Fruitful Fridays - Biscuits and Gravy

I am a huge fan of "Breakfast for Dinner Nights". One of my favorite dishes to make is Biscuits and Gravy. This dish is so easy and quick, too!

For those of you that need an exact ingredient amount, you might want to skip reading how I make this. I never measure for this recipe, so I'll give you a link that sounds about right to me, though I've never tried it.

Gravy:

1 lb. Breakfast Sausage

Flour

Milk

Salt

Pepper

When I make Biscuits and Gravy I like to use 1 pound of breakfast sausage (did I mention this is not a low-fat dish???) and brown it in a large skillet. Then I stir in about 2-4 heaping tablespoons of flour. Once all of the flour is absorbed, I stir in about 2-4 more scoops of flour. I like to add a lot of flour because I like my gravy really thick. If you prefer a thinner gravy, go easy on the flour. Once all my flour is stirred in, I let it simmer on medium for about 3-4 minutes, lightly cooking the flour. Lowering heat, I begin adding milk slowly. I add just enough to stir in to and make a thick paste. I continue to add milk and then stop to stir. I do this until it is a little thinner than I want it to be. Allow it to simmer on low for a few minutes to and it will thicken.

For Biscuits, I use several options. The simplest version is a piece of toast. My mom would make this and call it S.O.S. ('stuff' on a shingle ;-). Next option is a tube of biscuits baked in the oven. If I want to make biscuits from scratch, they're not that difficult. Here's a recipe I use:

Biscuits:

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

5 tbsp vegetable shorting

1 cup buttermilk (or regular milk if I'm in a pinch)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix dry ingredients and cut in the shortening. Add milk slowly forming a rough dough. Do not "over" kneed. Roll out and cut into biscuits or dollop mounds on to a baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy!