I love making pork roast or pot roast in my croc pot, especially throughout the winter months. These large cuts of meat feed multiple people and often leave plenty leftovers to enjoy later. They are filling, and require very little hands-on cooking time, making them a go-to in our house. When I discovered that I could turn the leftovers into my husband’s favorite meal, these cuts of meat became an even greater favorite of mine! 

I will spare you a lengthy blog post about all the things I love about this meal, and simply tell you that it is THRIFTY; it is EASY, and it is DELICIOUS. While I won’t go so far as to say it is the most healthy thing for you, I will say that made with wholesome ingredients, this meal is not terribly unhealthy. It may be higher in fats and lower in protein than some would like, but for some that is not a concern.

Follow the steps in these two quick recipes below to pull together a tasty from scratch meal, and serve alongside your family’s favorite veggie. In half an hour, you can have a from scratch dinner with whole-food goodness and heart-food taste prepared for your family. In this post, I will give directions for both the gravy and the biscuits made from nutrient dense whole wheat flour. However, I do have another post with directions specifically for these biscuits if you want to go more in depth. 

If you already have a biscuit recipe you enjoy and you want to skip to the directions for the gravy, you can do so using these navigation links: 

• Biscuit recipe
• Gravy Recipe
  

The Biscuits

These biscuits are super easy to make and nutritious! They take me 20 minutes from start to finish–making them a perfect addition to a quick from scratch dinner. You can even make them ahead for this meal and further limit your hands on time at dinner. For a more detailed recipe click here.

The process:

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into the flour mixture. (I like to use a cheese grater.) You can even grate the butter beforehand, and allow it to chill again in the fridge to ensure it is extra cold. Although, I have had good success just grating it straight into the bowl. Add your milk to the flour and butter mixture and mix by hand until it becomes a shaggy dough. 

Next, ensure it all the ingredients are fully incorporated, and then turn out onto a floured surface, and gently press the dough to spread it out evenly. It should be about ½ inch thick. Use a cookie cutter (or the equivalent; I use the top of a plastic cup), to cut circles out of the dough. DO NOT twist the cutter as this will create a seal around the edges of the biscuit and prevent a good rise in the oven.  

Place biscuits onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Then remove from the oven, cool, and enjoy! 

For the Visual Learner:

Troubleshooting:

The trick with biscuits is to handle them as little as possible. The dough does not have to be kneaded. Just mix by hand until everything is fully incorporated. When preparing to cut out the biscuits, don’t roll the dough flat, but instead gently press it flat on a well-floured surface. Handling the dough too much will prevent a good rise, and cause the biscuits to come out dense. 

Secondly, keep the dough pretty thick when you press it flat. About a ½ to 1 inch thick seems to work well for me, this will help your biscuits to come out taller and fluffier after baking. If they are thinner than this, then even with a decent rise in the oven, they likely won’t be as thick as most people like. 

The Recipe:

The Gravy

This gravy can be made with leftovers from a beef roast, a pork roast, pork loin roast, or even a roasted chicken. In reality, any cut of meat that gives you at least a cup or two of leftover drippings and broth with some bits of meat can be used. All that to say, this is a versatile meal that is highly under-rated in most new homemakers’ kitchens. After making this discovery, you won’t be able to throw away crock pot juices again without cringing.

The Process:

Scrape your leftover meat and drippings into a large sauce pan, and slowly heat it till all the juices are liquified. Add your milk to the sauce pan and stir in your flour at the same time. Bring the sauce pan to a simmer and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes while stirring to ensure it does not burn on the bottom. When you start to see that the gravy is thickening, you can remove from the heat and let it cool. It will continue to thicken as it cools. The ratios do not have to be precise, but you have to ensure that you’ve used enough flour, or it will not thicken well. I like to use a ratio of about 1:1 of milk to drippings, and I use about 1 tablespoon of flour for every cup of liquid.

For the Visual Learner:

Troubleshooting:

Gravy is easy to make, but many can be intimidated if it does not work well for them the first time. The most common issue that people have is that their gravy did not thicken well. If you’ve experienced this, the good news is, you can simply reheat the sauce and try again. Just add more flour to the sauce and heat it to a boil again. You should be able to tell if you will have success within 5-10 minutes of simmering the sauce. 

A thin gravy is most commonly caused by too little flour. A second problem could be that the mixture was too hot when the flour was added. Or thirdly, your sauce itself may not have gotten hot enough. To fix problem #1: I have found that using 1-2 tablespoons of flour for every cup of liquid is the ratio that works best. It does not have to be precise, but using less than 1 tablespoon will likely yield you a runny, watery gravy rather than one that is thick and creamy. For issue #2: ensure you’re adding the flour before your sauce reaches a simmer, preferably with the cool milk. Lastly for issue #3: Allow your sauce to boil, and then leave on the heat so that it continues to simmer as you stir.

The second problem some experience when making gravy is that it comes out thicker than they desire. If this is the case, you can simply add a little milk or broth to thin it out, and whisk it together well. This is likely caused by allowing the sauce to simmer too long, or by using too much flour.

The Recipe:

If you tried this recipe, please let me know what you thought! You can leave a comment, and follow me on Pinterest for more family friendly, homecooked meals for the mom that does not like to cook!