Great recipes IC!

Cookie,

You can make good gravy if you just follow IC's directions, if you want a brown gravy you can use flour browned in oil in a skillet until it gets sort of copper colored then while wisking constantly stir in your water or broth or pan drippings (like from a pot roast) it will thicken nicely and after you get it the right consistency you add salt & pepper to taste.

Also if you want to darken a gravy that just turned out too light in color and looks anemic, you can color it by adding some left-over coffee, or a liquid called "Kitchen Boquet". You can buy the "Kitchen Boquet" in any grocery stores condiment aisle, or perhaps on the spice aisle.

Also there is a really terrific gravy that goes great over rice called "tomato gravy" you brown your flour in the oil in a skillet and instead of adding water, milk or broth you use canned tomatoes as your liquid. You can thin it if it's too thick with a little added water. Then salt & pepper and serve. My kids loved tomato gravy over their biscuits too!

Once you make gravy a few times it will become so easy you can do it with your eyes closed;)

Cathy

Maya Angelou tells a neat meat-pie story in her cookbook.

She tells of an Arkansas mother who suddenly finds herself single- left to raise several children all alone.

Too proud to accept government assistance, she immediately puts a plan into action.

She walks to the distant general store, shops during the day and then cleans her house, feeds her children, and puts them all to bed early. She sets her alarm clock for the early wee-hours, and after only a bit of sleep, rises to spend hours cooking her delicious homemade meat-pies.

After she sends her kids off to school, she loads her hand-made, uncooked meat-pies along w/ lard and cast iron cooking kettle onto a wagon and pulls it 4 miles down a dirt road to the nearby foundry. She lights a fire, heats the kettle of grease and fries her pies just as the foundry's worker's are coming ourside to eat their packed lunches.

She sells the pies fresh and hot for 50 cents. Then after this break, she packs-up and wheels her cart back down the road in the opposite direction to another plant, and she sells her cooled meat-pies to the workers there for half-price.

She makes enuf to buy the ingredients for the next day's pies.

Next day, she does the same thing, 'cept she takes the wagon first to the second plant so they're sure to get the fresher hot pies today- taking the leftover cooled ones to the other foundry, last. Doing this ensures that each group of workers gets equal share to the hottest, freshest pies on alternate days.

After many months of this, soon the woman's delicious meat-pies have earned quite a following. She finally has all the workers exactly where she wants them!

Starting the first of the month she posts signs at each place advertising that now she will no longer go to them- they must walk a bit and come to her.

She builds a tiny little shanty of a kitchen with a small front porch w/ a bench, on a stretch of lane exactly half-way between the two places of employment. This way the customers travel to her and her fantastic meat-pies only continue to grow in immense popularity, and soon, the woman can sleep a little later as she continues to work hard to sell her pies and raise her family.