Biscuits and Gravy!

I used to dislike breakfast foods. It would be 9:00 in the morning and the whole family (cousins, uncles, aunts, etc) would go out for a good, Sunday breakfast at Perkins or a similar establishment. Everyone would be psyched to order omelets, pancakes, bacon, eggs, etc.... everyone except me. For years and years I would always ask the server if they could please bring me a sandwich.

It wasn't until college that I really started to enjoy breakfast food. I learned to love eggs and bacon for breakfast. I was introduced to the wonder that is Egg's Benedict. Then, I came to love biscuits and gravy! My family was close friends with a family that was originally from the South before moving all the way up here. I got to watch as they cooked these amazing dishes that we generally didn't eat up here. Everything from fried chicken to brisket to biscuits & gravy.

I have used those memories and my own knowledge of cooking to "create" this classic (and relatively healthy) recipe of biscuits and gravy. Yum!

Ingredients (for 2)
2 1/4 cups Bisquick
2/3 cups milk, fat free
4 sausage links (Little Sizzlers are my favorite)
1 tbsp flour
1 cup milk, fat free
Pepper
Garlic powder (or Garlic Pepper if you have it)
McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning

Directions
Pre-heat the oven to 450° F. Then combine the Bisquick and 2/3 cups milk into a medium bowl. Mix until just blended. Sprinkle Bisquick on top of the mixture and knead 5-10 times. Drop 9 biscuits onto a non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden.
While the biscuits bake, start cooking sausage links until browned on the outside and it reaches an internal temperature of 160° F. Put the cooked links on a plate and cover to maintain heat.
Use the same pan that you cooked the sausage in to make your gravy. We want all that delicious fat and flavor in our gravy! In our sausage pan and on a medium heat, add the tablespoon of flour. Whisk until browned. Then reduce the heat to low and whisk in the milk. The gravy will take about 5-10 minutes to thicken.
Put 2 sausage links on each plate. Then cut 2 biscuits in half and place a set on each plate. Next, pour spoonfuls of gravy over each biscuit. Now you are ready to eat!
Store the leftover biscuits in an air-tight container to make more biscuits and gravy later!!!

I like to serve this breakfast delight with a side of fruit. Hope you enjoy!

A little home-cooked, Southern fried chicken with mashed potatoes and white gravy...Mmm mmm good!

Obviously, I am not from the South. However, I was taught by true Southerners the perfect recipe for making crispy, fried chicken with a white gravy. The mashed potatoes are very much part of my Northern heritage, and I will share my favorite way to make them!

For starters, this will taste nothing like KFC or other restaurant takes on "fried chicken." I'm not exactly sure what they do to get their crispy, golden brown fried chicken but mine is much truer to a home-cooked meal. That being said, I will do my best to explain this recipe. While it is not terribly complicated, it is definitely one of those meals I've made so many times that it comes without a set recipe. Thus, I will sometimes use phrases like "until it looks right" or "smells good." I hope you understand what I mean!

Ingredients (for 4)
Fried Chicken
1.25 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cups of flour (in a large plastic Zip-Loc bag or in a paper bag)
McCormick's Montreal Steak Seasoning
Garlic Pepper
Pepper
2 cups milk (or Buttermilk) for dipping chicken
4 tbps Crisco (more if needed, depends on how much gets soaked up by flour)

Mashed Potatoes
8 medium potatoes
1 cup milk
4 tbsp margarine or butter

White Gravy
3 tbsp flour mixture* (see directions for fried chicken below)
3 cups milk

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Wash the chicken and trim the fat. Cut breasts into thirds (or about1.5" by 3" pieces).
Make the flour mixture by putting the flour into a Ziplock bag and adding the McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning, pepper, and garlic pepper in until it smells good. I like mine to be spicy, so I put a lot in! When you can smell it without being overwhelmed by it, you might have enough seasoning.
Pour the milk into a bowl and dip the chicken in the milk. Then dip the chicken into the flour mixture. For extra crispy chicken, dip the flour-covered chicken in the milk and flour again (double-battered is crunchier, but can be more difficult to flip in the pan without accidently removing the batter, so if it's your first time, I recommend the single dip).
While you're dipping the chicken, put the Crisco into a large frying pan and set on medium-high heat. When the Crisco has melted, start putting the battered chicken into the pan. When the chicken is crispy and brown on both sides, put into a baking pan and place into the oven for 20-30 minutes. This method ensures that the chicken is fully cooked on the inside without risking burning the outsides.

Now you're going to get your potatoes ready! Peel all 8 potatoes and rinse them. Then cut them into about 1" by 1" pieces (or about 12ths). Place the cut potatoes into cold water and put on the stove on high heat. When the potatoes start boiling, reduce heat. Cook until the potatoes are tender (about 15-20 minutes). Drain the water and use a potato masher to mash the potatoes. Then pour in the milk and margarine and mash the potatoes again until smooth. Do not use a stir stick to blend potatoes as they turn into a starchy mess!

Finally, the gravy! This is an art. You need a whisk and the pan that you cooked the chicken in for the gravy to be truly successful. Use those crunchies that got left behind from frying up the chicken to create your masterpiece gravy.
Start by adding three tablespoons of flour from the flour mixture we dipped the chicken in. "Burn" the flour on medium heat and whisk it around in the pan until it turns a brownish color (not black). Once the flour is properly burned, add the first 1.5 cups of milk. Stir slowly, but constantly until it thickens. Keep adding a half cup of milk and thickening the gravy until you've used all the milk.
The gravy should finish at about the same time as the chicken and be thick enough that it wouldn't go through a strainer very well. Remember: Southern gravy is not watery at all!

Once everything is cooked, you're ready to serve! I suggest pairing the chicken, gravy, and mashed potatoes with any of the following: corn on the cob, caesar salad, fruit, and/or biscuits. This meal will leave you stuffed but happy!