Breakfast For One

Good morning!  I have been wanting to share my tips and tricks for Breakfast For One for a while.  I truly wanted someone else to take the pictures, mainly because I'm kind of busy during this process.  But alas, today is the day and it's up to me.  So here goes.

This Breakfast For One, as I call it, isn't because I'm single, because I'm not, but only because I cook breakfast for Shaun on the daily and I eat something else.  He needs a more "stick to your ribs" kind of start to his day.  So, I am sharing one of many breakfasts that I cook for him.  

This is for scrambled eggs, toast, and sausage gravy which today also features onions and mushrooms.

First... a tip.  It makes more sense to me to cook the eggs first.  Mainly because your pan is pretty full after the gravy.  So, I first get a bowl, pour some water in it and heat it on two minutes in the microwave.  When my eggs are cooked I pour the water out and put the eggs to rest in their warm bowl inside the microwave while I cook the sausage and gravy.

  Well thank goodness my microwave is semi clean.

Next I go ahead and chop up my onion and mushrooms while my pan is heating with a little butter in the bottom.  Even though I use a copper skillet I have little faith in "nothing" sticking, especially when I cook eggs.

And on to my next tip... I use a rubber spatula for this whole process.  It is so much easier to scrape around the sides of the pan.  And since I'm not flipping anything over it just makes more sense.

I always whisk my eggs with a little water in a measuring cup or bowl and pour them in when the pan it decently heated.  The spatula also helps to scrape around the sides of the eggs.  To scramble well I gently pull from the center while also working around the edges and turn over when necessary.  It truly only takes a couple of minutes to cook eggs.

 Look Ma!  I love my birthday mug from Cracker Barrel!!

When they're done, pour your water in the sink and place them in the bowl in the micro until you're ready to serve.

Now... on to the good stuff... gravy for one.

I precooked my mushrooms and onions in butter for just a minute then added my sausage.  I find it easier to twist the bottom of the tube of sausage and pinch off how much I need.  Let it cook until lightly browned.

You can see it really doesn't make a whole lot of grease if you use a decent quality sausage.

Here's what I use for my gravy, plus milk.

Toss in a tablespoon or a little more of flour right onto your sausage.

I like to throw in a pinch of chicken bullion and black pepper.  Toss it around with your spatula until you can't really see the flour anymore.

Then add your milk.

If I had to guess how much it's probably about a cup of milk.  Let it come to a boil.

Scrape around the sides.  I tried to get a picture of this next step.  Did not work.  When my gravy has begun to change colors to more of a tan than white and feels like it is thickening I like to take my spatula and drag it from the side inward.  When the gravy comes together slow then it's done.

Put your piece of toast on your plate next to your warm eggs and pour the sausage and gravy over the toast.  And WaaLaa!  Breakfast for one!

Kiss Kiss Hugs Hugs Have a good day!!

Skinning and Cooking Quail and Feather Usage

I am pretty pumped about this.  This is my first video to make... ever.  I did guest star in a couple of videos that my nieces and nephew made that were pretty cool... here's one  .

This video is a little different as it shows the process of skinning a bird.  A Tennessee Bob White Quail to be exact.  Shaun has gone bird hunting a couple of times lately and I think it is interesting and could be useful to some. My loving husband is the demonstrator in the video and also the narrator.  If I only had actual video footage with the way he explains things.  You'd love it.  I tried to put it into his words as much as I could.

*Please excuse the imperfections on the breast.  One of the hunting dogs brought this one back and looks like she held it a little hard.*

After you skin and clean the quail, it needs to soak in a cold, salt water bath in the refrigerator at least over night.  After that, rinse off the legs and breast in water and dry them on paper towels.  In a bowl, add one egg and 1/4 cup milk and a few drops of Texas Pete hot sauce and stir rapidly with a fork until combined.  In a separate bowl, prepare a mixture of flour and add a bit of Butt Rub and black pepper or whatever kind of spices float your boat, but not too much... the quail is too fine to over spice.

Dredge breast and legs in egg mixture then toss in flour mixture and place on a plate or directly in to your skillet with about a quarter inch of hot fat or lard or oil.  Allow to cook turning after several minutes until brown all over.  The legs will be done before the breast.  The breast take about 15 minutes total time at medium heat.  You can also check their internal temperature to 160 degrees or just cut one open to check for doneness. 

Roll that beautiful Quail footage.

Throw some of the flour from the pre-fry into the skillet and work around with a whisk.  Then add milk and whisk while you pour.  Keep pouring until you get it to the right runny consistency to your likings. This'll be your gravy.  I use between a half cup and a cup depending on if it's just me and Shaun or if Otis stops by because he smelled the quail cooking at his house.  I swear I don't know how he knows but I am always willing to share.

You can also use the beautiful feather from the quail for just about any craft you can come up with.  This dream catcher necklace is what my niece Jessica made for us for Christmas.  She was smart to call me for feathers as I plucked these myself.  Aren't they gorgeous?