Breakfast Casserole with Country Gravy!

A few days (weeks?) ago I wrote about my favorite breakfast food. I said that it was breakfast casserole and then proceeded to inform everyone that I have a recipe that includes country gravy. There seemed to be some interest in the recipe, so I made it the other day, and I'm ready to share! Hope you're ready too! Please forgive my iPhone photos! It's the best I can do. 

Here's your ingredients list:

• 1 can refrigerated Crescent/croissant rolls 
• 1 lb sausage (I LOVE Jimmy Dean Hot!)
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp pepper (or more, if you like it!)
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (I use sharp cheddar)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 package white gravy mix

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

As many, many, many other recipes start, the first step is to brown and drain the sausage! 

While you're waiting for your sausage to cook, pop open that canister of Crescent rolls - cringe a little before it actually pops open - and line the bottom of your GREASED casserole dish with the dough. I made sure to press all of the seams together also. I have no idea if this made a difference or not, but it looked prettier in the dish. :)

When the sausage is browned and drain, spread it evenly over your dough in your casserole dish.

Next, mix the gravy mix and however much water it needs according to the package. I just measured the water in the measuring cup and mixed it in there. One less dish to worry about! 

Now, pour that country gravy all over that sausage! Looking good, huh?

After that, in a separate bowl, scramble your eggs and mix in your cheese, milk, and however much pepper you want. Once it's good and mixed, pour it over the dish. If you're using hot sausage, you may not want to add too-too much pepper. It gets a little spicy! (Disclaimer: I don't really do spicy!)

Simple enough: Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350. 

Finally, let it cool and enjoy! It's so scrumptious! Seriously, I could eat this every day! Hope you like it too!

MawMaw's Cake Batter Cookies!

So, I was sitting on the couch, waiting for the Georgia game to start when I realized that I actually wanted to bake something. This never happens, so I figured I would go see what I had in my pantry and run with it! I saw a box of cake batter and knew exactly what I wanted to make.

My MawMaw taught me how to make these cookies when I was little and wanted to help her bake constantly. I'm pretty sure that she got this recipe out of a newspaper or a magazine, but they are easy, delicious and take virtually no time to make. Now that I think about it, she probably only baked these kinds of cookies with me because there was almost no way that my little 5 year old self could screw them up. Good thinking, MawMaw! The thing I love about these cookies the most is that they are always soft. I'm a sucker for a soft cookie right out of the oven, but these stay soft! It's the perfect cookie for people like me who aren't exactly Paula Deen in the kitchen.

Half time came and I was in the kitchen! Here's the easiest cookie recipe you've ever tried:

Ingredients List:

• 1 box of cake mix - I used yellow cake because it's my favorite. 
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 cups chocolate chips

 

 Step 1: Mix the cake mix, eggs and vegetable oil in a large bowl. 

I forgot how thick it was going to be and I was using a baby whisk as if I was making cupcakes. It took a lot of effort. Use a normal size whisk.

Step 2: Add those delicious chocolate chips (or peanut butter chips, or nuts, or white chocolate chips, or whatever it is that you want to put in your cookies) and mix evenly. 

I used a spatula for this because I was getting aggravated with my baby whisk. Again, I am not good in the kitchen. Please don't judge me. :)

Step 3: After the batter is all mixed up, scoop it onto a cookie sheet. 

It doesn't necessarily have to be lined with wax paper, just don't grease your pan. I used a teaspoon for this, but I scooped very liberally. The cookies won't spread out too-too much, but I like to give them some breathing room. I ended up making 30 cookies, 15 per cookie sheet. 

Step 4: Bake at 350 degrees for 10-13 minutes. 

The recipe that I remember my MawMaw making only had them baking for 8 minutes. I don't know what the heck kind of oven she has, but mine definitely needed more than 8 minutes. I checked them at 10 and I still didn't think they were done. I think I ended up going more around the 13 minute mark plus. Just check them like you would do a cake: Stick a toothpick in the fattest one. If it sticks to the toothpick, it ain't done. 

I should tell you that they won't necessarily look like normal golden brown cookies when they come out of the oven. Mine looked like the above picture. They will be puffy when they come out of the oven, but they will deflate once they come out of the heat. 

Step 5: Let them cool and Enjoy!

This is always the part that I have the most trouble with. I'm not very patient. Especially when it comes to these delicious cookies. Learning the hard way: If you don't  let these cool, they will break and crumble when you try to pick them up, scoop them off the cookie sheet, transfer them to any other container, etc. Don't let them crumble, let them cool. It's worth it. And they will still be soft even after they cool! 

So, 20 minutes later and I have 30 soft, delicious, chocolate chip cookies and I'm just in time to watch the rest of the Georgia game! Couldn't get any easier than that. I promise you: If I can bake it, so can you. This is coming from the girl who screwed up box cupcakes. Yeah, you read that right. Box. Cupcakes. 

So, thanks MawMaw for the memories and for the delicious cookies!