(I wrote this on Saturday morning. There may be some verb tense confusion, but maaan, it's been a bit hectic here. You'll forgive me, right?)
Desmond was at my mom's all last week. This sounds great. Three is such a fun and exhausting age, what with all the creative play (Seriously, if Bob the freaking Builder and I have to fix those noisy flipping pipes one more flipping time...) and instant melt downs (Candy is not a reasonable breakfast request, even if you call it fruit candy), that a few days off really should have been lovely.But it wasn't exactly planned. I dropped him off on Tuesday after my computer wasn't ready and I was going to have to drive back across the city again the next day in the rain with two children to the not (surprise!) kid-friendly computer store, after I hadn't got any writing done for days following the catastrophic apple juice spill of last Tuesday. (This week's tip: children's beverages and laptops don't mix.) But then it was raining so hard the next day that my mom decided to keep him just one more night instead of getting on one of Los Angeles' semi-flooded freeways. And then the next day we had a couple lengthy doctors' appointments about Felix's poor misshapen head (I think he's going to need a helmet. Anybody have experience with the DOC band? Snake oil? Medical necessity? Nightmare experience? Totally fine? How about your insurance? Was it covered? I'm a bit of a wreck on the subject.) And then, the rain again. So Desmond inadvertently had a bit of an extended vacation with the grandparents. And I didn't fully realize until he came home today, just how very, very much I missed him.
It is so nice to have our whole family at home right now. Everybody is happy. Paul. Me. The Baby. Desmond. It's even supposed to be sunny all weekend. And we're going to investigate the lagoon-sized puddle in the park. We discovered it on Monday afternoon during a brief break in the rain. There were three families full of boys there with a boogie board, a foam surf board, a broom paddle, and lots of sticks. It was like Tom Sawyer's Island, except there was also a delighted toddler in pink rain boots stomping about the edges. We have some super serious playing scheduled for this weekend. We'll need to fortify with a serious breakfast.
There will be biscuits. And gravy. I won't bore you with another biscuit recipe. I've recently been loving this one, but I've had passionate flings with more biscuit recipes than I care to admit.
And I like to think that this gravy serves them proud. You simmer crumbled tempeh with breakfast sausage-y seasonings*, before whisking in your flour and milk. It's easy and a whole lot better for you than the traditional version, leaving you more fat points for an extra biscuit. With strawberry jam and a second cup of coffee, please.
Sausage Gravy for Biscuits (or just life in general)
- 4 ounces tempeh (that's half a standard package)
- 3 tablespoons Bragg Liquid Aminos
or soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- small pinch of fennel
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup soy milk (or other non-dairy milk)
- salt and pepper to taste
Crumble or roughly chop the tempeh. Combine the Bragg's through the fennel in a small sauce pan. Add the tempeh and simmer over low heat until all the liquid is absorbed.
Turn up the heat a bit, add the flour and cook, stirring, for about a minute, just to get rid of the raw flour flavor. Stir in the milk, and let simmer to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot over biscuits.
(Gravy can be made ahead and reheated. If gravy thickens too much, whisk in more milk.)
*Sausage-y seasonings totally inspired by Lindsay Nixon's seitan breakfast sausage recipe in this month's Vegetarian Times. Thanks!
