Free Recipe Friday. . . Good Gravy!

Ahh, who wants to go camping?!?

This week on Free Recipe Friday 

we're gonna take a virtual camping trip.

With this amazing fall weather upon us,

it's making us dream of being on a campsite somewhere!

Today's post is a recipe that is a tradition

 for our family on every camping trip.

It is Sausage Gravy.

Ahh, did you hear that???

I think I heard some angels singing or something!

Oh, you didn't hear anything???

Well then, I guess you haven't had

the same Sausage Gravy that WE have had! ;) 

It is also routinely made in the Taylor household

once or twice a month for our big Saturday breakfasts.

So, with camping on our mind,

 it was only fitting to have THE finest Sausage Gravy maker

in the whole United States

to share with us his gravy makin' skills!

A man that takes Sausage Gravy makin'

pretty seriously!

So, let me introduce to you,

the one, the only,

James Taylor! (isn't he cute?)

Ok, here goes...

Get a whisk---

Fry up some ground sausage in an iron skillet

(cheap stuff works well cause its greasy)

(use a wad about the size of a baseball - more if you like).

Chop it up as it cooks into little crumbles.

I usually add a "little" bacon grease at this point but that's me.

Once it's cooked, turn the heat down to medium

and sprinkle in some all purpose flour

until all the crumbles are coated - stirring all the time.

Don't add so much flour that you make a doughy mess.

Just enough that all the sausage crumbles

are coated and the flour is wet with piggy grease.

Now for the tricky part.

Get the whisk-

Fill a small glass with milk

and another larger glass with tap water.

Pour the milk into the sausage first -

slowly while stirring so the sausage doesn't cool off too much.

It'll look all lumpy but don't stop stirring with the whisk.

Now slowly start pouring in the water

a little at a time while your whisking what looks like cement

and your arm starts crampin'. 

You want the gravy to look like smooth pudding

but that comes later. The whisk is the key.

Whisk whisk whisk.

Stir stir stir until it's smooth.

If it's too thick, just add a little more water

and stir stir stir till the water is blended in

and the gravy is smoooooth.

Let it cook for a few minutes while stirring

so the flour doesn't taste raw.

Add salt and black pepper to taste

toward the end as you stir stir stir.

Once it looks all smoooth like pudding

you can turn the heat down to simmer

and wait on the biscuits that you got cookin' to be done.

Great on biscuits or even toast.

Mom used to dip cat poop in it. It's THAT good.

Enjoy,

James

A special thanks to my sweet hubby
for sharing with us this week.
He makes gravy like no other!
Listed below are the things you will need
to make gravy for yourself or your family.
Hope you'll try it real soon!

INGREDIENTS/TOOLS NEEDED

Seasoned Iron Skillet (or other large saute pan)

Whisk

1/2 lb. of pork sausage (or a 'wad')

Extra fat if needed (bacon grease or veggie oil)

Flour (appx. 1/2 cup)

Milk (appx. 1 cup)

Water as needed (usually 2-3 cups, maybe more)

Salt/Pepper to taste

Biscuits or Toast

Now our great family secret recipe is out.

All you have to do is decipher it!

No problem, right?!?

ENJOY!



Free Recipe Friday. . .Cheese Truffles!

Welcome back to Free Recipe Friday!
Enjoyin' the cooler temps????
Who doesn't love fall???!?
The weather, the colors and the flavors are so nice aren't they!?
It reminds me of our daughter's wedding...

which was on a beautiful fall day in November.

That day was almost one year ago...EEK...

where does the time go???

So, as we reflect back on that momentious occasion

 we will spotlight some yummy goodness from that day...

an easy cheesey treat that you can whip up in a flash.

Cheese Truffles!

They are quite delicious AND a pretty impressive little appetizer -

what more could you ask for!?!

Our menu was indeed a fall menu that day...
Irish Beef Stew, an Autumn Salad with
mixed greens, apples, walnuts and bleu cheese -
a bazillion assorted homemade muffins,

made by my amazing muffin makin' sisters...

assorted crackers...and these heavenly delights...

CHEESE TRUFFLES!

They consist of just a very few ingredients,

are easy peasy to make AND can be made up ahead of time!

So here goes....

FETA CHEESE TRUFFLE INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used 6 oz.)

1 (4-oz.) container crumbled feta cheese

2 tsp. finely chopped onion

1/2-1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

This recipe made 23 bite size cheese truffles for us!

WHAT TO DO:

Beat first 5 ingredients at medium speed of an electric mixer

until well combined.

Cover tightly and chill at least 1 hour or until firm.

You can store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days!

Roll cheese mixture into 3/4 inch round balls.

Roll each ball in chopped parsley or bacon crumbles.

Either serve immediately or cover and chill until ready to serve.

If chilled, let stand 30 minutes before serving.

VARIATIONS:

Gorgonzola Truffles:

Substitute 1 (4-oz.) container crumbled Gorgonzola (bleu) cheese

for the Feta cheese and use 1/2-1 cup cooked and crumbled bacon

for the chopped parsley.

Goat Cheese Truffles:

Substitute 1 (4-oz.) container crumbled Goat cheese

for Feta and 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans

for the chopped parsley.

Maid of Honor Shelby, making up a ton of assorted truffles

on Melody's wedding day!

The wedding 'party'

The love birds, Jason & Melody!

Free Recipe Friday. . .Fried Goat Cheese!

Ever tried it? Goat cheese that is...yum!!! 

Just ignore that part about it

being made from the milk of a goat if

it freaks you out a little.

Goat cheese is an amazing cheese.

It is more of a dry, crumbly cheese,

so by frying it quickly, it won’t melt and ooze all over as it cooks.

And as we all know, goat's milk

 is easier to digest for those who have a low tolerance for cow's milk.

Wikipedia states that goat cheese has been made for thousands of years

and was probably one of the earliest made dairy products.

It also says that the west (that's us)

has popularized the cow, but that goat milk and goat cheese

are the preferred dairy products in much of the rest of the world.

And it is delicious - you should try it!

For this evenings Free Recipe Friday

we will pay homage to our great friend, goat cheese.

Let's fry it up!

Fried stuff puts a smile on most everyones face! :)

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

Panko breadcrumbs - readily available these days

Goat Cheese - sadly, not too many varieties available around here

Panko breadcrumbs with other spices

eggs and flour used for dredging

Ohhh, and some olive oil to fry these babies up in!

THE INGREDIENTS/MEASUREMENTS

6 oz. goat cheese log

1 cup panko bread crumbs

1 tsp. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. granulated garlic

1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

pinch of kosher salt

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup of flour

olive oil

WHAT TO DO

Chill the cheese!

Pop the whole package in the freezer for approx. 15 minutes.

While your cheese is chillin'

grab the rest of your ingredients

for the dredge.

Put the panko in a medium-sized bowl.

(substitute white breadcrumbs in a pinch

but the crunch won't be the same)

Add the parsley, granulated garlic/garlic powder,

ground pepper, and kosher salt.

Stir to combine well.

In a seperate little bowl,

crack the eggs and beat them.

Put the flour on a plate or in a shallow bowl.

Remove your goat cheese from the freezer

and carefully slice the log into 1/2 inch slices.

Wiping your knife clean after each slice.

You can also use unflavored dental floss

for easy slicing!

Put the cheese in the flour. Flip it gently to coat on both sides.

Drop the floured cheese into the beaten egg.

Flip it gently to coat with egg on both sides.

Lastly, put it into the seasoned panko breadcrumbs.

Flip it to coat on both sides.

Repeat with the rest of the cheese,

setting aside onto waxed paper or a cookie sheet.

You can do this an hour or more ahead of time if need be

and just keep refrigerated.

Now, here comes the fun part.

Put a little olive oil in a nonstick pan.

Use just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.

Gently grab your little coated goat cheeses

and place them into your pan and fry over medium heat.

Watch closely as they will brown very quickly.

Flip each one over and gently brown on the other side.

Remember not to overcrowd your pan.

A crowded pan means your food will almost steam,

instead of fry,

and you’ll wind up with soggy cheese….

and nobody wants that!

Remove and drain on a paper towel

as they become golden.

Let them rest a bit before consuming

or the lava hotness will dissolve your taste buds.

Now sit back and watch them disappear!!!

These are great to eat alongside a salad

with some great bread, to serve at brunch

or eat cold for breakfast :)

These are amazing anytime, day or night!

Free Recipe Friday. . .BACONNN!!!

Have you ever had those cheeeesy biscuits from Red Lobster???

Yea well, you will want to throw those in the trash

after you try THESE Cheddar-Bacon Biscuits...

thank you William-Sonoma! 

One of my FAV stores/catalogs in the whole world!!!!

You should make these for breakfast,

you should make these for lunch

and if you make them right now,

everyone will love you a whole bunch!

So, today's Free Recipe Friday is biscuits.

That's right. Biscuits.

Have you ever made biscuits?

I mean like homemade biscuits?

Don't be scared.  Reach wayyyy back into your memory banks

to those days of Home Ec...when you learned to "cut in" shortening and flour...
do you remember that?!?!??!!!??
 "Cutting in" means incorporating shortening or butter
 into the flour in such a way that little lumps of the raw fat remain whole within the flour mixture.
When the dough is baked, these little lumps create separation in the structure of the product,
which is what gives it that flaky consistency.

The EASIEST way to do this is with a pastry blender/cutter...
but in MY middle school Home Ec years,
we were taught to use two knives. NOT FUN!

No fancy pastry blenders/cutters in those days! Oh nooooo!

It was one of those things that when you are in middle school you are thinking
 'this is the dumbest thing in the world...I will never use this skill, ever!

And to be honest, it's still not my favorite part of biscuit making

or pie crust making for that matter.  But it's oh so easy.
When you're all done you will realize, hey, what was the big stinkin' deal?!

Some people choose to use their fancy food processors for pastry making,

I guess I am just old school...as long as I have a pastry/blender cutter!

So here goes...push your sleeves up...we are going to make biscuits!

You'll be glad you did!

INGREDIENTS

6 oz. bacon, diced

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 Tbs. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt (or substitute table salt)

2 tsp. sugar

3/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper

8 Tbs. (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces,

plus 2 Tbs. melted butter

3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese

(it's the best, but you can use colby)

1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

(and egads! you can use that cheap powdery stuff in a can...if you must!)

3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. buttermilk

(don't have that either? you can add a few spoonfuls

of lemon juice or vinegar to regular milk. voila!) 

See THAT wasn't so hard, was it???

WHAT TO DO...

Preheat an oven to 400°F.

In an 11-12 inch fry pan over medium-high heat,

cook the diced bacon, stirring occasionally, until crisp, about 10 minutes.
(You could also BAKE your bacon strips on a sprayed cookie sheet,
drain and then crumble with the same results - make it easy on yourself!!!)

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate...to drain

Reserve that bacon grease for another recipe! :)
Set crumbled bacon aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour,

baking powder, salt, sugar and pepper.

Using a pastry blender or 2 knives,

cut in the cold butter until pea-size crumbs form,

then use your fingers to pinch the crumbs into flat disks.

Stir in the cheddar and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses and the bacon.

Stir in the buttermilk until the dough just comes together.

Transfer the dough to a floured work surface

and roll or smoosh it out into a rectangle about an inch thick.

Fold the dough into thirds, rotate 90 degrees

and roll out into the same-size rectangle and same thickness.

This step, though not common with all biscuit recipes,

increases the flakiness of the biscuit.

Now, using about a 2 inch floured biscuit cutter,

round cookie cutter, or empty antique tomato paste can, as I did, 

cut out the biscuits and place on a sprayed baking sheet.

Gather up the scraps, reroll the dough and cut out more biscuits...

repeating this process until all of your dough is used up.

Ours made about 12-15 biscuits.

Hopefully all of your family members will be out of the kitchen

and not be temped to come grab clumps of raw dough!

Be forewarned! :) 

Bake the biscuits until golden brown

and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Brush the tops of the biscuits with the reserved melted butter

as soon as they come out of the oven.

Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

 

 

Oh my word, we ate on these all day one Saturday!!!!!

Yummmmmmmm! 

Free Recipe Friday. . .you GOTTA try these!

Homemade Peppermint Patties!

It sounds impossible, I know...

but these are even better

than those preservative filled 'York' ones!

You can easily go from eating 1 to 12 in just one sitting!
Kidding, just kidding....or am I?!?

The ingredients are amazingly simple

and the process is eeeasyy peazy.

This recipe is not only to die for, but it will give you a reason,

an excuse if you will (if you needed one)

to go to Hobby Lobby or Michael's. 

And you're welcome!
There's one ingredient you may need to pick up there...

it's the Creme de Menthe extract,
or Peppermint extracts/flavoring, whichever you would prefer.
(You can also order from HERE for much cheaper)
Everything else you probably have in your pantry right now!!! 

So go grab you an assortment of those extracts if you'd like...

(you never know when they will come in handy)
and let's get to cooking! 

INGREDIENTS

1 can sweetened condensed milk

5 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon peppermint extract
(we used TWO little bottles of creme de menthe
and it wasn't even quite 1 tablespoon and flavored it perfectly) 

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

(we used semisweet baking squares for half 

and bittersweet baking squares for the other half!) 

3 tablespoons shortening

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

INSTRUCTIONS

Add condensed milk, 2 cups of powdered sugar,

and peppermint/creme de menthe extract to a large mixing bowl.

Mix everything on medium speed using the paddle attachment

until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

Add more powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time,

until the dough is stiff but still pliable.

But be careful...sometimes THIS can happen!

Roll 3/4″ balls of dough between the palms of the hands.

Press each ball down slowly

and set the flattened disk on a flat cutting board or plate.

Transfer peppermint disks to the freezer for no longer than 30 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, temper the chocolate coating.

Place chocolate chips (or squares) in a microwavable bowl.

Melt the chocolate in 30 second increments,

making sure to stir after each time until chocolate is smooth.

Stir in shortening to thin the chocolate.

Remove patties from the freezer.

Place a patty on the tines of the fork

and dip in the chocolate until completely covered.

Allow excess chocolate to drip off the patty

before setting each one on top of wax or parchment paper.

Allow the chocolate coated peppermint patties to completely set up.

This can be done quicker by placing the patties in the refrigerator.

The peppermint patties are ready when they are dry to the touch.

Enjoy!



Free Recipe Friday...Spinach Anyone???

There's sooo much more to this recipe than just saying it's all about spinach.

It's Spinach Manicotti and it's pure delicious-ness! 

Greens of any kind have never been my first choice,

for any meal or side dish... 

so for me, the spinach in this recipe is a big deal! 

What I have had to do over the years is find ways

to make those vitamin rich greens into something I will eat...

and this one stands quite tall! 

My family on the other hand, really has no problem with greens whatsoever. 

Our youngest daughter has surprised me the most. 

She is a whopping 12 1/2 years old and loves all kinds of 'weird' things.  

The night I made this dish,

she actually requested a separate serving of plain spinach on the side! 

(She LOVES it, along with sardines, brussel sprouts, okra and broccoli!) 

This recipe came from our handy, dandy, treasured church cookbook. 

Aren't those the best!?

The official name for this deliciousness is

'Make-Ahead Spinach Manicotti'

(page 86, thank you Cindy Chessman!!!)

I remember wayyy back in the day

when we all were told we had to boil noodles

for such dishes as manicotti, lasagna, etc.,

before assembling...it just made me dread making them.

Then I stumbled upon this jewel of a recipe.

You can make it ahead! You don't have to boil the noodles!  Yay!

This recipe opened up a whole new realm for me.

I realized that if I could make this recipe ahead,

I could make lasagna ahead as well - without boiling the noodles!

No more buying the 'no boil' noodles...what a waste!

(Just make sure it's a bit more 'liquidy'

as the noodles will absorb a bit of liquid.)

So, let's get started......so you too, can enjoy this

ooey, gooey-ness, filled with yummy spinach...there, I said it!

MAKE-AHEAD SPINACH MANICOTTI

THE INGREDIENTS

1 - 15 oz. carton ricotta cheese

1 - 10 oz. pkg. frozen, chopped spinach

thawed and squeezed dry

1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (we double this)

3/4 cup parmesan

1 egg

*seasoning have been adjusted to our tastes*

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

 2 cans (or jars) of your favorite spaghetti sauce

1 - 8 oz. pkg manicotti shells

WHAT TO DO

Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with vegetable spray
and pour a bit of spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom.

Set aside.  In a large bowl combine ricotta, spinach,

half of the mozzarella and parmesan,

the egg and the spices.  Mix well. 

Here's the fun part. 

If you can incooperate your family somehow in this process,

it would be great.  It can get a bit messy!

Fill, smoosh or stuff the uncooked manicotti shells

with your ricotta mixture.  I just use my hands.

You could put the mixture in a gallon freezer bag,

cut off a corner and squeeze it in the shells...

or use a pastry bag...but sometimes I'm just too cheap and so

I've just found it to be quicker and 'less mess'

to just grab a handful of the mixture

and push it in each end of the manicotti shell. 

Next, place each filled shell on top of the layer of sauce in your 9x13 pan.

Fill remaining shells and place into you casserole pan.

Pour remaining spaghetti/marinara sauce onto shells in pan.

Top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.

You can either cover and refrigerate overnight at this point,

as the cookbook recipe states

or go ahead and bake...which is what we usually do.

Just remember if you refrigerate it overnight

you will need to let it come to room temp a bit

before placing it into the oven.

Bake at 350 for appx 45 minutes.

Let it rest and cool down from it's lava hotness a bit.

Serve with a great salad and some crunchy bread! Yum!