Week 1 Wednesday: Biscuits with Sausage Gravy, Meatloaf on a Bed of Potatoes with Green Beans and Lemon Squares

It's Wednesday morning of Week One.
 

 Both meals on today's menu are classic comfort foods.
Perfect for the middle of the week.

I tired a lot of biscuit recipes over the years before I finally found this one that I adapted from a recipe on an episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.

I like biscuits to be big fluffy and soft. The should rise high and be crisp only on the very outer layer and soft and fluffy through-out. This one turns out perfect every time.

And this meatloaf recipe is so good. There's never leftovers. It's fall-apart tender without being mushy, tangy and satisfying. The meat juices flavor the potatoes as they roast underneath it in the crockpot - giving them a flavor that can't be beat. 

The lemon squares dessert has a buttery shortbread crust that is so good it could be a dessert on its own. And the lemon layer is more tart than sweet with a custard like consistency which I prefer in lemon squares over a chewy grainy or cake-y texture. They are almost addictive! 

 

Biscuits with Sausage Gravy

Meatloaf on a Bed of Potatoes with Green Beans and Lemon Squares

 

 

BREAKFAST:

BISCUITS

1. I always bring my eggs to room temperature, so the first thing I do is put the 2 eggs in a bowl of warm water. The recipe also calls for buttermilk and since I use soured milk instead, I warm a cup of milk in the microwave and then pour a Tablespoon of vinegar in it. I preheat the oven to 425 degrees and let both the eggs and milk sit.

2. I put one cube (1/2 cup) of margarine, 2 cups four, 1 Tbsp Baking Powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda and a teaspoon of salt in the bowl of my stand mixer.

3. Mix it on low, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula until it is a crumbly, uniform mixture.

4. With the mixer still set on low, add the soured milk and eggs.

5. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour until the dough pulls away from the sides but not so much that it isn't very soft (it should never feel stiff or firm, just not sticky).

  6. Grease a cookie sheet. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and if it's sticky, sprinkle it with flour. Then pat it into a rectangular shape about 1 - 2 inches thick.

 7.  I don't have a biscuit cutter so I just use the mouth of a cup, that is the size I like, to cut out circles and place them on a greased baking sheet.

8.  When you can't cut out any more circles, gently gather the dough into a ball and re-pat it into a 1-2 inch thickness again and continue making more until you've used all the dough.

9.  Bake at 425 degrees for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

SAUSAGE GRAVY

I used to use a mix to make sausage flavored country gravy for biscuits, but after I taught myself how to make my own I would never go back to a mix. It's easy and it's far better.

1. In a medium sized greased skillet, cook a package of breakfast sausage over low heat. Use the edge of a fork to break it into pieces and move them around the pan.

 

 2. Let the sausage cook slowly, moving the pieces around to allow pink surfaces of the sausage to directly touch the pan's surface until there is no pink left on any of the pieces. 

 3. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour over the meat (about 1/2 - 3/4 cup or so). Let it soak up the fat, using a fork to let the pieces of sausage be coated in flour.

 

 4. Pour enough milk into the pan that the sausage is almost covered - with only the very tops of them sticking out. Use a fork or whisk to incorporate the fat-soaked flour into the milk.

5. Salt and generously pepper. Let it come to a light boil, stirring often scraping the bottom of the pan to prevent any burning or sticking. It will thicken and reduce as it cooks. So cook until it is the thickness of country gravy.

 

6. Serve over biscuits. ENJOY!

 

DINNER:

 

 

This is a fantastic meatloaf recipe, definitely one of my family's favorite meals. The meat is tender and flavorful and the potatoes get roasted in the meat's juices as it slow cooks all day long.

 

1. Wash and scrub the number of potatoes you want to use. I use about 1 1/2 per person, so since there are 6 of us, I am using 9. Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. This is the easy way I do it:

 

Chop the ends off of each potato, then slice it into rounds. Remove the ends and stand the slice potato on its side. Hold the slices together with one and slice in half, then make one or two slices the perpendicular direction - depending on how big you want the pieces to be.

 

2. Put the potato pieces in the bottom of a greased crockpot and salt and pepper them.

 

 

3. Put 2 lbs of ground beef in a large mixing bowl. Crack an egg in the bowl and add 3/4 cups of oats and a chopped onion.

 

 4. Pour  a Tablespoon or so of olive oil, a cup of ketchup and few Tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce into the bowl. Then salt and pepper.

 

5. Mix it all together really well. I use bare, clean hands to really get it mixed well - and then pat it into a tight ball or "loaf." Then place it on top of the potatoes in the crockpot and shape it to fit over them inside the space.

 

6. Mix the topping ingredients - 3/4 cup ketchup, 1/3 cup brown sugar and I use more Dijon mustard than the recipe calls for (about 1-2 Tbsp). Mix well and then spread over the top of the meatloaf. Put the lid on the crockpot and let cook on LOW for 8-10 hours.

 

 

 7. This comes out of the crockpot ready to serve. ENJOY!

 

DESSERT:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the 6 eggs required for the dessert into a bowl of warm water to bring them to room temperature. Grease a 9x13 pan.


2. Put 3/4 cup butter (a stick and a half) in the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour in 1/2 cup sugar and 1 3/4 cup flour. Mix well - until crumbly. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl routinely to keep it uniform.

 

3. Pour the mixture into the greased pan. Spread it out over the bottom and begin pressing it down, packing it tight into a uniform crust.

 

4. Bake the crust for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. While it bakes, break the 6 eggs into the bowl of a stand mixer. With the wire whisk attachment, mix on medium speed until the eggs are well blended and turn a light lemon color.

5. Pour one cup of the sugar slowly while the mixer is still on medium, then the 1/4 cup flour and teaspoon of baking soda. Then pour in the second cup of sugar. Mix well.

 

 .6. Let the mixture sit until the crust is done. Once the crust is done, add the cup of lemon juice and mix well. It will bubble up. Then pour it right over the hot crust. Put back in the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles.

6. The top should be very lightly browned and the middle won't jiggle when it's done. It will be slightly "puffed" up when it comes out of the oven and will settle down a bit. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar after it has cooled a little. ENJOY!