Cheat of the Week: Southern Eggs Benedict with Spicy Sausage Gravy

I spent about 20 years of my youth in a wonderfully fun town called Athens, Georgia. If you haven't been there, you need to visit! It's home to my alma mater, the University of Georgia (GO DAWGS!), and is the musical birthplace of REM and the B-52s (Love Shack, baby!!)....oh, and I must acknowledge that they were just named to Buzzfeed's "11 Coolest Small Cities" ....anyway...it's really a great place!

I left Athens in 2006, and with the move, I left behind a great little eatery called Five Star Day Cafe' (which has since closed...devastating).

Five Star Day Cafe' in beautiful downtown Athens, Georgia

Everything on their menu was absolutely delightful, especially their Five Star Benedict. The benedict was the last breakfast I ate before I left Athens, and the one meal I was sure to have when I came home to visit. I craved it so much after I left, that I experimented in the kitchen until I recreated it as best I could! Every time my sister comes to visit me, she requests that I make this for her before she leaves, and of course, I'm happy to oblige! 

So, for the Cheat of the Week, I present to you...Taryn's Southern Eggs Benedict with Spicy Sausage Gravy!

This recipe serves 2...

INGREDIENTS (for sausage gravy)

1 pound ground pork sausage

3 tablespoons bacon grease

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes

OTHER INGREDIENTS:

Center-cut bacon

4 Eggs

1 can of biscuits (I personally prefer Pillsbury Grands Golden Flaky Layer Biscuits)

DIRECTIONS

1.  Fry bacon to get the 3 tbsp of bacon grease. Set bacon strips aside, leaving grease in the frying pan.
2.  Brown sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Set aside, leaving the drippings in the skillet. Mix bacon grease into the sausage drippings. Reduce heat to medium, combine with flour, and stir constantly until mixture just turns golden brown.
3. Gradually whisk milk into skillet. When the mixture is smooth, thickened, and begins to bubble, return the sausage to skillet. Add red pepper flakes. Season with salt and pepper to your liking (I like mine a little spicier, so I usually use a bit more pepper than most). Reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes.
4. While gravy is cooking, place biscuits in oven to bake. Poach eggs.  To prepare the benedict, place open faced biscuit on plate. Put two strips of bacon on each biscuit half. Place one poached egg on each biscuit half. Cover entire biscuit with sausage gravy...and serve!

This is a very heavy meal, so I like to serve mine with fruit...but if you are going to be eating this and you have a hearty appetite, you can also serve with roasted breakfast potatoes!

Cheat of the Week: Apple, Sausage, Sauerkraut and White Cheddar Quesadillas

This "cheat of the week" recipe is inspired by my favorite German,+Jonny Schmidt (Jonathan), who asked me to think up something delicious involving sauerkraut. I admit, I had to do some "Googling" (so funny that Google is a verb) to see what might be a nice flavorful addition to sauerkraut. I finally found an interesting recipe from +EatingWell Magazine on Pinterest for sauerkraut quesadillas. 

I made a few modifications to their recipe (added sausage and white cheddar, instead of regular cheddar), but I encourage you to try this out if you have an adventurous palate...it was REALLY DELICIOUS!

Now, keep in mind, the only other time I have eaten sauerkraut was sprinkled on top of a bratwurst in Chicago. Proof that I'm not always a perfect eater...see picture below of said bratwurst and sauerkraut (in the container next to the french fries...I promise I put it on my brat...AND I ate my fries)!

Me and Jonathan eating the sauerkraut and bratwurst in Chicago (where, I might add, our bartender's name was also Taryn)

This recipe will make enough for 2 servings. Takes about 25 minutes total time for preparation and cooking.


INGREDIENTS

2 Large tortillas (burrito size)

2 cups of cooked mild ground Italian sausage

1 cup sauerkraut (just buy a jar of it)

1 small apple (I used a honeycrisp apple), peeled and thinly sliced

1 and 1/3 cup white cheddar cheese, shredded (I bought a block of Vermont sharp white cheddar cheese and used my grater to shred the cheese)

1. Put sauerkraut and water in a medium-sized skillet. Heat until the liquid has evaporated, but not so much that the sauerkraut begins to stick to the pan. Remove from the heat.

2. Brown sausage in separate skillet.

3. Gradually heat a large cast-iron over medium heat. Put one tortilla in the pan and immediately sprinkle 1/3 cup cheese over half of it. Quickly arrange about half the apple slices over the cheese, then top with half the sauerkraut and sausage, spreading it evenly. Sprinkle with another 1/3 cup cheese.Fold the tortilla over the filled half and press gently on it with a spatula to seal. Heat the quesadilla until the bottom is golden, about 2-3 minutes, then carefully flip and lightly brown the other side.

4. Slide the quesadilla onto a cutting board and cut it into halves or quarters.

If you want another one, there should be enough for a second serving. If you can only eat just one (like me), you can put a little extra sausage, cheese and apples in your first quesadilla.

I paired mine with a small side salad of super greens, peaches, pear tomatoes and goat cheese!

Genieben! I think that means "Enjoy" in German!

Cheat of the Week: Banana-Almond Butter "Cake Cookies"

Let's be real, friends! We can't be perfect eaters every single day...like I say, life is for living! So, I'm going to do my best to post one "not perfectly healthy" recipe a week to the blog and it will be the "Cheat of the Week"... fun, right? I guess this also means I have to put in a few more minutes of exercise on these days! But, I'm of the belief that a good cheat food is usually worth the extra 30 minutes of cardio! Some cheats will be sweet, others may be savory, but all will be delicious!

Banana-Almond Butter "Cake Cookies"

Ok, so this isn't the worst cheat ever (I've got plenty of those in my back pocket), but it's got butter....and sugar.....and so, you know, those two ingredients alone equate to deliciousness! I was really hankering for a cookie the other day and wanting to try something new, so I modified this recipe from +Ethan Adeland  to create these yummy "cake cookies."  I'm calling them "cake cookies" because the interior of the cookie has the consistency of cake but the outside edges are crunchy...like a good muffin top! But don't forget the extra cardio so you don't actually acquire the dreaded muffin top (ugh)!!

Now, for the recipe:

Prep time:  10 mins

Cook time:  10 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Makes about 24 cookies

Banana-Almond Butter "Cake Cookies"

Ingredients

• ½ cup of sugar
• ½ cup of brown sugar
• ½ cup of butter (room temperature)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ½ cup of almond butter (you can use peanut butter if you prefer)
• 1 banana (mashed)
• 1½ cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon (if you don't like cinnamon, you don't have to add it in)
• ¼ teaspoon of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla.
4. Mix in the almond (or peanut) butter and mashed banana until well combined.
5. Add in the cinnamon (if you want cinnamon; if not, omit this step)
6. In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.
7. Add flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and blend in.
8. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edge of the cookies begin to brown.

Other fun things you could add into this recipe: Nuts, coconut flakes, chocolate chips!

Happy Baking...ENJOY!