Turkey Sausage & Apple Stuffing

I have made stuffing before, however it came from my friends at Stove Top... A friend was having an early Thanksgiving Day dinner and I decided it would be a good time to try my hand at some homemade stuffing. Not to toot my own horn but my stuffing kicked booty... Even the picky eaters were shoveling it in.

I had decided that a sausage stuffing would be good. Because of some of the dietary needs I used a nice turkey sausage. For the read I used a whole wheat baguette that came from the local market. The only part of this recipe I looked up is what was in poultry seasoning. Come to find out all you really need is thyme, marjoram, and sage to get a nice flavor rolling. The apple part came on a whim at the market.

2 Whole Wheat Baguettes, cubed about 6-8 cups
5 Turkey Sausage links, casings removed and broken into bite size pieces
1 Golden Apple, diced
2/3 Cup Carrots, diced or sliced
2/3 Cup Red Onion, diced
1 Cup Celery, diced
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
Chicken Stock, enough to make it all nice and moist
2 Tbsp Butter
Thyme
Marjoram
Sage
Shallot Salt
Pepper

In a large saute pan brown the sausage over medium heat until cooked through. While the sausage is cooking cube up the bread and place it in a bowl large enough to mix everything in. Dice the apple and add it to the bread. Dice up the celery, onion, and carrots and reserve in a bowl. Mince the garlic and add to the veg mixture. Once the sausage is done add it to the bread bowl. Melt two tablespoons of butter in the pan you used to cook the sausage over a medium low heat (you can omit this if you don't want to use it. I always say, if it is good without butter it will be better with it...) Once the butter is melted add the veg mixture to the pan. Add a nice pinch of salt and pepper to the mix and stir it in. For the seasoning - I'm going to ask you to add amounts of these that make you happy. Start by adding a heavy pinch of the thyme, marjoram, and sage. Start small and add until it gives you a smell that you like. Once mine started smelling like a nice mix I stopped. I probably ended up with a few teaspoons of each (a little heaver on the thyme but that's just because I love thyme). You will want to cook this for about 5 minutes or just until everything starts to get a bit soft. Once finished add the the bread bowl and mix everything together well. I used almost 4 cups of stock to get everything to a happy moisture. Start by adding two cups and work your way up from there. We are looking for moist not wet. When I was done mixing everything together there was not a puddle of stock on the bottom of the bowl. Once you have a happy mixture, put into a baking dish and bake at 350 for an hour.

Happy Cooking & Eating!

~Nikko

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Turkey Sausage Fusilli

This is one of the first dishes Lisa cooked for me. She's an amazing cook and I never go hungry... It's hard to believe this is so good given it's so simple, but simple food is usually the best! You can use regular sausage, but if you can find a good turkey sausage why add the extra calories. We get our turkey sausage form Publix - it's the best I've found...

3 Turkey sausage links, casing off and pulled into bite sized pieces
2 Cups Fusilli pasta, the ones that look like corkscrews
2 Red peppers, roasted and diced - can roast them yourself or out of a jar
1/2 Bag Spinach, washed and drained
1/2 Cup Chicken stock
1/4 tsp Red pepper flakes, more or less to your liking
1/2 tsp Oregano
Salt
Pepper

Start by preparing the pasta according to the package. While the pasta is cooking, remove the casings off the sausage and pull them into bite sized pieces. In a large saute pan cook the sausage over a medium heat until it is cooked through. Once the sausage has cooked, remove it to a bowl. Deglaze the pan with the chicken stock. Add the roasted red peppers, red pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper to the pan - Cook for 2 minutes. Add the spinach to the pan and cook down - this will take only a few minutes. When the spinach has cooked, add the sausage and drained pasta back to the pan and mix everything together well. Plate, Eat & Enjoy!

Happy Cooking & Eating!

~Nikko

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Johnsonville Beer Brats

Johnsonville Beer Brats

When I go for a brat Johnsonville is the brat I usually turn to. My favorite way to eat is brat is on a bun with spicy mustard and raw onions - Done - That's it - 4 items and stop. But sometimes I like to dress it up a bit with some roasted peppers and other fun things... It's a brat so do what you need to with it - but don't let me catch you putting ketchup on it - That's just not right...

http://www.johnsonville.com

Come vote for me!
http://www.createyourownville.com/ville/4284/Buckeye

Bon Appetit...

~Nikko

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Biscuits & Gravy!

My all time favorite breakfast food is biscuits & gravy - or B & G's are they're known in my house... I don't remember how old I was the first time I had biscuits & gravy but I'm pretty sure they put it in my baby bottle... Anyway, making this wonderful dish is very simple.

1 lb sausage - country or breakfast works well (not the spicy)
3-4 Tbs flour
2-3 Cups milk
salt
pepper
love
1 Package of biscuits

Start by preheating the oven and making the biscuits according to the package. Then brown the sausage off. Once cooked remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat that was rendered. Sprinkle 3 to 4 tablespoons of flour over the sausage and mix it in well. Once all the flour is incorporated slowly add the milk a little at a time. Doing the milk in batches will help keep your gravy lump free. Turn up the heat to a medium high and the milk will thicken. Once it's to your desired thickness add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Bon Appetit...

~Nikko

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Version 1



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Version 2

Whole Wheat Calzone

Making calzones at home is such a good thing... It gives you the flexibility to put what you want into your food. You pick your cheeses, meats, toppings, etc... Not that you can't do that at your local pizza joint, but you get to pick the brands you want to use as well. To me a calzone is just a folded over pizza. You start by making a normal pizza dough - in this one I wanted to add some whole wheat flour and it made for a nice change. I wouldn't want to make it this way all the time but it was good... Load in your fillings then make sure you get a nice crimping of the dough - you just don't want it to open and it's really the "crust" of the dish. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes or so...

1 Packet active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (no hotter than 110 degrees)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp sugar (or a Tbsp of honey)
1.5 Cups flour
1 Cup whole wheat flour
1/4 Cup pizza sauce
Ricotta cheese - as much as you like and can fit in
Provolone cheese - 2-4 slices
Mozzarella cheese - 2-4 slices
1/4 Lb cooked sausage
1/2 Small onion or scallions sliced thin
Banana peppers to you liking
Black olives to your liking

Bon Appetit...

~Nikko

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Part 2 of 2

Weber Fire Starters

was given a box of the Weber Firestarters to try out. If using a chimney starter they do a great job of starting the coals. Using a few balls of newspaper does the exact same thing - they light the coals. The biggest difference in using the Weber Firestarters is that you don't have newspaper ash to deal with in the end! That makes them worth their weight in gold if you ask me. Anyhoo - Below is a video of me trying them out...

Bon Appetit...

~Nikko

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