Biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite southern breakfast dishes, and it's not hard to make. My dad requests it often, most recently when he visited us in Detroit last year. He still calls biscuits and gravy "SOS" from his days in the Army. (Shit on a shingle, in case you're wondering. Appetizing, huh?) It's sometimes made with ground hamburger instead of pork sausage, but I've only ever been interested in the pork version. Some people refer to it as sawmill gravy. It's basically like making a bechamel sauce with the addition of browned sausage. So, you'll need to brush off those roux making skills for this one. I promise it's easy though. Besides fresh buttermilk biscuits, the co-star of the show is the pork breakfast sausage, so use one that you really like. It's something I like to pick up from the butcher or meat counter where it's made in-house. Read below for my notes on the other ingredients.

Milk - Whole milk or evaporated milk will work here. I wrote the recipe so that it's portioned for two 12-oz cans of evaporated milk or 3 cups of whole milk. You can use something richer like half & half, but I don't find that to be necessary since it's thickened with flour. I have not tested this recipe with low-fat or dairy-free milk.

Sausage - A mild pork breakfast sausage works best. You want to get a loose raw sausage, not in casings. (Raw sausage patties are fine, you can just break up the meat.) The flavor of your sausage will determine what, if any, additional seasonings might be needed. I love using a sage or maple sausage, but otherwise, I'll add those subtle flavors in on my own. If you like a meatier gravy, use up to a full pound of sausage. As written, it's enough for flavor and helped stretch my ingredients. If your sausage doesn't render enough grease you can add butter to the skillet before making your roux.

Biscuits - You can use any of the biscuit tutorials on my blog; the simplest being the 3-ingredient biscuits from the last post. If you're cheating, frozen or canned biscuits are still an appropriate vehicle for sausage gravy.



Active Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: Serves 4
Recommended equipment (affiliate links): cast-iron skillet or another heavy-bottomed pan

I know what you might be thinking. Another biscuit recipe? It's no secret that buttermilk biscuits have been one of my favorite adventures on the blog. My original tutorial was published in 2014, with a follow-up lesson a couple years later. If you've never made biscuits, those two posts contain lots of detailed information about making biscuits from scratch, so please take some time to read if you're into the how's and why's. I've also made other varieties like sweet potato, pumpkin, blueberry cardamom biscuits, and strawberry scones. All of them follow similar techniques based on the original recipe. The version I'm excited to share today seems appropriate for the way our pantries might be looking lately. I've whittled the ingredient list down to three products: Self-rising flour, buttermilk powder, and butter. You'll also need a cup of water, which I'm not counting as a real ingredient here.


Self-rising flour is all-purpose flour with the addition of salt and leavening agents, so there is no need for baking powder or baking soda as with the original recipe. People have been making biscuits using self-rising flour since...forever. I'm just hella late. It's not something I usually have on hand, but when I ended up with the wrong flour after a grocery delivery I just stuck it in the freezer and forgot all about it. Lo and behold, there's a flour shortage in the stores now so it came in handy! What I completely missed about King Arthur's Flour is that it's made with soft winter wheat, which has a lower protein content than typical all-purpose flour. You may recall my affinity for White Lily Flour. Well, this is made from a similar flour. I wouldn't say that it's as light, but it's close enough for biscuits. The ratio is 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder per cup of flour, which is exactly what my old recipe calls for.  I added some extra butter in the recipe to account for the flour we add when working with the dough on the counter. The nice thing about using self-rising is that you can do that without throwing off your leavener ratio.

Buttermilk powder is made from "a cultured blend of sweet cream churned buttermilk, sweet dairy whey, and lactic acid." In layman's terms, it's made from dehydrating the byproduct of churned butter. That's the traditional way of making buttermilk, which is unlike the cultured buttermilk most of us buy in the store. All you need to do is add the buttermilk powder to your dry ingredients, then hydrate with cold water. I was very skeptical as I'm usually never without a jug of buttermilk in the fridge. But the results were just as good. So in the future, I'll be keeping the buttermilk powder around. (The commercial liquid buttermilk is still best for things like chicken marinades and my buttermilk pie.) If you do have full-fat buttermilk on hand, you can swap in one cup instead of the powder/water in this recipe.

Unsalted butter was used for this recipe. In my last tutorial, I switched to salted butter. I wasn't sure how salty the flour would be so I stuck with unsalted this time. I doubt the difference would make or break your batch of biscuits. I still recommend using a European style butter if you can, because of the higher fat content - that does make a difference in the rise as well. I skipped the butter-flavored shortening that was in my old recipes, but if you were short on butter that could be used to make up the difference.

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour, plus an additional 1/4 cup set aside
1/4 cup buttermilk powder
10 TBSP unsalted butter, chilled or frozen, plus additional 2 TBSP melted
1 cup ice-cold water
Active Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: Makes about 8 biscuits
Recommended equipment (affiliate links): box grater (optional), heavy-duty sheet pan, parchment paper or a silicone liner, dough scraper, large mixing bowl, silicone spatula, pastry brush

Is anybody still waking up in time to eat breakfast these days? Two weeks into quarantine, my sleep cycle went to hell. If I'm actually awake in the morning, I end up lazily daydreaming about food for a good couple of hours in bed before realizing that even lunchtime has escaped me. To be honest, I don't know what day it is anymore. I'm just here, wondering why every time I walk in the kitchen there are more dishes to wash. This post is about breakfast though. I am very much attempting to start my day with actual food so that I am not existing solely on grilled cheese sandwiches, late night pasta, and ice cream. (This is a judgment-free zone, right?) So oatmeal it is, mostly because it's healthy and fills me up for a good part of the day. It's something I can make ahead to have ready in the fridge. Steel cut oats have a pleasantly chewy texture and nutty flavor that is much more interesting than the typical mushy oatmeal. If you use another type of oatmeal, adjust the cooking steps based on the package instructions. I'm cheating a bit today. I wrote this recipe for a post back in 2014, but it was a great candidate for a refresh. I'm making do with different ingredients these days, so I used frozen peaches instead of fresh. No prep, no annoying skins to remove, and they were picked at season's peak. So there's not exactly a downside to that ingredient swap. Any kind of milk or cream will work. I tested it today with evaporated milk and loved the results. Coconut milk, oat milk, almond milk, whole milk - anything goes here, but some results will be creamier than others. The original recipe was vegan, so check there for substitutes if this interests you. Adjust the amount of sugar to your liking based on how sweet your peaches are. If you don't have brown sugar, use granulated sugar or another sweetener like maple syrup or honey. I didn't sweeten the oatmeal, but it's your world. Nobody will even know if this is your dinner and dessert tonight. It might be mine.

Active Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: Serves 4
Recommended equipment (affiliate links): Non-stick saucepan and skillet, wooden mixing spoon, slotted spoon

Done right, a bowl of homemade chicken soup is full of the ingredients that go a long way towards soothing the soul and boosting your immune system. Remember the Golden Anti-Inflammatory Drink from a few posts back? We're working with a few of the same ingredients, in a savory application. This is a simple chicken soup recipe  - not reinventing the wheel here - with the added benefits of turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, herbs, and lemon. You can add cooked noodles or rice to it, but I suggest doing so to individual portions and not the whole pot. That way leftovers can be reheated without making the starches mushy. The broth is the most valuable part of any chicken soup, so I'd emphasize starting with homemade stock as a way to save time if you already have it. I've included alternate instructions otherwise. Usually, I'd make this with chicken thighs, but I was literally only able to grab drumsticks from a grocery order last week! It's up to you whether to leave the skin on your chicken or not. (You can save yourself from needing to skim a ton of fat if you pull it off first.)

If you're up to cooking while quarantined, you should definitely make a pot and enjoy a bowl or two today. Portion the remainder into freezer-safe containers, then freeze for the future. Getting sick at some point during this pandemic is starting to look inevitable, but one of the ways you can prepare is to stockpile some healthy soups in the freezer.

To see video instructions for this recipe, check out my Instagram highlights.



Here are some ingredient notes and substitutions:

Chicken - Use the best quality chicken parts you can get your hands on, ideally pasture-raised. Bone-in thighs, drumsticks, or leg quarters will yield the best results for tender meat that won't overcook. Wings won't yield much meat but they make a great broth if you're doctoring storebought chicken stock. A whole chicken is also fine in this case, you'll just need to pull the breast meat early to avoid it drying out. I don't recommend using all white meat for this recipe.

Chicken stock  - I'm going to sound like a broken record here, but to reap the full benefits of this soup, you'll either need to start with homemade chicken stock or follow the optional recipe steps to create a good stock as part of your soup process. If you have to substitute store-bought stock or a chicken base, buy something organic and low-sodium. In this case, blooming 2 tablespoons of unflavored gelatin and adding it to the soup can also improve its mouthfeel, similar to the way cartilage-rich chicken parts contribute collagen to a good stock. The caveat is to cook with gelatin derived from grass-fed animals if it's the nutritional benefits of collagen you're after.

Onions/Celery/Carrot - Frozen veggies are okay here if you don't have fresh. You'll want to have a bag of onions separate from the celery and carrots though, as they go into the pot at different times. You could substitute another root veggie for the carrots, like sweet potato. If the flavor of celery isn't your thing, skip it, but consider something else that has some crunch, like fennel or bell peppers.

Garlic - Use cloves from a whole bulb of garlic, or buy peeled cloves to reap the rewards of this superfood. The next best options are fresh garlic paste or jarred minced garlic. Garlic powder is more of a flavor substitute (a poor one at that) and pales in comparison to the nutritional benefits of fresh garlic.

Ginger - Fresh ginger root is best, a ginger puree would be a good substitute. Use ground ginger only if you enjoy the taste, otherwise omit. It's not devoid of health benefits but it definitely doesn't taste the same in soups.

Turmeric - This is a case where fresh or ground are okay to use for turmeric's anti-inflammatory properties. If substituting ground turmeric, use two teaspoons.

Black pepper - Black pepper isn't just for flavor here; it helps your body absorb the turmeric. Use a pepper grinder or mortar and pestle to pulverize black peppercorns. (That old canister of ground black pepper you've been saving since 2005 ain't it.) Fat also helps your body absorb turmeric, so adding a splash of coconut oil to your bowl of soup can work if you're opposed to cracked black pepper.

Cayenne - It doesn't just add some nice heat, it's also great for digestion, metabolism, and may even help clear up a stuffy nose. If you're cooking for those who are more sensitive to spicy foods, consider adding cayenne to individual servings rather than the whole pot. Crushed red pepper flakes make a good substitute.

Cinnamon - Don't worry, the flavor will not overpower your soup if you use a cinnamon stick. If you use cinnamon powder, do so sparingly. Cinnamon is good for antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, and may improve some risk factors for heart disease. The best type to use is ceylon cinnamon.

Parsley - Fresh parsley aids digestion, helps with bloating and is high in Vitamins A, C, and K. Don't bother substituting dried parsley here. To get the fresh pop of flavor you could use dill, scallions, or chives instead at the end of the recipe.

Other herbs - Dried bay leaves will add depth of flavor, so that's what I would prioritize of the herbs. Adding a bundle of fresh thyme and/or rosemary will also work with the flavor profile of the soup. It's not necessary to substitute with dried herbs unless you want the flavor.

Olive oil - No need to use your fancy finishing oil, just an every day extra-virgin olive oil. Ghee, avocado oil, or coconut oil are other healthy fats that make good substitutes. Any cooking oil or butter will do the job if you're out of all other options.

Lemon - Acidity is always a good idea to wake up flavors. You can substitute lime, a splash of apple cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar instead. I'm not personally crazy about the flavor of bottled lemon juice for cooking.


5 lbs bone-in chicken thighs, drumsticks, or whole chicken (cut up)
1 TBSP Kosher salt, plus more to taste
3 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, diced
8 cloves garlic, minced or grated
2 TBSP minced fresh ginger
2 TBSP minced fresh turmeric or 2 tsp ground turmeric
4 cups chicken stock