Man meal

I made biscuits and gravy for the first time in my life today.

Todd's friend Mike is in town for the weekend to help him teach hunter's safety.  I thought I'd make a nice, hearty man meal for them before they spent the day talking guns, shooting, and all the other things covered in a hunter's safety class.

I read over a couple recipes (mostly The Pioneer Woman's which I modified slightly) to get the general idea then went to work.

The Pioneer Woman doesn't put the sausage in her gravy, something I wanted to do.  So, I changed that.  I also used mostly skim milk and smaller biscuits to help cut back on the bad-for-you-ness of the meal.  That is the predominate reason I have never made biscuits and gravy: the amount of fat and salt in this meal makes it good for a special occasion breakfast only.

And, I know this is a weird reason, but I also never made it because it just seemed difficult in my mind.  I couldn't make the gravy part work in my head for some reason.  I remember seeing Linds H. make it at her house once and I was super impressed.  For some reason, this was a meal only my grandmas and aunts made...

It came out pretty good for my first time, but it was WAY too salty!  I thought I had accommodated for the added salt the sausage would add to the gravy, but I miscalculated.  I had to go back and dilute it with more milk.  After that it wasn't bad...

I also made this egg and green chile casserole which came out very, very good.  It was its inaugural run as well.  We all really liked it.  This will be a keeper.

The guys ate then headed out, bellies full and ready to face the day!

Here's the egg recipe.  Give it a try...  If you like eggs you'll really like this!

Egg and Green Chile Egg Casserole
Cooking spray
2 tbsp. butter, melted
5 large eggs, beaten (You could probably use egg beaters here with no problem. I may experiment with that in the future.)
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese (I wondered how this would work in the casserole, but it turns out just dandy!)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
One 4-oz can diced green chiles
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spray a small casserole dish with the cooking spray. (Isn't my new casserole cute?  I got it last weekend in Boulder, Colo., at World Market!  I was very excited to make the eggs in it this morning!)

In a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, cheddar, chiles, flour, baking powder, salt, and butter.

Pour into the prepared casserole and bake until set in the middle - about 35 to 40 minutes.

Todd's comment: "Wow! These eggs are good! Very light and fluffy!"

Just a little testimonial on how good the casserole is.