Monday, July 27, 2009

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Recipe and Photo Courtesy: Small Notebook











I stumbled across this recipe and thought, "Sure I'll try that one day". Well, 3 days later, I was craving chocolate milk, and guess what, no Hershey's in the fridge. Well, 10 minutes later, I got my chocolate milk and oh my goodness! Delish!

INGREDIENTS
½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Mix the cocoa and the water in a saucepan. Heat and stir to dissolve the cocoa. Add the sugar, and stir to dissolve. Boil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add the salt and the vanilla. Let cool. Pour into a sterile glass jar, and store in the refrigerator. Keeps for several months. Yields two cups.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Jimmy Dean Biscuits & Gravy

Recipe courtesy of Doris Beck
Photo courtesy of Google Images












INGREDIENTS
1 pkg Jimmy Dean Sausage (don't substitute another brand)
Oil, preferably canola
1-2 cups milk
Up to 1/4 cup flour
Water
Salt & Pepper (to taste)

DIRECTIONS
There is no exact measurements to this, it is basically guesswork and will probably be a constantly evolving recipe. So, with that in mind, I will give you the directions the same way they were given to me.

1. Cook the sausage in a skillet. Once cooked, remove all but 1 Tablespoon of the sausage and set aside.
2. Add a little bit of oil, approximately 2 T, get it hot.
3. Have milk, a measuring cup of water and salt and pepper at the ready.
4. Start with 2 T flour, stir into oil and sausage. Add more until you get a paste.
5. Add 1 cup water and mix until smooth, over medium-high heat.
6. When it thickens, add milk or water until you get the desired quantity. *Note* When I made this, I realized I wanted more sauce, so I wound up adding more flour after this step. It was fine, but it's best to get all the flour incorporated during step #4. If you add more flour, add more oil as well. Also, I prefer to use more milk than water, but that's just a personal preference.
7. Add the sausage and cook it a bit to re-warm it.

Serve over biscuits, either homemade, Bisquick or Pillsbury. Doesn't matter which kind, but buttermilk will be best.