. . .the Day After

Food hangovers, tight pants, piles of leftovers, and tons of trash.  Sound like your house?  Need an easy vintage breakfast idea without buying one single thing?  Mom's Fried Cakes.  A cross between a funnel cake, beignet and a donut.  Scrumptious.  Might as well forget starting that diet just yet.  If you have children in the house, as we do, you'll need to feed them SOMEthing, so why not these easy little treats?!

WHAT YOU NEED:
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 egg whites
1 cup flour
veggie oil for frying
powdered sugar for coating

WHAT TO DO:
Separate eggs and place yolks in medium size bowl.
Beat yolks with sugar using a wire whisk
until the sugar is well incorporated.
In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients
with the milk and mix well.
Add to egg/sugar mixture and whisk together.
In a small bowl, using a hand held mixer,
beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold egg whites into other mixture to combine.

Pour veggie oil in a heavy skillet or frying pan
until it comes about 1/3 of the way up the sides.
Heat oil on medium heat and drop batter by
tablespoonfuls to fry.
Rotating cakes to brown on each side.

These cook pretty fast, so have a cooling rack
or plate lined with paper towels ready to go
before you start as well as the powdered sugar.
As soon as they have drained, place them
on a serving plate and sprinkle heavily with
powdered sugar (we use a sifter) while they are still hot.

After the plate is filed up with these little fried cakes,
it will be like the best powdered donuts
you've ever tasted!
Quite similar to a beignet and delicious all day long!

These would be great for a yummy sweet breakfast
or for afternoon coffee or tea time.
You could probably cover these with a
cinnamon sugar mixture in lieu of powdered sugar
but am unsure if it would coat as well.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

ENJOY!!!

Dump, Stir and Bake

It's officially feeling like fall around here.  The trees showing off their rich beautiful colors and the smell of neighborhood fireplaces in action. Cool temps are not my favorite but, the beauty of the countryside makes it tolerable.

This week's Free Recipe Friday just screams fall.  Pumpkin Bread has been a staple in our family since I was a child.  Mom used to make hers in clean empty coffee cans.  Round bread!  It was the coolest.  My mom was very nifty and was great at using what she had.  There was never a year that went by that we didn't have this around Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Please feel free to make round bread, square bread, big muffins, little muffins, using whatever you have.  This recipe cannot be any easier.  Just gather the ingredients, dump them in a bowl, whisk them together, pour them in a sprayed baking dish of some sort and bake away.  There's none of this keeping dry ingredients separate, etc etc.  Just gather, dump, stir, bake.  And YUMMY!  Enjoy it now or enjoy it later.

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 can prepared pumpkin
1 2/3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

2 eggs

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup water

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray 2 loaf pans, several mini loaf pans,
small or large muffin tins, etc. with non stick spray.
In a medium size bowl, combine all ingredients.
Mix together using a whisk until
well combined. Divide batter among baking dishes
until all batter has been evenly dispersed.

Bake for appx 20 minutes.
Small muffins require a little less time,
loaf pans require a little more.

Adjust accordingly.

Remove from the oven when bread
does not jiggle in the middle or
a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Try not to over bake.

Once removed from the oven,
let rest in the pan for 3-4 minutes.
Remove bread from pans and set to cool on a paper towel.
I wrap mine while still quite warm
in a large storage baggie - this keeps them nice and moist.
These store well in the freezer,
so make ahead and have them ready for
early morning Thanksgiving Day Parade watching
or as you open gifts on Christmas morning!

We devour our pumpkin bread by toasting a slice or two,
top with a little butter, and spread with a little cream cheese.
Mmm.

ENJOY!

Chipotle Greatness

We've had a laugh or two in our house lately on the different ways we hear chipotle being pronounced.  Chi-poht-ley, chi-pohl-tay.  You'd think were all English majors or something ~ which could not be further from the truth.  We also get a kick from seeing misspelled words on signs and such.  We are truly pathetic, but it sure makes for some fun times here in East Texas.  However you pronounce chipotle, I'm pretty positive it will become a part of your daily conversation once you try this yummalicious condiment called chipotle mayo, the co-star of today's Free Recipe Friday.  It's great on a sandwich, a burger, eggs, hashbrowns, burritos, tacos, chips and anything else you wanna try.  So, get ready.

Our star of the show today though is a Mexican Breakfast Torta. This sandwich was an incredible find at the blog, Use Real Butter.  Jen is a great blogger with scrumptious recipes and photos.  Check it out HERE.  Not only will you find it to be the most amazing breakfast sandwich EVER, but the spicy chipotle mayo used will take you to far away lands and you'll want to forever keep a bottle of it handy in your fridge. We made the chipotle mayo strictly because the sandwich called for it, and after doing so, I made two more batches in one weeks time.  It is now a staple in our fridge.

WHAT YOU NEED:

(for the sandwich)
4 tortas (we used bolillo's)
1 cup refried beans, warmed
1/2 cup or more cojito cheese, crumbled/grated
(we used cheddar jack)
1 avocado, sliced
(we drizzled ours with a bit of lime juice)
12 oz pkg of sliced bacon, cooked
chipotle mayonnaise
4 eggs, fried, scrambled or your fav

(the chipotle mayo)

2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 cup mayo
salt to taste
fresh lime juice to taste


(yummy photo by Jennifer Yu at Use Real Butter)

In a small food processor or Ninja (my fav)
combine chipotle peppers, garlic, salt and lime juice.
Pulse until smooth.
Add in mayo and mix until well incorporated.
Check for seasonings and store in a squeeze bottle
or jar and keep in the fridge.

Slice the torta or bolillo in half.
Toast or warm the bread.
Spread the warmed refried beans on half of each sandwich.
Sprinkle cheese on top of beans.
Divide avocado slices among each sandwich
and fan out.
Place a few slices of bacon on next and
drizzle with chipotle mayo.
Top with a fried egg cooked to your liking
or your other fav kind of egg and
cover with the other half of the bread slice.
Serve warm and maybe with a bit more chipotle mayo :)




(photos by Jennifer Yu at Use Real Butter)

A big thanks to Use Real Butter for introducing me
to my new breakfast fav!!!

Here's what ours looked like using bolillo's
(sort of like a smaller version of a baguette
whereas a torta is more similar to flatbread -
use whichever is easily available for you - either will be GREAT)
I could SO eat one of these almost everyday.

ENJOY!

A Big Beachy Breakfast

This week is vacation week. Ahhhh.  The week we've been counting down to for approximately 180 days since we booked it.  It isn't just any vacation though, it's a big one.  As in lots of people.  In one house.  All together.

Every other year or so my hubs' side of the family tries to get away somewhere all together.  Some years it's been camping, some years it's been the beach, some years it's been a trip to Tennessee.  They are always wonderful, always full of laughs and a great way to keep all of our children connected. 

Believe it or not, the tricky part of keeping getting six to eight families together is planning the meals so that it doesn't fall on one person (usually MiMi).  Everybody wants a vacation, but unfortunately, we still have to eat.  With families as large as ours is, it's not as easy on the pocketbook to go out to eat for every stinking meal...though that would be the ideal vacation.  The answer for us is that we usually come up with a plan so that each family takes on one dinner.  That means, one family plans, buys, prepares and cleans up for one dinner to feed everyone.  Lunch and breakfast, we all sort of chip in towards and do our own thing. 

For this year's vacation we've done something similar, although we've added in the lunch and breakfast for the day you choose to feed everyone.  ONE DAY.  That's it.  So, out of seven days of vacation, you only have to work ONE.  The rest of your meals are provided for you.  Definitely one perk to vacationing with a group.  Weeks before our longed for vacation, we planned and sampled several easy recipes that would feed a crowd, be easy to prepare, and were kid AND adult "taste friendly."  Sometimes this can be tricky.

When traveling to a beach town as we have, where there are thousands of house/condo rentals, you've not lived until you've grocery shopped here.  Unless you've experienced preparing for a hurricane or other natural disaster, shopping for groceries will be an experience.  

In touristy towns, most rentals go from Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday.  Well, guess what everyone does as soon as they check in to their casa???  Grocery shop.  It's usually a bit chaotic to say the least.  The first time we experienced it, the local Wal-mart looked like something out of a disaster movie.  Many of the shelves were completely empty!  Milk?  Gone.  Bread?  Maybe in the next county!  It was insane.  The following years we brought the basics with us and shopped a few days AFTER the crowds did.  Our second resolve was to avoid Wal-mart...at all costs.  (Which is a rule we still abide by even when at home!)  With all of that being said, sometimes all of the planning in the world just doesn't work out if the store near your rental doesn't carry the items required for your planned meal.  SO, you have to be flexible and always have a back up meal plan.  

Even though there were endless breakfast options for feeding a crowd, we did not want to stand over a griddle and cook one hundred pancakes and a million pounds of bacon for three hours.  What kind of vacation is that?!  So for our meal, we opted for a grab and go breakfast on our day to cook.  Simple. Easy. And DELICIOUS.  Good warm or cold.  If you wake up early or sleep late.  Eat it on the balcony or on the beach.  Give these Honey Ham Sliders a try sometime, the masses will thank you.  (If not, I bet there just might be some milk and cereal around.)

 WHAT YOU NEED:

-- Canned Grands Biscuits, as many as your family will eat
(your fav, although the flaky ones work well)
-- Thinly sliced Ham, one slice per slider (we used Black Forest)
-- Swiss cheese, one slice per slider (we used shredded Mozzarella)
-- Honey Mustard (we made our own)
-- Honey (a few tablespoons)
-- Butter (a few tablespoons)

WHAT TO DO:
Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Remove biscuits from the package and split in half.
This is the part that is easier if they are the flaky variety,
but most will still separate fairly easily.
Spread the insides of each half with honey mustard.
Tear each cheese slice in half and lay one half on each bottom half
of the biscuits and top with a slice of ham.  Cover each ham slice
with more cheese and cover with the top half of each biscuit.
You got all that?!
Brush the tops with melted butter and bake for approximately 20 minutes.
Brush with a bit more butter and immediately drizzle
honey on top of each biscuit. 
Serve. 
My husband likes his with a fried egg as well.
Spoiled.
Mix it up and add bacon or do some with turkey
or just whatever you like.
You'll be glad you did.

Time to head to the beach for the last time!

ENJOY!

Nothing into Something

Have you ever turned trash
into treasure?!?
Isn't it a fabulous feeling?!
My husband would say we are
on the verge of
a hoarders intervention,
but, SO. MUCH. TREASURE.
from all this junk is what I'm sayin'.

Do you know what the greatest food treasure
in the land is???
Banana Bread.  Oh yes it is.  Y.U.M.

It's amazing that you can take
nasty o' bananas that need to be trashed
(because they are having a fruit fly party),
and turn them into something magical.
Who would have thought?

Isn't this a pretty miraculous feat?

We usually under cook ours a bit
so the top caves in just a little.
It's cooked, just not as firm as the rest.
Gummy is yummy in our book!

Now, the fruit flies, oh, we can get rid of those -
(bonus recipe below)
but, do not throw those sad aging bananas away.

Our recipe makes "exactically"
1 large loaf pan and 2 small ones.
One for now, the other two to give
your starving college kids
or to throw in the freezer
and treat yourself later
when you realize they are still in there.
Or does that just happen to me?!

This Banana Bread recipe came out of

The Longview News Journal

many, many moons ago and

written by Barbara Richardson, whom my mom loved.

This recipe soon replaced the tried and true one

that my mother had faithfully made.

Mom's recipe was a bit simpler
and only required TWO bananas.

Barbara Richardson's requires the whole bunch!
(approximately 5)

Nice and banana-ey, just the way I like it.

WHAT YOU NEED:

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3 cups mashed bananas, over ripe

3/4 cup milk

5 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

6 teaspoons baking powder, yes 6

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts, optional

WHAT TO DO:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium size bowl, or in your mixing bowl,

cream butter and sugar until pale yellow and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla

while scraping down the sides of your bowl

until well combined.

Stir in bananas and milk.

It will then look gross, like curdled milk.

Hang in there and just keep going.

In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients.

Slowly add dry ingredients

to the mixing bowl and mix

until incorporated.

Stir in nuts, if using.

Divide equally into greased and floured pans.

(We actually just used non stick spray)

Bake for approximately 1 hour

for the largest loaf,

30-40 minutes for mini loaves.

Check doneness using an ice pick

or toothpicks.

The middle should be mostly done

or completely done if that's

how you roll.

After removing from the oven,

let the pans sit for a few minutes

before removing the loaves onto a wire rack.

I always cover them with a sheet of wax paper

when they come out of the oven
to keep them from drying out.

I actually place the loaves

into large ziploc baggies

while they are still quite warm

to retain their moisture as well.

Muy, muy, muy.

Whether yours has a gummy middle or not,

I hope you and your crew lap it up.

Our favorite way to eat Banana Bread

is to slice a chunk off and toast it.

Top it off with butter and a spread of cream cheese!

ENJOY!!!

Now, to deal with those pesky fruit flies.

WHAT YOU NEED:
Apple Cider Vinegar
Dish Soap
Small Drinking Glass

WHAT TO DO:
Pour apple cider vinegar into a small glass
to about 1 inch deep.
Drizzle about 4-5 drops of
dish soap into the glass.
Slowly with a spoon or your finger,
stir the two together without
sloshing it up the sides or making bubbles.
Set this mixture right in your kitchen window
and wait for the party to begin.
The fruit flies will smell the fruity-ness
and be drawn to get closer and closer
and then, whoops, they drown.
Hate that.

I don't know how old this recipe is or
where it came from, but it works
amazingly well.
It only takes a few days to round 'em up
and before you know it there will be
more fruit flies at the bottom of the glass
than you knew existed in your kitchen.
Eek.
I will refrain from posting the
'after' photo. :)

Have fun!

Salami ....the New Bacon

Several months ago we stumbled upon a sweet find.
We had a few slices of Hard Salami in the fridge
leftover from making a Muffaletta.
so I decided to fry them up to get rid of them.
Lo and behold - they were like little slices
of bacon heaven, yet, almost better.  Almost.
The better part is that it is quick, EASY,

less mess and super flavor.
The down side part is that, well, it's just not bacon.
But watch out bacon, it could very easily take your place.
It has a great flavor - sort of crispy around the edges
and is great to nibble on by itself or
pile onto a breakfast sandwich, ANY time of day.

WHAT YOU NEED:

hard salami
baking sheet

WE ADDED:
an "everything" bagel
OR
english muffin, both toasted
feta cheese
shredded sharp cheddar
a fried egg - cooked to your liking

WHAT TO DO:
Preheat oven to 350.
Immediately lay the thin salami slices
on a baking sheet - as many as you'd like
Place baking sheet in the oven as it preheats
and by the time it has reached the right temperature,
the salami will most likely be ready.
There's no exact time really -
just know they cook very quickly
and it all depends on your oven.
My best guestimate is that they'd be done
in 3-5 minutes.  They need to barely
be turning darker around the edges -
FYI, they crisp up as they cool off.


A bit crispy around the edges,
a bit 'floppy' in the middle equals perfect!
Remove from the oven and lay the salami slices
onto a paper towel to drain a bit.
If you'd like to make a breakfast-y sandwich,
cook up a fried egg while you melt some cheese

onto your bagel or english muffin under the broiler.

Lay that fried egg onto the toasted bread
along with some feta cheese
and a few slices of cooked salami
and voila - a breakfast-y sandwich
that will become a morning necessity.
It could very well look just like this one
with runny egg yolk and all.

If you want to eat on the go,
cook your egg a bit more or use scrambled.

No problemo.
These sandwiches are the bomb
and have become such a yummy fav of ours.
Hope you will love them just as much!

ENJOY!!!

Wake Up. . .It's Time to Eat Again!!!

For all you late nighters that were
out there doin' your Black Friday thing
until the wee hours - this is for you.
An easy go-to breakfast that'll
get you goin' whenever you decide to get up.

This week's Free Recipe Friday
is something we played around with
to try and dodge a carb overload
first thing in the morning.
It's an all-in-one breakfast in a muffin cup.
You can tweak it absolutely any way you like -
there's about a million variations.
Give it a try sometime - it sure beats
standing over a hot stove with bacon grease
splattering all over you!

I've come to love a more 'adult' style
breakfast these days...maybe because
a good part of my life
I was all about anything sweet for breakfast.
Cinnamon toast, a pop tart, cereal,
cinnamon roll, cake, pie - anything sweet.
As the years have flown by

I prefer saving the sweets
for another time of day and
having something savory for breakfast
with my coffee drinking self.

Breakfast items all revolve around
pretty much the same ingredients, don't they?!
A bread/grain, a meat, an egg, maybe cheese and fruit.
Every breakfast is just a variation of these things
and how you want to put them together.
Since I've grown to love more
bacon and eggy type breakfasts,
it doesn't mean I want to spend my whole
morning cooking it.  The quicker and easier
I can cook bacon or make a meal
including it, the better.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1 dozen large whole eggs
(because we used a 12 cup muffin tin -
you can certainly adjust and make less)

1  12 oz. pkg bacon (thin, cheap stuff)

Shredded Cheddar

Salt/Pepper

Green Onions (optional)

WHAT TO DO:
Preheat oven to 350
and coat your muffin cups
with non-stick cooking spray.

 Line muffin cups with bacon and pre-bake
(because we like our bacon
a bit more crispy - you could easily jump ahead
and skip this step).
Bake approximately 20-30 minutes.

 

 After the bacon has some time to

cook, remove from oven

and crack an egg into each cup.

If you like more of a scrambled egg,

by all means, you can whisk the eggs

before pouring in each cup.

 

 Don't worry, the bacon will lose it's shape a bit

but just pour your egg right over it and all will be well.

There will be a bit of bacon grease in each cup,

but you'll be able to pour that out

once the muffins are done.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper

and return to the oven.

Bake for 5-10 minutes more

depending on what kind of egg you like.

When you remove the breakfast muffins
from the oven, carefully tilt pan
over a large bowl and pour off
excess bacon grease and then
top with a little shredded cheddar
and some chopped green onions.
Mmmmmmmmm.
If your muffin pan is as pathetic
as mine is, you'll need to use a knife
to loosen each muffin before removing
from the pan.

These are great 'as is' or would be great
between some toast or an english muffin
for an on-the-go breakfast.

Hope everyone had a great
Thanksgiving and all you crazies
recover quickly from your overnight shopping!

ENJOY!!!

Easy Peazy Breakfast!

Hello there all the way from Tennessee!  This week's Free Recipe Friday is coming straight to you from the foothills of the Smoky Mountains.  We are in Chattanooga for the week with about 28 other family members...and all but two of them are staying in the same house.  It really is fun....until you need a bathroom! 
Despite being on vacation, Free Recipe Friday must prevail - even if it is midnight where we are.  Since this week is a laid back easy one, we will show you an easy recipe - Baked Eggs. If you love eggs like my family, you will love these!  Baked Eggs would be great any time of the week, day OR night.

WHAT YOU NEED: (makes 2 servings - double up for more)

• 1/4 teaspoon minced fresh garlic
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
• 6 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  (Oven safe bowls)
  
  WHAT TO DO:
  
  Preheat the broiler for 5 minutes
  and place the oven rack 6 inches below the heat.

  
  Carefully crack 3 eggs into each of 2 small bowls
  (you won't be baking them in these)
  without breaking the yolks.
  (It's very important to have all the eggs
  ready to go before you start cooking.)
  
  Place 2 individual oven safe dishes on a baking sheet.
  Place 1 tablespoon of cream
  and 1/2 tablespoon of butter
  and a bit of the minced garlic in each dish
  and place under the broiler for about 3 minutes,
  until hot and bubbly.
  Quickly, but carefully, pour 3 eggs into each oven safe dish
  and sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese,
  then sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.
  Place back under the broiler for 5 to 6 minutes,
  until the whites of the eggs are almost cooked.
  (Rotate the baking sheet once if they aren't cooking evenly.)
  The eggs will continue to cook after you take them out of the oven.
  We sprinkled some cheddar cheese on ours
  and some parsley to spruce it up!
  

  Allow to set for 60 seconds and serve hot with toasted bread.
  
  

  

  You can even make it an all in one breakfast by adding
  cooked bacon or ham that you've diced
  and sprinkled on the eggs
  either before or after baking.
  Delicious!

Free Recipe Friday. . .It's Breakfast Time!

If you've ever been to any kind of large family function, potluck, etc.

you have most assuredly had some form of a breakfast/sausage casserole.

There are as many variations of this casserole as there are

bread types!  If you have never attempted to make one,

this one is a pretty good and easy start.

Ellen Watson of Kilgore gave me this recipe

(along with many others) more than 20 years ago.

I don't believe I ever attempted to make it until about 5 or more years later.

It's funny how it has since become

a Christmas tradition in our household.

Even though we have since acquired other favorite breakfast foods....

we just can't stop making THIS one for Christmas!

It's just tradition.

You will only need a few basic ingredients,

and you can most certainly add to these...

such as throwing in a few hashbrowns, etc...

half this recipe or double it. 

It is VERY forgiving...you can easily fudge

the quantities of any of the ingredients!

1 lb. ground pork sausage, cooked

10-12 large eggs, beaten

3 cups milk

2 tsp. dry mustard (or a few squirts of reg. mustard)

2 tsp. salt

1-2 tsp. black pepper

8-10 slices of bread, cubed or torn (any kind or a mixture)

2 -3 cups shredded cheddar

Brown sausage, crumble while cooking and drain.

In a separate, medium size bowl, whisk eggs.

Add milk and remaining ingredients.

Stir well.  Toss in cooked sausage and pour all into 

a Pam sprayed 9x13 casserole dish.

Bake in a 350 oven for 45-60 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit at least 15 minutes.

The original recipe says to prepare the casserole the night before...

and bake the next morning.

That was actually what enticed us to make this for

an early Christmas morning breakfast to begin with!

We have since learned we can whip it up quickly

in the wee hours of Christmas morning

AFTER viewing Santa's bounty.

We toss it into the oven while everyone

oogles over their gifts and while we wait for it to cook,

James cuts open boxes, adds batteries to toys

and we both slurp down our coffee.

The deliciousness comes out of the oven about 45 minutes to an hour later.

We traditionally (as if the casserole was not enough),

heat up some flour tortillas, get out the Albert's Hot Sauce

and turn our servings of this casserole into a breakfast burrito...

along with a few slices of good naval oranges or clementines!

Mmmm...I can smell that orange peel NOW!

We can't wait to have this on Christmas morning...

we hope you will be enjoying something yummy as well!

Merry Christmas!

Free Recipe Friday. . . Good Gravy!

Ahh, who wants to go camping?!?

This week on Free Recipe Friday 

we're gonna take a virtual camping trip.

With this amazing fall weather upon us,

it's making us dream of being on a campsite somewhere!

Today's post is a recipe that is a tradition

 for our family on every camping trip.

It is Sausage Gravy.

Ahh, did you hear that???

I think I heard some angels singing or something!

Oh, you didn't hear anything???

Well then, I guess you haven't had

the same Sausage Gravy that WE have had! ;) 

It is also routinely made in the Taylor household

once or twice a month for our big Saturday breakfasts.

So, with camping on our mind,

 it was only fitting to have THE finest Sausage Gravy maker

in the whole United States

to share with us his gravy makin' skills!

A man that takes Sausage Gravy makin'

pretty seriously!

So, let me introduce to you,

the one, the only,

James Taylor! (isn't he cute?)

Ok, here goes...

Get a whisk---

Fry up some ground sausage in an iron skillet

(cheap stuff works well cause its greasy)

(use a wad about the size of a baseball - more if you like).

Chop it up as it cooks into little crumbles.

I usually add a "little" bacon grease at this point but that's me.

Once it's cooked, turn the heat down to medium

and sprinkle in some all purpose flour

until all the crumbles are coated - stirring all the time.

Don't add so much flour that you make a doughy mess.

Just enough that all the sausage crumbles

are coated and the flour is wet with piggy grease.

Now for the tricky part.

Get the whisk-

Fill a small glass with milk

and another larger glass with tap water.

Pour the milk into the sausage first -

slowly while stirring so the sausage doesn't cool off too much.

It'll look all lumpy but don't stop stirring with the whisk.

Now slowly start pouring in the water

a little at a time while your whisking what looks like cement

and your arm starts crampin'. 

You want the gravy to look like smooth pudding

but that comes later. The whisk is the key.

Whisk whisk whisk.

Stir stir stir until it's smooth.

If it's too thick, just add a little more water

and stir stir stir till the water is blended in

and the gravy is smoooooth.

Let it cook for a few minutes while stirring

so the flour doesn't taste raw.

Add salt and black pepper to taste

toward the end as you stir stir stir.

Once it looks all smoooth like pudding

you can turn the heat down to simmer

and wait on the biscuits that you got cookin' to be done.

Great on biscuits or even toast.

Mom used to dip cat poop in it. It's THAT good.

Enjoy,

James

A special thanks to my sweet hubby
for sharing with us this week.
He makes gravy like no other!
Listed below are the things you will need
to make gravy for yourself or your family.
Hope you'll try it real soon!

INGREDIENTS/TOOLS NEEDED

Seasoned Iron Skillet (or other large saute pan)

Whisk

1/2 lb. of pork sausage (or a 'wad')

Extra fat if needed (bacon grease or veggie oil)

Flour (appx. 1/2 cup)

Milk (appx. 1 cup)

Water as needed (usually 2-3 cups, maybe more)

Salt/Pepper to taste

Biscuits or Toast

Now our great family secret recipe is out.

All you have to do is decipher it!

No problem, right?!?

ENJOY!