Cooking Week 17: Childhood Biscuits and Gravy

I am firmly entrenched in the Midwest, however my grandparents come from West Virginia and as such I grew up with a number of southern foods despite my physical location.  I absolutely love anything that involves biscuits.  My all time favorite meal that my grandmother makes is biscuits and underwater rice.  As no one else I currently eat with shares that love, however, I made my my second favorite grandma meal- Biscuits and Gravy.

I don't follow a precise recipe, but I start out by browning 1 lb. of spicy sausage (I like the kick but grandma uses regular)

Then I estimate how much fat is in the pan- this time I guessed 2 Tbsp. and add an equal amount of flour.  Whisk together and add 1 c. of milk for every 1 Tbsp of flour.  After I did this I determined that I wanted more gravy than what was there so I added 1 Tbsp. butter, 1 Tbsp. flour and another 1 cup of milk.  Stir all together and cook until it thickens.

Pour your gravy over your favorite biscuit recipe (or in my case quick Bisquick biscuits) and enjoy a taste of the south.

Cooking Week 16: Prosciutto Wrapped Asparagus

Ahh my pickiness strikes again.  I don't like asparagus.  Despite that I gave it a go for the challenge anyway.  I figured- hey its been years since I had it, maybe I like it now.  No such luck.  I'll share the recipe anyway since I think its a good one if its something you might like :)

I found it here.

Really simple.  Take some asparagus, prosciutto, and cream cheese.

Spread the cream cheese lightly on prosciutto and wrap it around a sprig or two of asparagus.

Placed on a lightly sprayed baking sheet and bake at 450 for 15 minutes and enjoy- or in my case don't.
 

Cooking Week 15: One Pot Mac and Cheese

I still haven't managed to settle into a routine at the new place, but I managed to throw together a crockpot mac and cheese for this week's challenge.

I wasn't totally thrilled with how it turned out, it didn't get a great sauce.  I think it may be the dubliner cheese that I used? Who knows.  I'm not going to bother with the recipe, but if you really want it speak up and I'll share!

Cooking Week 14: Sloppy Joes

Ahh Sandwiches!  One of my many many food loves.  I'd say at least half of our meals involve some sort of sandwich.  I wanted to go out on a limb and make something fancy, but as I'm still catching up on real life I went with one of my old standby's- good ol' sloppy joes.

I of course served them on homemade buns (recipe found here)

The joes themselves are one pound of ground beef browned with 1/2 a diced onion and 1/2 a diced green pepper.  Add 1/4c. ketchup, 8oz. tomato sauce, some Worcestershire sauce, pepper, salt, garlic powder, and chili powder.  Mix until heated through and serve!

Cooking Week 13: Russian Piroshki

Sorry I've been MIA this past week or so.  The hassle of moving means no internet and little time for posting once I did get it.  It also means I didn't get to either of my challenges until the very end of the week, but I did get them done.  In cooking this week the challenge was Russian.  After perusing some websites of Russian food I finally settled on Piroshki which is basically a Pasty.  Traditionally there are a variety of fillings that go into these delicious pockets, but I settled on ground beef and onions based on the tastes of the boy and I.

I used the recipe found here and the only thing I changed is I subbed garlic powder for dill and I baked at 400 for 17 minutes instead of frying them.

Basically you whip up a bread like dough

Cook your filling and let it cool.

Fill the pockets

Brush a beaten egg on top to help them brown in the oven.

Then bake and eat!