Golden Southern Biscuits and Rosemary Sausage Gravy

I don't make biscuits and gravy.
My husband is a through and through country boy. Born and raised in beautiful Georgia with an attentive mother who cooked hot meals daily and biscuits and gravy in regularity. So I don't make biscuits and gravy.

His mother has perfected it and I know I can't compare, heck I don't even want to. Wise advice for any wife...let your mother in laws dishes be HER dishes, let that memory be between her and your husband.

Unless it's a necessity. For example...you move from Georgia all the way across the country. And your husband wants biscuits and gravy.

I still didn't want to copy my MIL's recipe, so Iv'e made them time and time again trying to make my own recipe. So here is what you've got...

I make them both at the same time. I start the gravy and then the biscuits so they both finish at the same time.

Rosemary and Fresh Nutmeg Sausage Gravy
8 ounces of sausage ( I prefer the country breakfast sausage)
flour
1 1/4 C Half and Half
1 1/2 C chicken stock
pinch of cayenne
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp FRESHLY grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

• Cook your sausage over medium heat. As you cook it break it down very finely so there are not huge chunks of sausage every where. I'm OCD so I break them down until they are very small equal sizes.
• Drain and save your sausage drippings and sausage in separate containers.
• Put 3 tablespoons of drippings back in and STILL save the rest.
• Add about 2-3 tablespoons of flour back in. You want equal amounts of flour and drippings to mix together. This is called making a RUE. It should be a moist paste when you are done, but don't panic if it's too dry.
• Now you want to cook the roux for 3-4 minutes, stirring every so often. Why? Because no one likes the taste of raw flour and you're going to need that flour to thicken your gravy. So cook it!
• Next add your Half and Half in your pan while stirring. I use a wooden spoon so I can scrape the bottom of my pan for juicy extra bits.
• Add Stock and cook for about 10 minutes or until thickened. I'm not talking thick like mashed potatoes though....more like a nice thick and creamy soup. 
• Add all of your spices and taste, ALWAYS taste. What does it need? more salt, pepper? Heat? Is it too salty? Add some more cream in there.
• Now add your saved sausage. I usually do not add it all, but add the ratio to your liking. I prefer 2/3 gravy to sausage, but if you like it half and half go for it!
• I cut open my biscuits but my husband breaks them all over his bowl and pours the gravy over it. Potato potata, whatever you like. Enjoy!

Golden Southern Biscuits
2 Cups flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
6 T Butter ( OR lard OR shortening)
* a little lesson if your leaning towards flakiness true lard is a great option, butter if you are looking for taste. Shortening is a lesser lard product. It depends on what I have on hand but my ultimate choice is half lard and half butter.
3/4 C buttermilk

• Preheat your oven to 450 degrees
• In a food processor combine the flour, baking powder, and baking soda, and salt. 
• Once combined add your fat of choice and PULSE into your flour mixture. Pulse until the fat is in small pea sized chunks.
• Pour your mixture into a bowl and add your buttermilk with a wooden spoon.
• Stir until just mixed.
• Flour a space on your counter and pour your mixture out on it.
• DO NOT WORK YOUR DOUGH VERY MUCH.
• ROLL IT OUT only ONCE.
• The more you work it the more you break down your rising agents.
• This is how I do it. I gently roll it out into a rectangle and then fold it like an envelope towards the middle. This creates layers in the biscuits.
• Flip it over and pat it out slightly and cut it out with your cutters.
• Brush your cast iron pan with the remaining sausage drippings and place your biscuits inside.
• Bake for 12 minutes or until perfectly light brown.

Apple Pie

Photography and Recipe by Leisa

First: PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 400 DEGREES

SECOND :The INGREDIENTS

CRUST: 1 1/4 C White Flour 6-7

1/8 tsp salt as

6 TBSP Shortening

3 - 4 TBSP Ice Water

THE FILLING INGREDIENTS:

6-7 GREEN Apples with as many white spots as possible, the more the white spots the more sour and the better the apples retain the sugar and the sweeter theybecome.

3/4 C White Sugar

1 TBSP Lemon Juice

1 tsp Salt

1 C Sour Cream

THE TOPPING INGREDIENTS:

2/3 C Flour

1/3 C Brown Sugar

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Nutmeg

1/3 C Butter

THIRD - THE DIRECTIONS:

THE CRUST:

Combine flour and salt. Sift together if possible.

Cut in the Shortening with a fork or a pastry cutter, keep cutting it in until it is dispersed throughout all of the flour. It should look like small peas sized flour balls all over inside your bowl.

Add the ICE WATER 1 TBSP at a time. (It is imperative to the pastry binding process that the water is icy) Mix well, once it starts to ball up put a little bit of flour on your counter to get ready to roll your crust out.

The most important thing about a pie crust is the same rule for biscuits...you don't want to mess with the dough to much or it becomes heavy and condensed instead of light and fluffy.

Gather the dough in your hands and make a ball. If it is too sticky add a little flour to your hands...if it is too Dry you need to add another TBSP of Ice water.

Put ball of dough on floured board and press down slightly, take a rolling pin and roll out your dough the same way you would cut a pizza, straight up and down, then across, then at the diagonal. This will help you crust roll out into an even circle. Place dough into your pie pan and either trim your edges our have fun shaping the edges of your dough.

THE FILLING:

Peel your Apples and the slice them into the thinnest strips possible; The thinner they are the better they condense together, cook evenly, and make for a better mouthful!

Add the lemon juice to the apples to keep them from turning brown and to pull out their juices

Mix remaining filling ingredients in another bowl. Add to the apples and mix well. Set it aside.

The Topping:

Mix all dry ingredients together; cut in cold butter.

It really needs to be cold and it really needs to be butter. The properties of margarine not only melt to quickly but the process of hydrogenationseparates the liquids in such away that when you bake with it, your topping will turn to mush instead of a crumb topping.

GO BACK TO YOUR FILLING:

Are there a lot of juices at the bottom of your bowl? Then add a TBSP of flour, mix it up, see if there are more juices, and repeat until the juices are all soaked up. This will ensure that you will have a nice thick pie instead of a runny one.

Place filling in pie crust.....crumble topping over it......

BAKE: 40 - 45 Min until nice and brown on top....really good cold or hot...

TRY IT YOU MIGHT JUST LOVE IT!

Delicious Buckeyes!

As a part of the fundraiser to help my sister Leisa and her husband Jacob have a baby through invitro, we sold buckeyes. If you don't know what a buckeye is, that is ok, it means you are probably not living in Ohio. Besides being the mascot for the Ohio State University, a buckeye is a nut. (pictured to the right)

What we made were basically peanut butter bon bons that look like buckeye nuts.


First and most important let's give you the peanut butter ball ingredients.

1 1/2 C Peanut Butter
1/2 C Butter Softened
2 Tsp Vanilla
3/4 lb Confectioners' Sugar (with most peanut butters, if using Peter Pan Peanut butter or any super creamy peanut butters increase sugar to 1 lb)

In a large bowl mix the butter, vanilla, and peanut butter together, I preferred using a standing mixer such as a kitchenaid. Next mix the confectioners sugar into the mixture a little bit at a time. Once it is fully mixed, the mixture should be solid but moldable, not too crumbly though. Form it into balls and place it into a tray. Once you are forming the balls you will want to place the formed balls covered into the freezer. Wait for at least an hour for the balls to be frozen, overnight works best.



For Dipping
The ingredients you use will depend on your preference, for harder, more solid chocolate either use higher quality chocolate (such as ghiradeli) or use paraffin wax.
I prefer using the paraffin wax.
In a double boiler combine 2 cups chocolate chips and 1/4th bar of paraffin wax.

Once the chocolate and wax are completely melted, place chocolate in bowls or cups. Dip the balls into the chocolate using toothpicks and place on wax paper. Remove the toothpick.

(If the hole from the toothpick bothers you, take your finger - preferably gloved if you're not making them for yourself - and rub the peanut butter center gently until the hole is covered.)

The chocolate will harden as it sets, but it will go faster if you put the finished buckeyes in the freezer or fridge. Enjoy!