Am I the Only One?

While the cat's away, the mice will... well, eat whatever they want to! I love my husband, but occasionally, I look forward to him being out of town because it gives me a chance to gorge on foods he's not a big fan of. This is one of those dishes that he says is "fine" but would prefer to eat all kinds of other things.

Not me. I love this stuff. In fact, if you promise not to tell anyone, I'll share a secret with you: Even though I'm not a kid anymore, if I think no one's looking, I'll still pick up my plate when I'm done and lick it clean. That's how much I like it. Now, we're not talking about that "s**t on a shingle" stuff that military folks always gripe about; we're talking about a flavorful white sauce poured over toast. In my book, that means it's gravy. You just can't go wrong with gravy.

If you're looking for a more robust application of this dish, you can always add a little cheddar cheese to the sauce and pour it over a baked potato instead of toast. We ate that for dinner growing up. But - I have to say - I've always preferred it unadulterated.

This recipe is so simple and you can multiply the recipe for however many servings you need. If you prefer a dish that's a bit less salty, you can rinse the dried beef and pat dry before using it.

Creamed Dry Beef
Yield: 1 serving, multiply into as many servings as needed

2 slices of toast
1 TBS butter
1 oz dried beef, approximate, torn into shreds
2 TBS flour
1 cup milk

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Toss in the dried beef. Let the beef brown slightly in the pan, stirring occasionally. Add the flour and stir until all the butter is absorbed and the beef is coated. Pour the milk in and stir continuously until the mixture becomes bubbly and thick, about 3-4 minutes, depending on your stove. Pour over 2 slices of freshly toasted bread and serve immediately.