Creamy Sausage and Tortellini Soup

The bright side to cold snowy days are all the new soup recipes I can try. I was in the mood for tortellini and had some Italian and German pork sausage in the freezer from our farm. This recipe met my expectations and satisfied my cravings. FYI-don’t add salt, there is plenty in the pork and chicken broth. Next time, I think I’ll add chopped tomatoes or roasted red pepper.

https://lifemadesimplebakes.com/2017/02/creamy-sausage-and-tortellini-soup/?utm_content=buffer435b7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=pinterest.com&utm_campaign=buffer&epik=dj0yJnU9alRPcWZ4S3pmQTI2TV9ZakE0cWlQNEt1bWljYVEzT0Qmbj1wRXBRUFA4UjZ0aUhydzBDLUxQN1d3Jm09MyZ0PUFBQUFBRnhxREw4

Zucchini Boats

It's that time of year again--even with all the hail, drought, bugs, rabbits and ground squirrels, Zucchini is the one vegetable that refuses to (literally) be beat down. We also have an abundance of pork sausage from the pigs we processed earlier in the year. It's a great night for zucchini boats. I didn't add the breadcrumbs, used German sausage and used the mexican blend cheese I had on hand. I also added mushrooms. So delicious, healthy and simple!

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/nancy-fuller/sausage-stuffed-zucchini-boats-2765700

Crustless Spinach Quiche

My my my, it's been a long time since I took the time to blog. I haven't stopped cooking, but I have slowed down in exploring new recipes. Really glad that, lately, the hubby has asked for "less bread" in his meals, which means, no noodles or dumplings in soup, no crust in pie, and super thin crust pizza (or cauliflower crust instead). [In the near future, I'll be posting a recipe for Chicken Zoodle Soup. Can't wait to try that!

Crustless quiche is great because you can get lots of great protein and veggies without all the extra carbs and calories. I loosely used the below recipe. I added breakfast sausage from our pigs, used "fiesta" cheese and "queso" cheese blend. I also added tomatoes and mushrooms; the spinach was fresh. This is the perfect dish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20876/crustless-spinach-quiche/

Sausage, Potato and Sauerkraut Soup (Instant Pot)

I think we're averaging one (ground) sausage recipe per week. I definitely need to keep finding good German Sausage recipes. I loosely based my soup on this recipe. First, I sauted the sausage in the instant pot then added the rest of the ingredients. We still have potatoes from our garden and I used a jar of my homemade sauerkraut. I also added carrots. The bay leaf and caraway seed made it taste amazing. The hubby also added sour cream and cheese at the end. Using the instant pot, I was able to get all cooked in under 30 minutes!  Delish!

http://deliciousfoodhomemade.com/polish-sausage-sauerkraut-and-potatoes-crockpot/

Pigs in a Pillow (AIP)

We had another wonderful night hosting friends. They were willing participants in my AIP recipe adventures. I'm still not a fan of the textures of some of the recipes, but I improve with time. This one, however, was the perfect alternative to the Bisquick/doughy version. You can eat this all night and not feel sluggish or bloated. It was 99% AIP because some of the spices used in the sausage are not part of the Auto-Immune Paleo diet (pepper, red pepper flakes in the German sausage). I used a combination of German Sausage and Italian and just added maple syrup and herbs de provence. They went really well with stuffed mushrooms and sweet potato fries.

http://hewontknowitspaleo.com/recipe-items/pigs-in-a-pillow/

German Skillet with Mustard Cream Sauce

After processing our hogs, I ended up with quite a bit of ground German sausage. It's the first time I've ever really used it in cooking so I'll be trying various Pinterest recipes for the next few months. The hubby would say, "you don't have to keep looking, just make this one over and over." He ended up eating 2 big bowls of it last night and again for breakfast this morning. Hehe. 

I did make a few adjustments. One of my most favorite attachments for my KitchenAid stand mixer is the Dicer/Slicer. It makes perfect little potato cubes (which makes it faster to cook and easier to eat). I first cooked the sausage in a pot with onions and garlic then added the potatoes with some chicken broth. After allowing that to cook for about 30 minutes, I added the sauerkraut, brown mustard and regular milk for another 15 minutes. Finally I added the heavy cream and cooked 15 more minutes. No salt needed due to the sauerkraut, chicken broth and sausage, but I did add some black pepper and white vinegar for extra kick. [German sausage has red pepper flakes so it was plenty spicy, but not too much--perfect for the hubby and me.]

https://www.foxvalleyfoodie.com/german-skillet-mustard-cream-sauce/

Slow Cooker Gumbo

We had just enough okra from our garden to make a nice big pot of gumbo. I added some tiny potatoes and tomatoes from the garden as well as chicken broth, salt and rotel. Now I don't have to cook for the week. lol

https://fitslowcookerqueen.com/slow-cooker-gumbo/

Breakfast Casserole (Pressure Cooker)

As I remodel my kitchen, and forgo the stove, I'm getting to know my electric pressure cooker intimately. Yesterday, I finally used the browning feature for the sausage in my breakfast casserole. It was amazing! I added the onions to carmelize, then when it seemed ready, I added the egg mixture and battened down the hatch. I have an 8 quart cooker, so I ended up using a dozen eggs and 3 lbs of sausage (2 bkfst, 1 spicy). Since it was larger than the actual recipe, My cook time ended up being 30 minutes. Since I don't have a trivet yet or an extra bowl to put inside the cooker, my edges were browned. "That's the best part" according to the hubby. :) It was a fun comfort food meal that felt effortless and allowed me to continue working on the remodel. The great thing is that it doesn't heat up the house and only required about 45 minutes of electricity. 

http://www.kitschencat.com/5-ingredient-pressure-cooker-cheesy-egg-bake/

Sausage plait (English Sausage Roll)

I was so excited to have the opportunity to make these! I was invited to ladies tea by our darling neighbor and I've been watching the Great British Baking Show Master Class on Netflix. I was admittedly nervous since the only "pastry" thing I've ever made is a pie crust. I used the link below as a guide, but followed the instructions on the Netflix episode almost to the letter. The only thing that is difficult to find in America is Black Pudding. I think I'll order it on Amazon for the freezer, should I decide I want to create another traditional British treat.  This time, I'm actually posting my own picture rather than from the link. :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sausage_plait_22185

Skinny Sausage Parmesan Stuffed Eggplant

Let's see, the hubby bought eggplants and Italian chicken (hot and mild) sausage brats...what to do? :) I reached out to pinterest, typed "eggplant chicken sausage" and found pages of wonderful recipes. I saved a couple of others to my "Recipe Bucket List-MAIN DISH" board for future use. This was surprisingly fairly easy to prepare-but make sure you plan to serve the meal no sooner than 2 hours after starting to prepare. I also splurged and purchased the pecorino romano from our local deli--well worth it. [The hubby doesn't tolerate peppers (i.e. red), so I omitted it :( ] The teenager, who has listed Italian as his top choice for cuisine, gave this dish a thumbs up. I doubled the recipe using 2 eggplants and a total of 4 brats and had 0 leftovers. :) I will likely make this one again, hopefully next time from our garden.

http://bakerbynature.com/skinny-sausage-parmesan-stuffed-eggplant/