Biscuits and Sausage Gravy + Watermelon Smoothie

There's no Sunday brunch like biscuits and gravy:

Buttermilk biscuits from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (this carnivore's favorite cookbook), and improvised lazy man's sausage gravy. For three big servings or four sides:

• one tablespoon butter
• four breakfast sausage links (enough to equal half a cup ground meat)
• two tablespoons all-purpose flour
• one cup of milk, plus a little more just in case.

Melt the butter over medium high heat, and throw in the sausages. Mash them into small pieces and make sure they brown a little all over. When you're happy with how brown they are, add the flour and stir it into the oil. Cook over medium or medium low heat until the flour is brown and giving off a light nutty flavor. If you're not sure what smell to look for, just make sure you cook the flour for at least two minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste. Whisk in a cup of milk slowly, and add more if you want a thinner gravy. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Serve the biscuits in a pool of gravy, and top with some snipped chives and cracked pepper. Oh, and a glass of fresh squeezed ruby red grapefruit juice with a touch of clover honey really helps to cut the grease!

Our weekend afternoons almost always include a watermelon smoothie break now that it's hot. I'm convinced that the sugar in watermelon helps keep you hydrated longer than plain water, since you sweat out more than just water. Plus, the vitamins in watermelon are good for you. Besides, why does anyone need convincing to eat watermelon?

For fast smoothies any time you please, all you need to do is cut an entire watermelon into cubes. Keep half of the cubes in the fridge and the other half in the freezer. When you're in the mood for a smoothie, combine equal parts frozen and unfrozen watermelon in a blender, making sure the unfrozen pieces are at the bottom. If you have a weak blender, you might want to mash the unfroxen pieces with a fork so that there's more liquid in the bottom of the blender. I also pour in whatever liquid's at the bottom of the container. Add a tablespoon of simple syrup or sugar if you don't think the watermelon is very sweet. Add a shot of rum if it's happy hour. Blend until smooth. A squeeze of lemon is a nice addition, and I've heard that vanilla really complements watermelon but have yet to try that flavor combination.