Biscuits and Gravy

Ingredients:

• bulk sausage, 1 pkg
• milk (1-4 cups)
• flour (1-2 tablespoons)
• 2 1/4 Bisquick mix
• 2/3 milk

Directions:

Biscuits: 

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Stir together Bisquick mix and 2/3 milk until a soft dough forms. 
3. Drop large spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.

Gravy:

1.  Brown the bulk sausage in a large pot.
2. Without draining, add milk. Here's where you decide how much gravy you want to make. If you just want a little bit, only add about a cup of milk. If you're feeding a crowd, or if you really like gravy, add up to 4 cups (5 cups, if you've got our entire family over).
3. Make up a flour roux by mixing 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour into a small amount (2-4 tablespoons) of milk. Keep mixing until the mixture is smooth.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture into the milk/sausage. Season to taste with salt and pepper. You'll want to go heavy with the pepper! (Seriously, trust me on this. The trick of a good gravy is using enough salt and almost, but not quite, too much pepper.)
5. Heat the mixture over medium-lowish heat, stirring frequently, until thick.

Serve the gravy over the warm biscuits.

BBQ Sausage and Rice

Ingredients:

• 1 package sausage breakfast links (I prefer 2 pkgs)
• half an onion, chopped
• 1 can string beans, with 1 cup of the liquid
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. mustard
• 1 Tbsp. hot sauce (we usually use Worcestershire sauce)
• 2 beef bullion cubes
• 3 cups cooked rice
  

Directions:

1. In a large pan, brown sausage links. Cut into bite-sized pieces and put aside.
2. Saute chopped onion until tender.
3. Mix all ingredients except rice, and let simmer about 10-15 minutes to blend the flavors.
4. Add 3 cups cooked rice and heat through, stirring occasionally. (I think the original recipe was to heat it for 20 minutes, but we could never wait that long. Plus I would get distracted and let the rice burn on the bottom of the pan.)

This is a family favorite. I think the original recipe was on a box of Minute Rice. I've been making this recipe for years, so I've gotten into the habit of just doing it with "a little of that, a bit more of this" and I'm not sure on the exact measurements. If I find the original recipe, I'll fix this. Until then, just remember that these are approximations -- make it to taste.