Tbsp of flour (approximately), and about 1 cup of milk.

Oh! You will also need biscuits. If you don't want to make your own, you could always use canned or frozen ones and just follow the instructions on the packaging.

Heat a skillet to just shy of medium and plop your patties in.

I love these boxes of frozen pre-shaped patties. They're fast and it's easy to cook how ever many you want to at a time.

 

After a few minutes, flip the patties over to cook on the other side.

I usually end up flipping my patties 3 times during the whole cooking process.

Once the sausage has cooked to your liking, remove them to a paper towel lined plate.

Now you want to add as much flour to your pan as you have grease. I had about a tablespoon of grease in my pan so I added a tablespoon of flour. Stir it around and cook it for a few minutes.

This brings up an important point, some sausage brands will not produce enough grease to make gravy. In my experience, Swaggerty and Tennessee Pride brands always have.

Experiment at your own risk. There is nothing as disappointing as no gravy.

After the flour taste has cooked out of your roux, pour in the milk and stir, stir, stir.

Eventually, everything will combine and thicken and look like gravy!

 

Now just season with salt and pepper and get ready for some gravy!

It's all about the gravy, baby.

Load up your plate with some biscuits...

And sausage...

And cover it with some gravy!

Make sure to get a bite of everything on your fork! Gravy heaven...

Sausage, Biscuits, and Gravy

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 4 sausage patties, cooked with grease left in pan
• 1 Tablespoon of flour (or however much grease is in the pan)
• 1 cup of milk (maybe more if gravy becomes too thick)
• Biscuits 
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat the grease to medium heat and add in your flour. Stir around and cook for a few minutes.
2. While stirring, pour in your milk. Continue to stir until gravy thickens. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
3. If gravy becomes too thick, add more milk! Pour over cooked sausages and biscuits.
4. Enjoy!

Grandma's Biscuits

These biscuits are one of my favorite recipes. They're fast, delicious, and easy. The best part about them though is they require only 2 ingredients.

Two ingredients people!

This recipe comes from my Grandma. She was a home ec teacher, a mother of five, and an incredible cook.

You will need: 1 cup of heavy whipping cream and 2 cups of self-rising flour.

THAT'S IT!

In my Grandma's recipe, she specifies that it has to be White Lily flour. I trust my Grandma and so I haven't tried any other brand, but I don't see how it could hurt if you used a different brand.

 

Add your 2 cups of flour to a mixing bowl.

Now pour in the heavy cream!

I've gotten to the point where I don't even measure the ingredients anymore. I just stir and add cream until it looks right. If you're less adventurous, I don't recommend this as it can have interesting results.

Now stir everything together until it forms a ball.

Next you could roll out the dough and cut it into circles. I prefer a different approach:

Grab a spoonful of dough and scrape it off onto a baking pan with another one.

Scrape!

I'm not going to lie to you, sometimes I just eat that spoonful of dough.

Keep going until you have all the dough on the pan. You'll want to place the biscuits close together (even if you're doing the roll and cut method).

Now stick the biscuits in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, or until the top is a golden brown.

Like this! They look like clouds.

Look how fluffy inside they are! Enjoy guys!

My next post will be about what to put on these biscuits. I'll give you a hint:

It's sausage and gravy.

Grandma's Biscuits

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 2 cups White Lily self-rising flour
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

Instructions:

1. Mix both ingredients together until they form a soft dough.
2. Roll out onto a floured surface and cut into desired biscuit size OR drop onto a baking sheet in tablespoon drops.
3. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

PBJ Casserole

Sometimes people ask me to make something that I have never heard of, let alone made. For example, the idea for pizza soup was a text sent to me at 4 am by my boyfriend. A while ago, his little brother Joey told me I should make peanut butter and jelly casserole and goldfish cupcakes. I still haven't done the cupcakes but here is PBJ Casserole!

This turned out to be super delicious. Thanks for the idea Joey!

You will need: 1 18 oz box of yellow cake mix, 3 Tbsp butter, 3 Tbsp + 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, 1 egg, and 1 18 oz jar of strawberry preserves.

Pour the cake mix into a large bowl.

Crack in the egg.

In a mug or microwave safe bowl, add the 3 Tbsp butter...

 

And the 3 Tbsp of peanut butter.

 

Nuke 'em for about 30 seconds, or until everything has melted.

Pour this into the bowl and mix everything together...

Until it comes together in large crumbles. If it isn't coming together, add more melted peanut butter.

Pour the mixture into a 9x9 greased baking dish...

And press it down and out to the sides with your fingers...

Until it looks like this. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

 

This is what it should look like after baking. Allow it to cool for about an hour.

Once it has cooled, spread 1/2  cup of peanut butter in an even layer on top of the cake mixture.

You could actually skip the cooling process, but it makes it much easier to spread the peanut butter on top.

Now scrape all of the peanut butter off the spatula with your finger...

 

 And lick it off. This is a super important step. Don't skip it.

Do you like my glasses? I usually wear contacts, but it's that time of the year where Georgia turns yellow with pollen and it bugs the living daylights out of my eyes.

Next spread the entire jar of preserves on top of the peanut butter...

And bake at 325 for about 25 minutes. Don't over bake or your jelly will burn.

 

To serve: put a big scoop of casserole on a bowl...

Add ice cream (or whipped cream or BOTH) and make sure you get a bite of everything on your spoon.

All gone! Be sure and make this for the PBJ lover in your life. Both of mine loved it.

PBJ Casserole

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 18 oz box of yellow cake mix
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 3 Tbsp + 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, separated
• 1 egg
• 1 18 oz jar of strawberry preserves.

Instructions:

1. In a small microwave-safe bowl, add the butter and 3 Tbsp peanut butter. Microwave for about 30 seconds, or until everything has melted.
2. Combine the butter mixture with the egg and cake mix in a large bowl until everything comes together in large crumbles.
3. Press the cake mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x9 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Allow to cool.
4. After the cake has cooled, spread the peanut butter on top of the cake followed by the preserves. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Keep an eye on it and don't let the jelly burn!
5. Serve with ice cream.

Teriyaki Lettuce Wraps

I was trying to decide what to make for dinner on Monday during a particularly boring class. Then I remembered the cubed pork in our freezer, the teriyaki in our pantry, and all the veggies in our fridge. I suddenly had an answer. Lettuce wraps! All I had to do was go buy lettuce and bean sprouts.

Is anyone else as obsessed with bean sprouts as I am? They're so crunchy!

This recipe came together very quickly. It would be great for a weeknight. You could even make a double recipe and turn the leftovers into pork fried rice the next night!

You will need: 1 head of butter lettuce, 1/4 of a red onion, 1 medium sweet bell pepper (or several small ones), 1 large carrot (or several baby carrots), bean sprouts, 1/4 cup garlic teriyaki sauce, 1 Tbsp butter, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, 4 cups of cooked rice, and 1 1/2 lbs ground pork.

My roommate's awesome parents were kind enough to give us these pork cubed steaks. I just chopped them up instead of using ground pork.

Thanks again for all the food Mr. and Mrs. Bonecutter!

Over medium high heat, add 1 Tbsp butter to a large skillet...

And 1 Tbsp sesame oil.

Add in the 1 1/2 lbs ground pork.

Season with salt...

And some fresh ground pepper.

We just bought a pepper grinder. I'm embarrassingly excited about it.

Stir the meat around and allow it to cook through.

While the pork is cooking, get your veggies ready! Chop up the 1/4 red onion...

The bell pepper...

And the carrots.

 

At this point the pork should be cooked through. Isn't it a pretty color?

Not.

Pour in 1/4 cup of the garlic teriyaki sauce.

If you can't find garlic flavored teriyaki, just use regular teriyaki and throw some garlic in there.

Stir it around and allow it to simmer for 5 minutes or so. You want the meat to absorb that flavor and turn a more appetizing color.

Once the pork had absorbed the sauce, throw in the vegetables...

And stir them around. Only allow them to cook for a few minutes. You want them to retain their crunch.

 

Tear a bunch of leaves off the head of lettuce, give them a good rinse, and dry them.

To assemble your wrap, grab a piece of lettuce...

Put some rice in the middle...

Topped with the pork mixture...

And place lots of crunchy bean sprouts on top...

Then roll it up and tada! Lettuce wrap.

 

Serve with extra lettuce, rice, pork, and sprouts on the side to make more!

Teriyaki Lettuce Wraps

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 1 head of butter lettuce, washed and leaves separated
• 1/4 of a red onion, chopped
• 1 medium sweet bell pepper (or several small ones), chopped
• 1 large carrot (or several baby carrots), julienned
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 1/4 cup garlic teriyaki sauce
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 4 cups of cooked rice
• 1 1/2 lbs ground pork.
• salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. In a large skillet over medium high heat, add the butter and sesame oil. Once the butter has melted, add in the ground pork. crumble and brown until fully cooked.
2. Add the teriyaki sauce to the pan and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the bell pepper, carrot, and onion and cook for just a few minutes. Remove from heat.
4. To serve: layer rice, pork mixture, and sprouts in a lettuce leaf, roll, and enjoy!