Sausage Biscuit Sandwich for Breakfast

One of my favorite sites to look through is GameandGarden.com. Stacy does a wonderful job explaining through photos and videos how to cook fresh meals for your family. If you have a hunter in the family, or you have your own garden where you grow fresh produce, she's your gal!! She has cookbooks and we first discovered her doing a segment on the outdoor channel! We tried her venison breakfast sausage (ours was already made, she explains how to make your own), and homemade biscuits! You can of course use regular pork sausage if you don't have venison ready in your freezer! Venison is a much healthier less greasy alternative to pork sausage! You actually have to add a little oil in the pan because you hardly get any grease off the meat! We love venison in our house, but if you don't have a hunter then of course you can substitute in the meat you do have. We made her biscuits quite a bit smaller than a regular biscuit because D loves to make sandwiches with just about anything! So to make it easier on us to eat, we made them thinner so we could easily eat them as a sausage biscuit sandwich!  You can find her recipe here, on her brand new updated site (it's really beautiful and easy to navigate)! So let's get started!

Ingredients
3 c of flour +some for dusting
1 TB Baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 c) butter
3 TB shortening (cold)
1 c buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Mix all your dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Cut the butter into small, pea sized pieces and add them to the dry mixture. Work it all together until it resembles oatmeal texture. Be careful to not overwork the butter into the dry mix because it can alter the outcome of your biscuits!

After the butter has been integrated into the dry mix, add the buttermilk into the mixture and mix well. Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out until it is about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cut into rounds (I couldn't find a circle cut, however I did find a nice flower shaped cookie cutter that worked just fine), and place onto a greased cookie sheet!

Make sure the biscuits are touching when you add them to the sheet.

If you are making "thicker" biscuits, make a thumb print in the middle of each

biscuit to ensure they rise properly. 

Place them in the preheated oven for 10 minutes then brush the tops with melted butter, and bake for another 10 minutes (20 minutes total). While the biscuits were cooking DJ made sausage patties on the stove top! Once everything was finished we put them together to make our breakfast sandwiches and thoroughly enjoyed our homemade biscuits and sausage!! Her recipe is easy, and delicious, and puts making "Bisquick" biscuits to shame! 

Incredibly delicious!! You can even freeze them and pop them in the microwave to re-heat for an easy on the go breakfast!! 

I hope ya'll go check out Stacy's site! She has a flavor boosting herb butter that we can't wait to try on some of our dishes!! She'll give you tips on gardening, hunting (along with some videos from her and her husband), cooking, beekeeping (would LOVE some fresh honey with these biscuits), and sustainable living tips!! We will be all over her fish recipes this spring/summer when we get back out to the lakes and ponds with our fishing poles!! She also has a Facebook page you can follow, which you can find here. Go give her page a like and follow her work, I promise you won't be disappointed!!

Until next time...

~Happy Eating~

Sunday Afternoons Make For Good Eating

So, Dee Jay, his brother and I went out fishing last night and got to see the beginning of this meteor shower that's going on! We caught one baby catfish (I did... thank you very much) and saw lots of beautiful meteors with their long and sparkly tails! Tonight is supposed to be the best chance to see them, so we're hoping the clouds stay away and we can get a great spot to fish and watch the stars! We didn't get back home until about 2:30-3:00 this morning so needless to say we crashed hard and woke up in time for lunch! I had made some shredded chicken in the crock-pot the other day, so I went to work on a little "brunch" for all of us, and then got in the baking mood and decided to make some cupcakes I have had my eye on for awhile now. Both were BIG winners, and the chicken that I thought we would never get through is almost gone now :) So let's start with the chicken and move on to the cupcakes to end our weekend! Here we go...

I got a text from my friend Amy who said she just cooked some shredded chicken for her and her hubby and that I had to try it! Well, we are so glad we did because we have loved it! You can find the original recipe on a blog titled Chocolate Therapy. Already, with a name like that you don't really feel anything can go wrong :) It is ridiculously simple to make and we let it simmer on low for almost 10 hours! By the time we got home this morning, we were starving and ready to eat a taco and crash, and then this morning I took the leftovers and made some breakfast burritos! Here are your ingredients...

1 jar of salsa (I used Pace-Hot)
1 envelope of taco seasoning
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

I told you it was easy. You literally are going to put all of this in your crock-pot, turn it on low and cook for at least 6 hours or high for 3-4. Last night, we added guacamole, sour cream, jalapenos, and shredded cheese for soft tacos. This morning I added sliced green onion, finely chopped white onion, one tomato, and half a jalapeno. I scrambled 7 eggs, and half-way through cooking them, I threw in all the yummies! Then we rolled them up burrito style with sour cream, shredded cheese, and a big spoonful of the chicken! It was heavenly!!

Now on to the cupcakes :) I got the "idea" of this recipe from Sweet P's Baking Co. blog. Now you can check out her version, and I will tell you mine! The ingredients I used were...

1 box of French Vanilla cake mix
1 cup of orange soda
1/2 cup of canola oil
3 eggs
1 container of Duncan Hines Frosting Creations Frosting Starter
1 envelope of Duncan Hines Flavor Mix powder-Cotton Candy

You are going to mix in a bowl the French Vanilla cake mix, 1/2 cup of canola oil and 3 eggs. After you have this well mixed, you are going to gradually add the one cup of orange soda! Stir or mix together well because the orange soda had a tendency to separate from the rest of the batter. Once we got everything mixed in, I spooned the mixture into cupcake liners and popped them in oven at 350 degrees for 17 minutes.

Right out of the oven :)

 

Now while these are cooling, you are going to follow the directions on the frosting creations. You are going to stick a knife in the middle of the frosting causing it to form a "hole". Then dump the envelope of flavoring into the frosting hole and mix together! Now you will have a delicious blue frosting that the taste of alone will bring you back to your childhood days of eating cotton candy at the fair! I spread the frosting on the cupcakes once they were cool and added some sprinkles for decoration! The boys tried them and fell in love! I have a feeling these won't last long either in our home! 

I am not a professional when it comes to decorating...But I'm going to work on it :)

The combination of the orange soda, vanilla and cotton candy frosting makes a really delicious combination that you must try! Add your own decorations and send me pictures because I want to see them to drool over once these bad boys are gone!

~Happy Eating~

Here are both links again! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

Shredded Chicken 

Cotton Candy Cupcakes 

springy recipes to get you our of a dinner rut

Leah here---and I'm openly admitting that sometimes I get in a cooking rut. Some weeks I rip out a handful of recipes I find in magazines, pin dozens of tasty looking entrees on Pinterest and can't wait to plan my week. Other weeks I've got nothing. Nothing sounds good. "Can't we just eat scrambled eggs for dinner every night?" I think. A nice side of buttery toast...I see nothing wrong with this picture.

But because I like to make things adventurous (sometimes difficult, my family would say) I like to keep dinner different each night with a sprinkle of familiar standbys. Now, that's not to say breakfast never happens for dinner. It's actually some of our favorites.

Here are a few new recipes I've tried in the last few weeks that got rave reviews at my house and they're so simple, I'll spare you the step by step photos. Hopefully they'll get you in the "try something new" mindset.

As mentioned, breakfast for dinner is a hit at my house. These lemon cornmeal pancakes from Two Peas and a Pod blog were so delish! There's nothing wrong with the flour based, fluffy flapjacks we all love, but the thought of adding lemon sounded like a nice switch. The cornmeal base makes them more cake like than normal. I'm a two pancake girl. I may have nibbled on a third later that night. I loved these topped with warm blackberry jam.

I'm ready for warmer weather and this southwestern avocado and black bean salad from Paula Dean sounded like a good transition to lighter meals. I did want some protein or texture so this night I sauteed some large shrimp in olive oil after tossing them in a few warm spices like cumin and a dash of cayenne plus garlic and onion powder. Both my husband and I cleared our plates but I can't help but think it could have been improved with even more lime juice and some cumin mixed in to the dressing.

I have to warn you--if we eat sushi together, I'll probably ask if I can have your pickled ginger. Yes, the garnish. The palate cleanser. I can't get enough of that hot pink pickled goodness. But I figured out how to make a good substitute to snack on at home. Picked red onions. This recipe on Bon Appetit's web site was so simple.

I made these to go on pork tacos--and promptly ruined the pork. Didn't matter. I've been eating these with a fork (and, ok, my fingers) all weekend. Simply slice a red onion thin and soak in apple cider vinegar, a little salt and sugar. I let these soak overnight....so good! Would be great on a barbecue sandwich. I might be making these all summer.

A few more "hits" at my house lately:

French dip crescent rolls from Mama Loves Food. Wish I would have doubled the recipe! This might be my new secret weapon at parties.

Strawberry season is too short. I'm making this addicting strawberry bruschetta from Annie's Eats until the last berry falls from the vine.

I'm not sure which was tastier, this blackened chicken from Sarcastic Cooking or the avocado cream on top. Use what you've got. She blended avocado with yogurt. I blended it with a little sour cream and mayo.

Like what you've seen here? Almost all of the recipes were found on Pinterest. Are you on Pinterest? Follow me here, I'll follow you and we'll find new favorites together.