My husband Jack and I have been members of a not-very-serious wine group for the last several years. One couple in the group owns a farm in southern Iowa and they invited us for a wine-group weekend.

There are four women in the group, including me, and we all like to cook so when it came time to plan the meals for the weekend, we were far more concerned about the food than the wine. When I volunteered to make breakfast on Saturday morning, Carol, our host, suggested I make Biscuits and Sausage Gravy. I'm a big fan of the frozen buttermilk biscuits. Not only do they taste homemade, but they save me lots of time in the kitchen. It took me almost no time to make breakfast for eight, which left us plenty of time to enjoy our day. Here's the recipe I used:

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy 
8 frozen (ready-to-bake) buttermilk biscuits

1 1/2 lb. bulk pork sausage

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

6 cups milk   

1. Bake biscuits as directed on the package.

2. Meanwhile, crumble sausage into large skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until browned and no longer pink, stirring frequently. 

3. With wire whisk, stir flour, salt and pepper into sausage. Gradually stir in milk, cooking and stirring until mixture is bubbly and thickened.

4. Split warm biscuits; place on individual serving plates. Spoon sausage mixture over biscuits.

8 servings