Even though my family is large –huge by some standards– we’re still not Amish “size”. Our Amish neighbors have 11 children! I thought I worked hard cooking for our crowd! They have 11 and some of them are big, strappin’ boys! I have a few Amish Country cookbooks that I just love. Flipping through them gives me a glimpse into her life and an appreciation for cooking for a large crowd. From a few of these books I’ve found (and scaled down, believe it or not!) a great recipe for sausage gravy and homemade biscuits. Hubby loves these biscuits! He’s a biscuit snob, so they must be good!

Sausage Gravy

1 lb. sausage

3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 1/2 cups milk

Brown and crumble sausage (don’t drain it). Add flour, salt and pepper and stir. If the sausage is dry, you may need to add a bit of shortening when adding flour. Add milk while stirring. Heat until it starts to boil and reduce heat and continue to stir until thickened. Makes about 5 cups of gravy.

Homemade Biscuits

4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

8 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cream of tartar

4 tsp. sugar

1 cup shortening

1 1/3 cup milk

Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles course crumbs. Add milk all at once and stir until dough follows fork around bowl. Roll 1/2 thick.* Use a large glass or a canning jar to cut biscuits. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes about 30 biscuits.

*Note: The key to light and fluffy biscuits is not to work the dough too much.