Hunh.
Although I love to oblige my guy by tantalizing his taste buds first thing in the morning, I was fairly certain the grocery fairy had not paid me a visit in the middle of the night, which meant I was out of almost everything even remotely breakfast related.
In less than two minutes, my brain had completed the mental inventory of my pantry stock and although the resources were limited, I had an idea that I just might be able to pull something together. It would definitely be another "something out of nothing" creation, but my family is fond of those challenges.
Recently I made a homemade "bisquick" mix when I discovered during dinner prep that I was out of the friendly yellow box mix which I usually rely on for quick soup dumplings. Because I had made more than I needed at the time, I had stored the rest in airtight containers in the pantry. Perfect! A quick search of the freezer also turned up some leftover Italian sausage from one of Hubby's famous pizza nights and I added it to my growing pile of breakfast ingredients. I was on a mission to make some delectable biscuits with sausage gravy... A favorite treat that my family has not had for a long time.
I had a mostly empty carton of buttermilk that I added to the biscuit mix along with the trace of milk left in the very last jug in the fridge and I even stole Hubby's half-n-half to get the consistency of the dough just right, laughing to myself over the Franken-biscuits in the making.. I seasoned the dough with some garlic salt, parmesan cheese, parsley and cheddar chunks.
In the meantime, I had tossed the sausage in the microwave for a quick defrost and then dumped it into the frying pan as I seasoned it liberally with ground sage. Hubby buys Italian sausage for pizza-making but other than that, I always buy sage flavored sausage because it's just better tasting. But since I was in "beggars can't be choosers" mode, I would have to hope that adding sage to Italian sausage wouldn't be a complete disaster!
At some point during the sausage cooking process, I glanced over at the counter and gasped out loud as I realized I had just used all of the milk products in my fridge to make the biscuit dough. Oh crap! How was I going to make gravy without any milk?? After briefly contemplating a gravy made with water (gross!), I kindly suggested that one of the teenagers make an emergency run to the nearest convenience store for a gallon of milk. The tantalizing smell in the air was enough to convince the girls to take on the mission of mercy and I continued to work on the biscuits, thinking that the milk would arrive soon.
After the biscuits were in the oven, I decided to start the roux for the gravy... after all, it had been more than 10 minutes since I sent the girls to the store. When I wondered out loud what could be taking them so long with the milk, I was quickly informed that they had not left yet. Wha?? Apparently teenage girls can't even go to the convenience store without getting prettied up!
You know that comedic moment in cartoons when a light bulb appears over the dimwit's head? That's what happened to me as I watched my roux getting darker than I wanted it to be. I remembered all of the canned evaporated milk I had on hand for fudge making. Brilliant! Why did I not think of that in the first place? I quickly opened two cans and I was back in the gravy business!
I had just finished putting the finishing touches on the gravy seasoning when the girls returned with the milk. Uhh... thanks, girls! I told them that they were just in time and they gave me funny looks... it's hard to put anything over on them!
After 25 minutes in the oven, the biscuits were done and I served them with the sausage gravy. It was delish!
(Hubby and I did think the sausage was a bit too spicy, but the girls loved it!)
Another successful "Something out of nothing" breakfast!
We're headed to the store now to get tonight's ingredients for Hubby's deep dish pizza and a cranberry, walnut spring salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing. YUM!
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