Guest Author - Amy R. Kendall

When you put the words Southern food and breakfast together the first thing that comes to mind is biscuits & gravy. There are a number of ways to prepare this dish but in the end only two things matter; the fluffiness of the biscuits and the tastiness of the gravy.

Personally, I prefer Pillsbury Homestyle biscuits from a can but you can opt for homemade as well. You can find my recipe for homemade biscuits by clicking here.

The gravy in the following recipe is actually quite simple. The biggest challenge is being patient while whisking together the fat and flour so you have a smooth gravy at the end. Seasonings are simply pepper and possibly a little salt if you don't want to add in any sausage or chopped beef.

Quick Biscuits & Gravy

2 cans Pillsbury homestyle biscuits
8oz pork sausage, 1 can dried beef, or 1 package bacon
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
Salt & pepper, to taste

Bake biscuits according to the instructions on the can. While they are baking brown sausage over medium-high heat in a heavy skillet until cooked throughly. I buy pork sausage in 16oz packaged rolls. I cut it in half and freeze the half I don't use for later. If you are using dried beef, rinse salt off each piece and chop into pieces. You can cook bacon in the microwave on a paper towel, about 45 seconds per slice.

Remove sausage from skillet with a slotted spoon or spatula. Crumble bacon into small pieces. Leave about 1-2 tablespoons of fat in the skillet. If you used dried beef you will need to add a couple tablespoons of lard, shortening or butter; heat until it melts.

Continue to heat skillet over medium-high heat. Add flour to fat in skillet and whisk together until smooth. Continue whisking and cook for 1 minute. Slowly pour in milk whisking constantly. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Cook, while whisking, for about 2 minutes. Add sausage, bacon or beef to gravy and stir to evenly distribute. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Serve gravy immediately over hot biscuits.