Sausage White Gravy For Biscuits

 

You Will Need:

• 1/4 pound ground sausage 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (I use unbleached)
• about 2 cups of whole or 2 % milk,  more or less depending on desired consistency 

In a skillet cook ground sausage on medium high heat, stir it around until it's browned and no longer pink, add flour, stir well, then add some milk and stir constantly, it will begin to thicken, add more milk for the consistency of thickness you'd like. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve over biscuits (an easy Homemade Biscuit recipe can be found in the post below this one, or in the sidebar index of recipes on this website, note: you may have to view in the web version to find the index of recipes, it may not show up if you are viewing on a phone), you could also serve this over toasted bread.

This makes enough gravy to serve over 5 large biscuits.  If you would like more gravy and not as much meat, you can double the ingredients, besides the amount of meat, and you'll get a gravy with less bits of meat in it and more white gravy. 

Enjoy! 

15 Bean and Ham Soup

 

You will need: 

• 20 oz. Bag of Hurst's HamBeens Brand Cajun 15 Bean Soup Dried Beans with Hurst's Cajun Seasoning Packet Inside (don't use the whole packet, only use a heaping teaspoon of the Cajun Seasoning Packet towards the end of cooking time)  
• Package Farmland Brand Smoked Spiral Ham Slices and Pieces In Natural Juices, Fully Cooked, (I used a 1.25 pound package)
• 1 Can of diced tomatoes (undrained) 
• 1 Yellow onion chopped
• 2 Heaping teaspoons of minced garlic (refrigerated)
• 1/4 cup Chopped green and red bell pepper (I used frozen)
• 1 tsp. Sea salt
• Sprinkle of garlic powder
• Sprinkle of pepper and salt to taste when done
• Splash of apple cider vinegar (splashed in the last 30 minutes of cooking to reduce gas)

Place beans on a dish cloth and inspect them to remove any debris from the beans, (I have on occasion found small pebbles in dried beans before, so I don't skip this step). 

Place beans in a large bowl, cover beans with water, soak overnight or 8 hours

Drain beans in a colander and place them in a large pot or dutch oven pot, cover with fresh water, add package of spiral ham slices and pieces with juices, add a teaspoon of sea salt, undrained can of diced tomatoes, chopped yellow onion, minced garlic, sprinkle of garlic powder and pepper, and the chopped green and red bell peppers. Bring to a boil and then cover pot with lid and reduce heat to medium and cook at a slow boil simmer, stirring occasionally. Cook for about 4-5 hours, adding more water as needed and turning down the heat to low after the beans get tender. About an hour before serving and when the beans are fairly tender, add 1 heaping teaspoon of the Hurst Cajun Seasoning that is included with the beans in a packet, I didn't add all of the packet because I didn't know how it tasted, and I didn't want my beans and ham to be cajun spicy, I just wanted some good flavoring. Note: I used a slightly heaping spoon full of the seasoning measured with a small spoon from my kitchen utensil drawer- instead of an actual measuring spoon, to measure out the seasoning..... that amount of seasoning was perfect, for our taste, very flavorful, it didn't need the entire package. About 30 minutes before serving add a splash of  the apple cider vinegar and more salt to taste and pepper to taste. 

Serve with sweet cornbread, we used Jiffy Brand Honey Cornbread

Servings: 6 Bowls

This makes a delicious pot of soup  that would feed a crowd or allow for a lot of leftovers. I have to say this is on our list of very favorite soups of all time! It does not taste like a cajun soup, I guess because I did not use but a heaping teaspoon of the season packet included with the beans, but it just has great flavor.  

Enjoy!

Tip: I've read recently, that anything in the ingredients that is acidic should be added to dry beans in the last 30 minutes of cooking to cut the acid, make the beans soft faster as they cook and cut gas in the beans. I suppose in this recipe that the beans would be tender quicker, if waiting to add in the undrained canned tomatoes until the last 30 minutes or so of cooking. I added my canned tomatoes at the beginning of cooking and it turned out great, but I may try adding them the last 30 minutes of cooking next time to see if there's a difference and to see if the beans get tender more quickly.  I'll update this post at a later date to tell you if there was a difference. I will say that  adding the splash of apple cider vinegar during the last 30 minutes of cooking did cut the amount of gas in the beans and make a difference in digesting the beans easier. I've also read that not adding the salt until the last part of cooking helps the beans get tender faster as well, but I just wasn't willing to take a chance on the beans  being not salted enough, so I added in some at the start of cooking and then more to taste when tender and ready to serve. 

Tuscan Bean Soup w/ Bacon

You Will Need:

• 8 slices of bacon chopped and cooked
• 3 celery stalks chopped
• 4 carrots chopped
• 2 shallots chopped
• 4 tsp. minced garlic
• 4 cups chicken broth (32 oz. carton)
• 4 cans cannellini  beans (white kidney beans) (drain 2, leave 2 undrained) 
• 1/2 cup half/half or heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (not the powdered kind) 
• sprinkle salt and pepper
• 2 rosemary sprigs
• 1 bay leaf
• sprinkle dried parsley

Chop vegetables and set aside, chop bacon and cook in a dutch oven large pot until browned, remove bacon with slotted spoon, cook shallots and minced garlic a few minutes, in a couple of Tbsp.of bacon grease. Add 1/2 of bacon (reserving some to top soup when serving), add veggies, beans, broth, rosemary, bay leaf salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, and cook until vegetables are tender about an hour or two, (the longer it cooks the better the flavor). Remove bay leaf, and rosemary sprig from pot. Add half/ half, parsesan cheese and dried parsley sprinkled stir and cook until cheese is melted. Place in bowls and top with reserved bacon and top with more parmesan cheese.  

Serve with jiffy sweet cornbread

NOTE: This can also be cooked in the crock pot slow cooker, cook bacon as instructed above, then follow recipe by placing ingredients in crock pot, cook 4-6 hours on low. Add half/ half and parmesan cheese and sprinkling of parsley during last 15 minutes of cooking. Top with bacon and parmesan cheese. 

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Pork Chops

You Will Need:

• 12 thin sliced boneless pork chops (about 2 lbs.)
• 2 tsp. minced garlic
• 2 green onions (chopped, separate the white bottom part from the green tops and set aside)
• 1 can golden mushroom soup
• 10 oz. pineapple chunks (un-drained)
• 2 Tablespoons teriyaki sauce
• sprinkle black pepper
• cooked white rice (I used Jasmine)

Place pork chops in crock pot. In a small bowl mix all ingredients (except the green onion tops and cooked rice). Pour mixed ingredients over pork chops and stir around. 

Cook on High for 4-5 hours

After cook time, stir mixture, and break up the pieces of pork chops with a spoon. They should be very tender and fall apart easily. Add the set aside green onion tops and stir. Put heat setting on serve, cover and cook an additional 15-20 minutes. 

Serve over cooked rice with a side of green beans.

Enjoy!

Baked Pork Chops

 This is easy easy, line a cookie baking sheet with foil and grease it.

You will need:

• Thin Center Cut Pork Chops
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Seasoned Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Black Pepper

Wash pork chops, then put them on the pan, carefully pour worcestershire sauce over each pork chop, sprinkle one side with seasoned salt, garlic powder, and black pepper.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven uncovered for about 30-40 minutes. Timing will really depend on the thickness of the porkchops. For this recipe I like to use the thin pork chops, they turn out so tender and just right.
 

I like to serve these pork chops with green beans and mashed potatoes topped with saurkraut. You can find these two side dish recipes here on my blog, by continuing to scroll down the blog page.
Enjoy! 

Fast and Easy Baked Ham Steak with Pineapples

This is an easy meat to serve if you are in the mood for some baked ham, but you don't want buy a big ham. It tastes good and it is inexpensive. I do buy the big spiral hams during the holidays and for times when I am having a lot of company over, but this little Ham Steak is great for any day of the year, especially if it's for serving a couple or a small family of 3 or 4.

I personally like this Country Ribbon brand, because it's boneless, but Cook's Brand, and Sam's Club Brand is also good.

All you do is line a baking sheet with foil and put the ham steak on it, pour the juices from the Ham on the pan too, (If you buy a bone in the Ham Steak such as Cook's Brand, I'd wash the Ham Steak first before cooking it, because with that brand, I've noticed that it has a gritty feel to it due to the bone being cut)  and pour a can of diced pineapples over the top...Bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes....that's it.

I like to serve it with dried lima beans and fried cornbread (recipes for these are in the sidebar of this blog) and I also like a baked sweet potatoe. By the way, for beginners on cooking I'd like to mention that Baking a sweet potatoe is simple too, just wash it good and rub olive oil on the outside of it, bake it on a foil lined baking sheet for 400 degrees for 1 hour or a little longer...until tender.

Enjoy!

Baked Pork Chops with Crushed Tomato Sauce

You will need:

• Large package of boneless pork chops, (about 2 pounds)
• 1 Tablespoon Veg. oil
• 1 Can crushed whole tomatoes
• 1/2 Cup Ketchup
• 1/4 Cup light brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tablespoon Mustard
• Salt and Pepper

Put oil in a skillet, wash the meat put the meat on a plate and then sprinkle the meat with salt and pepper, brown the meat on both sides, then place the meat on a greased baking pan. Mix the remaning ingredients together in a mixing bowl and pour it over the pork chops. Bake uncovered for 45 min. to 1 hour until tender.
Enjoy!