Sausage Gravy

1 pound Sausage, bulk

3 Tbsp Butter

1/4 cup Flour (all-purpose)

3 cups Milk

Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Remove sausage with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pan. Stir in the butter until melted. Add flour, and stir until smooth. Reduce heat to medium, and cook until light brown. Gradually whisk in milk, and cook until thickened. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in cooked sausage. Reduce heat, and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes. If gravy becomes too thick, stir in a little more milk.

Red Velvet Cookies

My sister Winnie posted on her Facebook that she had hot Red Velvet cookies ready at her dorm for anyone who wanted any... Being 3 1/2 hours away going to get one from her wasn't an option. But she shared the recipe with me!!

Ingredients -

One box cake mix (you don't have to just make red velvet you can make any flavor you want!)

1 stick of butter

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

1/2 bag of white chocolate chips (This can be changed based on your cake mix flavor)

Melt the butter and then wait a minute or two... Why?

Because don't want to a)cook your egg when you add it to the hot butter or b)melt your white chocolate chips when you add it all to the mixer.

Mix everything together!

You will get a nice thick mix.

Place on a cookie sheet...

I don't know about you but the cookie looks soo good and I haven't even baked it yet!

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until done.

Enjoy your cookies!!!

Cheesy Broccoli Rice Chicken Casserole

The last week or so I have been wanting a casserole that had chicken, rice, and broccoli in it. But I couldn't find what I wanted. I found this recipe, but it didn't have chicken. Then I found this one; but I didn't want the crackers on top. So I decided to take the ideas from both of these recipes and make my own up as I went along!

Ingredients: 

For Broccoli - 

1 head of broccolii

2 Tbsp butter

2 cloves of minced garlic

salt and pepper

Other Ingredients - 

12 oz chicken breast, or 1 large chicken breast, cooked and shredded

2 cups uncooked instant brown rice (I used minute brown rice but you can use white rice)

1 3/4 cups chicken broth (I used the chicken broth from cooking the chicken, however you can just use water to make the rice)

4 Tbsp butter

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour

2 cups of milk

1-2 tsp Dijon mustard (I used squeezed the bottle one good time)

1/3-1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, I used fresh grated but you don't have to use fresh

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Salt and pepper

Because I can never make good broccoli on the stove top, I looked to the internet for a way to try it in the microwave and found this one from Taste of Home; I didn't completely follow it... Yes, I am not a complete recipe follower! I just used the broccoli, butter, garlic, salt and pepper I listed above, covered and ran it for 4 minutes. Super easy and yummy too!

After the broccoli was done in the microwave I cooked the rice in the microwave for 9 minutes. I decided to use the chicken broth from when I cooked the chicken, because everyone knows rice cooked in chicken broth is way better than rice cooked in water!!

While the microwave was doing its part to cook dinner I started making the cheese sauce. Sauté garlic and butter. Add flour and whisk it together. Slowly add milk... note... slowly! Add mustard, salt, and pepper. Turn off heat and add cheese. Then your cheese sauce is done! 

In the dish I cooked the broccoli in I added the shredded chicken, cooked rice, and stirred it all together.

Add the cheese sauce to the mix and stir it up good! Top with cheese. I baked it at 350 for 10 minutes... Basically until the cheese was all melted.

Serve and enjoy... And yes, I might have had a second helping!!

Cheesy Broccoli Potato Soup

Cheesy Broccoli Potato Soup

I found the idea for this soup from this post here. While I used her general suggestions for the ingredients I changed how much I used of what!

Ingredients - 

2 Tablespoons or more of butter (I ended up using more butter, it just varies on how much onions, celery, and carrots you use)

1 chopped onion

1 handful finely chopped carrot (I used a good handful of baby carrots and chopped them up)

2-3 celery stick, finely chopped (I like celery in my soups... But feel free to add less)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic (I have a jar of pre-minced and just got a large spoonful out... You can never have too much garlic)

4 cups chicken broth (This time I used 4 chicken bullion cubes to make the 4 cups, the second time I made it I used homemade broth)

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup milk

2 cups chopped broccoli (I didn't measure this... Just filled the bowl, chopped up, and went with it!)

2 cups or more shredded cheddar cheese (if you like it cheesy add more...)

Chop up the celery, onions, and carrots. Melt butter in pot.

Saute onions, celery, and carrots in butter. I ended up adding extra butter because of the amount of veggies I was sauteing.

Add garlic and cook for another minute or two.

Add chicken broth...

And potatoes. Cook until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, mix the flour and water together.

After potatoes are tender, add the flour water mix and allow soup to thicken slightly.

Add milk... 

And Broccoli...

Cook until Broccoli is tender!

Add cheese and stir up. I turned the heat off before adding the cheese... It is hot enough to melt the cheese without needing anymore heat.

Serve up! You can top with sour cream or even bacon or eat just how it is... Enjoy!

Southern Skillet Corn

Southern Skillet Corn

I found this recipe from a blog post here.  



The players...



6 ears corn
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons butter

The fun begins with shucking the corn.

Isn't that beautiful

Cut the corn off the cob

This is a trick I learned from Food Network. If you put a bowl upside down in another bowl it will keep your corn cob away from all that is being cut off while keeping all the corn together in a bowl and not all over the counter. 

All the corn cut off

Once the corn is all cut off, take a spoon and scrape the cob. This will give you all the yummy juices and corn milk

See the well cleaned out cob

Once the corn is all clean, you will melt the butter is a skillet. Also, mix the flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and water together in a separate bowl.

Add Corn and flour mix to the buttered skillet.

Cook on Med-low heat for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally

Southern Skillet Corn

Instructions: Shuck corn and pull off silks, then rinse under cool running water. In a large bowl, cut the corn from the cob with a sharp knife. Scrap up the cob with a spoon to get the milk. Combine flour, sugar, salt and pepper in a small bowl, then add to 1 1/2 cups of water. Stir with a fork or whisk or combine. Melt butter over medium-low heat in a large, heavy bottomed skillet. Add corn and flour mixture and cook over medium-low heat for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Makes 6 servings.

Baked Potato Soup

This recipe came from a search when we had some leftover baked potatoes!

Baked Potato Soup

You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients

12 slices bacon

2/3 cup margarine

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

7 cups milk

4 large baked potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 green onions, chopped

1 1/4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions                    

Cook bacon, crumble and set aside. I used precooked bacon for my soup.

In a stock pot or Dutch oven, melt the margarine over medium heat.

 Whisk in flour until smooth.

  Gradually stir in milk, whisking constantly until thickened.

 Cut up the onions and potatoes.

   Stir in potatoes and onions. 

  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes.              

  Mix in bacon, cheese, sour cream, salt, and pepper.

 Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until cheese is melted.               

You can also add corn to this to make it into a potato and corn chowder!