Frugal Homemade Breakfast Sausage

chicken breakfast sausage with basil scrambled eggs, cherry tomatoes, and homemade bread

My husband has a breakfast dilemma.  He doesn't like oatmeal. He doesn't like eggs. He doesn't like yogurt. He does like toast with peanut butter, but it doesn't keep him going. He's not into the idea of eating dinner food for breakfast. And we don't buy cereal.

(He's really not that picky...it's mostly just breakfast foods...)

What's a wife to do? I'm not usually up in time to make him something (french toast sometimes hits the spot, or I'll doctor up some eggs so there's enough to distract him from the eggs themselves), so he's left to eat some peanut butter toast and then be shaky hungry an hour into his first class. No good!

He does love breakfast meat. Give this man bacon or sausage and he's a happy camper.

However, it's hard to find good breakfast meats that fit the budget. So finally I came up with this solution, enabling him to feast on sausage all he wants: I made my own.

I can buy ground chicken for a good price from a local farm that feeds their chickens non-GMO feed and lets them run around outside. It's much cheaper than buying local/organic pork breakfast sausage, or even ground pork.

I make two pounds worth at a time, form into patties, and bake them in the oven. Then I throw them in the freezer. When my husband wants sausage for breakfast, he just pulls one out and browns it in the iron skillet. I like mine with eggs or french toast or pancakes, but he's been known to eat them by themselves. :) We also pull them out occasionally when we need to bulk up a meal a bit or don't have any leftovers to eat for lunch. I've even made biscuits and gravy with these fellers. Take that Bob Evans!

Homemade Chicken Breakfast Sausage

(adapted from "Turkey Breakfast Sausage" in Nourishing Traditions)

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground chicken
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 t. each cumin, oregano, marjoram, nutmeg, black pepper, ground ginger
1 t. each basil, thyme, sage
a couple pinches cayenne, to taste
2 t. salt
1/4 c. homemade breadcrumbs (I just grind up ends of bread in the blender/food processor)
2 eggs (I've left these out, too, and they were just fine)

Directions:
Mush all ingredients together with your hands. Form into patties. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until no longer pink, about 25 minutes. Or fry in butter in a skillet. (Be careful not to over-brown if you plan to freeze and reheat them.)

To reheat, place in a cast iron skillet with a little butter and cook on low heat until hot all the way through.

Have you ever made your own sausage? Tell us about it!

This is part of: Fight Back Friday, Farm Girl Blog Fest, Simple Meals Friday, Figure Friendly Comfort Foods, Foodie Friday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Monday Mania, Make Your Own Monday

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

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Mmmm...cheesy goodness...

I love when I can throw a meal into the oven and do the dishes or feed the baby while it bakes. This meal comes together relatively quickly (though it does dirty two pots and a casserole, but it's worth it!) and would be a great thing to prep ahead of time for company.  The spiciness can be adjusted to your liking; we used two jalapenos this time but I think I'd prefer it with just one.

Another reason I like to make this recipe is this: I sometimes buy stewing hens for cheap (this last one cost me $3 from a local farm), which are great for making soup or broth, but the meat tends to be a little dry. Somehow, when you cover it with cheese and sour cream, it doesn't matter so much. :)

Chicken and White Bean Enchiladas

Filling ingredients:
1 T. coconut oil
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 (4 oz.) can diced mild green chiles
1 1/2 c. cooked white beans, such as cannellini or great northern (or one can, if you're in a pinch)
1 1/2 c. cooked, shredded chicken (I made broth with a stewing hen and saved the meat)
2/3 c. chicken broth
1-2 t. cumin
unrefined sea salt and pepper to taste

Sauce ingredients:
1 T. butter
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 T. flour (I use all-purpose, I'm sure sprouted would be a good alternative)
1 c. chicken broth
1 (4 oz.) can diced mild green chiles
1-2 chopped jalapenos (I wear a glove when I chop hot peppers. They burn!)
unrefined sea salt to taste

Other ingredients:
1/2 c. sour cream (I like Daisy Brand - no additives!)
1 c. shredded cheese (I used colby jack)
8-10 corn tortillas (We like Milagro brand, which are traditionally prepared in lime. Sprouted corn would also be a good option.) 
Chopped cilantro for garnish
Sour cream for serving

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Make the filling. Saute onion in oil until almost tender. Add garlic and saute one minute more. Add chiles, beans, broth, cumin, and salt and pepper. Stir, cover, and cook on low fifteen minutes while you prepare the sauce. Add chicken and cook long enough to heat through. Taste and adjust seasonings.

3. Make the sauce. Cook onion in butter and until tender. Add flour and cook, stirring, one minute. Whisk in the broth and bring to a boil, stirring and cooking until it thickens. Add chiles, jalapeno, and salt, and cook a 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 c. sour cream.

4. Assemble the enchiladas. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Fill tortillas with about 1/3 c. of the filling. Roll them and place them seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat until you run out of filling. Pour and spread the sauce over the enchiladas, and top with the grated cheese.

5. Bake them for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and slightly browned.

6. Serve, garnished with chopped cilantro and sour cream.

Try this recipe and let me know what you think in the comments!

 This is part of the following carnivals: Foodie Friday, Fight Back Friday, Friday Favorites, Inspire Me Friday, Eat, Make, Grow

Shallot-Cranberry Chicken Salad with Homemade Mayonnaise

[My brother-in-law is going to love this post. He is an enthusiastic mayonnaise hater. Sorry man.]

I went through a phase of disliking mayonnaise because I thought it was bad for me. Turns out, it is, if it's made with rancid vegetable oils and all sorts of other chemicals (which it always is, even if it's labeled "organic" or "with olive oil").

But I have to admit, mayonnaise does something that no other substance can do. Those years of substituting plain yogurt for the mayo in my tuna salad were a dark time, though I tried to deny it. I'm so glad that's over!

Now I'm at a new place with this yellowish creamy stuff: I know that if I make it myself with pastured egg yolks and olive oil it will be nourishing and delicious, but I can't always do that. So, I sometimes buy organic (sadly, still with soybean oil) Trader Joe's mayo, but my goal is to make my own.

Making your own mayonnaise sounds daunting and complicated. Like it's going to take a LOT of time. But every time I do it I think, "Wow, that was easier than I thought it would be!"

If you are thinking, "Doesn't homemade mayonnaise contain raw eggs? I'm not eating raw eggs!" then I recommend reading this post at Kelly the Kitchen Kop to calm your nerves. It DOES matter where you get your eggs and how they are raised. You can read more about that, and why eggs are a superfood, here.

I used this recipe, but I substituted gently melted coconut oil for 1/3 of the

olive oil, in hopes that it would not have TOO strong of an olive oil flavor. The hardest part is pouring the oil in slowly, but the whole process still took less than five minutes. So if you have five minutes, you can do this! It is important to have all your ingredients at room temperature. I think that is part of what has kept me from doing this in the past - forgetting to take the eggs out of the fridge ahead of time. But yesterday I remembered, and this mayo turned out great!

This sounds silly, but I'm always amazed that it

actually looks like mayonnaise when you're done. See? Thick and delicious.

I will admit, it has a pretty strong flavor on its own. But in this chicken salad, it works perfectly. We also love it in tuna salad, egg salad, and potato salad.

Here are some tips for success when it comes to making your own mayo:

1. plan ahead! take your eggs out of the fridge an hour or so before making.

2. pour slowly, but don't stress out about it.

3. turn your food processor or blender to LOW as you pour to avoid excessive splashing.

4. wear an apron!

5. don't plan to use it right away. that way you can ferment it (like Wardeh recommends). Also, if it's a little runny, you can refrigerate (with or without fermenting first) to firm it up a bit.

6. tell your husband that, yes, the mayo is supposed to be sitting out on the counter, or he may, like mine, think he's doing us a favor by putting it in the fridge. :)

Now put that mayo to good use in this delectable chicken salad. Again, this is more of a basic method than a recipe. Eyeball it, substitute what you have on hand, and have fun!

Shallot Cranberry Chicken Salad

ingredients:

leftover cooked chicken from roast chicken or chicken stock

a few stalks chopped celery

1-2 finely chopped shallots

a few dollops homemade mayonnaise

a few squirts dijon mustard

a spoonful of homemade jam (I used blueberry-orange)

a handful of dried cranberries

a sprinkle of dried coconut

a handful of sunflower seeds

seasonings: sea salt, freshly ground pepper, basil, tarragon

method:

mix it all together. taste. adjust. eat on bread, in a pita, on crackers, or, like I did, over a bed of greens drizzled with olive oil. wait for your husband or roommate or kids to say "wow, this is amazing!" Unless they hate mayonnaise like someone I know. ;)

This post is part of Tuesday Twister at Gnowfglins and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.