SAUSAGE GRAVY WITH BISCUITS

COMFORT FOOD

I don't remember the first time I had sausage gravy and biscuits, but I do know one thing. IT'S REALLY GOOD!!!!!!!
It's one of those comfort foods that does just what it says, comforts you. It was a snowy day today and I just wanted something warm and this hit the spot. It's really an easy dish to make. I know some of you are intimidated with making gravy, but it really isn't that difficult. It's really pretty forgiving, and hey if there are a few lumps, so what, cause it tastes delicious anyway. I know I didn't have this as a kid growing up and I am wondering why my mom didn't fix it. I'm pretty sure this was a dish that Ross introduced me to. Oh well, whoever brought this yummy food into my life did themselves and all others a big favor because this will be staying in my repertoire of recipes for years to come.

SAUSAGE GRAVY

1/2 pound of ground sausage
2 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups milk
salt and pepper to taste

Brown sausage in 2 tablespoons oil. You need the oil because most sausage today doesn't have enough fat on it to make the gravy.
After the sausage is browned add 2 tablespoons flour and cook for a minute or 2. You need to do this to get the raw taste out of the flour. Add the milk and continue cooking until the mixture thickens and boils. If it's too thick just add some more milk slowly and continue cooking. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve hot over biscuits you made or bought or hired someone to make for you, whatever floats your boat.
Sit down and ENJOY!!!!!!

MOMS RED VELVET CAKE

I remember this cake from my childhood. For years I didn't think I liked it, but came to find out I just didn't like the black walnuts that my mom sprinkled on the icing.
I stumbled on this icing recipe recently and thought, gee that seems really familiar, so I called my sister and sure enough, it was my moms recipe from years ago. Funny how whats old is new again.
Well anyway I made these cupcakes for my bookclub. I added a few extras, like the strawberries on top and the chocolate eclair filling inside, but really it's just my moms red velvet cake gussied up a little bit.
Enjoy.

MOMS RED VELVET CAKE

Cream together:
1 cup shortening, I used butter crisco
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 oz. or 1/4 cup red food coloring

Sift together:
2 1/4 cups flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons soda

Add the above mixture alternately with the following liquids to the sugar mixture
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla.

beat till all is combined.
pour into 2 round cake pans
Bake at 350 degrees for about 25-30 min. or until the top springs back when touched lightly with your finger.
Bake cupcakes for about 15 min. or til done.
Everyones oven bakes a little different so just keep a watch on it til done.

Icing
5 tablespoons flour
1 cups milk
cook on top of the stove till thick. Cool completely. Cover with plastic wrap to keep it from forming a skin on top as it cools.
While it cools mix the following:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Beat this til nice and fluffy, you want all the sugar mixed so it's not grainy at all.
Add the cooled flour mixture and beat like crazy. It will look like its seperating but just keep beating until it looks like whipped cream.
This is such a light icing. I just love it.
It is especially good with chocolate cake.
Hope you have a special occasion to make this and wow your family.

BREAD PUDDING

Ok, so you are just going to have to take my word on this one since the picture really doesn't do it any favors. As Macy was telling me, "You need a light box".
I was really hungry the other night for a dessert but I didn't want something really sweet. Well after looking around and giving it some thought I came up with this recipe for bread pudding. It was good hot out of the oven, but I also liked it the next day cold. I could have made a sauce for it and maybe next time I will, but I just wasn't in the mood for anything that sweet. In the picture you will see it has some almonds in it but I really didn't like the texture they gave to it so I am omitting them in the recipe. You can always add them if you like, or pecans might be nice too.

BREAD PUDDING

3 eggs,
2 cups milk, I used skim since that is all I ever use.
1 cup fat free half n half
1/2 cup sugar
20 slices french bread. This was several days old and it was packaged in 2 small loaves, so you would probably use less if you have a regular size loaf of french bread. You could probably use just regular old white bread too.
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Beat eggs. Add milk, half n half, sugar, flavorings and cinnamon.
Tear the bread into pieces and put it in an 8x8 buttered baking dish.
Pour the milk mixture on top and push the bread down so the milk gets all over it.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour.
Eat hot or cold.
ENJOY!

Great Winter Meal

I needed my son-in-law Brent to come over last night and do some manual labor for me, so I bribed him with supper. I have several son-in-laws that this trick works with. Oh wait a minute, for those of you who are more refined that I am, let me restate this. I bribed him with DINNER. Whatever it was it was free food and it worked.
I fixed a new favorite of mine that I got from my dear sweet niece Jill. This is such an easy meal to prepare and yet it is very satisfying. It has been a hit with everyone who eats it. Hope you try it and enjoy it as much as we do.

One Skillet Wonder

1 pound hamburger
5-6 potatoes
1-2 cans carrots drained, or use fresh sliced, whichever you like
1 large onion sliced
2 cans cream of chicken soup

Brown hamburger in large skillet,drain and wipe out skillet. Put thinly sliced potatoes in bottom of skillet. On top of the potatoes add the carrots.The browned hamburger goes on top of the carrots. Put the onions on next. Add the 2 cans of soup and spread on top.
Cover with lid and cook on med. heat 30-40 minutes, til the potatoes are done.
You can check for doneness ( is that a word?) by sticking a sharp knife down into the mixture.

I like to use my food processor for the potatoes and the onions. Makes the process go much faster. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the potatoes.
This is a nice meal on a cold winter evening.
Enjoy!

LITTLE BROWNIE BITES

I have been wanting to make some little brownies in my tart pans so today was a good day, since it was snowing and kinda yucky outside. If you like peanut butter then you will like these. Nothing fancy and nothing hard. I just used a regular box brownie mix and then made a peanut butter icing. I really wanted to fill the brownies, but my icing was a little too thick. It actually was a recipe for peanut butter bars, so if I do these again I will just use a regular peanut butter icing recipe.
I also did these with raspberry jam filling and raspberry butter cream icing that I was much more pleased with, but then I LOVE, I mean LOVE RASPBERRY.
So if you love peanut butter or raspberry these should satisfy the craving.
Enjoy!

BROWNIE BITES

1 box of your favorite Brownie mix, using the directions for cake like brownies.
raspberry jam

Make according to directions. Put into well greased mini muffin tins. I have nonstick, but I still buttered them.
I used a small cookie dough scoop and it made about 42 brownie bites.
Bake at 350 for 12 min. It is very important to let these cool completely or they will fall apart when trying to get them out of the pans. I just used a table knife and pried one side loose and they came right out.
I used a decorating icing tip to put the jam into the brownie.
Just put some jam into an icing bag with the tip, push the tip down into the brownie, squeeze and pull out. You can also use a baggie and snip a hole in the end and then use the tip with that.

I won't share the recipe for the peanut butter icing since it wasn't one I will probably use again, but here is the Raspberry icing recipe

RASPBERRY BUTTER CREAM ICING
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar. I usually sift mine to get rid of any lumps
2 tablespoons whipping cream
4 tablespoons raspberry jam
Mix the butter and powdered sugar til fluffy.
Add the whipping cream and the raspberry jam. Mix well
Ice the brownies and try not to eat them all.

I am really enjoying doing this blog and I can't believe I downloaded the pictures all by myself. Macy, you will be very proud of your mother. The downside of this is I have too many good things in my house to eat. Tonight I will be feeding Brent and the kids so they can eat these and take them off my hands. Maybe some of my wonderful friends out there will be the recipients of future dishes that under no conditions can I have in the house or I will begin to take on the shape of my house.
Happy Eating!

Sloppy Joes

I like sloppy joes, but I can't really say it's something that I ever crave or think I really want. I usually end up making them when I am in a hurry and don't have anything else to make.
Well I wasn't in a hurry tonight, and I had leftovers to eat, but I didn't want mashed potatoes and noodles again since I had them for lunch. I did have a pound of hamburger in the fridge that I knew I needed to make something with, so hence the sloppy joes. I knew I had a can of sloppy joe mix in the pantry and just as I was about to get it I remembered Whitley always makes hers from scratch. I make mine from scratch sometimes too, but it I don't have an exact recipe and sometimes they turn out and sometimes they don't. Well I decided I wanted some good sloppy joes so I gave Whit a call and got her recipe. Let me just say this, they were delicious. Nothing fancy about a sloppy joe but these were really tasty, especially when you add a few dill pickle slices on the bun.



I will never buy canned sloppy joe sauce again since I have this new recipe. It's a keeper for sure.

Sloppy Joes

1 pound hamburger, fried and drained
Add
1 cup catsup
1 tablespoon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon worchestershire sauce

mix and heat and serve.
Enjoy!

NOODLES

Well today is the day. I went to the dr. this morning and got another shot in the back and since I am feeling pretty good I decided today was the day to make the noodles. I fixed a roast last night with mashed potatoes and gravy, so we have leftover beef to make the noodles scrumptious.
The noodles were really easy to mix up, but not as easy rolling out. I kept thinking as I was rolling, Macy said this was easy. Well I have come to the conclusion that her arms are a lot more buff than mine cause I was experiencing some pain as I was rolling. Well not even some pain, but actually enough for me to think, I need a pasta machine or I probably won't be doing this again. And if any of you know Ross, my other half ,you know a pasta machine is not in my future. He would say, don't be such a wimp. Well I am a wimp and that is that. It's just who I am. Well enough said about that. Anyway I rolled out the dough, let it sit for a
couple of hours and then cut it up and let it sit for another couple of hours. They looked so nice just sitting there drying out, waiting to be dropped into some boiling beef broth. The thing I love about homemade noodles is when you cook them, the flour from the noodles helps to thicken the broth and then they are oh so creamy and delicious. They turned out great. I will not be eating them on mashed potatoes tonight because I only have enough left overs for Ross when he gets home, but I am sure they will still be delicious. Ok here is the recipe and what I did.

2 cups flour
3 egg yolks and one whole egg
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup water.
Measure the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the egg yolks the egg and salt. Now just get your hands in there and mix it up. It will be crumbly. Add the water one tablespoon at a time and mix. Continue to add the water until the dough holds together. Knead it for about 10 minutes until it gets smooth and elastic. Cover it with a towel and let it sit for 10 min. Now divide the dough into 4 equal parts and roll out one at a time, keeping the remaining ones covered. Roll out very thin. Try to roll them in a rectangle if you can, I wasn't very good at it and it looked more like my pie crusts, but that's ok it won't affect the outcome. Continue to roll out the remainder of the dough and just let them sit for about 2
hours to dry some. You will need to use some flour as you roll them out or they will stick to the rolling pin and the counter. After they have dried for a coupleof hours you are ready to cut into strips. I cut 4 strips out of each circle of dough. You can now stack up the strips and cut however wide you want your noodles. They will need to dry for another 2 hours and now you are ready to cook. Bring 3 cans of beef broth, with beef added if you have it, to a boil. Add the noodles and cook until done, about 10 min. Dish up and serve on mashed potatoes or just eat plain. ENJOY

Noodle dough just mixed up

Cutting my noodles

Ready to cook

Enjoy!