DIY Sausage Gravy

To go with those Buttermilk Biscuits...

8oz Sausage (out of casing)
2T- Butter
2T- Flour
2C- Milk (plus more as needed)
Pepper (if your sausage isn't spicy)

Crumble all your sausage and saute it. When it's done cooking, put it in a bowl. Don't drain the pan out.

Add some butter (2T) and begin to scrape the bottom of the pan. Add your flour and cook on medium heat until it's golden brown (about 3 minutes).... constantly scraping the bottom of the pan.

Add your milk, whisk to dissolve any lumps that developed and simmer it on low heat- stir it a lot.... until it becomes thick (about 20 minutes).

Add pepper (and salt if you really want it). If it becomes too thick, you can always add more milk.

Return the sausage crumbles back to the gravy & serve over delicious buttermilk biscuits!!

DIY Pecan Pie Filling!

Mix:

3- Eggs
1C- Brown Sugar
1C- Light Corn Syrup
1tea- Vanilla Extract
1/4tea- Salt
2T- Butter, melted
3T- Rum or Bourbon

2C- Pecans, toasted

Fill a 9" unbaked pie shell with the mixture, then add the pecans on top.
Bake 350 for at least 40 minutes.

(From my favorite farm, Sweet Berry Farm)

"Too Chicken Poop to Try" Part 2: DIY homemade French Fries

French fries, who doesn't love them? I can tell you whole heatedly the thought of making my own French fries scared the poop out of me. Frying... I hate it- I don't really want to mess anything up... I didn't have a clue how to make them. Seriously- it's so easy, once you do it-- you won't want to buy pre-made ones again.. in fact, if you're that much in the mood for fries, you'll WAIT until you can make them fresh again. They aren't hard to do- they just take some time to do.

Here's how I made them:

I used Russet Potatoes (they are firmer than Yellow Gold) and gosh, I cut them into match stick size (although last night I cut them and some looked like match sticks and others looked like steak fries... they all tasted good LOL)
After I cut them to desired shape, I put them in a bowl of cold water and left them in the fridge. Yesterday I did this after breakfast and just left them until a couple of hours BEFORE I wanted to make them. So, I would say about 4 hours before I wanted to serve them- I took the raw fries and put them on a cookie sheet wire cooling rack (not layered) to begin drying. I left them out for about an hour and then I took a bunch of paper towels and towel dried the fries as dry as I could and then left them out again before I started to try them.
So, it depends on how many fries you make and how big your pot is. Here is the key. You need to put a good quantity of a neutral oil in the pot (think vegetable oil- or another oil that doesn't have any strong flavor to it). I put mine on medium heat and fried the french fries in batches (you want your fries to be completely covered by oil) for about 6-9 minutes. You are basically cooking them, but they will appear raw still.. That's ok, remove the fries (they are actually safe to eat at this point, although quite mushy). Finish all your "pre-cooking" batches and then go back and re-fry them. This time you're going to make them crunchy. I turned up my heat to high at this point and it took me about 5 minutes per batch... you'll see them start to turn golden at this point. Cook until the desired color/crunchiness and I put my finished fries in a bowl with paper towels at the bottom (to catch any excess oil-- but usually there isn't much). If you want to toss some salt- do so WHEN THEY ARE HOT. Even if you don't want "salty" fries, I still recommend adding a pinch of salt over them.

Not, if they aren't sickeningly good enough when they are hot and freshly made-- keep your leftover fries--- THEY'RE STILL VERY TASTY THE NEXT DAY!!!

Watermelon

I bought a whole watermelon because it was on sale-- I cut it open a week later (still good, actually- great-- super sweet) and I'm wondering how many things can I put this in because I have SO MUCH! Cold watermelon slices are great, but I pureed it and made popsicles out of them (we've having them tonight after dinner) and I have a reserve of pureed watermelon on hand... what am I going to do with it? I'm thinking I'll make a watermelon based spritzer for sure & then... well, I guess I'm going to work on it!

DIY Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Loaf

Lemon blueberry yogurt loaf is what I'm making today. Originally I was going to make it for someone else- but the recipe looks so good I have to try it out for myself (maybe I'll give away a few slices!). I also get really nervous handing over a new recipe I've never tried out before and haven't tasted... :P

DIY Italian Pasta Salad (my signature recipe)

This has been my signature pasta salad, gosh... for almost a decade. It was one of the first dishes I sort of winged & made that came out consistently and everyone loved it. It has a few variations, but either way-- you're going to end up with a great pasta salad.

Pasta- right now I'm using rotini, but the original version used cheese tortellini- I have also used penne, choose your favorite & use it.
Fresh mozzarella (the original used pre-marinaded mozzarella balls, now I just use the regular fresh & cut it up)
Marinated artichoke hearts (get Italian & get it out of a jar, not can)
Red Roasted Peppers (also out of a jar) but today I just chopped up some fresh red bell peppers
(I have also used all different colored peppers, celery, different veggies)
Today I have shredded carrots
Tomatoes- you can use any kind you'd like, just cut them so the juices sort of blend in with everything else...
Balsamic Vinegar
If you DO NOT use marinated artichokes, peppers or mozzarella THEN use extra virgin olive oil.
Garlic
Oregano
Today it's fresh basil & cilantro (cilantro was NOT a part of the original recipe, but my husband & I like it... cilantro is totally optional)
Salt & Pepper

Now- I am NOT putting any kind of meat in it BUT I have used hard Italian sausage pieces or (our usual favorite- pre-cooked chicken breasts)

I am usually pretty heavy handed with the balsamic as I like the taste especially when it soaks into the mozzarella BUT all the spices should be blended ALL TOGETHER to taste. I frequently eye ball my spices mix everything, taste it and then adjust my spices until I'm happy.

This is a cold dish so pop it into the fridge when you're done. You can leave this over night and it will keep the next day. Often I make a large batch and we'll have pasta salad for dinner and leftovers the day after. It is a very hearty, complete sort of pasta salad so it could be substituted for a meal.

DIY Sushi Bowl

So, tonight's dinner is going to be a sushi bowl. I can thank Pinterest for finding this idea. I think it's fantastic. If you like sushi, but don't want to go through the trouble of the precision of rolling your own-- you can try this bowl recipe. I'm giving it a try tonight. The only substitution I'm going to make is that I have leftover grilled Asian bourbon chicken from last night and I'm going to chop that up and toss that into the sushi bowls. I think it's going to work. It's so hot here- I'm excited to be able to serve this cold! :) Oh & I'll be using sushi rice as well...

Slacker Sushi Bowls
Makes 4 servings
Prep time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 cup uncooked white rice
• 4 teaspoons rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large carrot, peeled, and cut into matchsticks
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and cut into matchsticks
• 6 ounces imitation crab meat (Surimi Seafood Sticks), sliced or chopped
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and cubed
• 1 square sheet toasted Nori seaweed, crumbled into small pieces
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• soy sauce and/or wasabi (optional, but recommended)
Directions
Cook rice according to package directions. Let cool to room temperature.
In a small bowl, combine the rice vinegar, sugar and salt. Microwave 30 seconds; stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour vinegar mixture on the rice and stir gently to combine. Mix in the carrots, cucumbers, and crab.
Serve in bowls and top with avocado, seaweed, and sesame seeds. (If you’d like, add soy sauce or wasabi, to taste.) Serve immediately.

I let you all know how it goes!!