I love a good basic meal; one with a couple ingredients that are easy to fetch from the farm. Up here on Gatski Mountain, there’s abundant milk, butter and of course, sausage.  Sausage & Biscuits is a favorite. I like to serve it with some seasonal greens sauteed in garlic. I understand that Sausage & Biscuits is an old world tradition- I’m hoping I can coax a few “tricks” out of those of you with family recipes. Psstt…. Would love a tip on how to get biscuits to rise more. Please do share in the comments.

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

• combine 2 cups flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspon salt in bowl- then cut 5 to 6 tablespoons of butter into mixture.
• use your fingers to incorporate the butter into the flour [until the largest pieces are about the size of a pea] add about 3/4 cup milk and stir until soft dough is formed- knead enough to shape and turn onto a floured board
• roll out 1/2″ thick and cut- I use a water glass or ball jar. put on baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes.

• Cook your sausage in a pan [add 1-2 cups water] – remove from pan when complete.
• Mix 1 tablespoon of flour in a cup of milk or water. Add slowly to the sausage pan, stirring to make your “gravy.” It should thicken quickly.
• Put biscuits on plate and top off with sausage and gravy.

That’s it! It is so simple.

I find bliss in the kitchen- particularly when working on something simple and a tad creative. No need to run- I think you can too. I am all about simple. 1. 2. 3.- ta da!

Friday nights are pizza nights around here. Here’s how I make homemade pizza (recipe makes 2 pizzas)…

1. Mix      2. Let Rise (and read a book)     3. Roll & Assemble

1. put the following ingredients in your mixer [I use kitchen aid with dough hook]- in this order [start this 2 hrs before you want to eat]

• 1 tbsp baking yeast
• 1.5 cups warm water
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 3 tbsp olive oil – or just shake a little in there
• 3.5 cups flour

2. put dough hook on mixer and let it rip for 10 minutes- take the dough hook off and let the dough sit in the same bowl to rise for about 1 hour

3. after about 1 hour clear some counter space and sprinkle it with flour.  preheat your oven to 425. remove dough from bowl. cut dough in half.

• get your rolling pin out [or maybe you have a wine bottle you can use]
• roll away from you- working the dough into a circle- keep adding more flour if its sticking
• get out your pizza pans and sprinkle them with some olive oil
• lay the dough on your pan
• get out your sauce, mozarella cheese, and whole hog sausage and any other toppings you enjoy
• spoon about 1 cup of tomato or pizza sauce over your dough
• sprinkle about 1.5 cups of mozarella cheese on top
• cut up chunks of sausage and lay on top- as much as desired
• repeat for second pizza
• put it in the oven and bake for 20 minutes
• yum. yum.

** if you want extra special pizza- try making your own mozarella. we do not have fresh milk now because the cows are dry (they haven’t had their calves yet)- I used grated mozarella from the grocery- works too!

There are many variations to making homemade pizza- let us know your tips in the comments!