Biscuits & Gravy, Sausage-Free

Back in college there was always a couple of reasons I loved Fridays: (1) It was Friday.  Obvious reason to love it.  (2) I usually had an easier schedule than the other days.  And (3) Biscuits and gravy were guaranteed to be at the caf.

The last was definitely the best reason to look forward to Fridays.

Today is no Friday, it's a Monday.  Boo.  But why not bring a little bit of Friday to your Monday?

I am not a big fan of sausage unless it is chicken sausage, and I didn't really think chicken would be the best in this. I bet you can agree with me.  So I went with a basic country gravy.  And although I can make a mean biscuit, who has time for that today?  Not me.  Instant biscuits from Trader Joe's worked just fine.  Monday, remember?

I know, making gravy is easy.  But for me it is a new experience, and one I am quite proud of.  As I was walking through the grocery store yesterday I almost bought one of those insta-packs.  Almost.  They are so easy, and it only cost 88cents... but then I thought, "Why not make some yourself?"

One more thing I can make from scratch.  And so can you!
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Country-Style Gravy with no Sausage

INGREDIENTS

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon chicken bullion
• 2 cups milk
• salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add flour and whisk together to make a roux. 
2. Add chicken bullion and whisk.  Then, add milk all at once, stirring continually.
3. Continue to stir continually until mixture begins to boil.  Once it is boiling stir for 3-5 minutes more, until it starts to get thick.  Remove from heat and add salt/pepper to taste.  Serve over biscuits while still warm.

   COST: $1.08       

Garlic+Cilantro+Gouda Biscuits

Got up, went to work, felt icky, took my temperature, turned around, and headed back home.

TV, books, blankets, tissue, naps... all of those sound good but don't let it fool you.  Sick days suck.

Except when you have the stupidly brilliant (or maybe just stupid) plan to make biscuits because driving one mile to the store to buy bread just sounds like too much work.  And for some reason I forgot that making biscuits is not whipping up brownie mix...

I took Joy the Baker's jalapeno, cheddar, and chive recipe and looked in the fridge.  No cheddar, but I had Gouda.  No chives but I had cilantro.  And no jalapenos, but garlic might just give enough kick, right?

RIGHT.

Worn out, tired, messy, achy, cranky, and temperature warming up... dropped on the couch with a plate of these in my hands.

Totally worth it.

Sick days suck. But these biscuits more than made up for that.

GARLIC, CILANTRO, and GOUDA BISCUITS

Recipe adapted from Joy the Baker

ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 4½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup of milk + 1 teaspoon of white vinegar mixed to make buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped small
• ½ cup Gouda, cubed
• 1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
• Coarse sea salt for topping

directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 of the milk combo and egg. In another small bowl, toss garlic, cilantro, and Gouda together.

3. Add the butter to the flour mixture and use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until the flour resembles coarse meal.  

4. Ad the garlic mixture and mix until well coated.  Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk and egg mixture all at once. Toss together with a fork, making sure that all of the flour bits are moistened by the buttermilk. Dump the biscuit dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly, just enough to bring the dough together.

5. Pat the dough until about 1 inch thick.  Cut the dough into 2 inch squares. Gather the dough scrapes, pat into a new circle and cut more squares. Repeat until all of the dough has been used.  (You can use a round biscuit cutter if you are fancy like that.)

6. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheets, brush the tops with buttermilk and sprinkle them with the sea salt. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top. If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. You can eat them straight from there the next day, or reheat in a 350-degree oven until warmed through.

 COST: $4.89           COST PER SERVING (12): $0.41

*Yes, you might have seen these pictures before.  Like I said, I was sick.  I think it is a good excuse to recycle ;)

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His and Hers: The tale of two biscuits

This week's Sundays with Joy recipe was jalapeno, chive, and cheddar biscuits.  I like cheddar and chives, but I am a little afraid of jalapenos.  Probably stems from the time my best friend and I decided that we were Native Americans and needed to go hunting and gathering... in our neighbors yard.  Picked up some good stuff, too.  Except for the jalapeno.  Darn thing was hot, made us cry, and then we rubbed our eyes with our jalapeno-juice-smeared hands.  Now the tears were really falling, and our noses were runny, and of course we tried to rub the snot away... with those same jalapeno-juice-smeared hands.

Let's just say I never went "gathering" in someone else's yard since.

Or let a jalapeno get anywhere near me.

But I decided I would be bold.  I heard, from Joy the Baker herself (the source of this recipe), that if you take out the seeds the jalapeno isn't that hot.  So bold I did.  And I had some jalapeno, chive, and cheddar biscuits.

You know what?  I can do jalapeno in biscuits!  I was just really cautious as I was take out the seeds... there was no accidentally touching my eyes at that moment.  No sirree, I learned that lesson years ago.

My husband, on the other hand, said, "NO WAY!"  He is a hater of all things spicy and is actually allergic to some peppers, so he was not even willing to attempt being bold with me.  When I asked him what we wanted instead he thought about it and then settled on kale.  He wanted kale biscuits.

Different.

But whatever.  Different can be done.  Besides, I still had my yummy biscuits all to myself anyway ;)

Since I was putting kale in there, a favorite Brazilian veggie, I threw in some other favorite Brazilian items: mozzarella and red bell pepper.  And some cheddar as well, because cheddar tastes amazing and everyone should eat it every chance they get, Brazilian men included.

What did we discover?  Kale biscuits -- they sound weird, but they taste GOOD.

You know, I believe in that whole 'what's your is mine and mine is yours' mantra in regards to marriage.  Except for these biscuits.  Both were great, but I guarded mine and he guarded his.  I guess we can say, once again, Joy's recipe was a success.  And so was mine.  SCORE!

For the jalapeno biscuit recipe, get yourself a copy of Joy's fabulous book.  

For the kale biscuit recipe, here you go:

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
4½ teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon cream of tartar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup of milk + 1 teaspoon of white vinegar mixed to make buttermilk
1 egg
1/2 of a red bell pepper, diced
1 large handful of kale, chopped small
olive oil
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup cubed cheddar cheese
1 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
Coarse sea salt for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with tin foil.

2.  In skillet over medium heat. saute kale in small amount of olive oil until just tender, about 3 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 of the milk combo and egg. In another small bowl, toss together the kale, cheeses, and bell pepper.

3. Add the butter to the flour mixture and use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until the flour resembles coarse meal.  

4. Toss the kale mixture into the flour mixture. Create a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the milk and egg mixture all at once. Toss together with a fork, making sure that all of the flour bits are moistened by the buttermilk. Dump the biscuit dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly, just enough to bring the dough together.

5. Pat the dough until about 1 inch thick.  Cut the dough into 2 inch squares. Gather the dough scrapes, pat into a new circle and cut more squares. Repeat until all of the dough has been used.  (You can use a round biscuit cutter if you are fancy like that.)

6. Place the biscuits on the prepared baking sheets, brush the tops with buttermilk and sprinkle them with the sea salt. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown on top. If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. You can eat them straight from there the next day, or reheat in a 350-degree oven until warmed through.

COST: $4.89   Cost per biscuit (12): $0.41