Healthier Biscuits and Gravy

Some of you may have seen my tweet about Hardee's sending me coupons for biscuits and gravy. I LOVE biscuits and gravy it is my most ultimate favorite breakfast food ever. SERIOUSLY love it and lived on it when I was a twig of a girl in high school. But these days gravy sticks to my rear and so do those big ole biscuits. So I did some digging and found several recipes for lower fat versions. Now mind you I don't think these versions are HEALTHY by any means just healthy-ER (I know that is supposed to be an ier work with me here). And this is NOT a recipe I recommend for daily meal planning, but on that special and RARE occasion that you really feel the desire for some good ole biscuits and gravy then these recipes just might do the trick. (I haven't tested them out yet but trust me I will soon). These were taken from here.

BUTTERMILK BISCUITS

11/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup white whole-wheat flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon chilled butter, cut into small pieces 3/4 cup low-fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 F.

Lightly spoon the flours into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add buttermilk and stir just until dry ingredients are moist.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead four or five times. Roll dough to a ½ -inch thickness and use a 2 ½ -inch biscuit cutter to make each biscuit.

Bake biscuits on a baking sheet at 450 F for 10 to 12 minutes or until biscuits are golden.

Makes 12 biscuits.

SOURCE: Cooking Light

KATHY'S SAUSAGE GRAVY

8 ounces light sausage 2 tablespoons light butter 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon white whole-wheat flour 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch 2 cups fat-free milk(I may sub skim evaporated milk here) Salt and pepper to taste

Brown and crumble the sausage in a skillet that doesn't have a nonstick surface. Remove the sausage crumbles to a paper towel-lined plate. Keeping the skillet hot, add the light butter to the skillet and use a spatula to scrape loose the tidbits of meat sticking to the skillet. Add the flours and cornstarch and whisk the mixture until it's well combined and smooth. Stirring constantly, add the milk. Simmer, whisking, for five minutes or until thickened. Fold in the sausage crumbles. Season with salt and pepper.

PER SERVING (2 biscuits with a half-cup of gravy): Calories 338

Fat 14.1 g Cholesterol 35 mg Sodium 670 mg Fiber 1.3 g

Carbohydrates 36 g Protein 14.6 g