Well, after a weekend full of slumber parties and play dates, I'm ready to get back into the grind of family life! So, for breakfast this morning I decided that homemade turkey sausage would be a real treat. My 5 year old son even asked where the sausage was when I placed his plate on the table with eggs. He said he loves Mommy's sausage! Now, you know that makes me feel really special!
You ask, "making your own turkey sausage? Why?!? It's so my easier to run to the store and buy a log and then just cut it up and cook it at home. Are you crazy?!? Or just bored?" Well, the answer is that I am crazy and I'm always looking for a healthy alternative to what I see prepackaged at the stores. First of all, check out the ingredients in the turkey sausages that you find at the supermarket. At my local store from the two options, I can choose from BHTs or Monosodium Glutimate. Hmmm... Yummm... And, then there is usually some sort of sugar/ corn syrup and a few other ingredients that I can't pronounce or even know what they are for in the first place! So, in an effort to change the way my family eats and introduce yummy foods, but a healthier alternative, I decided to make my own breakfast sausage.
Please keep in mind that when I post recipes, these are just templates for you and your family. I use ingredients and flavors that we like. You can always make changes to add things that you and your family enjoy to personalize the recipes to your own. Such as making pork or beef sausage instead of turkey or adding fennel and Italian Spices to make more of an Italian style sausage. Just a few suggestions, play with it and have fun!
Now, I love turkey sausage and I actually grind my own ground meats using my Kitchen Aid Mixer and Grinder attachment. It allows me another level of control over which meats I'm using in my recipes and feeding my family. After grinding my meats I store them in quantities of 1 pound in freezer bags or containers.
It's time to get down to the nitty gritty and share the recipe that I use for my Homemade Breakfast Sausage. Again, remember that you can tweak the ingredients, pulling some and adding others to suit your personal tastes.
Homemade Breakfast Sausage
2 lbs ground meat
3 TB extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TB rosemary, minced
1 TB sea salt
2 TB ground black pepper
1/2 TB crushed red pepper (more or less per taste)
1 tsp ground sage
2/3 tsp summer savory
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
2/3 tsp marjoram
1 tsp salt free garlic seasoning (I make my own and keep it handy)
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl and wearing plastic gloves, mix together well. (Tip: If you pour a little oil into your gloved hands, the meat will not stick so badly) Once all items are mixed well, begin making patties and placing them on a dish layered with wax paper. From here, you can freeze the patties on the dish and then pull them and place into a bag or container for future use or cook them right away.
If you choose to cook, just place a little oil (my preference is grapeseed oil or coconut oil) into your skillet and fry until they are done flipping once through the process.
If you choose to freeze and save for later, you don't have to make patties. You can leave it in a lump and use that as ground sausage in other recipes later, like pastas, breakfast casseroles, etc.
Enjoy and I'd love to hear about your personal touches that you used to make this your own!
