Sometimes the stars align and all the ingredients appear at one time as it does for my latest cheap$kate recipe Dollar Tree Country Breakfast.
A typical Country Breakfast is a combination meal and more than an easily and quickly made Bacon and Eggs with Toast. Going by region, a Country Breakfast can include grits, biscuits, ham, eggs, gravy, pancakes, hash browns, and more.
The Country Breakfast I grew up with in Texas consisted of Cream Gravy with Sausage, Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits, and Eggs.
I have a Dollar Tree right down the street from where I live and usually get, on a regular basis, 6 to 8 eggs for a buck, breakfast link sausage and regular ground breakfast sausage, and milk. Sometimes flour shows up, and flakey-style biscuits in the cold case, too. That's everything I need for a quickly-made Country Breakfast.
The Dollar Tree eggs are usually the medium size and that's okay with me.
The Farmer John Sausage Links, or Classic Pork Sausage, are a bit on the fatty side, but the flavor is there -- it's easy enough to remove rendered pork grease, but don't drain it all, as that is a great flavor.
Add flour to milk and you have Cream Gravy, but add bacon or sausage grease and you have Country Gravy. This is an artery-clogging start to the day, but I don't make it very often so it's a welcome decadent breakfast on a lazy weekend morning.
I like my eggs sunny-side-up, which are cooked on one side only until the white is done. It takes a little longer than over-easy (cooked on both sides). It's also idiot-proof since you don't risk breaking the yolk when you turn the egg over to finish frying. If you like your eggs scrambled then go for it. Country Gravy mixes well with scrambled eggs on the fork.
I prefer homemade Buttermilk Biscuits, but deli case canned (cardboard-wrapped) flakey biscuits are fine in a pinch. They are like a croissant, with visible pastry layers, quite different than the Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits I grew up with down South.
Buttermilk Biscuits are cake-like when sliced. They are easier to crumble and soak up gravy beautifully. I can get premade ones though, on sale at my local grocery chain store, Ralphs.
Dollar Tree also sells a dry mix to make a homemade Buttermilk Biscuit. If you don't want to spring for flour you can get a Country Gravy mix, too.
My latest Cheap$kate Recipe only uses ingredients from the Dollar Tree, so I'm sticking with the flakey deli case biscuits. And they are easy and quick to use only taking 15 minutes to bake brown - about the time it takes for the Country Gravy and Sunny Side Up Eggs to finish cooking.
99 thanks to Dollar Tree for all the tasty ingredients for my Cheap$kate Dollar Tree Country Breakfast. And you can bet your bottom dollar it's really easy and quick to do, so get to cookin' -- and after this meal, you can skip lunch, believe me!
Country Breakfast - Video Play it here. Video runs 3 minutes, 13 seconds.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.
Ingredients (about 2-3 servings)
- 1 to 2 Eggs - Fried eggs over easy or sunny-side-up. Okay to scramble eggs your way.
- 4 to 5 Biscuits - I used ready-to-bake canned that hold 5 biscuits. Okay to use your favorite biscuit recipe or mix.
- Breakfast Pork Sausage - about 8 ounces, links or ground pork. If you buy cooked links or patties, cook sausage for a minute or so to heat and render some of the fat then follow gravy directions.
- Milk 2 cups - whole or low fat.
- Flour 1/4 cup - white or wheat.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
Directions
Start by baking canned biscuits according to package directions, usually bake at 350 degrees in the oven for about 15 minutes until the biscuits brown.
It takes about 15 minutes to prepare the gravy - about the same time it takes to bake biscuits. So you can start both at the same time. If the biscuits take longer to bake, you can keep the gravy at low heat, until ready to eat (stir in a tablespoon of milk at a time if the gravy thickens too much).
While biscuits bake, in a large pan or pot, over medium heat, add raw pork breakfast sausage. As sausage browns, break it apart into smaller pieces. It's okay to use formed sausage patties or links, just break them up as they cook.
It's best to get the sausage nice and brown, at least on one side. The caramelization adds a lot of flavor to the gravy. Cook the sausage all the way through for about 5 minutes (depending on the size of the sausage pieces).
Breakfast sausage tends to have a lot of fat, so it's up to you how much-rendered grease you want to keep in the pan. It's okay to pour out some grease to lower calories, but do leave a tablespoon of grease for extra richness and flavor.
Next, sprinkle on a quarter cup of flour. Stir into the cooked sausage and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
Slowly pour in the milk and stir to mix well. Keep stirring so any flour lumps break down. Once the gravy is brought up to a low simmer, it should begin to thicken in a couple of minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once the gravy is thick and hot it is ready to pour over the biscuits.
My gravy recipe is for a thick one. You can add a tablespoon of milk at a time to thin it out if that's the way you like it.
Fry or scramble eggs any way you like. I would cook eggs after the biscuits and gravy are done, as they can sit for around a couple of minutes while cooking eggs.
Serve hot biscuits covered in my delicious Homemade Sausage Gravy. Some like to tear their biscuits apart first, then spoon on the gravy. I just lay out a couple of them and cover it all with sausage gravy.
