Sausage Gravy and Biscuits (Dinner- Day 10)

As I mentioned earlier today this was a very trying day for me. When it came to dinner, I wanted something nice and comforting. I thought about making pancakes, but, seriously, I can't even flip a grilled cheese sandwich. It's a horror what I do to a pancake.

So, I thought I'd try my hand at some homemade biscuits and gravy. Biscuits and gravy have a special place in my heart. The first night I met my husband we ended up at IHOP sharing biscuits and gravy at 4 in the morning, so there's a different sort of comfort that comes to me from those teeny bits of doughy goodness. You can find the recipe I used here (or just scroll down the page). I've made homemade biscuits before so not much of a challenge there. Gravy on the other hand...

Gravy is something that comes out of a package and you add water to it. End of story. I've never tried it any other way. But, I didn't have any packaged gravy (darn challenge) so I tried my hand at homemade sausage gravy. IT WAS FANTASTIC. I'll have to make 2 batches next time the kids were literally scraping of the pan. And it's not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Trust me, if this joke of a cook can do it you can to...

Sausage Gravy

Ingredients
sausage (1 lb), milk (1/2 - 2 cups), flour (8 tbsp)


Method to the Madness

1. Brown the sausage in a pan.

2. Add flour a tbsp at a time

3. Add milk and stir constantly.
Depending on the consistency you want is how much milk you want to use.

4. Salt and pepper to your liking.

Baking Powder Biscuits

(from a 1933 Recipe

)

Ingredients:

2 cups sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
4 tablespoons butter or shortening
1/2 tsp. salt
about 3/4 cup milk

Sift Flour once, measure, add baking powder and salt, and sift again. Cut in shortening or butter. (this is where I use my hands by rubbing the butter into the flour). Add milk gradually, stirring until soft dough is formed. Turn out on slightly floured board and lightly "knead" for 30 seconds, enough to shape. Roll 1/2 inch thick and cut with 2 inch floured biscuit cutter. Bake on ungreased sheet in a 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Makes 12 biscuits. You can also make tiny tea biscuits that are only 1 1/2 inches wide with a small cutter or glass bottom. These are great served with tea, jam or honey. Makes 24.

Easy Pizza from Scratch (Dinner - Day 9)

This by far has been my most gratifying recipe to date, well, next to my Tequila Lime Chicken - but that's for another day.

Tonight we were supposed to have Taco Soup, with chicken. I really thought I was ahead of the game by cooking double portions of chicken last night. This afternoon, when I got ready to cook, the chicken was no where to be found. On my hunt for the lost chicken my 14 year old sheepishly admitted to throwing it away last night. Argh! This would have been a perfect time to open up a box of macaroni and throw on some hot dogs and call it a night. Why didn't I, you ask? Because due to this little experiment there are no boxes of macaroni or hot dogs to be found. Great. Fantastic. This little challenge is all fine and dandy when you're prepared for it, but what about when your plans get blown?

Since I already had 2 cans of diced tomatoes ready and waiting for the taco soup I thought, what the hay I'll try my hand at spaghetti sauce again. We just had that last week though, and I really hate repeating dinners. I mean, really HATE it.

So, the next option was pizza sauce.

Since I invested in a 5 lb bag of flour I assumed I was halfway there for the ingredients to make a crust. So that's just what I did. And might I say, it turned out great.

I used this recipe for sauce and I used this recipe for the crust.

I should mention that with the sauce I just pureed my two cans of tomatoes, rather than use the paste and such it called for. I followed all the other directions exactly. The sauce was so good I ended up having to shoo my big girls out of the kitchen because they were eating it straight out of the pot.

I also followed the crust recipe exactly. The crust doesn't need yeast, which was a must for me since I'm scared of yeast. Truly, there's something wrong with it. It creeps me out. Which is why I'll probably never make my own bread. Even though it did not have yeast in it, the baking powder still makes it rise nice and thick.

Method to the Madness
1. Make sauce and crust per recipes

2. Place the dough in the middle of a well greased pan or on a pizza stone, work from the middle and push towards the outside with your finger.

3. After the dough is the right thickness for you put it in the oven.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for around 20 minutes. You want the dough to lose the shiny-ness.

5. Spread sauce evenly over dough. Sprinkle with your favorite toppings.

6. Put back in the oven and heat until cheese melts.

Our toppings: Italian sausage, 1 c mozzarella cheese, and 1 c cheddar cheese (I made a second pizza and put Frank's hot wing sauce on it- it is the best pizza ever!)


I think everyone should try this at least once. It was that good.

Recipes
(in case you didn't follow the links)

Sauce:

• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
• 1 (29 ounce) can tomato puree
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, saute garlic in oil until tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until sauce reaches desired thickness. Use in Deep-Dish Sausage Pizza, Tomato Artichoke Chicken or any recipe that calls for pizza sauce. Sauce may be refrigerated for up to 1 week.

Crust:

2 1/2 c. flour
2 3/4 tsp. baking powder (if using baking soda use half and omit salt)
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil
3/4 to 1 c. water

Mix dry ingredients. add 3/4 cup water and oil. Stir until it forms a ball. If dough is stiff, add more water.

The dough will be soft, not sticky. Knead on a floured surface for 3-4 minutes.

Bake at 400°F for 15-25 minutes.

Homemade Chicken and Noodles (Dinner - Day 8)

Tonight I was going to make taco soup. Unfortunately, I had no idea how long kidney beans took to cook, so... look for them tomorrow. I resorted to homemade chicken and noodles. I decided that I was going to try my hand at my own noodles and have been putting it off. Mainly because it seemed like a lot of work. I know, I know, I am that lazy.

It was, however, one of these easiest recipes I've tried.

Ingredients
flour (around 5 - 6 cups), egg (4), water, salt, pepper, whole cut up chicken


Method to the Madness

1. Mix 1 egg with half a shell of water
2. Add flour, a half cup at a time (up to 2 cups) until stiff dough forms
3. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick (Repeat up to 4 times for a full pot of noodles)
4. Cut using a knife.
Or, if you have a super awesome grandmother like I do, you can use your noodle cutter she bought you for when you were planning on marrying "that other boy". It looks something like this:


5. Meanwhile, boil chicken until juices run clear.
6. Remove from water and let cool.
7. Skin, debone, and cut up chicken.
8. Throw back into the pot along with noodles and cook for about 20 minutes.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Voila!

**Note: If you choose to only use chicken breasts, especially skinless ones, you will need to add chicken boullion or prepared chicken broth to give it flavor. **

I normally make this using No Yolk Egg Noodles, so here's a break down of the difference

Homemade Noodles vs No Yolk Egg Noodles

Homemade Noodles (68 grams)
Calories: 168 Fat: 1.6 g


No Yolk Egg Noodles
Calories: 210 Fat: .5 g

Not enough of a difference as far as nutitional value and ingredients to really warrant making a change. However, the homemade taste of the noodles surpassed the packaged one hands down.

Hamburgers and Fries - (Dinner - Day 7)

My husband was home for dinner tonight which is always a treat. It means I don't have to cook and it's most likely going to be something on a grill. I love grilled food. Unfortunately, it also means I get to update my blog while dinner's being cooked and miss my photo op. You know what a hamburger looks like, so I don't think we really need visual effects anyway.

We made home fries to go with the hamburger. And, well, whether they're out of the frozen food section or you peel them yourself (or have your 14 year old do it, in my case) any time you dump something into a hot vat of oil, it's pretty much lost any nutritional value. But, I did cut back on the amount of fries each kid could have. Baby steps, remember.

At home 1/4 lb Burger vs McDonald's Quarter Pounder

At home Burger
Nutritional Information: Calories - 470 Fat: 27 g


McDonald's
Nutritional Information: Calories - 510 Fat: 26 g

The ingredients are pretty much the same but I must point out that McDonald's quarter pounder has 1.5 g of trans fat which is extremely unhealthy for you.

** at home burger info found at sparkpeople.com**

Fajitas - (Dinner Day 4)

My husband made wonderful fajitas from flank steak. I took a lot of nice pictures of them. Unfortunately, the memory card wasn't in the camera and I don't know how to get to the pictures. So, let's pretend they looked something like this...



There is nothing generally unhealthy about a fajita. The unhealthy comes from the things you top your fajita with. Sour cream, guacamole, queso... you get the picture. We served our fajitas with lettuce and tomato only (with much complaining - my kiddos like their sour cream) and peppers. To counteract the dryness of the fajita I put on a little salsa.

Ingredients

2 lb flank steak, limes (at least 2), cumin, beer (any cheap kind will do - you don't need a lot)
bell peppers and onions

Method to the Madness

1. Marinate steak in beer with lime juice, overnight or for at least 2 hours.

2. Slice onions and bell peppers into 1 inch slivers.

3. Saute.

4. Cook steak on open top griddle or on an outdoor grill.

5. Cook for about 10 minutes (flank steak is really thin).

6. Slice against the grain of the meat and add peppers and onions to the grill.

7. Cook for another 1 -2 minutes

8. Pour yourself a margarita and enjoy.

Possible side dishes are spanish rice or charro beans. We had fresh salsa and chips.

"Da Bomb" Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches (Dinner - Day 3)

Thursday nights are busy around here. Thursday nights are softball and karate nights. Thursday nights make me wish I were on a Hawaiian island somewhere just me and my cabana boy...

Needless to say, Thursday night call for quick and easy meals. Meals that could, if need be, be eaten, say, in the car when you're running 15 minutes behind schedule.

I originally wanted to make a plain barbecue sandwich. You know, with nice fatty pieces of red meat. But, I had chicken. So, I made Barbecue chicken sandwiches. It was really simple and we were all pleasantly surprised by the result. (My middle kiddo, K, is currently licking the bowl).

Here's what you need.

Ingredients
(makes 8 sandwiches)

3 chicken breasts, Barbecue sauce, buns (I used whole grain white wheat)
** You can make your own barbecue sauce, I didn't, but you could.
**** If you buy barbecue sauce, make sure that it does not contain HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP ****

Method to the Madness


1. Boil chicken until water is almost completely evaporated, should take about 30 minutes.

2. Brown the chicken slightly in the pot.

3. Use a fork and scrape the chicken. This will shred it.
(Believe it or not I had to Google how to shred chicken, shameful I know)

4. Add barbecue sauce and put on a bun.

I had intended on making homemade potato chips that I learned from my pal Jamie. However, we ran out of time (did I mention Thursdays are busy). So, I was really glad I had this healthy alternative on hand.
They are the best chips around. And the only tortilla chip I can stand without salsa.

Spaghetti with Homemade Meat Sauce (Dinner - Day 2)

When I first had this idea to go "boxless" homemade spaghetti sauce was the first thing on my list I wanted to try. I looked over the Internet and found none that suited my fancy (I have a very weird fancy).

So I combined a lot of fabulous ideas and came up with this. I have to warn you, this sauce did not turn out "pretty", it was not "to die for" or "the best sauce I've ever had" but it was passable. There are a lot of things you could do to change it to your own fancy.

Ingredients
20 Roma tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 1 head of garlic, various spices (rosemary, basil and oregano were my choices), red pepper flakes, Kosher salt, pepper, and sugar

All amounts are at your discretion. Only you know what you like. Start by adding a little and taste, taste, taste until it's how you want it.

I also wanted to use red wine, but since I can't seem to keep a bottle around I used cooking sherry
(not a great substitute)

Italian sausage
( I prefer the mild variety but when your making your own you can do what you want)

Method to the Madness

1. You have to peel the tomatoes.
I read many an article on it, got frustrated, and did my own thing. It worked out great. I'll tell you how at the end of the post.

2. Chop onion and peel garlic.
(I left my cloves whole, but that's mainly because I don't like crunchy spaghetti - I pick the cloves out at the end).

3. Chop up herbs if you are using fresh ones.

4. Add a little olive oil to a skillet and heat.

5. Dump veggies in the skillet cook until they are tender and brown.

6. Put tomatoes into large stock pot and add liquid (wine, cooking sherry, tequila- whatever you have lying around). Use very little. The tomatoes are very juicy.


7. Add skillet contents and herbs to the pot.

8. Cook on medium heat.

9. Bring to a boil and let some of the liquid "cook out".

10. Add salt and pepper. Taste. Add more salt and pepper. Taste. (you get the idea)

11. If it tastes too tomato-y add a smidgen of sugar, that will cut the tomato taste a little.

12. Continue to simmer while you cook the sausage.
And, as a friend of mine's mom in law likes to point out, be sure and cook the pork all the way through.

Really?
Who likes pork medium well?



13. Add sausage to the pot. Continue to cook on low until desired consistency.

And while you are doing all that... you need to cook some spaghetti. We used whole wheat linguine noodles, but this sauce would work well with pretty much any noodle.

"You're a noodle". "That's what she said said"

I digress, anyway...



Peeling Tomatoes for Dummies
(present company included)

- Boil water
- put tomatoes in boiling water
- boil for around 30 seconds (you can see the peel beginning to come of)
- place tomatoes into ice bath (bowl of water with ice)
- wait until cool and skins will slip right of
- cut tomatoes in half, squeeze out the juicy insides (to discard) and throw into pot
Easy, cheesy.

As I said, there are many ways to make this your own. Add mushrooms, bell peppers, olives, the list is endless. It also freezes very well (I've heard) so you can make a big batch and have some for later.

BTW: This recipe made just barely enough for seven. It would generously feed 4-5.

Oven Roasted Chicken - (Dinner, Day 1)

Let me preface this by saying I have never, never, ever, ever cooked a whole chicken in the oven. I cooked one in a crockpot- once. That's it. Needless to say the task was daunting but I wanted to try it. So, I scoured the internet and found the easiest recipe possible and then modified it to make it even easier. This is the basics of the recipe:

Ingredients:

Large lemon (1), fresh thyme (around 20 sprigs), whole garlic (1), kosher salt (to taste), pepper (to taste), butter (2-3 tbsp), and a yellow onion



(oh, yeah a chicken- mine was around 5 pounds)

The Method to the Madness:

(Heat oven to 425 degrees- I know, trust me)

1. Pull all of the yucky stuff from the inside of the chicken.

2. Slice onions into large rings. Slice garlic and lemon in half.

3. Line the bottom of the pot with onions and a few sprigs of thyme.

4. Sprinkle salt and pepper into the chicken.

5. Stuff chicken with lemon halves, garlic halves, and the rest of the thyme.

6. Melt butter and rub on chicken.

7. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

8. Cover chicken and put into the oven.

9. Drink a margarita and wait about 1 1/2 hours for the chicken to reach perfection.

10. Chicken is done. (Internal temperature should be 185 degrees. However, since I'm an overachiever I let mine get to 190 degrees.)

The chicken fell off the bone as I tried to carve it! Oh, and that sweet, sweet lemony garlic aroma is worth every minute of it.
I served this with garlic potatoes and green beans. You can find both recipes under sides on this blog.