B&G

Biscuits and gravy (Cluff-style, that is) is a Cluff family tradition. My dad, being the creative culinary aficionado that he is, couldn't possibly be satisfied with a boring plate of biscuits smothered in country gravy. He had to add his special flare to it.

Cluff-style biscuits are homemade biscuits (of varying varieties) smothered in homemade sausage country gravy, and then they are piled high with toppings! We top them with shredded cheese, shredded boiled eggs, sliced olives, diced onions, and chopped tomatoes.

This was always a special breakfast around my house growing up, reserved for when company came into town, friends spent the night, or family members came back home to visit after a long absence. Or sometimes when we begged hard enough. We usually left the begging up to Daisha, since she possesses a power of persuasion that is all but impossible to turn down.

Yeah, it's that good.

Hyrum, having tasted this culinary delight (the fabulous biscuits and gravy) on numerous occasions, has designated it as his favorite meal.

In fact, our entire little Johnson family of 6 LOVES it. We all lick our plates clean. Well, not usually literally, but we admit it's a temptation that is sometimes succumbed to.

The problem is, B&G takes quite a while to prepare. When my dad makes it, it seems like it takes hours to prepare from start to finish, while we all wander around the house like a pack of hungry dogs with our mouths watering and stomachs growling.

I never made it for my family, solely for fact that I couldn't bear to spend that much time preparing one meal. I don't like cooking THAT much. So, Hyrum, salivating at the memory of this breakfast of the Gods, decided we had to figure out a way to make it for ourselves, with less production time.

We've simplified the most time consuming parts of the routine: the actual making and baking of biscuits and cooking of gray. We've (shamefully) ditched the homemade aspect of this meal and started using the divinely tasty, and beautiful-once-baked, frozen Pillsbury biscuits (20 minutes baking time, zero prep time), and only use gravy from a mix (5 minutes or less cooking time).

We cook the onions in our sausage (to avoid the nasty onion burps after this meal) and we cook the sausage separate from the gravy (in order to better portion the meat on each plate and avoid gravy that's too thick or meaty).

So in about 22 minutes, we have hot, flaky biscuits being crumbled onto plates, hot gravy poured over the biscuit pieces, sausage, cheese, eggs, olives and tomatoes being topped over that, and then...silence! DON'T bug me.

I'm eating. 

Savoring. 

Devouring. 

Drooling. 

In heaven!

There's nothing better for breakfast...or lunch or dinner for that matter.

Even though we have tomatoes as an option for a topping, none of our kids like tomatoes. Neither do I, but I actually like them with this meal. Hyrum told the kids that tomatoes put hair on your chest, so just to prove her dad wrong, Talea mustered all her courage and ate one piece.

Hyrum checked her for chest hair, and while Talea wasn't looking, he pulled out one of his sideburn hairs and gave Talea's chest skin a little pinch, then showed her the hair. She inspected it, in total shock! Since she felt the pinch, she thought it was the hair being pulled out of her chest. Amazed, she exclaimed, "I never would have believed it! I actually DID grow a chest hair!"

Of course we were rolling with laughter. Hyrum never did confess though.