In Savannah Georgia a snitch/competitor uses the favor of the police force to set up an undercover sting on a delivery service. More than 5 police officers detain a man for delivering biscuits and gravy. You got to hear this story!

http://www.infowars.com/savannah-man-arrested-for-selling-biscuits-in-sting/

It will be interesting getting used to writing twentyten on stuff. The start of a new year is always a matter of changing old habits, isn’t it?

We rang in the new year with sparkling grape juice and  movies.  Then  promptly went to bed and fell fast asleep… Quietly and sensibly welcoming in the new beginnings.  We watched a netflix movie earlier in the evening, after I got back home from our women’s meeting. Good movie called The Shooter with Mark Wahlberg. Then later watched Wall-E  and laughed ourselves silly. We had buttered popcorn and hot chocolate and congratulated ourselves silently for being in a nice warm house when it was 15 degrees outside.  Todays high has been reached by now…a brutal 19 that feels like 8 with the wind chill. But the sun is brilliant and the sky is blue. I stood outside last night under the blue moon and made several vows of intention. Some stuff just between me and God, so I won’t bore you with it.  I insist on having high hopes for the upcoming year, and won’t be told otherwise.

I am about 1/3 of the way through Lacuna, and love it more by the minute. I’ve not been reading much these past couple of weeks, and haven’t a clue as to why, as I’ve had a lot of opportunity to do so, being all crippled up and all. BUt yesterday I dove back into the book again, and have been sitting in my bedroom propped up on pillows, with the blinds open to let in the dazzling sunshine. I said my prayer and did a little meditating and then started reading. We had been up early for a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy (hubby’s request)  and I cleaned up last nights mess and breakfast too,. Then I swept the floors while hubby was back here on the computer for a while. Afterwards, I started the reading, because I needed to get off my leg. It all worked out perfectly…lol

Looking forward to a long lazy day at home today.  No big plans, but will probably go to the meeting tonight.  Maybe. Only because it might be my last chance to see my friend who will be heading back off to the islands for another 4 months come next Tuesday. I will miss her terribly, but am very happy for her to get the opportunity to get out of here for the winter. I love her dearly.

Okay. I have some internet investigating to do regarding some of the things I have just read in Lacuna. Things about Freida Kahlo and the Bonus Army and Hoover.  Have I said lately how much I adore Barbara Kingsolver? She is my hero.

Happy New Years to all. Blessings of peace and love, baby, and all things groovy.

Namaste.

The Grit
199 Prince Ave.
Athens, Ga
706-543-6592
website
veganosity- low.

Today’s post is an Athens institution. We had the brunch menu which is the only menu i’ve ever had here. 8-11am on weekdays and 10am-3pm on weekdays. There aren’t a whole lot of vegan options here so don’t let anyone hype it up to you as the be all end all of vegan southern cooking. There is a lot of cheese and milk happening here.

I opted for the vegan biscuits and yeast gravy. After the food came out i ordered a bowl of granola to add to the otherwise smaller side order of biscuits and gravy.

All in all i must admit, if there were a veggie equivillant to a bob evans or denny’s it would be Grit. I know one of the cooks and everything he has ever made in his home for me has been exceptional, but with Grit i feel the focus is on vegeterians rather than vegans so ill take what i can get but i don’t really look forward to going back, especially when there is a pair of Soul Vegeterians in somewhat nearby Atlanta.

The Grit is the place non-vegeterians tell vegeterians about. I’ll leave it at that.

Fantastic!

Two Sister’s Biscuits and Gravy, originally uploaded by captjoe06.

]]> http://stoptimeproject.com/2009/12/12/200/ Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:12:01 +0000 Claudette http://stoptimeproject.com/2009/12/12/200/

Steph. Biscuits and gravy. Shorts. Tired. Ritz. Louis. Longbranch. Wedding party. Anxious. Insomnia. Crash.

Bittersweet will open at 7 a.m. tomorrow to celebrate Winterfest. Stop in for our yummy specials:

• Eggs Bittersweet
• Spanish Omelet
• Homemade Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

We’ll serve breakfast ALL day til 4 p.m., and a light lunch menu from 11 am to 3 p.m.

For a complete schedule of Winterfest events, visit the KDP Winterfest blog.

Today did not start out as well as I’d hoped. I woke up with a strained hamstring. Since I am so out of shape, I decided not to push it and am taking the day off (reluctantly) from the gym. In addition, my husband invited a friend over for breakfast, biscuits and gravy, and I found myself  in front of a half of a biscuit and gravy to “be nice” I sat and ate with them. Next time, this happens I am going to be armed with “a different plan” and not fall into “eating with the group because it is the polite thing to do”.

This is my mission and I chose to let someone or something else get me off track.  Therefore, without gym and with starting with a BAD breakfast, I see how easy it would be to fall into old patterns. Eat to live, not choosing living to eat. Patterns are meant to be broken. I believe this 5 months will take more discipline than anything else. Therefore, the rest of the steamed veggies is the lunch time game plan. Today the total calories HAVE to stay at 1200 and NO more since I am not exercising.

Breakfast: 1/2 biscuit and gravy=300

Lunch: Steamed veggies with cheese=300

Dinner: Home-made turkey soup with noodles with 3 crackers=450

Snack: handful of almonds and 1/4 cup cantaloupe= 200

Total for the day1250

1800-1250=550

Total calories burned in three days: 2550 or 2/3 of a pound.

Only 4 months and 27 days to go.

I’m going to keep the chatting to a minimum and just show you a photo tour of our Thanksgiving this year. Enjoy!

It all started with a donut from Madeline Bistro.

The phillet no phish sandwich, Thanksgiving sandwich (which is pretty much all you could ever want from Thanksgiving), mashed potatoes and gravy.

Vanishing meal. Also consumed: biscuits & gravy, crepes filled with fruit. All amazing.

Visiting turkeys from Animal Acres. Luckily these guys will live long happy lives instead of being abused and murdered this Thanksgiving. Yeah, I said that.

Homemade pumpkin soy nog. My mom made this! I think that’s pretty awesome.

When making a pie, it is absolutely necessary to make a mess. It makes it taste better, I promise.

Best way to work up an appetite before Thanksgiving dinner. Okay so it was a rather leisurely ride to the beach. We were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset.

Brussels sprouts with capers. Oh how I love brussels sprouts.

Perfectly fluffy and wonderful mashed potatoes whipped up by Shawn. He also made fabulous gravy to go on top.

There’s that apple pie! All baked up with the infamous crumbly top. This is the last thing I stuffed in my face today.

Happy Thanksgiving! (p.s. Shawn does not like to smile in photos. He really is having a good time, don’t let the serious face fool you.)

I am so excited to report that I finally got to try Snack Bar for brunch over the weekend. I have been watching the progress on the building for months and my friend Judy has been giving me updates on their progress and telling tales of a vegan friendly menu for so long that I was beginning to think it was all a big joke and that they would have a vegan entree like “mixed vegetables” . Kind of like when I read that the Black Sheep Lodge had the best veggie burger in town but it turned out that it was a garden burger. I am happy to say that Snack Bar is everything it was hyped to be. They must have a vegan in the kitchen, or at least know one that is into food! The owner, an artist names Bethany Andree, has been beset with structural problems with the building since acquiring the place last year but has done a great job, with help from her friends, turning it around. They have done such an amazing job with the place! The outdoor patio looks really nice, it is right on South Congress but nicely shielded from the traffic with plants and the inside is bigger than I would have thought it would be and really nice. I love the casual modern style. The concept is to have a place where guests at the hotel behind it can pick up things that they forgot and also get drinks, food, and coffee but the location is going to also get lots of foot traffic and vegan traffic as well.

I went with Alin and Molly, who are both vegan food lovers in Austin and we were all happy with the overall experience. In fact, we talked about coming back separately the next day! There are several places in Austin where a vegan can find some brunch, notably Bouldin Creek and Somnios but Snack Bar is the first place in Austin to really make an effort at vegan diner food rather than ovo-lacto vegetarian food minus the cheese or tacos. Don’t get me wrong, I love tacos and scrambles but when I go to other towns I am always so excited to have things like biscuits and bacon-style tempeh. When I checked out the snack bar menu I was thrilled. We were spoiled for choice and had a hard time making decisions. The first thing I ordered was coffee, I was a first let down that they didn’t have vegan creamer but then thrilled when they brought me a glass of steamed soy milk, there was enough for the multiple cups that the wait staff kept bringing which was a really nice treat. The coffee itself was surprisingly good.Alin got the “Freedom Benny” which was griddled tofu, smoked tomatoes on petite waffles and topped with vegan Hollandaise. It looked really good and I can’t wait to try it. Molly got the waffles with apple chutney and maple tempeh strips. I tried the latter and I thought that they were super, tempeh can be tricky to prepare correctly and they did it just right. I really wanted to get the seitan sausages or the tofu scramble that is made with leeks crimini mushrooms and carrots but I couldn’t stop myself from ordering the biscuits with tempeh gravy because I was so excited that they were on the menu.The biscuits were really good, the gravy needs a little work but I am confident that they will get it together, the place did just open. It was cold the first time they brought it out but the waitstaff rectified the situation very quickly and handled the incident very well. I thought it needed a little more spice and that is was under-seasoned but I was a still a happy smurf and ate every bit. Alin and I both got the potato hash cake and that was definitely my favorite thing that I tried. The potatoes in this baby are mixed with cabbage, leeks, and onions and then pan seared. It was just perfect and only a dollar fifty. In fact, my whole meal was less than ten dollars with tip which means that I can go back any time and I certainly will!

The lunch menu looks really good too, the have an avocado stuffed veggie burger and a seitan BBQ sandwich in addition to quite a few salads, including a raw offering. Hopefully they will add a vegan monte cristo and then it will be perfect! The only real problem is that pretty soon they are going to have a long waiting line. Snack Bar os definitely be worth the wait.

19079 Beach Blvd.
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
(714) 960-5051

Let’s just get it out of the way…this place wasn’t good .  I wouldn’t recommend this place to any of my friends or family.  It wasn’t horribly bad,  just……bad haha and the food was bland.

Julie was craving breakfast when she was visiting me, so when we both woke up, we decided to hit up The Bread Crumb based on the numerous good reviews we saw on Yelp.  The place was hard to find (in retrospect it might have been a blessing not to find it at all).  It was hidden on the left corner of the plaza with no clear signs of where it was…I had a feeling it was stuck in that particular corner so we decided to walk up to investigate.  We were seated very quickly and the place seemed really busy for 2pm in the afternoon for a breakfast joint…we took it as a good sign.

When we looked at the menu, Julie was craving french toast with strawberries, so she ordered that once she saw it on the menu.  I, on the other hand, wasn’t too hungry, so I decided to order their biscuits w/gravy, since it was marked as a favorite/popular item on the menu for the locals.

The food came really quick, which was very pleasant and the service was very friendly.  When I took my first bite of the biscuits w/gravy, I noticed one really big thing, and that was the biscuits themselves were really bad.  It was drenched in gravy (the way it’s suppose to be), but I could already tell that if I had the biscuit by itself, it would have been really dry.  It seemed really stale even under all that gravy.  Not to mention flat.  Biscuits are suppose to be light, flaky, soft, buttery, and doughy.  This biscuit was sorta tough (not intolerable), but definitely a big thumbs down.  Let’s just say, it didn’t look nor tasted like a biscuit.  The gravy wasn’t bad.  Overall, even though it’s one of their more popular dishes, I don’t want to know how their other dishes taste like if this was their local favorite.  This would probably rank as the worst biscuits and gravy I’ve had thus far just because of how the biscuits were.

Julie’s french toast didn’t fair any better.  The main complaint that Julie had was that the bread was TOO stale and the batter didn’t even penetrate the bread thoroughly.  If you break the slice of french toast in half, the egg batter only coated the surface of the french toaste, hence when I took a bite, I noticed it just tasted like bread with a slight after taste of the egg batter.  The center was dry and resembled just regular bread.  French toast is suppose to have a smooth, custard filled center.  We were both surprised at how poorly executed the dish was.  I mean…it’s a main breakfast entree and it wasn’t even done properly -_-.

Honestly, we left unimpressed and won’t be coming back.  The quality is severely lacking and we honestly think the only reason why this place gets any business is because of the name drawing people in and locals that are too bias to realize the food they are eating is bad.

Let’s say if you were to compare this to The Cottage in San Diego…The Cottage would be the equivalent of Kobe Beef and The Bread Crumb would be ground chuck…totally on different levels and the Bread Crumb didn’t even come close in any category.  They might come close in terms of service, but too bad The Cottage is just as nice or nicer (we sat at a table with direct sunlight at The Cottage and the server said to us “you guys want to switch to this table, it’ll be less sunny “).  The Cottage’s version of french toast was amazing.  Moist, a custardy center consistency, buttery, and big servings…the way it’s suppose to be.  Just avoid this place, you’ll feel ripped off after you eat here.  Thank god the place didn’t cost too much though -_-.

I’ve just come back from 5 days in Music City, formally known as Nashville, Tennessee.  And like everywhere else, there is wrongness there:

• Line dancing lessons
• Minnie Pearl hats
• Dinner table conversation about which guns everybody keeps at home
• Achy-breaky hair (still!)
• The awful, foul drink they thinks is a “caramel macchiato”
• Sports bars with 40+ television screens and not one of them playing an NFC or AFC west game
• Better biscuits and gravy at the AIRPORT than anywhere in Seattle
• Hotel room wake up calls from Country Music stars who don’t even sing! They just say good morning!
• Pink-haired evangelists on the TV screen, sitting next to Jesus and a guy in a business suit
• Manger scenes with 6 foot tall angels
• People who look at my chest to see if I’m a man or a woman  (Hint — just get me to say something to you, and you’ll figure it out pretty easily)
• The prevalence of Goo Goo Clusters

Unfortunately, most of what I consider comfort foods aren’t very comforting to my conscience, especially now that I’m trying to be health conscious. Lately, I’ve been trying to figure out ways to make an unhealthy favorite healthier but at the same time, not have to sacrifice the comfort factor. I must admit, I haven’t been successful in many ways. However, I accidentally lucked out on one occasion. Well, this morning, in fact.

I didn’t think of making biscuits and gravy anytime soon as I have been staying away from fatty food, these days. I was at the store yesterday and was about to grab a carton of soy milk when I noticed some half and half. These were different and it got my attention. It says “Fat-Free Half & Half.” Now, pardon my ignorance but what in the world is a fat-free half & half? Sounded like an oxymoron to me. But I couldn’t help but think of the possibilities. Hmmm…

Needless to say, biscuits and gravy is what came to my mind, at that instant. This is my excuse, I thought. My way out. But wait, I don’t know if I can trust it, yet. How would it taste? And will the consistency be the same? Only one way to find out, I guess. So, I went ahead and grabbed a pint, some frozen biscuits (no, I’m not gonna bother making this on my own) and extra lean ground turkey. Hey, guess what I had for breakfast this morning?

Well, I’ll be darned! I didn’t really notice any difference in taste. It was still as decadent as ever. In fact, too decadent that I thought… Well, why did I even bother when I could’ve just used vegetable stock to make my gravy? Haaa!!

But that’s for another blog post… and a different recipe.

Ingredients: Buttermilk Biscuits, Extra Lean Ground Turkey (or, go all out with Pork Sausage), Fat-Free Half & Half, All-Purpose Flour, Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper

Directions: Bake the frozen biscuits according to package directions. Meanwhile, saute ground turkey, season with salt & pepper and set aside. Now, make a roux using oil and flour then pour in some half & half. Stir until bubbly and thickened. Mix the ground turkey back in. On a plate, serve biscuits smothered with gravy!

Argue. Emo’s. Resolve. John. Lindsey. Kim. Laura. Dance. Happy. Starseeds. Ryder. Coen’s. Biscuits and gravy. Bacon. Yum. Film. Girlies.

Brunchies
13732 N Meridian St.
Carmel, IN 46032
No website to be found.

Brunchies serves breakfast and lunch and I have yet to hear anything great about it.  I have also never heard that it was bad, which is odd because it has been open for a few years.

Normal Sunday morning church crowd.  About a 15 minute wait at 10:30.  Service was a little slow to greet the table, but overall friendly.  The menu is the same as any other breakfast joint.  I was hoping to find something that caught my eye more than French Toast, Pancakes, 2 eggs and 1 meat, etc.  Nope.  Standard breakfast fare at standard breakfast prices.

I decided on the biscuits and gravy.  Around $5.  Two biscuits halved and served with hash browns.   The portion was a good size with just enough gravy.  IMO, you should be able to see the biscuit on biscuit and gravy.

As far as the taste, eh.  Hate to use the same adjective, but very standard.  I didn’t get the feeling that any part of this was homemade.  If it was, stop wasting your time and buy the sausage gravy.  The gravy could’ve used a little more salt, but not sure if that would be enough.  Hash browns were pretty plain as well, however there was a generous portion.

Would I Buy It Again:  No. Average to sub par meal and plastic plates cheapened the experience.  There’s no reason to choose Brunchies over local competition.  It wasn’t horrible, but it just wasn’t good enough.

-WIBIA

This morning we (and by “we” I mostly mean my husband because, as is usual in our house, he did most of the cooking with a little help from me) made my very favorite breakfast: biscuits with vegetarian green onion gravy.  We got the recipe from my brother-in-law, and he got the general inspiration for it from Penny Cluse, a wonderful little restaurant in Burlington, Vermont where he lives.  This is a really out-of-this-world breakfast, especially if you’re vegetarian and are looking for a yummy meat-free gravy.  Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 bunches green onions
2 cups milk
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons Wondra flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 hard boiled eggs
Biscuits: We used bisquick mix and followed the recipe on the box.

1. Cut 1 1/2 bunches of green onions into quarters. Blend the cut green onions with 1/2 cup milk in a blender until liquified.

2. Combine the liquified green onion, the rest of the milk, the Wondra flour, the butter, and the salt and pepper in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  After boiling for a minute, the mixture is ready.

3. Cut the hard boiled eggs into small pieces and add them to the gravy.

4. Serve over biscuits, and sprinkle with the remaining green onions, sliced, for garnish. Serves 2.

As mentioned in the Biscuit Post, Sausage Gravy is not only one of my favorite things to make, but one of the few things I learned directly from my mother. Most sausage gravy recipes are pretty much the same, with slight variations here and there, but the most obvious difference between the flavor of different sausage gravies is not in the spices used, the method of preparation, or anything like that, but in the sausage used to make it. The sausage used makes such a difference in flavor, b/c different sausage companies use various spices in their sausage to make it their own. Even my own sausage gravy varies from location to location because the best sausage rolls are usually locally-produced and therefore aren’t available country-wide.

When I lived in Missouri, the best sausage EVER was Oldham’s…I have relatives that live in other parts of the country and still go to Missouri with an empty ice chest just to bring back loads of that stuff. Nothing compares…nothing. And with that particular brand, the key to awesome sausage gravy was mixing the hot sausage with the medium sausage-and the result was perfection.

Now that I’m in Ohio, this is Bob Evan’s country, and I have to say, while overall I’m not a huge Bob Evan’s Restaurant fan, their Biscuits and Gravy can’t be beat in this area of the country! So, when trying to replicate their lovely breakfast dish, I now use Bob Evan’s original sausage. When we move somewhere else, I’ll have to find a new local company to love, b/c I’ve never been a fan of Jimmy Dean’s flavor (or price) and Odom’s Tennessee Pride pretty much makes me sick. So it’s like a new adventure to find the sausage that is best in YOUR area and use it for making sausage gravy!

Sausage gravy is fairly simple if you just understand the concept of a roux-based gravy. A roux is when you mix hot fat (in this case sausage fat, bacon fat, butter, or oil) with flour-in equal amounts, mix it up, cook it a little, and then add liquid (in this case milk) to it, bring to a boil stirring constantly (to keep it from sticking) and then when it reaches a boil, the roux will magically make your gravy thicken. So, knowing this is how it works, let’s get started.

First we need to cook our sausage. I just put it in the pan over medium heat and break it up with a metal spatula (metal b/c it breaks it up better) as it cooks. Partially cooked sausage breaks up more easily than raw sausage, so this is why I use this method. Some prefer to break it up with their hands, and that’s fine, too:

After you’ve broken it up into crumbles, it will look something like this:

Continue breaking it up during cooking, and cook until it is no longer pink-this picture is almost done:

Once the sausage is no longer pink, it is essentially done, and you can push the sausage to one side of the pan (or some people like to remove it completely from the pan, but if you do this, leave the fat from the sausage in the pan), and tilt the pan allow the grease to drain to the opposite side as the sausage:

Estimate the amount of sausage fat in the pan…if you are using a particularly lean sausage (like Bob Evans) you may not have enough grease to make a roux. You’ll need approximately two whole Tablespoons of fat to make it work. If you have too much fat, drain off what you don’t need. If you don’t have enough/any grease, you can add a Tablespoon of bacon grease, butter, or cooking oil if you are really desperate. Just make sure you have at least two tablespoons of the grease, and add an equal amount (2 tablespoons) of flour to the fat. Reduce heat to low.

At this point, you can add salt and pepper to the flour, and mix it together with the grease until it forms a paste. I didn’t get a good picture of my roux, but I found a picture for you, just click the link to see what it should look like. It is okay if it is even a little more thick than that-more paste-like…it’ll turn out either way. Now you have a decision to make. The longer you cook the roux (remember your pan has been reduced to low), the darker it will get and the more flavorful your gravy will be…but the darker it gets, the less thickening power it will have. About one minute is just about right for most people to cook their roux before adding liquids. Don’t forget to keep stirring constantly, and you can allow the sausage to be coated in the roux during this time.

Once you are ready to add the can of evaporated milk and can of water (you can use regular milk without water, but we don’t buy whole milk, and the more fat in the milk, the better your gravy will be, so I often use evaporated for this), go ahead and pour it in the pan, bringing the heat back to  medium and never stopping your stirring/whisking for anything at this point.

Continue stirring with a spoon or whisk, making sure to get all the way to the bottom so the roux cannot attach itself to the pan, b/c if it does…it’ll burn to the bottom of the pan, give your gravy a burnt flavor, and won’t be able to thicken the gravy like it should. So KEEP STIRRING.

Once the gravy comes to a full boil, it will be pretty much as thick as it is going to get, and you can turn off the heat, but don’t stop stirring until it has cooled enough to stop bubbling. As your gravy thickens, you’ll note that not only does it become thicker and more gravy-like, it will darken and become uniform in color. That’s a good way to know you’ve succeeded.
Congratulations, your gravy is done!

Now simply crack open a biscuit (or crumble it if you wish) and pour that yummy sausage gravy over it and enjoy!

Sausage Gravy over Biscuits:

Jess’s Sausage Gravy Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb bulk pork sausage (local brand)
Fat to make 2 Tablespoons (sausage grease, bacon grease, butter, or oil)
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 Can of Evaporated Milk plus one can of water OR 3 Cups Milk

DIRECTIONS:
Crumble and cook sausage over medium heat in a skillet with high sides (cast iron and non-stick work best). Continue breaking up the sausage with your spatula as it cooks. Cook until sausage is brown and has no traces of pink. Once the sausage is done, move it to one side of the skillet with spatula. Reduce heat to low. Tilt the pan slightly, and add or remove fat until you have 2 Tablespoons of fat left. Add 2 Tablespoons of flour, salt and pepper, and mix with a whisk until pasty. Using the whisk, mix the sausage back in and cook for approximately one minute, stirring constantly, scraping the bottom of the pan thoroughly to keep roux from sticking. Add milk and water (or just milk if not using evaporated). Continue stirring with whisk, kick the heat back up to medium, and heat gravy to boiling. Do not stop stirring for anything, and be sure to keep it from sticking to the bottom of your pan while it comes to a boil. Once boiling, remove from heat and continue stirring until it stops bubbling. Serve over biscuits. Makes approximately 4 cups (enough for 4-6 people). Recipe can be doubled if using a pan large enough.

A friend on a forum I visit mentioned she’d like to know how to make homemade biscuits and gravy…and I had a lightbulb moment-I have no idea why I haven’t given y’all a tutorial on this before, b/c biscuits and gravy are one of my favorite things to make! So here it is, a pictorial on the making of biscuits and gravy from scratch:

First, I’d like to start by saying that there is no shame in using canned biscuits if you’re just not up for trying to make your own just yet…I grew up on canned biscuits and I still have a more than healthy obsession interest in biscuits and sausage gravy made at home-it won’t scar your children, I promise. In fact, this sausage gravy is one of the few things that I actually learned how to make from my mother, who was a wonderful cook that had an ungrateful daughter who remained entirely uninterested in learning to cook till well into adulthood. I know, I know, y’all thought I was always into cooking, right? Yeah, not so much. But I’ve learned to love it, and you can, too! This post will address the biscuit part of the recipe…

BISCUITS:

The biscuit recipe I like to use most frequently is J.P.’s Big Daddy Biscuits. It’s not that I don’t use other recipes, but this was the first recipe that really helped me learn to make biscuits that couldn’t effectively be substituted for hockey pucks (and taste the most like Bob Evans-which are my favorite biscuits). I also like southern buttermilk biscuits, so you could go that direction, too. One day, I’ll learn to turn Big Daddy Biscuits into buttermilk biscuits, but for now it’s one or the other.

*I was making a double batch of Big Daddy Biscuits, so please know that if you make a single recipe instead, your dough ball and quantity will be much smaller than what you see in the pictures. Also, I used half butter, half shortening, but all of either is fine in this recipe, no worries.*

First, preheat your oven to 425 degrees, and cut your butter into small cubes if you are using butter. (If using shortening, skip the cubes.)

Now, I sift my flour and other dry ingredients b/c I find it makes fluffier biscuits, but the whisk almost accomplishes the same thing (which is what the recipe calls for).

Then you put the butter/shortening in the bowl with the flour. Now is the time to employ one of two methods:
1.Use your fingers to coat the butter/shortening in flour, then continue rubbing the butter pieces between your thumb and forefinger, breaking it into smaller and smaller pieces, covered in flour until the entire mixture becomes a coarse, crumbly mess with most crumbles being similar in size to one another.
or
2.Grab a pastry blender or fork, and use the utensil to do the same thing.

Whichever method you choose, remember to keep your palms of your hands out of the whole ordeal, b/c your fingers aren’t as warm as your palms, and you are trying to keep the butter from melting. This is a hugely important step, probably the most important, so make sure that you have a good crumbly mixture before continuing on with the recipe.

This is the mixture before you begin blending, note the whiteness and tinyness of the particles of flour in this photo:

And here’s the mixture after you’ve worked the butter into the flour, see the larger, darker look to the crumbles in comparison with the first photo?

Measure out your milk:

Make a well in the center of your flour mixture, and pour in the milk:

Mix it into a big blob-y mess. This batch was a little wetter than most, but I don’t mind this b/c I flour my counter well and it is ALWAYS better to have too-wet dough than too-dry dough. Remember that you will be adding flour to the dough while rolling it out, so err on the side of too-wet, k?

Flour your counter (sprinkle flour on the counter so the dough doesn’t stick to it), plop the dough ball on the floured countertop, and sprinkle a teaspoon or two of flour on top of the dough and try to loosely work the dough into a ball. Try not to mess with the dough very much. Something I’ve learned about both bread and especially biscuits is that if the dough still feels cold and sort of wet (but not sticky), then you have reached your goal for having light and fluffy baked goods. Once you get too much flour worked in or the heat of your hands has warmed the fat in the dough, you’ve lost some of that luscious lift you so desperately want in heavenly baked goods, so less is more with biscuits, k?
Once you have it in a ball, LIGHTLY pat it out or LIGHTLY use a rolling pin to make the dough more flat. You are looking for the edges of the dough to be about 1/2 inch thick. You can use a ruler to check. Better to be too tall then too short on this:

Now it gets easy. Just use a glass (preferably with sharp edges) or a biscuit cutter (I use the medium size in my set of 3) dipped in flour to cut the biscuits. Cut straight down-don’t twist, or they won’t rise as high in the oven. Try to leave very little-to-no space between the biscuits and plan your cuts carefully to get the most cuts out of the dough, b/c you will NOT be re-rolling the dough to make more! We’ll get to that in a second…

But first, a tip on making non-floury tasting biscuits:
When I cut a biscuit and pick it up to put it in the pan, I turn it over to reveal the side that was on the bottom of the floured counter, and I use a pastry brush (or a silicone brush or even my fingers) to dust off as much of the loose flour as possible. I hate floury biscuits, and this fixes that issue.

Okay, back to the re-rolling issue. Sure you CAN re-roll the extra dough out and cut more biscuits, but quite frankly, it’s not worth it-they will be 10x tougher than the first ones and you just won’t like them very much. In fact, I believed so emphatically in not re-rolling my dough, that previously I have been known to throw the remaining dough into the trash, seriously. However, I found a neat trick that while it doesn’t produce the most beautiful biscuits, doesn’t compromise the lift and flavor of the “second round” of biscuits. Instead of gathering all the leftover dough from your first cut of biscuits and re-rolling it out to cut the second round-just do this: Take the scraps and gently form them together to make a biscuit-shaped circle approximately the size of the other ones, and cut the edges with your biscuit cutter. No kneading, no re-rolling, just shaping together without much pressure. It is much more effective and you don’t have to throw out the dough. They will be a little misshapen and ugly, but they will still taste good!

Here’s my “reworked” biscuit:

As with most of my baked goods, I use cast-iron for biscuits, but any old pan will do. Anything from a cake pan to a cookie sheet can be used-round or square it doesn’t matter. But if you want good rise on your biscuits (and you do, you really, really do), then you may wish to put them in the pan touching like I do. Some recipes tell you to put them 1 inch apart, and that’s fine, but just know that most restaurants that make those yummy, ultra-delicious, drool-worthy biscuits that you love (every place from McDonalds to Bob Evans) smushes their biscuits all together on the pan. So unless you really like a crisp outer edge on your biscuits, the touching-method is probably the one you want to use, no matter what the recipe calls for. Just a little hint from me to you.

Then just put your biscuits in the oven for appropriate time (in this case about 11 minutes is just right for me-but my oven also runs a little hot, so just follow the recipe on this one), and soon you’ll have fluffy, hot, yummy biscuits coming out of your oven. I brush some melted butter (or just rub a stick of cold butter over the hot biscuits fresh out of the oven) over them while they are still hot, b/c it gives them a better color and flavor…and here’s what you get:

The Old Mountain Inn is a great place for breakfast or lunch right in downtown Boulder Creek. The menu consists of different breakfast standards such as omelets and crepes as well as hearty meals including our personal favorite the “#9″ (picture below). Barbara and Robert who own the place are great hosts and the service there is polite and prompt. If you are lucky you may hear Barbara’s nice singing voice.

Usually there are old country tunes playing creating a nice, warm atmosphere to have some coffee and breakfast… or lunch. In addition to breakfast, the Old Mountain has a great burger as well as grilled cheese.

Our only complaint is that they aren’t open in the afternoon – they close at 1:00 p.m.

When I was in 4th or 5th grade I read every book by V.C. Andrews mostly because what young girl doesn’t enjoy tales of insestual rape and hasn’t dealt with being in love with her brother, uncle, or an angry but gorgeous professional ballarina. My favorite of the series was the stories of Heaven Leigh Casteel. She came from extreme Appalacian poverty only to later find out that she was the heir to the Tatterton Toy Empire. Poor Heaven grew up in a mountain shack and had to find ways to feed her four half brothers and sisters on little money. When everything else was gone they were always able to make biscuits and gravy since you really just need flour and lard. They hated eating biscuits and gravy day after day but I always thought it sounded pretty good. To this day when I am feeling really poor I often think of old biscuits and gravy; so lacking in nutritional value but so easy and good. Earlier in the week I went to the store with 10 dollars, knowing I might have to stretch it for a couple weeks and I bought the cheapest frozen vegetables they had. One package was called the Tuscan Mixed vegetables and when I spied it I was immediately whisked away to Tuscany which unfortunately looks like an Olive Garden commercial in my mind. The plan was set we would have a Tuscan night and it would be glorious.This meal was really easy and we liked it quite a bit. I think it was a lot healthier than most biscuits and gravy, certainly moreso than the lard/white flour version. I made the spelt & chive biscuits from Vegan Brunch (note the typo about that recipe if you have a first edition! It doesn’t need all that baking soda), and simultaneously roasted the tuscan vegetables in the oven while I made a Tarragon and Lemon White Bean Gravy. I love bean gravies, I think they are one of the greatest tricks I learned for healthy vegan cooking.

I like making food like this because you can’t mess it up. This was made for a large group of people so you might want to cut the recipe back a little bit.

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds Italian Sausage
• 2 pounds ground beef
• 2 gallons whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp. gumbo file
• 1 tbsp. tabasco
• 1 cup flour
• Salt and pepper to taste

Procedure:

1. Cook the meat half way then add the flour
2. Stir in the milk then add your spices
3. Reduce mixture by a quarter
4. Add cream and serve

Enjoy,

Eric

8/7/09 – Biscuits and gravy.  Sure, its kinda strange that the sausage is a single patty, instead of crumbled up in the gravy.  But who am I to complain?  This is the sort of breakfast that I’ve been missing out on for 12 years.  I am in love with meat and white gravy atop starchy baked goods.

One of Alex’s all time favorite breakfast/ brunch food is biscuits and gravy. These can easily be converted to vegan if you like but  here is his version of the recipe- including the bacon.

Borrowed from http://www.robspain.com/, thanks

GRAVY- meat style

4 strips of bacon

1/4 C flour

1/4-1/2 C milk

Chop bacon and cook bacon until desired “doneness”, remove bacon and set aside, leaving the remaining oil in the pan. Slowly mix the flour in to the bacon grease in the pan, keeping heat very low. Add in milk until the gravy reaches the desired thickness, whisking as you add (a fork works fine for this part).

BISCUITS- Southern style (con leche)

1 C flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 C milk

pinch of salt

Makes about 6. Preheat oven to 400. Mix the dry ingredients together and then cut in the butter and then slowly pour in the milk until you get a sticky dough and then put on a lightly floured board or counter. Knead slowly for 30 seconds and then roll out to about 1/2 an inch thick and then cut out the biscuits(I use the rim of a glass that is greased with a little butter, if I don’t have a circle cookie cutter). Place the biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet and cook at 400 degrees for 12-14 minutes or until light brown.