Mmmm....breakfast

There is nothing quiet like waking up and smelling sausage cooking. It will make even the most confirmed non-morning person (i.e. me) bolt out of bed at sunrise and run to the kitchen. Of course if you are anything like me, once you are fully stuffed with all of that deliciousness you will probably go back to bed to sleep in a food induced coma. Sausage with biscuits and gravy is so unbelievably easy. I always am surprised by people who say they can't cook. Cooking is not hard! Or at least not the cooking I do, haha. Some of the best advise I have ever read in regard to cooking was from Ina Garten. She said something to the effect of, "if something goes wrong in the kitchen and you can fix it then by all means do. If you can't fix it then don't worry about it. You can always order Chinese."

Sausage with Biscuits and Gravy

Ingredients
1. 1 pd. of sausage
2. 1 tube of biscuits
3. AP flour
4. salt and pepper

Directions
1. Take your pound of sausage (I like to use hot sausage but whatever floats your boat is fine) shape the sauge into circles slightly smaller than the size of your palm.
2. Place the sausage in a skillet on medium high heat and let it start cooking.
3. In the meantime get out your tube of biscuits. If you are feeling particularly adventurous then by all means make them from scratch.
4. You can cook the biscuits on either a sheet pan or in a cast iron skillet - again it doesn't really matter it just depends on what you have on hand and what you want to use.
5. Cook the biscuits based on the package instructions.
6. Keep an eye on the sausage and flip it when needed. I like mine to get almost charred. When the sausage is completely cooked through remove it to a paper towel and cover with tinfoil to keep warm.
7. Some sausage releases a lot of grease during the cooking process and some doesn't. If the pan you cooked the sausage in is swimming with grease then remove a couple of spoonfuls. Usually with the sausage I make though there is hardly any grease in the pan - I actually end up having to add a little bit of canola oil.
8. Take a couple of tbsps of AP flour and on medium low heat add the flour to the empty pan. Use a whisk to combine the flour with the grease.
9. Pour some milk into the pan. I never measure I just eyeball it but I would say start with about a cup and see if you need more from there. Whisk the milk with the flour/grease mixture and see if the texture is right. You have probably had biscuits and gravy before so you know what you are aiming for. The mixture should be pourable but not runny. Like cornbread it's almost impossible to ruin because if it gets too watery add more flour and if it gets too thick add more milk. Let it cook for about ten to fifteen minutes. You just want to make sure the raw flavor of the flour is cooked out.
10. Salt and pepper to taste. It will need quiet a bit of both. Despite the sausage drippings, white gravy doesn't have a ton of flavor by itself. It'll need some doctoring.
11. Take one (or two or three) of your biscuits that should be done by now and split them open. Pour the gravy on top and place a piece of sausage on the side (if you want to eat it like I do!) and stuff yourself like crazy.

Quiche

Whenever I go home to visit my parents I always stock up on sausage sold at the local market. Everything is raised, slaughtered and processed locally so I know it is fresh and I also know there are no strange bi-products. It is blended with a lot of different spices that give it a wonderful taste and heat. I am down to my last pound of it in the freezer and figured I would use it during the in-law's visit. I also had a leftover pie shell from a chocolate pie I had made awhile back and so I decided the best way to use everything up would be to make a breakfast quiche. Boy howdy this was DELICIOUS! The buttermilk adds an interesting tangy taste to the quiche. I hardly ever cook with it and I've discovered I really like the taste of it.



Cheesy Sausage and Egg Quiche
I found the recipe East Meets West Kitchen blog

Ingredients
1. 1 pound Jimmy Dean Maple sausage I used the pd. of hot sausage I had on hand
2. 1/2 cup onion, diced
3. 1/2 cup green pepper, diced
4. 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
5. 1 tbsp. flour
6. 1 9-inch deep-dish pie crust
7. 4 eggs, beaten
8. 1 cup buttermilk
9. 1 tbsp. parsley flakes To me 1 tbsp. is too much. Next time I will half that amount.
10. 1/2 tsp seasoned salt
11. 1/2 tsp garlic powder
12. 1/4 tsp freshly grind black pepper

Directions
1. Cook sausage in non-stick skillet. Drain sausage, reserving 2 tbs fat.
2. Sauté onion and pepper in 2 tbs fat reserved from the sausage.
3. Combine cheese and flour. Stir in sausage, pepper, and onion.
4. Spread evenly in pie crust.
5. Thoroughly mix rest of ingredients and pour into pie shell over sausage mixture.
6. Place on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 375°F for 35-40 minutes, until browned and cooked.

Breakfast for Dinner

This recipe has a lot of things going for it.

1. It's quick...literally it can be made in about 30 minutes. Perfect for a day when you come home feeling drained.

2. It's versatile. I usually make it with spicy sausage but it can be made with ham, turkey or even vegetarian (in that case I would recommend adding a green pepper diced and maybe some broccoli)

3. It's delicious! For something that comes together so quickly it's shocking how yummy it is.

So on to the recipe itself.

Frittatas with Ham and Cheese

adapted from Cooking Light http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=521726

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2. 2/3 cup chopped reduced-fat ham (about 2 ounces) Again I highly recommend spicy sausage
3. 1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) shredded reduced-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese I always just use regular cheddar cheese
4. 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives Omitted
5. 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme Omitted
6. 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
7. 4 large egg whites
8. 1 large egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat.

3. Add onion; sauté 2 minutes or until crisp-tender.

4. Add ham; sauté 3 minutes. Remove from heat; cool 5 minutes.

5. Combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.

6. Add ham mixture, stirring with a whisk.

7. Spoon mixture into 24 miniature muffin cups coated with cooking spray. I don't have a mini muffin pan so I just use a standard cupcake pan. Also I don't coat the pan with cooking spray. I have found that it makes the frittatas too greasy.

8. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until set.