Biscuits and Gravy

I said I would include recipes once in a while on here too since cooking and baking is something I’ve been known to do well . Since my blog is almost a month old I think it’s time for a recipe!

Tonight I made Biscuits and Gravy for dinner, which for us is more like breakfast so the type of meal was fitting. Hubby works nights so we go to bed usually between 4 and 6 am and wake up usually anytime between 10 and 2. Our first meal is usually Dinner though even though it’s really “morning” for us, but since there’s only a few hours from the time we get up until hubby is off to work again I make Dinner so we have a good full meal together and he goes to work with a full stomach. Every once in a while we do breakfast for dinner though. Our days and nights are mixed up so why not our meals too? LOL

We have been eating better than this lately, better as in healthier, but this week I’ve been trying to use up some things and I had a package of sausage in the freezer that needed used….so Biscuits and Gravy it was!

We lived in the South in Texas for about a year and a half several years ago now, but I actually never tried Biscuits and Gravy until I decided to make them myself a few years ago. I honestly didn’t think I would like them, but I do! Hubby and the kids LOVE them! I used Italian Sausage this time only because it was the sausage I had and me personally I don’t care for Italian Sausage, usually I use just a regular pork sausage and it tastes much better that way.

 

Biscuits and Gravy

1/2 to 1lb Ground Sausage

1/4 cup Butter or Margarine

1/3 cup Flour

3 1/2 cups Milk

Salt and Pepper

Biscuits

Scrambled Eggs

 

Brown sausage in frying pan then remove and set aside. Melt butter or margarine in the pan, add flour and blend well. Cook butter/flour paste for a couple of minutes. Slowly start adding the milk and mixing well as you go, a whisk works best for this to make sure there’s no lumps. Add salt and pepper to your taste, I personally go easy with salt but load it with pepper because we like pepper. Continue stirring/whisking for about 10 minutes, as it starts to thicken add the browned sausage back in and mix well.

Cut biscuits in half and lay open on the plate, top with some scrambled eggs then top with the sausage gravy. You don’t have to add the scrambled eggs but it really does taste good with them added to it and makes it much more filling. It is very filling!

You can use storebought biscuits or make your own, they are VERY easy to make…..here’s the ones I always make:

 

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups Flour

1/4 tsp Baking Soda

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

6 tbsp Cold Butter(unsalted) or Margarine

3/4 cup Buttermilk(if you don’t have Buttermilk just add about a tbsp of vinegar to a measuring cup and then fill with regular milk to 3/4cup mark, stir and let sit for a couple of minutes…I never have Buttermilk and always use this method for anything that requires it)

Put flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into food processor(I have a Ninja blender/processor since I last made these and used it last night and it worked just as well as a regular food processor). Add COLD(yes, this is important) butter/margarine, make sure they are in small chunks and not just one big chunk. Pulse a few times just until you have a course texture. Add Buttermilk and mix it just until it’s combined, make sure you do NOT overmix or you will have very dry brittle biscuits. Dump your dough out onto a floured surface and flatten out gently with your hands until about 1/2” thick….don’t use a rolling pin because the dough needs to handled gently. Cut out biscuit sized pieces, I just use a cup that has the right sized mouth as my “cutter”. Place on a baking sheet, I recommend using parchment paper so they don’t stick. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

There you go, not just one recipe, but I gave you 2! LOL! If you happen to try it yourself please let me know and tell me what you think of it .

Jolene

What I’m Wearing

geez where does the day go? I’ve been meaning to blog all day but instead got busy with all sorts of things then sat here all night reading blogs instead of posting. Reading them is so much easier sometimes LOL.
Happy Summer! Woohoo! And we actually had Summer weather for the first day of Summer! Imagine that! It was a gorgeous day and I only just finally closed the window I’m sitting next to and it’s 3:30am. Of course by the end of the week we’re back to cool and rainy . At least we got the yard done finally, and managed to get eaten alive by mosquitoes in the process.

I wore this outfit on Saturday. It was a very cool and rainy day. We went to the opening of a new park not far from us, a very very cool park that I know we will visit often. All the opening stuff was inside but we wandered around outside too so we could check it all out. We got pelted with rain, and I mean pelted not because it was raining all that hard, but because the wind was insane and causing the rain to pelt us. Fortunately I had hubby take a picture before we left the house so you don’t have to endure looking at wind blown hair LOL…..although we had a reporter from a local University paper take our picture for an article he interviewed us for…outside in the insane wind, I’m sure that’s a picture I’m not going to be thrilled to see how it turned out! LOL!

So, on to the outfit, I totally love skinny jeans now, I only have this one pair but can’t get over how I love them! Pre-kids I lived in skinny jeans! Yeah, I went to High School in the days of “bangers” and “preps” and such LOL….good thing I already shared my age because if that’s not aging myself I don’t know what is, haha! I was a “banger” I guess(wow, totally weird saying that, it’s been so many years!) and well, we wore the super skin tight jeans. Back then it wasn’t a problem, I was so skinny I wore one of the smaller sizes off the rack LOL. The guys used to call them painted on jeans because they were so tight. After having kids and ending up with this very generous curvy figure I never imagined I would ever wear a jean like that again, if I did it would only be because of trying to fit into jeans 2 sizes too small LOL! I was skeptical that skinny jeans would ever be for plus sized women when I first saw them getting popular, but I was wrong! Not only are they for us too, but I think they look better than I ever imagined they could on our curves! I’m so in love with them now and on Saturday wearing this outfit I felt amazing! I have learned to love my curves, but still nothing beats wearing something that makes you feel “skinny” and this outfit made me feel that way!

Shoes: Zellers, $15???(2006)

Skinny Jeans: Forever 21+, $14(2011)

Tube top: Addition-Elle, $10??(2010)

Shrug: Walmart, $12(2011)

Earrings: Forever 21, $5(2011)

Bracelets: Forever 21, $5ish(2011)

Glasses….if you are interested LOL, are from Clearly Contacts. I said I would do a post about them, I still will do one just about them one day. Not because anyone is paying me to, but because I think they are that awesome! I own 5 pairs of glasses, 4 of those came from this place and I LOVE them all and you wouldn’t believe what I paid for them if I told you, their prices are that amazing(and they do some awesome giveaways too, which I’ve been lucky enough to take advantage of). These ones in the picture are my newest pair, I wear them and a red pair the most because I think they look the best on me. I haven’t been brave enough to attempt contacts, so for me my glasses are totally an accessory. They have a US website too, Coastal Contacts, I can’t speak for them since I buy from the Canadian one….but the Canadian one not only has incredible prices, but incredible service too! I can’t say enough good things about them.

Jolene

What I’m Wearing

Well, I have definitely not been good about blogging or reading blogs the past couple of weeks, but since most of the bloggers I read were in NY anyway I don’t think there’s been a lot of new reading for me. So tonight I’m reading and writing! And I can’t wait to read about Plus Size Fashion Week in New York and see all the pictures!

I have a few outfits to post this week from the weekend, so this is the first of 3 that I have for now, will post the others over the next day or two . Now, one question I have is, is it only me that has a bitch of a time with the linings on short skirts? As you can see in the pic, it’s showing and this always happens to me with these skirts.

Skirt: Ricki's, bought in store, $11.25(2011)

Top: Reitmans, bought in store, $9??(2010)

Belt: City Chic, online but no more, $12(2011)

Shoes: Walmart, in store, $15(2011)

We’re not really good at taking close-up pics for my accessories, but I’m wearing a bracelet which I got from an American Indian woman selling at a rest stop in Arizona several years ago, the earrings are from Sexy Plus Clothing as a gift, and the necklace and a small bracelet I’m wearing with my watch are part of a pearl set that I got for $8 at Walmart.

Well, now I’m off to do some reading!

Jolene

It’s My Birthday

Yeah, it’s my birthday, woohoo! I’m 29 years old today! Yeah, sure I am! What? You don’t believe me? Ok, so I wouldn’t believe me either LOL. But that’s what my husband is telling everyone, that I’m 29 LOL! Ok, so I’m really 36 today, but that’s ok, doesn’t bother me how close to 40 I’m getting….OMG, wait? Only 4 years until 40!?! No fricken way!?! Well, I’m lucky enough to take after my Mom and look younger than my age. I was about 30 before I finally stopped getting the “how can you have kids, you’re not old enough to have kids”, even in my late 20’s I would get the occasional “ you’re still in High School right” hahaha! But here I am, 36 and not a single grey hair on my head, and I only just started getting the little wrinkles around the eyes that everyone else I know my age has had for years……and I am proof that stress does NOT cause these things too! I dare you to find a person who gets stressed out more than I do LOL, seriously I am always stressed out, everything stresses me out, so much so that I cannot believe I don’t have an ulcer or something, it’s seriously that bad. So if I’m still without a strand of grey, stress obviously is not the cause of greys LOL…..I can still say I do not have to color my hair to cover grays, I color my hair because I want to!

Anyway, been a bad blogger this past week, but the 2 people who have viewed my blog since I last came on 3 or 4 days ago I’m sure didn’t even notice. Yeah, feeling pity for myself because I’m having such a hard time getting readers…..hey, it’s my bday, let me have my pity party for this day LOL

So we’ve been busy which is why I haven’t been blogging! Total school issues and now trying to decide on a new school to register the kids Homeschool through. And we have been building a table! I really need a new dining table but can’t afford one so we’re building one with the crazy amount of wood we have in our backyard. It’s going to take a while though because we can only work on it when hubby is off work and when it’s not raining, and lately the days when it’s not raining are few…wish we had a garage to work in! But once it’s done I just have to save up for new chairs and I’m going to have an awesome new dining set made with love by our own hands, and it will be big enough so when we have people over we’re not cramped around the table and pulling out TV trays. It also weights like a ton though, which is good because it is going to be so solid and last forever, but bad because it’s fricken heavy to move!! Can’t wait though, my lovely $200 Walmart table and chairs have been great for the past 6 years and are still in great shape, but it’s time for me to have a real nice dining set for the first time ever! The Walmart stuff can get stored away until the time the boys are heading off on their own and need something.

Another thing I’ve been working on is searching out Ghost Towns in the province of Alberta. We’re going to go check some out in one part of the province next month when hubby has a week off, then in another part in September when he has 2 weeks off. We can’t afford a nice tropical holiday like we would like and after several years of no holidays away at all we are trying to at least go somewhere nearby to get away for a couple of days. I think checking out some of the history of our Province is a great way to spend that time, and education for both us and the kids. So I’ve spent the past few days sorting through websites about Ghost Towns figuring out where they are and what is left. I’m so excited now to check out some of these places and can’t wait until our first little trip in a few weeks. We can only afford a couple of nights in a hotel so won’t be away too long, but hopefully we can see a lot in a couple of days and then relax at home and around the city for the rest of his week off.

I haven’t had any outfits to post because when I have dressed up decent it was just to go out quick and then I had to change when we got home into clothes for working outside. Maybe I’ll have something this weekend since it’s supposed to be too rainy to get any work done anyway, so maybe I can get dressed up and stay dressed up for more than just an hour or two.

Anyway, there’s my little update for all the people, I mean for myself who is the only one reading haha!

Oh, and reading everyone tweets about Full Figure Fashion Week in New York, hope everyone is having a great time!

Jolene

What I’m Wearing

Hubby was off today and we were out and about all day after little sleep last night. I’m totally and completely exhausted and forgot to have hubby take a pic until just now so excuse the exhausted and drained part of my look LOL. First time I wore this dress this year, but it’s not new, only thing new is the cardigan.

Dress: Army & Navy, in store, $15(2009)

Cardigan: Joe Clothing(Real Canadian Superstore), in store, $12?(2011)

Shoes: Walmart, in store, $15(2010)

Necklace: old

Earrings: sorry, too tired to get close-up pics of them, they are from Forever 21 but we made adjustments to them(loved them but they had 2 parts too them and were too long so we took out a part)….will include in a future outfit and get pics.

And I said I would get pics of my nails, I kept them pretty simple and of course did them last night before deciding what I was going to wear today so they don’t match my outfit LOL. Need to figure out how to take close-up pics because I can’t seem to get decent ones to show the nails better.

Polish: China Glaze Midnight Mission

Stamp: Konad white with m8 plate.

 

I ordered new glass from Clearly Contacts, they are supposed to come tomorrow so if they do and if I like them I’m going to do a post about glasses and my most favorite place to get them from! So cross your fingers they look good on me!

And thank you to the few people started to slowly trickle through my blog and my first Google follower! I know my blog is still new but I’ve been pretty bummed that I’m having a hard time getting readers. I’ve started following a lot of people on Google, Twitter and even Facebook and I have been commenting on blogs but can’t seem to do the “hey, I’m over here” wave to stand out LOL. The last time I had a blog I didn’t have this much of a hard time getting readers, though I did use Entrecard at that time to find blogs and get readers, it doesn’t really seem to fit with the type of blog I’m doing now though so I guess I will just have to be patient and keep going and hope the readers will come .

Jolene

Getting Nail’d

haha, you thought I meant sex didn’t you? Ok, maybe not….maybe that’s just me who would think that LOL. Yes, I’m a dork thank you, my husband has rubbed off on me over the years…blame him!

I have weird nails, like really weird. I can grow them long but they curl badly most of the time, or if they actually do manage to grow long without curling they peel….which is my issue right now, the curling has been better but I just had to cut them all short because they were peeling so bad they were ripping . I love my nails long, and would love to get fake nails again except for 2 reasons I won’t; first reason is cost, second reason is fear of infection. We lived in DFW, Texas for a while and when we lived there there were numerous news stories of women getting infections in nail salons, some women even died from the infections. So, that has left me scared of those places now. Now I just do what I can to keep my own nails looking decent….I’m not a pro at it, but do the best I can and save a ton of money.

I recently learned of a nail polish brand called China Glaze and fell in love with it! They have awesome colors available and while I love OPI polishes as well, China Glaze are about $3 less per bottle. I’ve only found one chain of stores so far here that carries China Glaze though (so if anyone else knows of any Canadian stores that carry it as well I would love to know who, even if it’s online! Chatters is the only one I know of). I’ve started collecting different colors though and love love love their vibrant colors! I’m even wearing blue nail polish which I’ve never been a fan of before because the colors are so awesome! Might even do green, I hate green but I’ve seen a few pics of some great greens on their Facebook page.

Right after learning about China Glaze I also learned about Konad nail stamps! They are so neat!! Fortunately there is a mall just outside of the city that sells them and I was able to pick some up. This was definitely a splurge for me, I spent a little over $50 on a set of plates and everything I needed to get started….considering that’s the cost of a single manicure in some places and I will get many out of that I don’t feel too awful spending that much.

These are pics of my first attempt with them(I’ve used them several times since but keep forgetting to take pics before it starts chipping), I apologize the pictures aren’t great….I don’t know how to take close-ups without them being blurry….maybe my camera won’t LOL:

The base color on these is just an Avon polish, Strawberry, but like a braindead twit I can’t for the life of me remember or figure out which polish I stamped my fingernails with….the toenails were just stamped with the Konad white that came with the kit.

Aren’t they cool!?! The full nail ones are a little hard to get on because they’re not quite wide enough for the thumb especially, so it’s hard to get coverage there and have it look nice. But overall I love Konad! They are opening up next month in a mall closer to me, so I’m sure in addition to collecting polish I will be collecting the Konad plates too!

I’m doing my nails right now and if I remember I’ll take a pic when I’m done and post it later.

Jolene

Heeeels! And Shoes in General

I love reading everyone’s blogs and seeing the different outfits they put together. A common thing I’m seeing in a lot of outfits that you won’t see often in mine is high heels, and often not even a little bit high…really high heels! I love an amazing shoe as much as the next girl, I don’t own as many as most but that’s a combination of cost and can’t bloody well find what I ‘m looking for. The part that I don’t get is how do y’all stand wearing all these heels all the time?  Am I the only fool that can’t wear these gorgeous heels?

Maybe my feet are damaged from years of working standing on my feet for hours on end, maybe it’s my bad knee(no, not from weight, problem since childhood), maybe it’s my bad back(also, no, not from weight, problem since childhood), maybe I lack balance or something? I don’t know, all I know is if I wear heels I sure better not be walking much farther than from a building to the car and back again or my feet will cramp up and I won’t be walking anywhere.

Does everyone just not walk as much as I do?? If I’m leaving the house unless it’s just going for dinner and back we’re going to be doing a lot of walking somewhere before we make it back home. Is this not what everyone else does and that’s how they can wear these heels all the time? Or am I just that much of a wimp that I’m the only one who can’t do it?

I’m definitely not a skinny high stiletto kind of girl, but I sure wish I could wear heels a little more often, it’s just so far from practical for me that I can’t justify spending the money and then when I do try to wear them I feel so silly, clumsy and even “elephantish” in them LOL. Maybe it’s a thing going back from my school days when I was the tall girl(no, not so much anymore, already started shrinking :*(, wahhh!) and I felt so awkward and uncomfortable being taller than everyone else.

Now, my biggest shoe complaint is that it is so hard to find nice, cute flat or flatter shoes! Does anyone else have this problem? I mean I so cannot spend $100 0n a pair of shoes, ok, not even $50. Most of my shoes end up from Walmart because even Payless has a crap selection for shoes I like and when I do find something I like they are not really all that cheap(yes, in the US they are cheap, but here in Canada they charge us almost double what the US price is….can we say gouging??). At least at Walmart I can get some cute flats once in a while for around $15, but even that can be hard to find because they put out shoes that could be cute but then put an ugly print on them and then put the cute prints or plain colors on the shoes that aren’t as cute or comfortable. Or I find a shoe I love but the heel is either too skinny or too high .

I’m a girl, I want shoes! Am I the only one that has such a hard time with finding shoes?? Oh, and don’t even get me started on boots and the fact that my black boots are falling apart everywhere and I can’t find anything decent to replace them with for under $100 which I simply cannot afford until my hooligans are off and supporting themselves……

Jolene

What I’m Wearing

I’ve decided I don’t like the title “OOTD”, I don’t know why, I just don’t so I’m not going to use it anymore LOL.

Just a simple and comfortable outfit I like to wear often, these are my absolute favorite Capris, most comfortable ones I’ve ever had and I definitely wear them a lot! And as for the top, I’m really not a big fan of blue on me and I wanted the black and white version of this top but they didn’t have any in my size, after trying on the blue I ended up surprised and actually liking it! So it’s one of the very few blue things in my closet….besides jeans of course!

Top: Penningtons, in store, $15ish??, no longer available(2011)

Tank: Warehouse One, in store, 2/$20(2011)

Capris: Addition-Elle, in store, $30??(2010, think these might be them)

Shoes: Walmart, in store, $15(2010, they have them this year again)

Necklace: Forever 21 Socialite Trim Necklace, $6.80(2011)

Bracelets: Forever 21 Brocade Etched Bangles, $6.80(2011)

Earrings: just an old pair of cheap hoops from Walmart

 

Jolene

I Would If I Could….

Ok, I need a catchy name for my “I want to buy if I could” posts, I’ve seen some nice catchy titles on some blogs but don’t want to steal anyone else’s….so until I can come up with my own I’ll use “I would if I could”, simply because for most of it I can’t! And maybe I’ll just like that title and stick with it LOL.  So, these are what I would buy if I could!

For today I’m just going to post some stuff from Forever 21+ since it’s where I have made most of my clothing purchases from lately, and I have been very pleased with both my purchases and my experiences ordering from their website….add to that for the most part their prices are reasonable for my cheapskate ways and more likely than some sites that I might actually buy some of these things.

The first item is a bathing suit! While I see some people posting on Facebook about the extreme heat they’re suffering from, some of us have had a very cool and wet spring….but still glad it’s not snow and glad summer days are ahead(just hope it’s not too hot, heat + me= baaaad)! I really do need a new bathing suit but swim so rarely that I can’t quite justify a new one right now, but this one considering the prices of bathing suits these days is not too terribly priced and I think it’s lovely and I would be happy to show off my curves in it!

Tribal Tankini $41.80

The next thing is this adorable strapless top, I LOVE this top and if it goes on sale I’m definitely buying it(ok, IF I can afford an order at that time). I am not much for wearing green, but there is just something about this top that I love, green and all! I would  wear it with either my skinny jeans or black capris.

Shimmering Strapless Top $29.80

Another top, I think this one is so pretty, it is on sale and if I could afford enough to spend the $60 to get free shipping I would definitely be including this one in the lot!

Sheer Caftan Top on sale for $16.99

And one more for now, this is such a pretty dress! I don’t know when I would wear it since I don’t go out too often where I would dress this nice, since the kids are old enough to leave at home alone for a bit it might be nice to have to wear if hubby and I go out for dinner.

Crochet & Pleats Dress $33.80

So, would you buy any of these if you could? What would you wear them with or to? Do you have any favorite picks from the current styles at Forever 21+?

 

Jolene

Goody Spin Pins

I know I said yesterday I was going to blog about things I want, but first I want to quickly post about a fantastic hair accessory! Nope, this is not any sort of a paid blog post, I went and bought this on my own….I’m cheapskate and never buy hair accessories anywhere but the dollar store, but I read reviews online of these and they sounded to be worth the extra money.

I try to mostly wear my hair down in Winter, but in the Summer I have to have it up. I don’t handle heat well at all and my hair on my neck makes me overheat. I usually end up putting it up in a bun because I just don’t think a plain ponytail suits me, so I either clip it all up or put it in a bun. Problem with a bun is the bobby pins poking into your skull which can sometimes cause a headache, but when it’s really hot and I want my hair up nicely a bun is the best way to do my hair.

Last week I saw an article on Yahoo and it showed the Goody Bun Spiral. I went searching for reviews and information on it only to find the reviews not so great, for some people it worked fantastic, but for others it didn’t work at all, but by searching for that I found out about the Goody Spin Pins….and those had some pretty fantastic reviews! So I decided to give them a try.

I picked them up at Walmart, they were $6.95 and come in a package of 2, you can get them I believe in 2 colors, brown and blonde. And let me say, I love them!!! I was able to put my hair up in a bun and have it feel nice and secure without feeling anything stabbing into my skull. They held nicely all day for me. I have very fine hair so have a hard time getting hair accessories or really anything to work in my hair because I just don’t have any thickness to hold anything, but the Spin Pins were super easy to put in and stayed. I’m sooo happy to have found these and know I’ll be using them a lot this summer if we ever get out of this rainy weather .

I’ve read reviews from people with thick hair that said they worked great too, so looks like a great new hair accessory for anyone with long hair! Yippee!

This is the Bun Spiral, if it was a bit cheaper I would consider trying it, but due to the reviews I’ll stick with the Spin Pins:

These are the Spin Pins:

Jolene

So Much Stress, Seriously?

ugh, my mind will not cooperate for a decent post even though I’ve desperately wanted to post for the past couple of days. Yeah, nobody’s reading anyway LOL.

Just the story of my life, one thing after another, this week our Homeschool Board decided to throw some BS at me at the end of the school year, second year in a row! And having just finally breathed a sigh of relief from some stress our horrible bank put us through(ATB Financial in Alberta, yeah, they are the worst bank! Closing our account after almost 20 years it’s so bad)…well, lets just say to follow it up so soon with more stress for someone who doesn’t handle stress well, I had a couple of very rough days of migraines, nausea and crying. It’s not dealt with yet, trying to get it dealt with but so far without cooperation from anyone at the school….but I’m feeling better anyway after sending a nice long email to the Vice Principal.

So anywho….I am dying to do a “things I want” post, hopefully I can get to that in the next couple of days…depends what the weekend holds for us I guess and just how busy it decides to be . Either way I should have something up by Sunday night at the latest and I can’t wait to share what I would be ordering if I was lucky enough to have some money burning a hole in my pocket! LOL. Just can’t figure out how torturous it will be on myself LOL!

 

Jolene