*thud*

Wow.

If that had been one of my kids I would have smiled sweetly and gotten out the precooked bacon, scrambled some eggs, toasted some homemade bread and poured the coffee.

I'm tired just reading about your 2 hour breakfast.

Precooked bacon? They have precooked bacon? Wow....I'm living in the dark ages here, LOL, I've never seen it. Of course, I never looked because I didn't know it existed.

How do they keep it crisp, since I'm only assuming that it has to be refrigerated?

Annie

Don't knead it, just fold on top of itself, flatten, fold, flatten, fold again. Three times, Grandma told me that's what makes the flaky layers.

I just made a french bagette tonight that had me folding the dough. When I made bisquits, I just kneaded as normal a few times. They are good, but that comment makes sense now about flaky biscuits. I am learning a lot in this forum.
tammy

The fully cooked bacon is by Hormel, and I get it at Sam's Club (the big packages, you can get smaller ones at the local grocery store). At first I felt a little silly buying cooked bacon, but the next time I cooked bacon at home I realized why I liked the Hormel bacon - it's much neater and there's no bacon grease to dispose of and clean up.

I nuke 4 pieces for about 30 seconds. Crispy bacon.

The only bacon I really ever cook is the applewood smoked bacon from Wegman's but I can't find it any more.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hormel Fully cooked bacon

Will you adopt me?

Annie, You are a much nicer person than I am. I'm so not a morning person, that I probably would have said, "Hey, it's your BF, you impress him." But then I don't speak before the sun if fully high in the sky either. Very much not a morning person at ALL.

I saw the pre-cooked bacon in the grocery a couple months ago. Stopped me dead in my tracks. I guess I just don't get it. What I saw was not refrigerated. it was in a vacuum pack.

So, dry toast and black coffee wouldn't do, eh? ;)

Wow Annie, you're much better person than me. He would be lucky if he got pancakes! LOL Oh, your breakfast looked delicious! Al

Annie I wouldn't have expected any less from you.

What a great breakfast. Too bad Ashley wasn't able to enjoy that feast. I'm glad that she is feeling better though.

Tammy, give the folding method a try. You will be surprised how much more flaky your biscuits will be.

Ann

I'm not a morning person and not nearly as good a Mom as you apparently. If he was to be there at 9:00 he should have eaten at home and if he didn't he could have cereal at my house. At the very most he would get a scrambled egg, toast and nuked bacon.

This kid is a college student finishing up his Bachelor's Degree in business, and working weekends as a bouncer in a local sports bar/bowling alley/restaurant. Yeah, he's a big kid.

I figure if he's nice enough to work until 3 am, go home and catch a couple of hours of sleep and then drive 30 miles to check on Ashley, I'd make him breakfast.

Besides, he's one of the few guys that Ashley has dated that I actually like, that earns him a bit of extra cooking, LOL.

Annie

Ahhh, I already figured you liked him Annie. In that case I might have made him some frozen preshaped sausage patties in lieu of the bacon. LOL

Beverly

Glad to read your last post Annie. I was wondering when I was reading the first one if this guy is a keeper...now I know.

Beverly....too funny!!!

Annie, glad to hear Ashley is going to live thru the wisdom teeth extraction. Sounds like a nice guy to come and check on her...

Nancy

Annie, you are good mom. I would have done the drive through at Mickey D's. Ok, maybe not. Now that he knows Mom can cook, it is Ashley turn to impress him.

" I was wondering when I was reading the first one if this guy is a keeper...now I know."

I was pretty sure of that from Annie's original post. ;-)

Jim

If I had Ashley's good looks (that she inherited from her mother) I'd have had that guy doing the cooking... as in take me and my mother out somewhere.

Annie you are simply amazing! If Ashley does not keep this guy I want to be her next BF... even if just an "imaginary" BF.

: )
lyra

Ohhhhh, wow, Annie!! You did all that AND took excellent photos AND posted some cooking tips for us too! You ROCK!!!!!

Well, I'm not sure if this guy is Ashley's "keeper" or not, she's been through boyfriends the way other girls go through kleenex. This is NOT the one that she was dating at Christmas time, BTW, it's a new guy. That makes three in the last 4 months. Anyway, he's a nice kid, I hope she keeps him around but she tends to like guys that she can "rescue" for some reason, if they are normal and don't have a zillion problems for her to solve, she gets bored or something.

Michael/Lyra, I'll add you to the waiting list, but it's a long darned drive for breakfast. (grin)

Peppi, remember, we don't have a McDonald's, and two of the three restaurants here in town have closed, so that leaves Subway, which does not serve breakfast, the bakery which has donuts and pastries and the pizza place that opens at 10 am. Here on a Sunday morning the only thing open is the Wesco gas station and the churches, everything else is a half hour drive away.

I think I'm having that last sausage patty for lunch...

Annie

Hi Annie,

I'm very concerned about Ashley and I'd like to come over to make sure she's okay tomorrow. Giving you a heads up now so you can take some more sausage out of the freezer today and it won't take you two hours tomorrow to make my breakfast. See how considerate I am? ;)

Glad she's feeling better! You're a good mama.

Tamara

Tamara, come right on over. For you, I'll even make fresh sausage!

Annie

Amazing! Hope Ashley is better soon also. It took me a good week to recover from having my wisdom teeth removed as they were impacted. I slept with bags of frozen peas on my face for days :)

Tracey

Annie you have really gone over the top again! What an amazing cookup for a breakfast. We don't cook or eat much first thing in the morning. You are really the best mom.

I think the boyfriend will definitely think that Ashley is a keeper with a mom like you!

PS I always wondered what sausage gravy was and now I know. Thanks for posting the play by play!

SharonCb

Lord Annie, you make me tired just reading about all the "from scratch" stuff you did. I'd like to introduce you to frozen sausage patties for the times when you don't have your homemade sausage. Works great and they are so good on a biscuit,(which I keep in the freezer) for a quick breakfast. When I make biscuits I always make a lot extra and keep them in the freezer to pull out when I need them. Makes having Country Ham, eggs and red eye gravy, (if you like it, and DH does) a snap, or other combinations, as well, but... I'm not a purist. I know YOUR breakfast was wonderful...and I would have dug in with both hands.

My mother used to can sausage and I loved it. I think she just fried the sausage, put it in the jars and poured the grease over it. Did your Grandma do that?

jude

Jude, I don't remember Grandma canning sausage, I know she canned salmon and venison and nearly everything else, so she very well may have and I don't remember. Then again, we always had a big freezer, even before we started raising beef and pork, and it was always full of illegal venison, rabbits, squirrels, pheasants, ducks, anything my Dad and brother could shoot that might be edible, along with fish. My brother really liked to fish.

I'm afraid if I froze biscuits I'd eat way too many of them, at least this way I have to work for them, LOL. And I did have Italian sausage links in the freezer that we could have had, but they just aren't the same as breakfast sausage, at least not according to Ashley.

I do like red eye gravy but I'm the only one, again, I'm saved by the majority because I won't usually make it just for me. Elery doesn't like any gravy at all, so I can't use him as an excuse either!

I'll have to come to your house for breakfast, I guess, if I want red eye gravy.

SharonCB, I think sausage gravy is way over rated, I always liked the gravy better than Grandma made with diced bacon and the flour stirred into the bacon grease, then finished off with milk. No one else seems to agree with me on that either.

So they don't make biscuits and gravy there in Tenerife or in Canada? It must be specific to the U.S.?

Annie

wow that looks amazing!

I'm forever trying to perfect biscuits. Could you explain what you mean by turn them out and then layer? DO you combine the ingredients to make a dough, and then at the point when other people would roll them out and knead, just fold them over? Does it matter what shape the dough is in when you turn it out on the counter (dump out of a bowl or more like a log)? I know, lots of questions for what seems like a simple concept, but tall flaky biscuits are somewhat of a holy grail...

First, I hope Ashley is recovering okay from her dental work. I remember having mine done years ago....and I'm know fan of the dentist or doctors office not to forget hospitals. Even if it's a good thing like a new baby.

I love B&G and your's looks and sounds great to me Annie! I still need to take on homemade sausage one of these days..... I like ham steak, eggs, and red eye gravy too. Diner food all the way in these parts.

Does the new BF have a dog? Don't let them get one together.....LOL! Sorry, had to give both of you a hard
time on that one. I love Mr. Cooper!

David

Annie,

I was going to write something funny, but the fact is, you continue to do wonderful, unselfish things for the people you love. And you make it look so easy. You continue to inspire me.
Jo (who has had a really rotten week, and could use one of your breakfasts).

Robin, I'll try to describe it. I mix all the dry ingredients with a whisk, make a well in the middle just like I'm doing noodles or muffins, pour in the buttermilk. I use a fork to bring the dry ingredients in to the middle, and just until they are mixed. Sometimes I add more liquid, I had to this time.

I just dump the mixture out onto my floured counter and kind of bring it together into a ball of dough, it has to be wet enough to hold together but not so wet that it runs on the counter. I pat it out into a square about an inch thick, pick up one side of the dough and fold it in half, up over the top, kind of like I'm making a tart. I pat the dough out again to about an inch, fold in half the other way, pat it out to about an inch. I fold in half the third time, pat it out to about an inch thick and cut, then bake.

Fluffy layers of biscuits, just don't handle it too much when mixing it, and good luck. They all taste good hot with melted butter, no matter the flakey layers.

Annie

Annie, no shortening of any kind?
I've been making biscuits for almost 60 years.
Never heard of any without some kind of shortening.
So I'm guessing you cut it into the dry ingredients before you add the buttermilk, right?

Rusty

Just went back & reread.
I see you use butter, good!

You do cut it into the dry ingredients, right?

Rusty

It's very nice to cook for someone who is appreciative and deserving. I only cook breakfast on week-ends, and I never get it done before 10:30, but then DB likes to sleep in. Typically it takes me an hour to make it, but then I never make sausage from frozen meat!! BTW, I always make square biscuits ( sometimes parallelograms), and I do not have a biscuit cutter. I guess I am a bit of a morning person since I like breakfast, but I won't eat it after noon. I have made breakfast burritos for dinner but they don't really seem like breakfast that much.

Thanks for posting the pictures. I hope Ashley is feeling better by now, and I'm happy that she has a nice BF.

Lars

Lars, I thought I was the only person on earth that just cut square biscuits, other people think that's so odd but I find it easy and kind of comforting, they're more like Grandma's biscuits. I do the same thing with scones, or pat them round and make pie shaped wedges, I seldom cut anything round for some reason.

Rusty, I don't like shortening in most things, I have a couple of cookie recipes that "need" it because the texture just isn't right without it, but I seldom have any. I've been known to use lard too, if I have some on hand, but mostly the biscuits get made with butter.

I keep the butter very cold, cut it into small cubes and then work it into the flour with a very old fashioned hand held pastry cutter. Grandma used to use two knives and did literally "cut" the butter into the flour mixture. When I have "pea sized" bits of butter in my dry ingredients, then I add the wet stuff.

As you can see, I get light flakey biscuits with "layers" because the folding and minimal handling lets the cold pieces of butter stay intact and create those flakey layers.

David, the BF has a cat. He had it before he and Ashley started dating, thank goodness! Oh, and you are truly a smart a$$, that's why I love you. (grin)

Jo, I'm sorry you're having a bad week, you're welcome to breakfast with me any time you need it, even if it is only virtual.....

Annie

Uuuuuhhh, I don't think sausage gravy is overrated at all. Love the stuff! Maybe it's a southern thing. Gravy of any kind is good.

Beverly

Annie yes there's no such thing as biscuits and gravy over here. As a matter of fact even gravy of any kind is a rarity in many Spanish restaurants or home cooking.

I don't know what they are making in Canada now but I never heard of it when I lived there. I remember we made baking powder biscuits in Home Ec cooking classes when I was in high school and I think I even made a few at other times as a teen. Otherwise I have made scones from a recipe of my daughter Michelle, but they were sweet and never eaten with gravy.

I think the custom may have originated in USA, perhaps in the south?

Spanish breakfasts are more or less the continental type, with people taking coffee or cold chocolate milk with toast, croissants, or dunking plain Maria biscuits (galletas Maria) in their morning breakfast drink, sometimes a tea.

I've noticed many Germans here tend to eat a small bread roll with butter, sliced ham, cheese and coffee as breakfast.
They line up at the bakery every morning to buy their fresh rye bread rolls.

I'm still eating my diet breakfast every day of two mini slices of a yukky healthy bread from the pharmacy with slices of turkey breast ham and low fat york ham, with a disgusting healthy hot herbal infusion drink, also from the pharmacy. :-)

Pass me the biscuits and sausage gravy please!

SharonCb

I believe gravy is a French invention (variation of béchamel or velouté, but it's been made in England for centuries. We got it from the English, I think, and it is very popular in the South, and that includes Texas!

I'm going to have to remember to use cold butter the next time I make biscuits. I have to admit that I love Popeye's biscuits, but who knows what's in them.

Lars

Here is a link that might be useful: Gravy history

Looks and sounds good Annie. The boyfriend was one lucky guy!

Sharon, I'd actually prefer the rye rolls with the ham and cheese, or even better, cookies and coffee. I'm sorry about that disgusting.....um.....healthy breakfast. (grin)

Beverly, I told you no one would agree with me on that, including Cooper, who has been eating sausage gravy for the last two days! It just doesn't "warm up" very well.

Lars, you're right, there has been gravy here for centuries, but the sausage gravy is, I think, a southern invention. Then again, it's basically a cream sauce kind of gravy, so who knows, it could be French after all.

Popeye's biscuits? I've never had one but I kind of like the ones from Kentucky Fried Chicken. The only ones I don't like are the ones that come in a can!

I do like them best hot, with melted butter and homemade jam or honey or sorghum molasses, more sweet than savory. That's probably why I like scones, it's the sweet.

Annie

Wow! That's all I can say - just wow!!

I actually am a morning person and I would love to put together a breakfast like that, but only, and I mean ONLY, if I don't have anything else I need to do lol!!! If I'm going to do serious cooking like that, I like to plan the day to do cooking and that's it.

Here in Boston we don't have that tradition of biscuits and gravies - I never heard of sausage gravy before! What is it? Just a flour/milk gravy with the loose sausage meat mixed in?

You are good! If that was me, he would have gotten something like a cheese omelette and toast - something I could whip up in 10 minutes. You have one lucky family that you go to such lengths to cook for them!!

Lisa

Yes, Lisa, that's exactly what sausage gravy is, just a cream based gravy/sauce with the browned loose sausage pieces in it. My kids just love the stuff.

At least it was Sunday, all I had on the schedule was farm chores, so I at least got to stay in my warm kitchen until late morning, before going out.

I keep telling my kids they are lucky they have such an awesome Mom and they just nod and say "yeah, yeah...". (grin)

Annie

Thanks annie! I'll try your technique the next time that I make biscuits. I've been on a snowstorm cooking spree since Friday (DC area 'snowmageddon'), but I need to stop or else I will gain weight!

Speaking of sweet, have you had biscuits with a little butter and topped with pure maple syrup? That is my hands-down favorite --- better than pancakes IMHO. If I had to choose a 'last meal,' a big plate of hot biscuits and syrup just might be it...