A BIG Breakfast.

I'm still full. We decided to take advantage of a lazy Sunday & the cold weather, by making a ginormous breakfast - well it was more of a brunch by the time we finished everything. On the menu: scrambled eggs, the husband's awesome fried potatoes, sausage & gravy and biscuits. Breakfast is probably my favorite meal of the day (especially when it's unhealthy) and this menu did not disappoint, we were definitely fat & happy after this meal. Though not exactly productive for awhile!

Sausage Gravy

1/2 lb. ground sausage
4-6 Tbs. butter
2 2/3 c. milk
4-6 Tbs. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

1. Brown sausage until completely cooked. Add butter to melt. Add flour and stir until mixed together.

2. Add milk, salt and pepper; stir. Boil over medium heat for 2 minutes or until thick; stir as needed. Add more milk if mixture becomes too thick.


Yield: 4-6 servings
Source: the Mother-in-law

My notes: This isn't the time to be healthy and watch your fat, you need a full fat pork sausage. The fat is what makes the gravy. Do not drain the fat off or buy a lower fat sausage, I did the first time I made this and it wasn't pretty. I reserve adding the salt & pepper until the sausage is fully cooked, it all depends on the type/flavor of sausage you get. Additionally, if you just get plain sausage feel free to add dried fennel & sage. Red pepper flakes are good too.


Biscuits

3 c. all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted chilled butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 Tbs. chilled vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 1/4 c. buttermilk

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, butter and shortening in food processor until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer to a large bowl. Stir in buttermilk until combined.

2. On lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth, 8-10 kneads. Pat dough into 9-inch circle, about 3/4-inch thick. Using 3-inch biscuit cutter dipped in flour, cut out rounds of dough and arrange on prepared baking sheet. Gather remaining dough, pat into 3/4-inch thick circle, and cut out remaining biscuits. (You should have 8 biscuits total.)

3. Bake until biscuits begin to rise, about 5 minutes, then rotate pan and reduce oven temperature to 400. Bake until golden brown, 12-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool.


Yield: 8 biscuits
Source: Cook's Country, April/May 2008

Test Kitchen Notes:
*If you don't have buttermilk on hand, whisk 1 tablespoon of lemon juice into 1 1/4 cups of milk and let it stand until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.

*Stamp, don't twist the biscuit cutter! Twisting the cutter when stamping out biscuits pinches the dough, resulting in an uneven rise. Using a well-floured cutter and pressing down with equal pressure on both sides of the cutter (not twisting) ensures that the biscuits will rise evenly.

My notes: This has just become my go-to recipe for biscuits. They were perfect - light, fluffy, thick & delicious. I don't have a biscuit cutter and didn't have any luck using a glass, the dough is too thick. I ended up using the cut-n-seal from Pampered Chef, which is a little larger than 3-inches. It worked out great, but only gave me 6 full sized biscuits and 1 randomly shaped one.

Football Feast.

The husbands love to smoke, the husbands love to smoke more when it's followed by OSU football and beer.

The well worth waiting for spread.

I don't think I'll make cornbread in any other shape than this from now on. Love it's perfect little size!

The husbands smoked six racks of ribs (beef baby back & pork spare ribs) with their top secret rub and mop sauce. I think this was the best rub & sauce combo to date!

These ribs were excellent! Probably the best they've ever made and certainly the best ribs I've EVER had!

Seriously, check out that smoke ring, that's what six hours in the smoker will give you! Fall off the bone tender.

The husband sampling some of his hard work.

Fresh collard greens, we all agreed these were the best we'd ever eaten. Recipe posted after the pictures.

The baked beans peaking into this picture were *gasp* canned beans, Bush's Grilling Beans - Southern Pit Style. I highly recommend them.

Miss J's fabulous & delicious Halloween cupcakes, complete with bat, pumpkin & ghost shaped sprinkles!

Country Collard Greens

3-31/2 lbs. collard greens or kale, tough stems removed and roughly chopped
1 smoked ham hock (about 1 pound)
4 medium onions, chopped
2 medium green or red bell peppers, chopped
2/3 c. cider vinegar, preferably unrefined
1 Tbs. honey
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs. coarsely ground black pepper
2 tsp. Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce, or more to taste
2 tsp. celery seeds

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot with 8 cups of water, and bring to a boil. Simmer, covered, for about 2 hours. With a slitted spoon, remove the ham hock. When the hock is cool enough to handle, pick the meat from it in small chunks or shreds and return it to the pot. Reheat the greens briefly, if necessary. Serve warm with some of the liquid, the pot likker. Leftovers keep for several days.

Yield: 8 servings
Recipe obtained from: Smoke & Spice: Cooking with Smoke, the real way to Barbecue by Cheryl & Bill Jamison (If you have a smoker, this cookbook is a must! None of their recipes have disappointed us & have all been awesome!)

What the husband did: We actually bought the greens (we used collards) already chopped, which saved some prep time. The husband also added some salt pork, which added more flavor during the cooking process.

*Oh and if you thought I'd slip up and post the rub and sauce recipes, you were mistaken!

Applebutter.

Week 3's recipe in my cooking club was apple butter. I love love love apple butter! If this recipe hadn't been posted as part of my cooking club, I likely would have skipped it simple because my Mom & Aunt's make a ton of apple butter each year from the apples in our orchard. The smell of this cooking is heavenly and it fills the house with wonderful scents of apple and cinnamon! That alone was worth making it for me! I used jarred applesauce since I happened to have some on hand already. I used one jar of cinnamon & one jar of natural applesauce. I only added half the amount of sugar called for.

I took the apple butter to a friends house for the football rib smoking feast. There isn't anything better than apple butter and cornbread (recipe follows), especially to go along with ribs!

The following information is from the poster: This can be scaled down pretty easily to make just a small batch for yourself or make a large batch to share with friends and family! There are essentially 2 ways to make this recipe: from apples or from apple sauce. If you are starting with whole apples all you do is peel and core the apples cook down in a non-reactive pot and mash to make apple sauce.

Full Size Recipe

6 cups unsweetened apple sauce (either homemade or store bought)
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups sugar (depending on how sweet the apple sauce is & how sweet you want your apple butter)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg


1. Add the apple sauce, 1/2 the sugar, vinegar and spices to a crock pot and stir well. The applesauce mixture won't look very spice but as it cooks the spice flavors concentrate.

2. Cook covered on high 8hours. Give it a taste test, if it needs more sugar add the rest of the sugar. If the apple butter is watery cook uncovered for a couple more hours.

This is a very forgiving recipe, it can be scaled down to the size of a "little dipper" crock pot to make just enough for one family as long as you watch your cooking time closer, or even scaled up if you want to make a lot. If you are gone for a day over 8 hours, say 10 or even 12 your apple butter will be just fine. If you don't particularly like one of the spices you can leave it out (except for the cinnamon)

A few serving suggestions: on your toast in the morning, as a sauce for a pork roast, apple butter cake.


Corn Bread

1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. cornmeal
2-3 Tbs. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. butter
2 beaten eggs
1 c. milk
1/4 c. cooking oil or melted butter

1. In a medium bowl stir together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2. Add the 1 tablespoon butter to a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or a 9x1 1/2" round baking pan. Place in a 400 degree oven about 3 minutes or until butter melts. Remove pan from oven; swirl butter in pan to coat bottom and sides of pan.

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine eggs, milk, and oil. Add egg mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir just until moistened. Pour batter into hot skillet or pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Serve warm.

For different sized pans (corn sticks, muffins, small loaves, etc.): prepare as above, except omit the 1 tablespoon butter. Generously grease pans and heat in the preheated oven for 3 minutes. Carefully fill preheated pans two-thirds full. Bake in a 400 oven about 12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean.


Yield: 8-10 based on original recipe

Recipe obtained from: Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook

Nutritional Information: 219 cal., 10 g. total fat (3g. sat. fat), 60 mg chol,. 390 mg sodium, 26 g. carbo, 1 g. fiber, 5 g. pro.

NOTE: Do not use the spray stuff to grease your muffin pan. The spray will burn and cause your muffins to have black swirls of grease through them! Use butter or shortening.

Navajo Fry Bread

Fry bread plays a significant role in Native American cuisine & culture, and is found throughout the southwest. Though now considered a traditional food, fry bread didn't appear in Native American diets until the mid-19th century. From 1863 - 1868, more than 8,000 Navajo's were detained at Fort Summer in New Mexico and given very little in terms of rations. Flour and lard were two of the commodities given to the Navajo's and with these ingredients they created fry bread. For more information about the history of fry bread & a recipe, click here Navajo fry bread.

Fry bread can be served plain or with a variety of toppings: butter, cheese, honey, cinnamon, powdered sugar, chili beans, or as an Indian/Navajo taco. Fry bread is similar to the American carnival staple the elephant ear.