Paleo Pancake and Sausage Muffins

Pancake and sausage muffins - sounds strange, don't they?  According to my husband, they remind him of a sausage McGriddle from McDonalds.  I've never had one, so I couldn't tell you if they do, or not.  But I can tell you that they're really good.  And really easy and simple.  My sister-in-law posted a non-paleo version on her blog, Homemade Dutch Apple Pie, a while back.  I wanted to make them paleo, though.  So I figured I'd use our favorite paleo pancake recipe from Urban Poser (with a few tweaks) and give them a shot.  They turned out great!  I'll definitely be making these again soon.  These were very nice to have the leftovers on hand for quick breakfasts on work mornings. 

Paleo Pancake and Sausage Muffins

1 pound bulk sausage
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large eggs from pastured chickens
4-5 Tablespoons almond milk or coconut milk (they're great both ways!)
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook sausage in a cast iron or stainless steel skillet until cooked through.  Remove from heat and let cool for a bit.

Meanwhile, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, eggs, almond or coconut milk, honey, maple syrup, and vanilla in a large bowl. 

Once the sausage has cooled some, mix into the pancake mixture. 

Divide mixture evenly between 12 muffin cups.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and cooked through. 


 

Primal Butternut Squash Soup

I made this soup for dinner last weekend.  I needed to use up another butternut squash and thought a soup sounded good.  I had some locally made polish sausage (some would call it ring sausage) in the freezer, so I decided to add that.  And I just threw in some veggies that I had in my freezer.  You could add whatever veggies you have on hand for this.  Corn would be great, but it's not primal or paleo, so I didn't add it.  If I would have left the peas out, it'd be considered paleo.  This soup came together really quickly and it tasted great!  All three of us enjoyed it a lot. 

Butternut Squash Soup

1/4 cup butter
1 large butternut squash, cooked
1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 pound locally made, nitrate-free polish sausage, diced
2 cups peas
2 cups chopped zucchini (I used yellow zucchini from my freezer)
1 cup coconut milk
2-3 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons onion powder
salt and pepper to taste

If your squash isn't already cooked and mashed, you'll need to do this first. 

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add in all the veggies, stock, coconut milk, and spices.  Stir to combine.  Let simmer for about a half hour.  Enjoy!

This post is linked to:
Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Pennywise Platter Thursday at the Nourishing Gourmet

Paleo/Primal Stuffed Peppers in the Crockpot

I made these for dinner on Friday night.  It was the first time I've actually made stuffed peppers, but I've had them many times before.  Generally, they have rice mixed in with the meat.  My friend, Jaime, mixes in quinoa.  Both are excellent choices, but unfortunately neither are primal friendly.  I scored some organic red peppers for an amazing price last week... on the reduced produce rack.  I got 8 huge organic red bell peppers for 99 cents total!  Amazing!  I will only buy organic peppers since conventional bell peppers contain an obscene amount of pesticides in them.  I never make exceptions on peppers.  

So anyway, I decided to make stuffed peppers in the crockpot for dinner on Friday.  I did not use a recipe, just added what sounded good.  They turned out so delicious!  We all loved them.  Carson said they were his favorite dinner, he loved them so much. 

Paleo/Primal Stuffed Peppers in the Crockpot

2 extra large red bell peppers
1 pound ground beef
1/4 pound italian turkey sausage, casing removed
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1 cup chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1 can diced fire roasted tomatoes
1 egg
spices to taste - garlic powder, oregano, cumin
1 jar pasta sauce, homemade is best

Slice peppers in half lengthwise and remove ribs and seeds.  Set aside.

Mix ground beef, sausage, onion, celery, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, egg and spices in a medium bowl. 

Take each pepper half and fill with 1/4 of the meat filling.  Place into 6-quart crockpot.  Once all peppers are in the crockpot, spoon your favorite homemade pasta sauce over top of each stuffed pepper.  I used about 1/2 pint on top of 4 pepper halves. 

Turn crockpot to low and cook for about 6 hours.  Enjoy!


This post is linked to:
Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade
Simple Lives Thursday at GNOWFGLINS
Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet

Sausage Cheese Balls

We had to travel two hours west for one of our Christmas parties.  I wanted to find something to take that was portable, tasty, and fairly good for you.  I couldn't decide what to bring, so I scoured the Whole Foods for the Holidays posts.  I came across these Sausage Cheese Balls on Titus2Homemaker.  They sounded very easy and portable.  So I tried them out.  I used our pastured, naturally-seasoned sausage, a mixture of whole wheat and spelt flours, my homemade cultured butter, and raw cheddar cheese.  They are more dough-y than I guess I expected and they didn't blow me away, but they were okay.  They taste like a biscuit with a slight cheese and sausage flavoring.  The naturally flavored sausage doesn't have as much spice as conventional sausage does, so maybe they'd have more flavor with conventional sausage... I didn't think about it in advance, or I'd have probably added a few spices. 

Sausage Cheese Balls

3 cups whole wheat flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat and 1 cup spelt)
1-1/2 Tablespoons aluminum-free baking powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 lb. butter (I used homemade cultured butter)
1 lb. breakfast sausage, raw (I used pastured pork sausage with natural seasonings)
8 oz. grated cheddar (I used raw cheddar, a mixture of mild and sharp)

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter. With your hands, mix in sausage and cheddar, adding a tad bit of water to make a dough. Form into 1″ balls (I used my 1-inch cookie scoop) and bake on a baking sheet at 375 for 20 minutes.

Thanksgiving Sausage Stuffing

I hosted Thanksgiving with my dad's family last weekend.  Yes, it was quite early, but it actually worked out really well and gives us a good break between Thanksgiving turkey dinners.  I made a traditional turkey (post coming at some point) with our family's sausage stuffing.  Its just a basic sausage stuffing, but its what we always have had and probably always will have.  Its very tasty!  The recipe below is the base recipe, which is for a 12-pound turkey.  I had an 18-pound locally raised, pastured turkey, so I increased the ratios.  I also wanted to do more than just stuff the bird.  So I made a quadruple recipe.  First, I stuffed the bird.  Then I threw the remainder into my big crockpot to cook.  Stuffing really shrinks down in size as it cooks, so even though it may look like a TON before you cook it, it will reduce in size by about half.  So just keep that in mind if you ever make it. 

As for ingredients, use what you like, but I like to use local, organic, and homemade as much as possible.  I was going to make the bread for the bread cubes myself, but decided last week that I would just buy some loaves from our local organic mill.  They are WAPFers and they use very similar recipes to what I've made in the past, so I feel totally comfortable getting their bread.  I toasted it in the oven to make the bread cubes.  I used my homemade raw milk cultured butter; as well as local, organic celery and onions from my CSA.  I used celtic sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and my home-dried sage.  I used locally made pork sausage with natural seasonings.  And I made my own chicken bone broth.  So I feel like it was a pretty healthy stuffing.  :) 

Sausage Stuffing
(for 12-lb turkey)

12 cups bread cubes/croutons
1 cup butter
1/2-3/4 cup onion, chopped
1/2-3/4 cup celery, chopped
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon sage
1 pound sausage
1 quart chicken stock

Fry sausage. Add butter, onion, and celery. Cook until veggies are softened.

Put bread cubes in large bowl. Pour sausage, butter, onion, celery mix over top of bread and mix. Pour chicken stock over top until moist, but not soggy. Add salt, pepper, and sage. Mix well.

Stuff your turkey with as much as you can fit.  Put remaining stuffing into a crockpot and cook on low for 4-6 hours.


This post is participating in the GNOWFGLINS Tuesday Twister. 

Black Hills Golden Egg Bake

I made this egg casserole for our Christmas celebration with Kevin's immediate family on Saturday morning. It was very good and it makes a lot - it'd be great for a potluck brunch or something. The recipe called for 4 cups of cheese... which I thought was a little insane... so I cut it back to 1 3/4 cups of cheese... and probably could even go down to 1 1/2 cups and still taste really good.

And I think this is my last post for tonight... I'll try to catch up more later... I have a lot of cookie posts with some new cookie recipes we tried this year... and some breads and other misc. meals from last week.

Black Hills Golden Egg Bake

1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
(I added a handful of frozen spinach, as well)
1/4 cup butter, cubed - use cooking spray instead
10 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (16 ounce) container low fat small curd cottage cheese
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese (I thought 4 cups of cheese was way too much, so I put 1 cup in the egg mixture and then used about 3/4 cup to sprinkle on top to form a nice crust)
1 pound bulk turkey sausage, cooked and drained

In a skillet, saute mushrooms and green pepper in butter until tender. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, flour, baking powder and salt if desired; mix well. Add mushroom mixture. Stir in remaining ingredients; mix well.

Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F; bake 25-35 minutes longer or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean.

Crockpot Sausage & Veggie Medley

Tonight I made a crockpot recipe. I haven't used the crockpot much lately and I've missed it! The crockpot makes having a good dinner so easy, especially during the week. But I have to try out the crockpot recipes that aren't supposed to cook for extended periods of time (like 12 hours) on the weekends. So tonight I decided to try this one and use up a bunch of stuff I had in the freezer. I got this recipe from A Year of Crockpotting. Its a pretty easy recipe, just throw together whatever veggies you have on hand with some sausage and let it cook. I used all frozen veggies, but I bet it'd be better with fresh veggies. And I used Jennie-O Italian Turkey Sausages - I think it'd probably be better with more of a turkey polish sausage or something along those lines. I'm not too crazy about sausage, but Kevin likes it. I liked the veggies, Kevin liked the sausage. I'll make it again, but will use a different type of sausage to see if I like it better.

Anyway, here's the original recipe with my comments in parentheses.

Crockpot Sausage and Veggie Medley

5-6 chicken or turkey sausage links
1/2 package of mushrooms
potatoes 1-2 medium brown ones or equivalent (I didn't have any potatoes, so I left these out)
few stalks of celery
some baby carrots (left these out since I didn't have any)
some brocolli
some cauliflower (left this out)
the amount of veggies really doesn't matter - it's completely up to you. If you have onion and bell pepper, use them. Sweet potato, eggplant, zuchinni, whatever; it's all good
2 cups chicken broth
handful of spinach (I used frozen and it was fine)
(I ended up with a combo of broccoli, onions, celery, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, mushrooms, zucchini, and spinach)

Cut all veggies into 2-inch chunks (mine were smaller than this b/c I used what I'd frozen from the garden or farmer's markets). Layer into crockpot, most to least dense. Add sliced sausage. Add broth and wine. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. Right before serving, add a handful of fresh spinach and cover for 10 minutes to wilt leaves (I just added frozen when I was throwing everything together).