Sausage and Egg Dish

This dish can be made for breakfast obviously but also makes a lovely dinner alternative!! It's not a super complicated dish either and typically it's ingredients are ones that you have on hand!! Well.....ok maybe not the loaf of french bread......but there are many substitutions available!!

This is also a good pot luck dish or brunch dish!! It can serve a lot of people and you walk away full!! Not to mention it's super tasty. ;) It's very similar to the Sausage and Egg Minis I posted, just baked in a 13 x 9 instead of a cupcake tin!!

12 eggs, beaten
2 cups milk
1 tsp season salt
1 tsp ground mustard
1 small can of diced green chile's
1/2 loaf of french bread, cut into cubes (you can sub sandwich rolls, slices of bread, sourdough or no bread at all if you are following a low carb diet)
1 lb ground sausage, cooked
2cups grated cheese, (you can use cheddar, jack, pepper jack, colby, swiss or whatever kind you'd like)


Preheat oven to 400 and spray baking dish with pam cooking spray. Arrange bread in bottom of 13 x 9 baking dish and sprinkle cooked sausage over top of bread. Now sprinkle green chile's evenly over sausage and bread. In a large bowl crack eggs and beat with milk, salt and ground mustard. Pour over bread and sausage mixture pressing bread into eggs so that it soaks in. Sprinkle top with grated cheese and bake for 45 to 60 minutes until eggs are set in center.

You can literally substitute ANY ingredients with the sausage or add things like spinach or mushrooms or bell peppers. You can use ham intead of sausage or you can use bacon or all three. The possibilities are endless!! Be creative!!

Biscuits and Homemade Gravy

Please note....the title of this blog post is 'Biscuits and "Homemade" Gravy' not just gravy. If you use package gravy or heaven forbid....canned gravy *gagging* there should be some law passed against that. You know what.....that's what I will do with all my spare time....I will get a law passed against the inhumane unethical use of unnatural canned and packaged gravies!! Who's with me???? I will be sending out a petition the moment I'm done with this posting, so be sure to check your inbox!!!

I also made homemade biscuits. It really doesn't take long and the extra effort you put in for the homemade versions will definitely pay off in flavor!! Give it a try!! You can do it!! I also served scrangled eggs with these cuz I love to dip my eggs in gravy!! =)

Biscuits

2 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 stick butter
1 cup butter milk

In a large bowl mix flour, sugar, soda, powder, and salt. Next using a pastry blender, incorporate butter into flour mixture until butter is the size of peas or smaller. Add buttermilk until all flour is moistened. Turn on to floured surface and flour top of dough as well. Either roll out with rolling pin or flatten with hands, until 3/4" thick. Either cut into squares or cut with round biscuit cutter. Makes 8-12 depending on size and thickness. Bake in 450 oven for 12-16 minutes.

Homemade Gravy
1 lb ground sausage
3 T flour
2 cups, milk or heavy cream or combo of both
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp salt (more or less depending on taste)
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

Cook sausage until cooked through. Drain drippings reserving 3 T only. Place drippings back in pan with sausage and add flour. Stir for approx 2 minutes to cook out the flour taste. Add milk, pepper, salt and nutmeg. Bring to boil and stir often until it is thickened. Pour over hot biscuits.

Zuppa Toscana (Olive Garden Style)

Who needs to go to Olive Garden and pay for their soup, when you can make it at home and it tastes better and you know its fresh?? Right?? I could literally make a pot of this and eat it for lunch for as long as it will last!!

• 1 lb ground Italian sausage
• 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
• 1 large diced white onion
• 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, grated on micro plane
• 10 cups chicken stock or broth
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
• 1/2 of a bunch of kale

1. Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, and set aside while you cook next ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Add chicken stock/broth and sausage to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
4. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!

Sausage & Egg Mini's

This recipe is for all my none carb eating peeps.....Can I get an Amen???? Hello......can I get an amen???? *tap tap tap* Is this thing on??

Oh....hehehe...I forgot I was blogging.....but really this could not be easier there are only a handful of ingredients and you don't have to make them in a cupcake pan either....but I did for the cuteness factor. ;) What can I say...I like my food to be cute! I don't think there is anything wrong with that!!

8 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk (I used heavy cream because I am on a no carb no sugar diet and believe it or not there is lots of sugar in milk)
1 tsp season salt
1 lb ground sausage, cooked
12 T of grated cheese (1 T per muffin tin)

Preheat oven to 400 and spray muffin tin with pam cooking spray. Divide sausage equally among 12 muffin cups. Put 1 T of cheese on top of sausage. Beat eggs and add season salt and milk. Pour egg mixture into muffin cups until almost full.

Should look like this. The are going to puff up in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Then gently remove from muffin tin and serve.

                      This is what they look like right out of the oven!!

Spinach, Ground Beef Breakfast Scramble

This is another protein packed keep you going for the long haul breakfast. With spinach, ground beef, and eggs....how could you not be stuffed for hours....right?? This kind of reminds me of a ravioli filling....well without the cooked egg...lol. Anyways....you can use ground beef or sausage, I used leftover meatloaf....cuz that's what I had. :)

This is a pretty easy, yet tasty meal and you could actually have it for any meal of the day.

1 lb ground sausage or beef (or turkey or chicken)
4 cups packed fresh spinach or 1 package frozen
1/2 c diced onion
2 cloves garlic, grated with micro plane
6 eggs, beaten
1/4 c Parmesan cheese

In a frying pan saute ground meat and onion until meat is cooked thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper. Add spinach and garlic, until spinach is wilted or heated if you used frozen. Stir in eggs. Cooked until eggs are desired doneness. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Caribbean Spicy Sausage and Sweet Potato Chowder

Ok first off I must say, I only subscribe to 2 magazines!! Cooking Light and Food Network....and I love them both!! So every month I get my magazines in the mail and I sit down and go through all the recipes and cut out the ones I am pretty sure I will use. When I was going through Cooking Lights Jan/Feb issue I came across this little gem!!

This soup......or chowder as they call it has an absolutely lovely flavor to it. It is packed with healthy things and even looks beautiful. I made a few changes to adapt to what I had on hand. It came out so good and even my teenage boys loved it. That is a hard enough task to accomplish!!

Caribbean Spicy Sausage and Sweet Potato Chowder

2 tsp olive oil

3 peeled and cubed sweet potatoes

1 chopped red bell pepper

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, grated on micro plane

2 tsp peeled fresh ginger, grated on micro plane

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground curry

1/2 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbls brown sugar (I used agave, because I don't use sugar)

4 cups chicken broth

2 tsp dried thyme

2 bay leaves

1 cup frozen corn

1 can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 packages Turkey Italian Sausage, chopped

Heat oil in dutch oven over medium heat. Add sausage and cook for 5 minutes until cooked almost completely. Add next next 6 ingredients through ginger. Cook for 5 minutes. Stir in next 4 ingredients through cinnamon and cook for 30 seconds. Add broth and agave or sugar. Add thyme and bay leaves. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer for 12 minutes or until sweet potatoes are tender. Stir in tomatoes and corn and simmer for 5 minutes. Add cilantro and stir. Discard bay leaves. Yield six servings

Po' Mans Dinner or Dirty Rice or Rice with Hangabur Meat

This rice dish is a huge hit around my house!! Everyone loves it and it can feed a ton of people or you can have leftovers the next day for lunch!! It is so easy and you can change it up to add whatever you like in it. I make mine with ground beef, but you can certainly use ground turkey, chicken or even sausage. Or if you don't like meat just use veggies!! This is great to make if you are feeding a crowd of if your food budget is low this week. It tastes so good you'd never guess it was so easy and inexpensive!!

1 lb ground beef

2 cups long grain rice

1/2 cup chopped red and green bell pepper

1/2 of a medium sized onion, chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1 14.5 oz can broth (beef, chicken or veggie)

2 cups water

3-4 dashes hot sauce (I like Franks)

1 1/2 cups cheese (Cheddar, jack, colby, pepper jack or any kind you like)

1 small can green chile's (optional)

juice of 1/2 of a lime

1-1 1/2 tsp salt to flavor

It should look like this.

Now add all the liquids, including the water, broth and hot sauce. Then add the cilantro. Cover and let it come up to a boil. Reduce heat to low and let cook for 20-25 minutes until rice is completely cooked. Now spread cheese over the top and let melt for about 5 minutes.

You can garnish with cilantro, avocado, sour cream, jalapenos, or anything else you feel like throwing on there!!
Doesn't that look good!!! Serve to all your hungry people waiting for a delicious meal!Now add the rice and 'fry' it all together for about 5 minutes stirring constantly.Just like that...now add in the veggies...except the cilantro!!Brown you ground beef.Here are all the things I used in mine today. Fresh tomatoes, red and green bell peppers, onions, cilantro, green chile's, lime juice, rice and cheese!! You'll want to chop up your veggies and cilantro before you start cooking!!

Sunday Mornin' Breakfast Burritos

Look at all these beautiful breakfast burritos. I used to make these once a month for church and we serve them in our cafe. You want to talk about pressure....try cooking for 60-75!! I've got it down to a science now!! It only takes about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish!! I will give you the estimated recipe for a few less!! ;o)

1 pound of ground breakfast sausage
1 pound of hashbrowns (not the shredded kind)
15 eggs beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 onion chopped
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 cloves garlic, grated
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated cheddar cheese or pepper jack or combo of your favorites
Approx 15-20 flour tortillas

Cook ground sausage thoroughly, also cook the hashbrowns with the onion in a seperate pan until golden brown.



Add all spices to eggs, add milk and beat until well beaten.

Add eggs and hashbrowns to the sausage and cook until eggs are cooked thoroughly.

Melt cheese on top and it should look a little something like above!! Can you say.....yummy??

Ripe off a bunch of foils and lightly heat the tortillas to make it easier to roll. Add a spoon full of egg mixture into a tortilla and roll like a burrito, with one end open.

Now dont you just wanna pick one up and take a bite?? I like to serve them with fresh homemade salsa!! Maybe I will post that recipe someday soon!!