Biscuits and gravy

So everyone knows I am NOT a southern girl, but I do love biscuits and gravy.  While I obviously am not on a super healthy diet, I do try to eat 'healthier' and not go buck wild on fat and calories, one of the reasons I like to cook at home a lot.  (btw I know I am way behind on postings).  Yesterday morning AllRecipies in their daily dish sent out a lovely picture of biscuits and gravy which made me crave it.  I decided to make that chicken pot pie (not healthy either) I had stuff prepped and hanging out for for dinner last night, which is a great excuse to make biscuits, and leave left overs for breakfast. (sneaky huh?)

So how to make this meal not deadly?  Number 1 check your biscuits.  Number 2 fudge your gravy.  Number 3 Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage Crumbles.  If I haven't run on about the amazingness of these yet I have failed you.  Somehow Jimmy Dean has made Turkey Sausage amazing.  (a hard feat) and they work great in breakfast and on pizza or anywhere else you want to tuck sausage.  The most amazing fact is that they consider a serving 2/3 of a cup with 4 grams of fat, and I can't ever see a need for more than like 3 tablespoons at a lot in a serving.  So that is about a 1/4 of a serving, making it just over a gram of fat! Amazing purely amazing!

So as for biscuits I used a recipe that I found from one of my favorite chef's Alton Brown (I LOVE Good Eats educational and delicious).  His recipe calls for buttermilk, which I don't have ever on hand but there is a super easy substitute.  Take your regular ole milk (I use 1%) and toss in a tablespoon of white vinegar per cup.  Let it sit for about 5 minutes and your golden.  I got 13 biscuits from the recipe.  (Also a drinking glass makes a great 2in cutter since I didn't have one of those either)  Making the nutrition facts come in at 112 calories, 4 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbs and 2.5 grams of protein per biscuit.  Not great but considering Grands Buttermilk Biscuits are 193 calories, 8.4 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbs and 4.2 grams of protein per biscuit and nearly twice the sodium, it really is almost a 2 for 1 and seriously who eats 1 biscuit?

Now there is no real getting around the gravy bit, but here is what you can do.  Take 1/2 a tablespoon of butter melt it in a saucepan and add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of flour, stir immediately and well and then let cook on low heat for 3-5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stiring like crazy slowly add in half a cup of milk.  Let cook on low heat stirring constantly until it thickens up.  Add salt and pepper to taste and I add about 2 drops of hot sauce.  Add 2-3 tablespoons of sausage crumbles and let it all blend together for a few minutes.

While you crank out your gravy heat the oven up and toss in 2 biscuits, slice them, plate them and top with the gravy.

For 2 biscuits with sausage gravy you are looking at a total of 424 calories, 54 carbs, 16 grams of fat and 14 grams of protein.  Is this a great breakfast break down? Absolutely not, but considering all nutrition facts I could find for biscuits and gravy were along the lines of 500 calories, 31 grams of fat, 43 carbs and 12 grams of protein for 1 biscuit!  This recipe is looking to be in really, really good shape!