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Another Family Camp Fave: Biscuits and Gravy

Another Family Camp Fave: Biscuits and Gravy

Gravel Road's kitchen is closed as the cook is at Family Camp in Idaho. Today's recipe is a camp breakfast favorite, Harold Walker's Biscuits and Gravy.Gravel Road’s kitchen is closed for the week as the cook is at Family Camp in Idaho. Today’s recipe is a camp breakfast favorite. Uncle Harold, we miss you!

Harold Walker’s Biscuits & Gravy

According to Harold, you must use Jimmy Dean ground sausage.

Brown 1/2 pound of sausage and set it aside.
Whisk together:
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk

Pour the milk mixture into the skillet containing a few tablespoons of the sausage grease. Stir and heat until it thickens. Add the sausage. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over biscuits.

Camp Dorothy Off to a Rocky Start

Camp Dorothy Off to a Rocky Start

Dorothea

Camp Dorothy is the place to be after a rocky start yesterday. Late Thursday morning, Mom and I thought we had the world by the tail after the doctor’s office completed her appointment and blood draw in record, painless time. We hopped in the car and headed to Ames for lunch.

Mom wanted to go to a restaurant that serves breakfast because a) she hadn’t eaten breakfast because the doc wanted a fasting blood draw, and b) she always wants to eat breakfast when we go out. Mom was practically salivating when we entered the Ames establishment, which shall remain nameless, at noon. We were seated quickly, and things went downhill from there.

  • When the waitress brought our coffee, she brought only one cup and a pot full of decaf for me. Nothing for Mom because, the waitress explained, they’d just started a new pot of regular. It would be done in a jiffy.
  • Then she said a different waitress was taking over our table.
  • Five minutes later, when the new waitress came to take our order, she didn’t bring Mom’s coffee. Mom looked as pathetic as possible while I explained how hungry AND THIRSTY my frail, elderly mother was. Our histronics made little impression on the waitress.
  • Five minutes later, Mom finally got coffee.
  • Five minutes after that, our orders came, and we dug in.
  • One minute later, I realized the cheese hadn’t been left off my salad as requested.
  • One minute after that, the waitress took my food back to the kitchen.
  • Ten minutes later, my new salad arrived just as Mom finished her meal.
  • While Mom watched me eat, she decided the strawberry-rhubarb piekin pictured on the table display looked mighty tasty, so she flagged down the waitress and ordered one for each of us.
  • Five minutes later, the strawberry-rhubarb piekins made us forget all about the rocky start to Camp Dororthy. While we ate them, we decided to go to breakfast at The Dutch Oven Bakery in Boone on Friday morning.

Because the camp director decided breakfast is the obvious theme for for this session of Camp Dorothy. To paraphrase what my then three-year-old son said to his daddy the first time they walked to the bottom of a roadside ditch to pee, “Camp Dorothy is gonna be fun!”

Sunday Morning Brunch Egg Bake

Sunday Morning Brunch Egg Bake

Hiram’s health issues put the kabosh of our annual trek to Idaho Family Camp in July. I’ve been thinking about the good food we’ll be missing this summer. My favorite meal is Sunday morning brunch, which is an extravaganza of homemade sweet rolls, fresh fruit plates, and egg bakes.

Perhaps it’s just as well we won’t be there this year, as I’m not sure my non-dairy will power is great enough to resist the egg bakes quite yet. Maybe by July 2013, the recently begun desensitizing treatment will have kicked in, and I’ll be able to indulge once again…in moderation. Until then, I hope you and your family enjoy this Sunday Morning Brunch Egg Bake recipe.

Sunday Morning Brunch Egg Bake

The night before brunch, cook:

1 pound chopped bacon, OR
1 pound crumbled sausage, OR
1 pound cubed ham

Grease a 9 X 13 pan and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Then line pan with:

6 – 8 slices of bread with crusts removed
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Sprinkle meat over cheese, then mix together:

1 dozen eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk

Pour eggs and milk over bread, cheese, and meat.

Refrigerate overnight. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour or until done.

Breakfast Salad? Are You Kidding Me?

Breakfast Salad? Are You Kidding Me?

When I read the name of recipe in USA Weekend Magazine the weekend before Mother’s Day, my reaction was…breakfast salad? Are you kidding me? But a quick skim of the ingredients showed the recipe met the requirements for our healthy eating checklist:

Non-dairy for me √
No sugar for Hiram √
Lots of veggies for both of us √
High protein for high exercise days √
Easy to make √
Easy to substitute ingredients √

So last night, we tried the recipe – turning it into supper salad by serving it with baguette on the side – and it immediately received the coveted Hiram seal of approval. Not a wow-this-is-good seal of approval. But a wow-how-soon-will-you-serve-this-again seal of approval. Yup, it was that good. Don’t take my word for it, though. Try it and leave a comment about your family’s reaction to breakfast salad…any time of day.

Breakfast Salad

8 slices Canadian bacon (original recipe called for 4, but no way would Hiram go for that)
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice (original recipe called for balsamic vinegar)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
8 cups lightly packed, washed baby spinach leaves (about 8 ounces)
1/2 cup sweet red, orange, or yellow pepper thinly sliced (original recipe calls for 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half)
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped

Cook Canadian bacon in lightly oiled skillet over medium heat until golden brown, about 5 minutes, turning once. Remove from skillet and cut into 1/2″ strips. Set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lemon juice, mustard, salt, and pepper. Place spinach leaves and sweet peppers into a large serving bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat evenly. Spoon spinach/sweet pepper mix evenly onto four dinner plates. Top each serving with 1/4 of egg and Canadian bacon. Serve immediately.

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

My husband quit eating sugary foods a couple months ago for health reasons. His decision meant I needed to come up with a new method of preparing and serving pancakes, another one of our favorite breakfast-for-supper meals. Therefore, I was delighted when a recipe for blueberry buckwheat pancakes was published in the February 3 – 5 edition of USA Weekend Magazine. When I served them, we were both delighted to discover they were delicious and satisfying. You’ll be delighted to know the recipe received the coveted Hiram Seal of Approval. Rock on!

Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes

3/4 cup buckwheat flour (I ground buckwheat groats in my coffee grinder)
3/4 cup whole grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
3/4 cup non-fat milk (I left this out as I prefer a thick batter)
1 tablespoon honey
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable, corn, or canola oil

3 cups fresh or (thawed) frozen blueberries (I used 1 1/2 cups frozen berries, thawed)

In large bowl, mix the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl beat together the buttermilk, milk, honey, eggs, and oil. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing only enough to combine into a lumpy batter. Fold in one cup of the blueberries.

Use a 1/4 cup measure to ladle batter onto a hot, non-stick griddle or seasoned electric skillet. Flip the pancakes when the top is riddled with bubbles and the bottoms are golden brown (2-3 minutes). Serve with remaining blueberries (our frozen blueberries created a good deal of juice, so we used it too) and maple syrup.

Between the blueberries and their juice, the pancakes were naturally sweet. I used only a tablespoon of maple syrup on my stack and Hiram used none at all. If you give the recipe a try, leave a comment about how it worked for your family.