Pressure Cooker Jambalaya

Every year for Fat Tuesday we have jambalaya for dinner. I've made it from scratch but to be honest I really like this stuff in the box...

I only  used half a box since it was just for my hubby and I.

But first I sauteed some ingredients for several minutes on the meat setting with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil:
 1 chicken breast, cut up
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
6 oz andouille sausage
10-12 shrimp, peeled

Turn off pressure cooker. Stir in 1/2 can of diced tomatoes

Stir in 2/3 cup of the rice mixture into the cooker. Add 2/3 cup water and shrimp. Stir lightly.

Put lid on cooker. Cook on rice setting for 6 minutes. Let natural release for 10 minutes.

Stir and let sit for a few minutes.

We had our Mardi Gras dinner with okra and wine.

Sausage Bean & Kale Soup

I think I've made something very similar to this in the past but it turned out well enough that I didn't want to forget what I did. So here it goes...

Saute chopped onions and mushrooms in olive oil. Add chopped kale and stir until it begins to wilt.

Cover with water.

Add chicken and beef bouillon, salt, pepper and parsley.

Bring to a boil. Add some chopped potato and some white beans. Return to boil.

Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender.

Add homemade potato sausage meatballs and heat through.

Serve with snails... ;)

Apple Cheddar Sausage Balls

I love apple in my sausage! While I’m not fond of cheddar cheese and apple pie, I did wonder if they would pair well together with sausage???

Yup! They do!

These sausage balls are perfect to pair with eggs and toast for breakfast or make into patties for a breakfast sandwich on a biscuit. (That’s what I’m trying next…)

2 pounds breakfast sausage (if you’d like trying to make your own, you can try my recipe HERE)

1/2 cup finely chopped apple

1 egg, beaten

3/4 cup fine bread crumbs

1 cup shredded cheddar (I used a 3 cheddar blend of sharp, mild & white)

Mix well together. Form into balls. Bake on greased or parchment-papered baking tray at 350-375 for about 30 minutes or until they temp at 165.

Chorizo Sausage

With the ground pork in my freezer, I am trying some sausage recipes on a smaller scale to see what I think. This one wasn’t my favorite, but I want to remember how I did it. On the other hand, it made a KILLER chili last night for supper!

2 pounds ground pork

1 1/2 Tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon each: oregano & cumin

1/4 teaspoon fennel seed

1/8 teaspoon cloves

1/2 Tablespoon each: onion powder & pepper

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

Mix together well by hand or in a stand mixer. Freeze or use within 2 days.

Mild Italian Sausage

While we prefer spicy Italian sausage, we did make some of the not spicy kind, too. So here’s the recipe for those of you who are just a bit more wimpy… LOL

It does make a killer pizza!

If you are grinding your own pork, check out the sausage basics post HERE.

3 pounds ground pork

2 Tablespoons minced fresh garlic

1 Tablespoons salt

1 Tablespoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon dry parsley

1 1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1/2 teaspoon anise seed

1 Tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika

3 Tablespoons red wine

Mix seasonings in a small bowl. Add to ground pork and mix well until fully incorporated.

Chill immediately. Cook a small bit to check taste. Add more spices or more meat according to your taste. Know that they flavor will alter some after a few days.

Use within a day or two or freeze for longer storage.

White Bean & Meatball Soup

This soup was completely made up on the spot and inspired by our homemade potato sausage that I made into meatballs. I baked the meatballs in the oven and then threw them in the freezer to use later…

Pop this soup in the crock pot and you’ll have a hot bowl of soup before you know it!

8 cups water with bouillon (I use Better Than Bouillon) or beef stock

1/2 onion, chopped

1 can white beans, drained

1 1/2 pounds of precooked meatballs (fresh or frozen)

3-4 potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced

salt and pepper

Cook on low 6-8 hours or on high 3-4 hours. About 15 minutes before serving, throw in about 1-2 cups of baby spinach.

Potato Sausage

I have to confess that while making and sampling all the sausages we made, this one was not my favorite. But that was before I made it into meatball soup! Yum!!! I’ll post that recipe tomorrow. First, here’s how to make the sausage…

If you need help with the basics of sausage making, check out this post HERE.

4 pounds ground beef

4 pounds ground pork

4 pounds potatoes, peeled, brought to a boil and drained

2 pounds onions, chopped

3/4 pound bacon pieces

5 Tablespoons salt

3 Tablespoons fresh cracked pepper

Run pork, beef, potatoes, onion and bacon through meat grinder. Combine all ingredients and mix well until fully incorporated.

Chill immediately. Cook a small bit to check taste. Add more spices or more meat according to your taste. Know that they flavor will alter some after a few days.

Use within a day or two or freeze for longer storage.

Andouille Sausage

We just love jambalaya around here! So andouille seemed like an ideal sausage to make… we were right! It made my homemade jambalaya just that much better!!! The recipe for the jambalaya is HERE.

If you are grinding your own pork, check out the sausage basics post HERE.

6 pounds ground pork

4 Tablespoons minced fresh garlic

2 Tablespoons salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 Tablespoon smoked paprika

3 small bay leaves, ground

1/4 teaspoons dry sage, or 2 fresh leaves finely chopped

1 cup red wine

Mix seasonings in a small bowl. Add to ground pork and mix well until fully incorporated.

Chill immediately. Cook a small bit to check taste. Add more spices or more meat according to your taste. Know that they flavor will alter some after a few days.

Use within a day or two or freeze for longer storage.

Garlic Black Pepper Sausage

This sausage has a very distinct and spicy black pepper flavor and isn’t for those who don’t like pepper very much. Our family LOVES cracked black pepper on everything, so this is one of our favs! This one makes awesome links!!!

 This was superb with sautéed cabbage, pierogi with sauteed onions & mushrooms and applesauce!

I suppose you could lessen the amount of black pepper and it would still be a pretty tasty sausage… ;o)

Follow sausage making directions, HERE.

5 pounds ground pork (do it yourself or store-bought)

10 cloves fresh minced garlic

5 Tablespoons freshly cracked black pepper

2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

5 teaspoons salt

5 Tablespoons smoked or sweet paprika

1/4 cup chopped fresh chives

1 cup red wine

1 Tablespoon dried minced onion

Add seasonings to ground pork. Use or freeze within 1-2 days.

Breakfast Sausage

This is the recipe for breakfast sausage. This recipe is pretty savory, but you can tone it down to your taste. You can use store-bought ground pork or grind your own using the directions HERE. The recipe can be adjusted for larger batches. We made about 15 pounds!

This sausage makes delicious biscuits & gravy, omelets or egg scrambles…

  our lefse burrito

2 pounds ground pork

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper

2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage

1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme (we used 1/2 teaspoon dry)

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Mix seasonings in a small bowl. Add to ground pork and mix well until fully incorporated.

Chill immediately. Cook a small bit to check taste. Add more spices or more meat according to your taste. Know that they flavor will alter some after a few days.

Use within a day or two or freeze for longer storage.

Sausage Basics

It’s our family tradition to get together with our dear friends every year on New Year’s Day. This year school starts on the 2nd, so we got together to celebrate a bit early. This year’s theme was sausage!

We picked up 80 pounds of pork butt and made our own 7 varieties of homemade sausages! Wow!

Here are some basic steps to remember in making sausage:

*Keep everything VERY cold! The meat, the grinder, everything! If you are doing large quantities, wrap ice packs on the grinder between batches of meat. Be sure to put the meat immediately on ice or in the fridge after grinding.

It is amazing how much fat is in a slab of pork butt yet how lean the sausage is! It also makes you wonder just how much fat they put in grocery store sausage??? Ugh!

*Find a recipe and prepare your seasonings. If it calls for larger spices, it’s nice to put them in a grinder or use a mortar & pestle. It brings out the flavor of the spices.

 Spicy Italian seasonings

*Mix the seasonings in with the meat and place immediately back on ice or in fridge!

 this mixer could mix up to 20 pounds but your KitchenAid mixer works well for smaller batches

*Cook up a bit to see if you like the finished product and tweak the recipe as you need. Add more spice or more meat to make it milder or more spicy.

*Now if you’re going to stuff your sausages, you will need casings and the stuffer attachment on your grinder.

Learn how to prep your casings here at The Sausage Maker.

Make an agreement on the sausage stuffing jokes. Either you can make all you want or make none at all. I just couldn’t not make one tiny little joke. ;o)

*Be sure to leave space at either end of your casings for room to twist your sausages. Twist them in reverse directions to they don’t unwind themselves.

 

making link sausages (no jokes please!) LOL

*It’s also way more fun and way less work to do with good friends!

NO! We didn’t eat all 80 pounds for dinner! Our fridge is full of over 40 pounds of sausage and smells like a German deli… ;o)

It was a very fun evening! Now we just have to decide what kinds to make next time???

Sausage Bean Soup

My friend Annalise of Sweet Anna’s just threw together this soup in August (yes, the beginning of August was soup weather in the NW. Ugh!) and I saved it just waiting for Fall to arrive. And just like Annalise, I made it by throwing together stuff I had in the pantry (or freezer), so there are some little changes: I used bulk sausage instead of links, cooked my onion and garlic with the sausage (I’m also a very lazy, no, time efficient, cook), and used beef broth instead of chicken. Oh, and unfortunately I didn’t have a parmesan rind (but I really wish I did).

The original recipe is HERE and mine is as follows…

1 pound bulk pork sausage

1/2 onion, chopped

2 carrots, sliced or chopped

3 cloves of rough chopped garlic (I used 6 in ours)

5 cups beef broth

2 cans beans, drained but not rinsed (I used kidney and black)

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

2 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

Brown sausage in olive oil in a large stockpot. Before it is completely cooked, add onion and carrot and cook until soft. Be sure to scrape up all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds.

Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 to 3 hours. Serve with thick slices of warm bread.

Hobo Dinner

We first had this dinner when we lived on the farm in Iowa for a summer when Chris was working for CLBYM. They cooked them in the coals of a giant slash fire, we do ours on the BBQ. But either way they are one of our favorite summer time meals.

Cut up your favorite veggies into bite sized pieces (we use red potatoes, corn on the cob, carrots, zuchinni, mushrooms, onion, garlic, bell peppers).

Cut up some pre-cooked link sausages.

Toss together in very large bowl with olive oil and melted butter. Season with fresh ground pepper.

Place them in foil packets and fold well to seal.

Lay them on a pre-heated BBQ. Close lid and let cook about 10 minutes. Flip packets over and close lid again. Cook until potatoes and carrots are tender. (poke them with a fork to check)

Carefully open the packets on your plate or into a large serving bowl and enjoy!

Waikiki Sauce

This sauce was orginally made for meatballs and was my favorite supper for years. But this sweet sauce is good on cooked sliced sausages, chicken, or meatballs. Serve over white rice. I use the extra pineapple chunks to make a fruit salad with mandarin oranges and fresh pear, banana or apple (or all 3) to serve as a side.

This makes a quick easy supper.

1 can pineapple chunks, drained and reserve juice in bowl

Add to juice:

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp corn starch

1/4 cup sweet chili sauce (opt.) , use more or less to taste

Mix well with whisk. Pour over cooked meat, chopped green pepper and pineapple chunks in skillet and cook until thick and bubbly.

Sausage Sauerkraut Bake

I love this dish, but no one else in my family will eat it! :o( So, I make it for the church potlucks in the fall. Last fall I was the last in line and it was already gone by the time I got there. This year, I made sure I was closer to the front of the line!

1- 24oz jar sauerkraut, drained and rinsed

4 sliced smoked sausage links

1/3 cup brown sugar (use more or less to taste)

1/4 cup raisins

Stir together and bake at 350 until heated through.