Sausage Gravy Biscuit Casserole is just what you need

This casserole rolls Sausage Grave (some call it sawmill gravy) and your biscuits into one dish casserole that makes it both delicious and great for a crowd pleaser. It is a great dish to take to a morning breakfast crowd, when you are having the family over for breakfast, or taking it to a Sunday School breakfast.

It comes together quickly and easily so make it and see how your family likes this dish. And I even remembered to take pictures this time! The airhead was gone this time! HA

Sausage Gravy Biscuit Casserole
Gravy:
1 lb breakfast sausage (bulk-mild or hot – your preference)
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 Tbsp all purpose flour
3 cups milk
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Drop Biscuits
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cold butter cut into cubes

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees ( I baked mine at 400 degrees – I believe the 450 gets the biscuits done but doesn’t allow them to absorb all the gravy)
For the gravy:
1. In a 10 inch oven safe skillet (I actually put my stuff in an 11×7 inch pam sprayed glass dish since I took this dish to Sunday School so keep this in mind if you are not going to just use the skillet for cooking) and serving) brown the sausage until just lightly brown on medium high heat. Using a slotted spoon, remove sausage from skillet and set aside. There was very little oil left so I did not remove it from the skillet – great flavor in that stuff!

While the sausage is browning, get your drip biscuit dough ready – and y’all, these drop biscuits are good just making and baking by themselves so keep this recipe just for the biscuits alone! In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix with a fork until combined. I added about a quarter cup of shredded cheddar cheese at this point and stirred. Add the 1/2 cup cold butter and cut in either with a cutter or a fork until the butter is about the size of peas. Small chunks ensures tender biscuits! Stir in milk and stir with a fork until just mixed – mixture will be sticky don’t overmix dough!

Now for the gravy – add the butter to the skillet – when melted add the 4 tbsp flour and whisk together. Allow mixture to bubble for about 2 minutes to get the flour taste out. Whisk during this time to get all the bits off the bottom of the skillet and to get the lumps out of the flour mix. Add the milk and whisk to combine. Let the mix bubble for about 3 minutes. It will thicken as it bubbles. Add the pepper, (I also added a small bit of salt to mine as the brand of sausage I had bought was not salty at all and I also sprinkled in a couple of more pinches of pepper – salt and pepper is all to your own taste. And it all depends on the saltiness and spiceyness of the sausage – so be sure and taste your gravy before adding extra seasoning so that you do not over season.

I poured the gravy into my 11×7 inch pan and used a spoon to drop tiny biscuits (for ease of serving at SS) on top.

Bake 10-12 minutes or until biscuits are browned. Actually mine cooked a bit longer since I baked mine at 400 degrees. But next time I will bake mine at 450 degrees and for about 12 minutes.

Finished product! Yummy! Have a great week and have some gravy and biscuits!

Jalapeno Dressing….oh yes!

This will make your skirts fly up and your pants legs flap in the breeze – even if there isn’t a breeze! I made this yesterday and I can’t wait to have it on my salad tonight. I must say, I wish my jalapeno peppers had been a bit hotter. I like heat and apparently right now the jalapeno peppers I am getting are not that hot. I even left the seeds in and just didn’t get as much heat I wanted but the flavor – oh my. the flavor is definitely still there – so incredibly good. But less heat makes it easier for hubby to eat the dressing – or not! More for me!

This will definitely be one of my favorites. Serve on a bed of field greens, some marinated chicken breasts that have been grilled (marinated with my homemade taco seasoning of course) and if you like, add a couple of slices of avocado. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it. Try some and see what you think.

Jalapeno Dressing
1/2 jalapeno roughly sliced (or use the whole jalapeno -why not?) (with or without seeds – your choice)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar (and yes, I did use my Splenda Sugar)
1 garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped (I threw mine in whole and the blender chopped it up just fine)
1/2 cup blended oil (1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup vegetable oil – or if you would rather, use 1/2 cup all olive oil – but use a light olive oil so the flavor of the oil does not overpower the dressing)

Place the jalapeno slices, lime juice, vinegar, salt, sugar, and garlic in a blender and blend at low speed, using the quick on/off pulses, until the jalapeno and garlic clove is finely chopped. Now with the motor running, slowly pour in the oil in a thin stream.
Pour into a container (a canning jar works great-makes about a cup so an 8-ounce works great) and store in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving. Give the jar a good shake to make sure all is blended well.

Ranch Chicken Tenders

We eat a lot of chicken in these here neck of the woods while we try and eat healthy and low carb. I tried to make a new version of one recipe we tried while at a meeting in Destin and finding these Ranch Wings (of all places) at Winn Dixie Wing Bar (man do they have some good wings!).

These were great! We both liked these and with the leftovers we are slicing and putting on our salad for supper tonight. And they couldn’t be easier. So bake these up tonight and see how your family (especially the kiddos) like these. After all, with Ranch Dressing Mix who wouldn’t like them??

**Note: I poured out about 3/4 of my coating into a bowl and saved the rest to use on some wings I will be making for supper for another meal. I will keep the remainder in the refrigerator since I used the finely grated parmesan cheese you get in the package in the deli section where all the other grated cheeses are)

Ranch Chicken Tenders
1 pkg chicken tenders (my pack had 8 tenders in it) (you could use chicken breasts if you want but personally I think you get more of the flavor with the tenders
1 stick butter, melted
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
1 cup plain bread crumbs (you could also use crushed cracker crumbs, or crushed corn flakes, or panko bread crumbs-crushed ranch flavored doritos may be just the ticket if you have kiddos!)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used the finely grated parmesan cheese in the package)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. I lined a pan with foil and sprayed it with pam spray but you could skip the lining the pan thing and just spray the pan.
Combine the Ranch dressing mix, bread crumbs (or whatever you choose to use to coat) and parmesan cheese in a plastic bag. I then put about 3/4 of the mix in a bowl and coated this way in case it didn’t take all of it, which for the tenders, it didn’t.
Put the melted butter in a shallow bowl. Dip the tenders in the butter, then in the coating, and place on the prepared pan. When all tenders are coated, if you have a bit of the coating left in your bowl, sprinkle it on top of the tenders for a little extra crust.
bake for about 35-30 minutes or until they are done- this will determine on how thick your tenders are and your oven. Mine were done in about 25 minutes. You want the crust crispy also. Let cool on pan for a couple of minutes. Enjoy!

I bet these would be good with some homemade ranch dressing for dipping. Give them a try and see how you like these. Have a fun weekend!

A great dessert and a great breakfast

I made this yesterday but being the doe-doe head I am I did not take a picture of the completed picture. However, I did take pictures of the process! Yea me!

This recipe is so good and so easy. Eat it for a dessert – it stands alone and would b good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Or re-heat and have for a breakfast or brunch. Or just make the apple topping and serve these on your oatmeal! Oh my.

Try some and see how you would change this recipe and make it your own. And of course, I did…and I used splenda brown sugar in mine! I found this recipe on a blog I follow and changed it up slightly – (Cookies and Cups) so that hubby could have a bite—or two!

Skillet Apple Biscuits
3 medium granny smith apples peeled and chopped
1 tsp lemon juice – I also zested half of the lemon and included the zest in the apples
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar plus 2 Tbsp reserved for topping
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
10 to 12 large biscuits (canned works just fine but don’t use the flaky layered kind)

For the glaze:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup (or more if needed) heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large (10″) cast iron skillet with butter and set aside.
Put apples into a medium sauce pan and sprinkle with lemon juice (and the zest if using) and stir to coat apples. Add the 3 Tbsp butter (its ok if its not melted as it will melt during cooking process but I did slice my butter up) and also add the heavy cream.

When through, set this aside.

Inn a bowl whisk together the flour, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Add this to the apple mix and stir to coat. Heat this mixture over medium low heat until apples soften and a thick sauce is created, stirring frequently, for about 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat.
Place biscuits in pan, completely covering bottom overlapping if needed. I cut my biscuits into quarters and added to the skillet for a better fit and for ease of serving – see?

Pour apple mixture over biscuits evenly and sprinkle with the reserved 2 Tbsp of light brown sugar

ready for the oven!
Bake for 30-35 minutes until biscuits are golden brown.

For the glaze, mix powdered sugar and heavy cream in a small bowl until smooth and drizzle on top of biscuits when they come out of the oven. Serve warm.

Have a great week! And enjoy these sometime soon! Great warmed over!

Crustless breakfast quiche

Since we are limiting carbs I made some great tasting crustless breakfast quiches that were so good.  I split the quantity of everything in to two bowls so that I could have my turkey sausage and hubby could have his cubed ham.  These are such a versatile recipe as you can add the “add-ins” to accommodate your tastes and change these up every time you make these.

Also, these are great to freeze and pop in the microwave for a quick breakfast on the go.

Make these and see how you like them and see what combination you come up with!

Crustless Breakfast Quiches

12 eggs (I put 6 eggs into two separate bowls so I could add each of our favorite stuff)
1/2 cup heavy cream(I put 1/4 cup in each egg bowl)
1/4 cup milk ( divided it between the two egg bowls)
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste( I used about 1/2 tsp salt and about 1/4 tsp pepper in each bowl)
(I sprinkled some garlic powder in for good measure!)
Beat all of this together.
Veggies:
1 cup of fresh broccoli, cut into tiny florets,
1 cup fresh spinach, roughly chopped (I left this out this time)
bell pepper chopped (about 1/2 to 1 bell pepper (I used about three of the small tri colored ones)
1/4 to 1/2 of an onion, chopped

Whatever kind of meat you want in it –
1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled or divide and use 1/2 lb bacon and 1/2 lb of chopped ham, or use 1/2 lb of sausage browned – endless possibilities – or leave the meat out! I used turkey sausage and hubby wanted diced ham.

1 1/2 cups of cheddar, gruyere, mozzarella, or other cheese (your favorite) divided

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray. (I used two so I could put hubby’s in one and mine in one and keep them separate since I don’t eat ham)
2. Whisk the eggs, cream, milk, parsley (if you include parsley and basil if you want to throw that in or some cilantro if you are going for a Mexican theme-I’m telling you – these are so versatile) salt and pepper along with some garlic powder and stir to combine.
3. Add all your diced veggies (whatever you choose to add in – I forgot – we also included some mushrooms in ours). Add in 1/2 of the cheese and give it all a stir.
4. Use an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measuring cup and add the mixture to the muffing cups. Fill to about 1/4 inch to the top and sprinkle a small amount of reserved cheese over each.

Place in oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes until egg is set and the cheese has just started to turn golden on top.
Remove and let cool for about 5 minutes before running a knife around the edge and remove.

See? Don’t they look good? I can’t wait to hear what you added to yours! Have a great rest of the weekend!

Philly Cheesesteak is not just for sandwiches

I came across a recipe that had my hubby’s name written all over it. Philly cheesesteak dip – one I knew he would love because he loves a good philly cheesesteak sandwich about as good as anybody!

This was a huge success! And the great thing was we had leftovers – which he loved – and he made omelets out of it and said it made the best omelet – a philly cheesesteak omelet – just think – the cheese, steak, onions and peppers along with the seasonings all mixed up and melty inside the omelet. And I think the dip mixture would make an awesome panini. Don’t stop there – create your “philly cheesesteak dip” recipe! I know there are endless possibilities with this concoction!

Philly Cheesesteak Dip
1/2 pound flank steak or skirt steak, thinly sliced and then diced plus salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
pinch of oregano
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 white or yellow onion, diced
12 ounces white velveeta cheese (i found a Velveeta Queso white cheese on the velveeta aisle and used that)
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
bread, for dipping (like a mini french baguette, sliced-I found an olive oil ciabatta baguette I sliced up for hubby to dip)
Mix your chili powder, garlic powder and oregano in a little cup and set aside.
In a medium sauce pan add the velveeta cheese, cream cheese and milk and heat on medium low, stirring occasionally until melted.
While the cheese melts, cook steak and veggies. Season steak with salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle with about 1/2 of the mixed seasoning blend. Cook steak in a large skillet sprayed with cooking spray over medium heat just until most of the pink is gone. Add peppers and onions and continue to stir for a couple minutes more.
When the cheese is completely melted, add the steak, ‘peppers and onions and the remainder of the seasoning blend and mix. Serve with the bread for dipping.

I hope you enjoy and find creative ways to serve/reuse this.
Happy New Year to all of you.