Slow Cooker Jambalaya

Ingredients:

1 (13-14 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
12 ounces of beef broth
1 (7-8 ounce) can tomato paste
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. dried basil
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp. Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. fresh cracked black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
14 ounces Andouille sausage, cur into slices
5 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless, chopped into 1 inch pieces
1/2 lb. shrimp, cooked, deveined and peeled with tails removed
1 Tbs. fresh chopped Parsley

In the bottom of the slow cooker, combine the first 12 ingredients together with a spatula.

Add the onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, sausage and chicken. Stir together.

Cook, covered, on high for 1 hour. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for another 3 hours.

Add in the shrimp and fresh parsley and cook for another half an hour on low.

Divide into serving dishes on top of cooked white or brown rice. Add some more fresh chopped parsley on top.

Cheese and Sausage Breakfast Bread

There has been a package of Johnsonville sausage in the camp freezer for a while so I decided to take it home and transfer it into something that my husband could take to coffee break at work. Why not put breakfast ingredients into bread right? All that is missing, and this is a pretty good idea too, is a fried egg on top or smothered with gravy and scrambled eggs.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Johnsonville Vermont Maple Syrup breakfast sausage, casings removed
1/4 c. chopped onion
3/4 c. grated cheddar bacon cheese (if you can't find, use cheddar and 1 tsp. bacon bits)
1 egg
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Frank's Red Hot Sauce
1 1/2 c. Bisquick, Heart Smart
1/2 c. flour
2/3 c. milk, 1 %
1/4 c. Miracle Whip, Light

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a large loaf pan with non stick cooking spray (I used Pam with flour). Heat a medium skillet to medium low heat. Crumble the sausage with your fingers into small pieces (or chop) and add to the pan. Pour the chopped onion in the pan and let cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent. Drain on a paper towel and let cool. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the egg, cheese, hot sauce and salt. Add in the baking mix, milk and Miracle Whip and mix. Lastly, add in the cooled sausage and onion mixture and mix everything together until just blended.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes. Let cool in the pan for at least ten minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Let cool fully before slicing.

Mini Sausage Bites

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry, cut in 3 strips where the sheet unfolds
1 pkg. Johnsonville Vermont Maple Breakfast Sausage, boiled, casing removed
1/4 - 1/2 c. Beer pub style mustard

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Use a rolling pin to roll out the puff pastry so that it is about half as thin, and about 1/2-1 inch wider. Spread the mustard in an even thin layer on top of the pastry. Place a breakfast sausage on the end of the pastry on top of the mustard and roll until it touches the pastry again. Cut, press down with fingers to seal, and set aside on a cutting board. Repeat for the remaining breakfast sausage. Once they are all wrapped in the pastry, cut into about 4-6 bite size pieces and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack before serving.

These are unbelievably messy to put together. However, once you try one you won't regret putting them together!

(Picture above is from my Lake Placid vs. Jaws birthday party)

Chorizo Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs and Arugula

Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced small
1/3 c. chopped red onion
1/4 c. chopped Chorizo, smoked (the brand I used is pictured below)
salt and fresh cracked pepper
1/2 c. reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
1 c. arugula
2 eggs, fried or over easy

In a medium size saucepan, combine the sweet potato, red onion and either a small amount of olive oil or non stick spray. Cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until the potatoes are tender. Add the Chorizo, and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the cheese on top and stir until the cheese is melted through. To serve, divide the sweet potato mixture into two on each plate. Top with fresh arugula, and then an over easy egg (or egg style of your choice). I love using an over easy egg, breaking the yolk on top and letting it mix in with the potatoes. Yum!

Cudighi Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

2 green peppers, chopped
2 lb. Cudighi
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 whole garlic head, peeled and minced
1/4 c. chopped fresh basil (or 1/8 c. dried basil)
4 (14.5 oz.) cans tomato sauce
2 (14.5 oz.) cans whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp. garlic salt
3 Tbs. tomato paste

In a large soup pot, cook the cudighi and onions until the cudighi is almost fully cooked (about 5-7 minutes). You do not need to drain the meat.  Then add the green peppers and garlic and continued to cook until soft. Add the remaining ingredients, stir together, and cook for about an hour on medium heat (covered). Let cool before storing, or serve hot with pasta or baked in a lasagna.

Italian Turkey Sausage Hoagie

Ingredients:

8 ounces Butterball Everyday Sausage, Smoked Turkey, cut lengthwise, and then in half again
1 orange bell pepper, sliced thin
1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 tsp. garlic salt
1/2 tsp. fresh cracked pepper
4 hoagie buns, hollowed out in the middle (save the leftover bread to make bread crumbs)
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 Tbs. Extra Light Olive Oil

Heat the oil in a medium sized skillet at medium heat. Add the garlic and stir into the oil. Add the onions and peppers, and cook for three minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Italian seasoning and garlic salt, and stir to combine. With a spatula, move the peppers and onions to the edges of the pan to make a well in the center. Slice the sausages 1/3 of the way through on the top, leaving vents for the heat to escape. Place slit side down into the pan and cook for one minute, flip over to the flat side and continue to cook for 1-2 more minutes. Place the onions and pepper on the inside of each hoagie. Top each with a piece of the turkey sausage, and top with a sprinkle of shredded Parmesan. (Makes 4 hoagies, 8 WW points per hoagie.)

Pigs in a Sheet

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. mustard
2 Tbs. Frank's original hot sauce
2 Tbs. Hunt's ketchup
20 Hillshire Farm  Lit'l Smokies, Turkey Smoked Sausage
1/2 c. Kraft Mexican style four cheese, finely shredded
20 Won ton wrappers

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the mustard, hot sauce and mustard together. Lay a won ton wrapper flat. Spread a very thin layer of the sauce on top of the won ton. Place 1/2 tsp (or a pinch) of the shredded cheese in the middle of the won ton, and one turkey sausage on top of that. Fold one edge over the top of the sausage and tuck under. Bring the sides up and overlap on top. Roll the rest of the won ton up so that it looks like a mini burrito. Place on a baking sheet seam side down. Repeat for the remaining won tons. Bake for 4 minutes in the oven, flip them over, and bake for an additional 4-5 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. You don't even need to dunk these little piggies! The sauce and cheese melts inside of the won tons and makes them ooey and gooey! (Makes 20, 1 WW point each.)

Sweet and Sour Turkey Lit'l Smokies

Ingredients:

1 pkg. Hillshire Farm Turkey Lit'l Smokies
1/4 c. fat free sugar free grape jelly
1/4 c. mild salsa

Combine all of the ingredients in a microwave safe dish. Microwave for 1 minute. Stir everything together and microwave again for another minute or so (it might take more than a minute, depending on your microwave settings). That's it! Three ingredients, less than five minutes to make, and delicious!
(10 lit'l smokies is  around 4 WW points)

Hummus Chicken Sausage Quesadilla

Ingredients:
2 Johnsonville Chicken Apple Sausages
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
1/8 c. feta cheese (Athenos), crumbled
4 Tbs. Athenos Red Pepper Hummus
1/4 c. Kraft Shredded Mexican Cheese, Four Cheese
2 Wheat Tortillas

Add the onion, bell pepper and chicken sausage to a skillet and cook on medium heat, just until everything is warm. Pour the mixture into a medium size bowl and stir in the feta cheese, hummus and shredded cheese. Place a tortilla in the skillet that is still set to medium heat and add half of the mixture to one side of the tortilla. Fold the top over. Repeat for the other quesadilla (yes, they will be filled to the max!). Flip them over after the bottom is a golden brown, and repeat on the other side until it is also a golden brown. Remove them from the pan and let them sit for about 2-3 minutes so that when you cut them into slices, all of the filling doesn't just fall out.  (Serves 2, 10 WW points each).

Italian Pepperoni Quiche

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1/4 c. 1% milk
2 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. black pepepr
1 Pillsbury Pie Crust (from 15 oz. box)
1/4 c. pasta sauce (I used meat flavored)
2 Tbs. fresh chopped Parsley
1 c. crumbled cheese curds (I had WI Sundried Tomato Basil)
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 c. mini Pepperoni 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together until well combined. Set aside. Meanwhile Spray a quiche pan with non stick cooking spray and add your pie crust. Don't worry about making them even on the sides because you will be slightly folding them down. Place the parsley, cheese curds and pepperoni on the bottom of the pie crust, and spread out evenly. Pour the egg mixture on top. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese. Bend the edges of the pie crust down over the filling (it will be around a 45 degree angle, and make sure it is not sitting directly on top, or pushed down under the egg.) bake for 40 minutes in the oven. Let cool on a wire rack before slicing and serving.

Sausage Apple Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 lb. Jimmy Dean's sausage
6 Tbs. butter
2 c. onions
2 c. diced apple
1 Tbs. minced sage
1 Tbs. thyme
salt and pepper
3 c. chicken broth
2 eggs
1/4 c. chopped parsley
8 c. Italian seasoned bread cubes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook the sausage and butter in a large skillet (make sure it has high sides). When the sausage is almost done, add the onions and apple. Cook until the onions are slightly translucent. Add the sage, thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth and simmer for about 3 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs, slightly beaten, to the dry bread cubes. Pour the chicken broth mixture in with the bread cubes, along with the chopped parsley. Combine everything together well until the bread cubes have soaked all of the chicken broth up. Spray a 13x9 inch pan with non stick cooking spray. Pour the stuffing into the pan and spread out evenly. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the tinfoil and bake for 30 more minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Soy-sage Rice

Ingredients:
2 c. cooked white rice
2 eggs
1 1/2 c. smoked turkey sausage, diced
1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
2 Tbs. soy sauce

In the center of the pot that you cooked the rice in, make a hole in the middle of the rice. Heat pan to medium heat and drop the eggs in the center. Ass the bottom of the eggs starts to cook, start slowly stirring it into the rice until fully incorporated. Continue to cook and stir for about 3 minutes until the egg is mostly cooked. Add the sausage and soy sauce and continue to cook and stir for another 2 minutes. Add the melted cheese and stir into the rice (it will melt pretty quickly). It is definitely a strange take on fried rice, but the gooey and melted cheese and soft rice combination melts in your mouth. If your looking to try out a different kind of comfort food, this is your dish!

Egg Sausage Crescent Cups

Ingredients:

1 tube crescent rolls

5 eggs, scrambled

1 tsp. onion powder

salt and pepper

1 c. diced smoked turkey sausage

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a six cup muffin tin with Pam and set aside. Unroll the crescent roll into a large rectangle. Pull apart on the line that goes lengthwise down the middle. Cut both of the strips into three smaller rectangles so that you now have 6 rectangles. Place each one in a muffin cup, making sure that all of the seams are pressed together. Disperse the smoked turkey sausage evenly among the cups. Season the eggs with salt and pepper, and also evenly divide between the cups. Top each with the shredded cheddar. Bake for 14 minutes. Let cool slightly in the pan and serve immediately while still warm. 

Smoked Turkey Sausage and Potato Hash

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. chopped smoked turkey sausage
5 small red potatoes, halved, quartered, and sliced into 1/4 inch thick pieces
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. (roughly) of Lawry's seasoning salt


Heat a medium sized skillet on medium heat. Add the olive oil. Add the chopped potatoes and smoked sausage and cook, stirring frequently, for about 5-7 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Add the seasoning salt and cook for another minute or so until the ingredients are well incorporated. Let cool slightly before serving.

My husband and I love breakfast for dinner, and are always trying to find new ways of spicing up the flavors, instead of just plain old ordinary eggs every day. We added over-easy eggs on top and served with toast to dip into the runny yolk. Very yummy!

Sausage Gravy and Biscuits

Ingredients:

1 lb. Jimmy Dean Regular Premium Pork Sausage

1/4 c. flour (heaping)

2 c. milk

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tube Pillsbury biscuits (8)

In a medium sized skillet, cook the pork sausage on medium heat until it is no longer pink. Add the flour and keep stirring until the flour has dissolved fully with the meat. Pour the milk into the meat and stir. Add the Worcestershire, salt and pepper to the gravy and keep stirring. Meanwhile, cook the biscuits in the oven according to the directions on the back of the package.

  I like my gravy thicker, so I cooked and stirred for about 10 minutes. If you like your sauce more thin and runny, do not cook for that long.When the biscuits come out of the oven, let cool slightly. Serve the gravy however you like with the biscuits. I love to pull the biscuits apart and eat them like a sandwich. 

Sausage Pancake Dunkers

Everyone loves pigs in a blanket, why not eat them for breakfast?

Ingredients:

3/4 c. whole wheat pancake mix (Hodgson Mill)

(follow the directions on the package for the liquid amount, mine has...)

1/2 c. milk

1 egg

1 Tbs. oil

1 Tbs. cinnamon

8 cooked breakfast sausage links

 Steps:

1. Mix the ingredients for the batter.  Heat skillet to medium heat. 

Spray with non stick spray. Drop about 4 Tbs. of batter on the skillet. 

Place the sausage in the middle of the batter.

Using a spoon, spread the excess batter outward until there is barely any raw batter left on top.

2. Using a spatula, bring one corner of the pancake over the top of the sausage and tuck.

Roll the sausage until you get to the other side of the pancake.

Push off to the side, and leave seam side down to keep cooking. Repeat the process for the rest.

3. Place into a microwave safe container. Heat for 30 seconds in the microwave.

(This helps the remaining raw batter around the sausage cook.)

4. The end result. Very good dipped in syrup!

Pumpernickel Pizza Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:
2 slices fresh pumpernickel bread
Spreadable butter
Shredded cheddar cheese
Pizza Sauce
Mini pepperoni


Preheat a small skillet on medium heat. Butter one side of each piece of bread. Place one slice butter side down in the pan. Top with sauce, cheese, pepperoni, cheese, then more sauce. Cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side or until the cheese is fully melted.

Andouille Potato Omelet

Ingredients:

6 eggs

1 1/2 c. Andouille sausage, small diced

2 potatoes, peeled and small diced

1/4 c. green pepper, small diced

salt and pepper

shredded cheddar cheese

Spray a large skillet with non-stick cooking spray and set on medium high heat. Add your diced potatoes and Andouille. Cook, stirring ever so often for about 5-7 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Add the green pepper, and turn the burner down to low. Meanwhile, heat a large flat skillet on medium low heat. Beat three eggs in a bowl with a fork or whisk. Spray the skillet with non stick cooking spray and add the eggs. Keep spreading out the egg so that it makes a very thin layer on the bottom of the skillet. When just about cooked, put half of the filling mixture on one side of the egg. Sprinkle with some shredded cheddar. With a large spatula, flip the other side of the egg on top of the filling. Flip the whole thing over so that the seam side is down. Top with cheese and continue to cook for about 1-2 minutes. Repeat for the second omelet. 

Mini Smoked Andouille and Gouda Pizzas

Ingredients:
2 flatbreads (Stonfire is the brand I used and pictured above)
Smoked Andouille, sliced thin
Smoked Kurpianka, shredded (or any kind of Gouda-like cheese)
Green Pepper, thinly sliced with a potato peeler
Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Olive Oil
Garlic Salt

Place the flatbreads on a baking sheet. Rub olive oil on top, and sprinkle with garlic salt. Set the oven to broil. Meanwhile, add the Andouille, green pepper and mushrooms to the flatbreads. Top with the shredded cheese. Broil in the oven for about 3 minutes, until the cheese is golden and bubbly. Slice and serve!

Maple Sausage Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1/8 c. + 2 Tbs. Maple syrup, divided
6 Maple sausages, cooked and sliced
Approximately 10-15 brussel sprouts, sliced and separated

In a medium size sauce pan, add the yellow onion and 2 Tbs. Maple syrup and heat on medium heat. As the onions start to caramelize, stir frequently until a light shade of brown (the Maple syrup will make them a more brown hue than usual). Add the sliced brussel sprouts and stir into the onion. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes or until the brussel sprouts are somewhat tender. Add the sliced sausage and the 1/8 c. Maple syrup to the mixture and stir until combined. You only need to continue to cook until the sausage is heated through again. This is very good as a breakfast hash, or as a side dish with any type of meat.