Two Happy Bellies

Sausage Gravy for Biscuits

I remember the first time Aaron's family introduced me to biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I thought it should be sinful that something could taste so wonderful. I decided that I needed to make this a special occasion breakfast only and I do not order them in restaurants. That way I wouldn't waste the calories on bad food. Especially as every time Aaron does, he complains they are not as good as his Mom's. I have discovered that if I get them in KY or in Memphis, both sides of the family do make good biscuits and gravy. And for some reason, knowing that made me do something crazy. I decided to make my own while my family was out here visiting. Aaron thought I was nuts and decided he needed to help. I was fairly insistent that I wanted to make the gravy so if he was going to help, he could make the biscuits and that is what happened. I don't actually have his biscuit recipe at hand so he can share that later, however below is what I did for the Sausage Gravy . . .

• 1 lb. ground pork sausage (ours was from our CSA)
• 3 T. bacon grease
• 1/4 C. all-purpose flour
• 3 C. milk
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1/4 t. fresh ground black pepper

1. Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Set sausage aside, leaving the drippings in the skillet.
2. Mix bacon grease into the sausage drippings. Reduce heat to medium, combine with flour, and stir constantly until mixture just turns golded brown.
3. Gradually whisk milk into skillet. When mixture is smooth, thickened, and begins to bubble, return the sausage to skillet. Season with salt and pepper, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. Serve over homemade biscuits.

Aaron never actually said how mine compared to his family's . . . however I do know this was better than any bites I've stolen from his plate in restaurants. So I'm feeling pretty good about my gravy. I'm definitely not going to be making it that often though. My arteries can't handle it!

 

 

Cowboy Beans

One of our favorite sides to go with Sloppy Joes are what Aaron has nicknamed Cowboy Beans. I can't find that I've ever shared this recipe so here you go:

• 15 1/2 oz. can no salt added pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 T. brown sugar
• 2 T. dried onion flakes
• 1/4 C. barbecue sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Uncover and cook 5 minutes. Serve.

Makes four 3/4 C. servings.

And it doesn't get much easier than this . . . (we had it with sweet potato fries as well, yum!)

Valentine's Day 2012 Part 2

And now I'm going to talk about the Brussels Sprouts. Aaron and I love fresh Brussels Sprouts roasted and we decided to try them sauteed (we won't talk about those frozen things you can cook and eat - we think they are a travesty!). While my parents (who were with us for Valentine's Day) thought they did not like Brussels Sprouts, we did manage to convince my mother they can be tasty. My father, well he tried them as he always made me try things as a child. But he is still not a fan. So glad I had also made a (tasty little) salad (that I must blog about someday - the dressing is amazing!) to go with dinner that night.

• 1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed, and cut in half
• 2 slices thick-cut bacon, cut into lardons
• 1 sweet onion, chopped
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and cored and diced
• 2 sprigs thyme, leaves chopped
• 1 T. chopped fesh flat-leaf parsley
• coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the Brussels sprouts, and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, roughly 6 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium and add the onion. Saute until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the apple and thyme, then cook, stirring occasionally, until the apple is golden brown, about 3 minutes. Add the Brussels sprouts and toss to combine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

My only problem with Brussels sprouts? How long it takes to type them, spelling correctly. I'd abbreviate - but that wouldn't look too nice now would it? I'm so happy I've won over my mother with this recipe. Thanks (once again) to friend Allison for making me Brussels sprouts (thus convincing me to try them in the first place).

Valentine's Day 2012 Part 1

I'm only a few (um ten?) days behind here . . .

For Valentine's Day this year, Aaron cooked up some lovely cuts of beef and we served Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Apples and Bacon from Basic To Brilliant, Y'All (9781607740094) by Virginia Willis and Baked Risotto from The Newlywed Cookbook (9780811876834) by Sarah Copeland. Tonight I'm going to talk about the Baked Risotto . . .

Friend Katrina over at Foodie Friday often talks about risotto and I've been wanting to try it for quite a while, not really sure why I hadn't before but neither Aaron nor I remember having it until our Sunday Food Fun Adventure. However that was a traditional cook and stir on the stovetop for over an hour risotto. While I'm willing to do that on occasion, it does not make for an easy weeknight dinner no matter how special you want it to be. While flipping through various cookbooks looking for interesting side dishes to go with our beef, I came across this Baked Risotto recipe in a cookbook we had never used and we decided to try it. Are we ever glad we did! While we will probably make other more traditional and/or adventurous risottos going forward, now that we know how much we enjoy them, this was a great introduction into making our first one.

• 1 T. EVOO
• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 3/4 C. Arborio rice
• 1/4 C. dry white wine
• 2 - 2 1/4 C. hot water, chicken broth, or mix (we used homemade chicken stock)
• 3/4 t. kosher salt
• pinch fresh ground black pepper
• 1 - 2 T. unsalted butter
• 1/4 C. freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, plus more for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it is soft and translucent (about 3 minutes). Add the rice and stir to coat with oil. Stir in the wine and cook until the wine has evaporated, about 1 minute. Stir in the 2 cups of liquid, salt, and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover and transfer to the oven. Bake for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, check the risotto. Most of the liquid should be absorbed and the rice just done. Remove from oven and stir in 1/2 C hot water (I think we forgot this and I didn't even notice until just now as I type this), the butter, and the 1/4 C. of cheese. Serve with thin shavings of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

My only regret is not creating prettier shavings of the cheese for serving. Pretend those look nicer for me, k? Thanks!

Linking up to Foodie Friday . . . thanks for the inspiration Katrina!

the Great American Root Beer Taste Test

We really like root beer in this family so my brother picked up a sampler pack over at World Market and organized a taste test.

As you can see, we have Bulldog, Red Arrow, Dad's, Frostie, and Americano. Each of us took a turn sampling them in a blind taste test and scored them from 1 to 100. Our overall ranking turned out to be:

• Bulldog won best of four out of five times (and was second choice the only time it did not win).
• Red Arrow was the second most favorited.
• Frostie was third choice.
• Dad's (which is always my go-to speciality root beer) took fourth.
• Americano was last.

Luckily we didn't dislike any of the options so they have all been happily drunk. And now we are all on the lookout for more Bulldog root beer.

Fruit Salad for 70

For last Saturday's tea, we also made a fruit salad. Aaron found an easy recipe from Ellie Krieger on The Food Network for Radiance Fruit Salad and when we found all of the fruit at Sam's Club in large quantities we decided to try it. Because her recipe "serves six" and we were expecting 70+, we multiplied everything by 12. Big mistake. We have TONS of leftovers. (Of course we have tons of leftovers of everything made - I think we overestimated how much people would eat?) Luckily this was a tasty mistake as we are enjoying some of the leftovers and fed many others on them as well. For something light tasty and a bit different for your next fruit salad need, try this one.

Salad

• 2 C. chopped melon (she says cantaloupe, we actually had honeydew)
• 3 C. hulled and quartered strawberries, about 16 oz.
• 2 1/2 C. kiwis, chopped and peeled (about 5 medium)

Dressing

• 3 T. honey
• 3 T. fresh lime juice
• 1 t. lime zest
• 3 T. finely chopped mint leaves (we left this one out)

Place all of the fruit in a large bowl. In a small bowl whisk together salad ingredients. Right before serving, dress the salad.

As I said, we left the mint out. This was partially because we were multiplying the recipe by 12 and I couldn't fathom purchasing that much fresh mint in the middle of February. However, I really enjoyed the salad with just the honey lime dressing and am not sure I would have liked it as much with mint. I will be good and try it that way sometime, because I am curious. I won't be surprised though if I decide I like it this way better.

Linking over to Foodie Friday.

Games Day Goodies - Pork Emapanadas

Last Sunday (2/5/12) was the big game day and had the Giants beating the Patriots much to the shagrin of the host party house. My yankee friends were really hoping for a Pats victory. I had so much fun with the German Style Pretzels from last year I had to do something new to top that this year. Thinking back to October when the pork carnitas turned out so well I have been craving making another batch of that crock-pot meat goodness so the idea of doing pork empanadas dawned on me. I did not really want to fry them so I looked online and found this recipe for some baked empanadas.

Saturday I followed the recipe for the pork carnitas meat in the crock-pot but with a HOT addition. I added ONE habanero pepper to the crock-pot. My plan was to fish out the pepper in the end just like with the bay leaf but in the cooking process the pepper totally disolved. The result was a slight zing. Very mild. Just a hint that it was there. Maybe next time I will add two peppers? Once the meat was finished cooking I let it cool, shredded it and saved for Sunday. Here we have the Goya brand empanada discs and the meat. 

Next Tracy helped me by chopping some of the meat for easy scooping into tablespoon portions.

Then we added two tablespoons of meat to the emapanada pastry inside this Pampered Chef Empanada Maker. Side note - I like this gadget. Tracy wants to use it to make fruit empanadas some time in the future.

And give it a good firm pressing to seal it shut.

Now we have some ready for the oven.

Here is how they turned out baked and ready to eat.

Wait! What is that pink stuff in the bowl you ask? I also wanted to serve the empanadas with the Pickled Red Onions by Rick Bayless.

The verdict- The Goya Brand empanada pastry for this recipe is not so good for baking. We have decided that they are really more designed to be fried. The filling was wonderful so no complaints there. I bought three packages of empanada discs and used a 4 lb pork roast so we ended up making 30 empanadas and has some meat left over. Several of the unbaked empanadas went into the freezer and in the days since we have thawed and cooked them up. They freeze well and are great for a quick lunch or dinner. I think next time we will make our own empanada dough.

Devonshire Cream

Yes I promised this one yesterday however I was exhausted by the time I got home from the tea (I was there from 10 AM until 6 PM) and couldn't fathom doing anything more. I have also decided it is very hard to get good pictures of white fluffy tasty cream. The below is as good as I got!

I made two batches of about 3 cups each. While I have used the below recipe for many years (found it in some tea party cookbook from a now out of business tea shop - one of those stapled no official ISBN ones), I do see the same recipe on joyofbaking.com where I got my scones recipe I shared on Friday in a smaller quantity. I have made this is "halves" or even "one-eighth" before when I wanted only a little bit. I've never doubled it as it would just take too long to beat.

• 8 oz. mascarpone
• 2 C. heavy whipping cream
• 2 t. vanilla extract
• 3 T. granulated white sugar
• zest of lemon or lime (optional)

Place all ingredients in a large (preferably chilled metal bowl) and beat until the mixture holds its shape. This takes me about 13 minutes with my hand mixer and the result is the light puffy clouds you can (maybe?) see above. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until time.

We served that tasty goodness on our heart shaped scones and everyone had happy bellies.

Hope you enjoyed this little snapshot into teatime.

Cream Scones

I volunteered to make food for a ladies' tea tomorrow at church. I bit off more than I could chew. Luckily happy belly #1 (aka as Aaron) volunteered to make me look good. One of our items is Cream Scones and we were inspired by the ones made by Stephanie of joyofbaking.com (she even has a video). If you have not checked out her website, it is chock full of goodies. I definitely plan to do more exploring there!

We needed to make a lot of scones so eight batches of dough later we are starting to think we have enough?

• 10 oz. all-purpose flour (yes we weighed it out)
• 1/4 C. sugar
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1/4 t. salt (if using unsalted butter, if your butter is salted, no salt!)
• 1/3 C. cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 t. pure vanilla
• 1/2 C. half-and-half or heavy cream (we ran out of one and switched to the other)

In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt (yes you see our butter in a large lump - deal with it!). We were making four batches at a time in separate bowls, hence the ingredients just dumped in to begin with.

Cut the butter in however you wish . . . we used a pastry cutter.

Next, we have our egg and vanilla . . .

which we added to our half-and-half.

We added this to the dry and mixed just until everything was incorporated (doesn't Aaron make a lovely hand model?)

Then we patted and rolled them out and cut the dough into heart shapes (yes, I didn't take a photo of that)

brushed them with cream and sprinkled sugar on some of them. Fresh from the oven they look like this:

And below you see some from our first test batch last weekend, complete with lemon curd (purchased) and devon cream (homemade - the easy kind).

The above really does not tell you HOW to make these scones. I suggest you go to the website listed at the top and watch the video while reading her recipe to get a good feel for making your own. However I do hope the pictures help with some of the various steps and I will post the devon cream recipe tomorrow. 250+ scones later, we're tired!

Updated to add: linked over to Foodie Friday I said I was tired . . .

Kyle’s Roasted Veggies

This is the last post related to the Sunday Food Fun with Friends, I think. Kyle said she made up the recipe for the roasted veggies kinda on the fly. Here is the recipe she sent us…

2 medium zucchini squash
3 small yellow squash
2 medium eggplant
2 medium red onions
3-4 shallots
1 tbsp. finely chopped garlic

Cut squash and eggplant into about 1-inch cubes (do not peel). Cut onions and shallots into wedges. Combine 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil with 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Add 2 teaspoons of salt and 1 teaspoon of ground pepper. Place all veggies in roasting pan and pour oil and vinegar mixture over them. Stir to cover. Bake in preheated 400 F oven for about 30 to 40 minutes until tender and starting to brown.
We roasted the veggies at the same time as the Pork Masterpiece and it did just fine. I was actually going to post this recipe this week anyway but Kyle got to feeling really bad at church yesterdaya and had to leave. She is in our prayers for a speedy recovery and for everything to be okay. Get well soon Kyle!