Biscuits and Gravy

Biscuits and Gravy is probably my favorite breakfast food! 

But, it has to be made right.

I've tried a lot of different kinds of biscuits and gravy and only found a handful of places who make them "right". 

By "right" I mean creamy gravy with sausage (which in most other cases I don't really like sausage) and soft fluffy biscuits. 

Finally! One day I saw a friend of mine make them this way and she was kind enough to share her incredibly easy and delicious recipe with me. 

I love this recipe and make it fairly often, so I figured I'd share it with all of you as well. 

Ingredients:

Canned Biscuits

Ground Sausage- about 1lb

flour

Evaporated Milk-1 Can

NOTE: Evaporated and condensed milk are not the same!!! I have made this mistake and it completely ruins it. Yes, I have some blonde moments. Trust me, you want to learn from this mistake of mine and not have to learn for yourself.  

Directions:

Get biscuits going in the oven (follow directions on can).

Gravy:

Brown sausage in a large skillet.

Sprinkle in just enough flour to lightly coat the sausage (about 3 or so large tablespoons).

Continue to cook until it is no longer white.

Pour in EVAPORATED milk.

Simmer until it begins to thicken, stirring often.

Take off burner.

It will thicken more as it cools.

 If you would like it less thick (I normally do this), add milk (add small amounts at a time, a little goes a long way). 

Pour gravy over biscuits and enjoy!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!

Simple Chili

This was my first attempt at making Chili. 

I've been craving it practically all winter, but my grandma makes Chili so I've been avoiding actually making it.

Let me explain.

What my grandma makes, I do not. I know that mine will not turn out as good as hers does, and I will be disappointed. My grandma is modest about her cooking, but anyone and everyone who has ever eaten something she had made will agree. Her cooking is unbeatable. A trait that was indeed passed down to my mother. I grew up eating delicious home cooked meals. I blame this for my "picky" eating habits. I have high standards for food and generally restaurants just do not measure up.

But, I digress.

I finally caved and looked up a couple of simple recipes and meshed together one of my own. 

Ingredients:

Ground Turkey-about 1lb or so

Minced Garlic- about 4 or 5 cloves

(I love garlic, thanks to my mom, so I tend to use quite a bit)

Red Bell Pepper- oneish diced

Canned Diced Tomatoes- about 28oz

Tomato Sauce- about 8oz

White Kidney Beans- 8 oz

Red Kidney Beans- 8 oz

Black Beans- 8 oz

1 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Chili Powder

1/4 tsp Paprika

1/2 tsp Cumin

Directions:

Cook turkey, garlic, and bell pepper on medium high heat in a large soup pot until turkey is cooked through. Stir in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and all the seasonings. Bring the chili to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about two hours. Stir occasionally. Add all of the beans, heat through and serve. 

I'll admit, I probably didn't let it simmer for the whole two hours. I got impatient. It's not that critical though. This is also a great meal to make and freeze in small containers for quick dinners on those busy/lazy nights.

Sons of Anarchy

OK. So, admittedly I am one of those people who, once they begin a new T.V. series on Netflix, will  do almost nothing else till they finish the series... 

Which also means I usually finish them in about a week. 

OK, OK, or sometimes a day or two.
Anyway...
I just discovered Sons of Anarchy!
I know I'm a little behind.
I feel like Sons of Anarchy can be summed up in two words:
Jax Teller.

Oh... when he goes to jail, and they cut his hair...

Maybe, that's only if you are a girl... Maybe...
I mean, I guess there is a good story line, writing, acting... blah, blah, blah, also.
There's also some other characters in the show too... but they are much less important.

Gemma, Jax's mom, is a little cray cray, she was cray in Married With Children too...

Juice is pretty adorable too... but then he makes some dumb decisions (don't mind the hair)!

Oh! Did I mention,
one of the main characters has an Irish accent?!
I would definitely recommend getting into this show! It is, Jax Teller aside, a great show.
The writers keep you sucked in pretty well.
I don't want to ruin anything for those of you who haven't seen it, and should seriously consider starting. I'm not saying you should watch it as quickly as I did. That's probably not that healthy. The first four seasons are on Netflix right now, so you can watch them at your own (probably normal person) speed.

I may, or may not be considering becoming an
 "Old Lady" now....
HeHe, just kidding mom.

Imagine Dragons!

I just got the new Imagine Dragons album Night Visions. Basically, it is AMAZING! I'm a little obsessed and have to remind myself to listen to other things too... 

Which tends to happen whenever I get new music. 

They are so fun! 

I love every song on this album!

"With the release of Night Visions, Imagine Dragons finally have a chance to show the world what that magic sounds like."- Website Bio

Imagine Dragons is from Las Vegas (weird right since they don't sound like Cher or Elvis...).

The band members are;

 Dan Reynolds-frontman

Wayne Sermon-guitarist

Ben McKee- bassist

Daniel Platzman- drummer

The band appears to be very down to earth (which may be because they are just now making it 'big') and to want to genuinely connect with their fans. They have used their own life experiences to create their songs. But they don't just make sappy songs, they make inspiring songs that make you feel happy. Listening to them seems to instantly put me in a good mood.

"We hope it inspires other to create, and push through their own struggles.”- Website Bio

I'm also loving their carefree adorable- I mean manly- style!

Just makes them that much more awesome.

Here is one of their great songs (I thought it might be a little absurd to post them all on here...)!

I hope everyone loves them as much as I do now!

Greenlake Park

Today was a beautiful day in the neighborhood! 

I went to visit Greenlake Park (for the first time in the daylight). I walked around the lake snapping some photos along the way. 

It was BEAUTIFUL!

Thought you may like to see some...

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Simple Orzo

This is a super simple recipe and most of the ingredients are interchangeable. It was created randomly one day when I wanted to make some thing with orzo and just used whatever ingredients I had around at the time. It takes almost no time at all to throw all of this together, which is a nice option when you don't feel like spending time cooking (which happens to me all the time) but would like to eat something relatively healthy.

Ingredients:

 The Orzo can be replaced with any pasta. You can use a number of different cheeses. And you can use whatever type of vegetables you'd prefer.

Simply cook the orzo, drain.

Mix all the vegetables, cheese, lime juice, and orzo together.

Viola!

Enjoy your simple, quick, healthy meal!

 

Hope everyone's week is going well!

A New Twist On Grilled Cheese

I'll admit that I am a bit obsessed with Pinterest. I am always pinning different recipes that I want to try, but seem to never get around to them. I have decided to start putting more effort into actually putting these pins to use. 

I LOVE Grilled Cheese! It is one of my main go to foods, but it can get a little mundane after a while. 

Today for lunch I decided to make a Grilled Cheese recipe that I found. It is soooo delicious!!!

Ingredients: 

2 slices of bread

Pesto

2 slices of mozzarella cheese

small handful of spinach 

oil

 Directions:

Pour small amount of oil in pan (just enough to cover bottom thinly).

Heat oil on medium heat.

Spread Pesto on each slice of bread.

Place one slice of bread in pan (Pesto side up).

Place slice of cheese on slice of bread.

Put small handful of spinach on top of the cheese. 

When bottom of bread is lightly toasted, place other slice of cheese on spinach, then last slice of bread (pesto side down).

Flip sandwich and toast other side of bread. 

Voila!  

This Grilled Cheese was so delicious! A great variation from the traditional! 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

A Meal Without Wine Is Called Breakfast.

I love wine.

Most kinds.

My favorites are reds. 

Trouble is, I find it difficult to remember out of the hundreds of choices out there which ones I like.

The best way I could think of to remember the ones I like is to take a picture of the bottles.

However, at this point in my life I also love saving money.

Recently I have discovered some really good, really affordable wines.

A few of these have been from Trader Joe's, who does free tastings sometimes for the wines they have on sale!

You Are Lovely

A good way to start this blog, and the weekend is some inspiration....