Sausage Stuffed Waffles

So the hubs was out of town and I didn't feel like making any sort of fancy meal

Meaning... a meal the kids weren't going to eat anyway.

So I thought breakfast for dinner would be fun.

They thought so too.

Waffles and sausage it is!

So as I'm thinking about getting all the ingredients together ...it occurs to me,

What if I put the sausage IN the waffle batter and cook it like that?

I put syrup on my sausage anyway... so what's the difference?

Then it hit me.... Why in the world has no one ever thought of this before?

I even googled it and didn't find anything.

I'm sure someone out there has done this before... but for whatever reason... it just hasn't caught on yet.

Well... I'm starting the trend... because it tastes good AND it's fun.

On a side note, these waffles are great on their own.  (without sausage stuffed inside)

I got the recipe many many years ago and I LOVE it.

Sometimes I eat them without any syrup and then I make extras that I snack on too. 

Seriously good waffles!

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
2 C Milk
1/2 C Oil
2 tsp Vanilla
4 C Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 C Sugar
1 Lb. Ground sausage, crumbled & cooked

Directions:
Pre-heat belgian waffle maker
Spray it with non-stick spray

In a bowl, beat egss until thick

Add milk, oil, & Vanilla
In seperate bowl, mix all dry ingredients

Add flour mix to egg mix and hand beat until just blended

Batter is supposed to be lumpy...like this ^

Add cooked sausage to batter and blend

Take about 1 C of batter and place in waffle maker

Cook for 2 minutes

Repeat until all batter is gone
Makes about 7 large waffles

***Review:

The kids raved over these waffles!  They were so excited to see the sausage IN the waffles.  I really liked them too.... they tasted great.  Hubs was excited to hear about them over the phone and has requested I save him one to try (which I did).  We are excited about this new invention and will add it to the favorites list.

We have always loved these waffles but adding the sausgage was pretty cool! 

**Tips:

One thing that is very important to the texture of these waffles is hand mixing... and not only that, but not mixing for too long.  The flour will get "tough" and heavy the more you mix it.  So only mix it until it's blended.... then leave it alone! If you do it right.. your waffles will be light and fluffy!  Also, make sure at least one of the bowls you use is big enough to hold all the ingredients when you mix them together.

Since I've only made this once, I think that next time I will cook the sausage until it's reeaaly done and I think I will add a little syrup to the saugsage while it's still in the pan and let it cook down. I think that will give it a little more flavor.  On a side note, these waffles are pretty big and I can barely eat one.
ps.  If you have only a regular waffle maker, I'm sure these will work there too... just use less batter!

I hope you have fun trying these!

Printer friendly recipe:

Ingredients:
6 Eggs
2 C Milk
1/2 C Oil
2 tsp Vanilla
4 C Flour
1 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 C Sugar
1 Lb. Ground sausage, crumbled & cooked

Directions:
Pre-heat belgian waffle maker
Spray it with non-stick spray

In a large bowl, beat egss until thick
Add milk, oil, & Vanilla
In seperate bowl, mix all dry ingredients

Add flour mix to egg mix and hand beat until just blended
Add cooked sausage to batter and blend

Take about 1 C of batter and place in waffle maker
Cook for 2 minutes
Repeat until all batter is gone
Makes about 7 large waffles

Kielbasa & Sauerkraut (Stove or crockpot)

If you're looking for a quick go-to dinner.... this is it.

I mean, it's not really even a recipe.

It's just two ingredients thrown together and heated. 

Boom....instant dinner. 

I takes all of 20 minutes from start to finish.

And the best part?

My kids LOVE it.

Hubs & I like it too.

I'm not saying this is something you will be bragging about to your friends or anything

But if you're in a pinch, it works. 

Here's the "recipe".......

Ingredients:
2 lbs of Kielbasa (sliced into 1/2 inch rings)
2 lbs of Sauerkraut ( I use the bags)

Directions:
Slice Kielbasa into rings

Rinse & drain sauerkraut

Put it all in a pan large enough to hold it.
Put a lid on the pan and cook until hot

* Opitionally, you can place this in the crockpot on low a few hours before you're ready to eat.  Add about 1/4 C water if it's going to be in there more than 2 hours
Done!

***Review:
Kids loved this.  At first they were wary, but I told them it was like eating sausage and hotdogs mixed.  That helped.  The sauerkraut was something they had to try first... and they all liked it.  We usually only eat it cold on brats... so doing it like this was something new.  They ate it all up and asked for seconds and thirds.
I like this dish too.  I've been eating it my whole life.  I only have one complaint.  I only like a certain brand of Kielbasa (Kowalski)... but they only make it in Detroit so it's hard to find anywhere else.  I sucked it up and bought meijer brand and it was pretty good.  Not Kowalski... but hey... what can you do?

**Tips:
You can doctor this dish up if you want to.  I like it simple, but I have seen people add lots of different things to it.  Onions, anise seeds, potaotes, pasta... and the list goes on.  Also, you don't have to use Kielbasa.  I suppose you could use any type of polish sausage you want.

Do you have a favorite way of serving this?  Please share!

Printable directions:

Ingredients:
2 lbs of Kielbasa (sliced into 1/2 inch rings)
2 lbs of Sauerkraut ( I use the bags)

Directions:
Slice Kielbasa into rings
Rinse & drain sauerkraut
Put it all in a pan large enough to hold it.
Put a lid on the pan and cook until hot
* Opitionally, you can place this in the crockpot on low a few hours before you're ready to eat.  Add about 1/4 C water if it's going to be in there more than 2 hours
Done!

Homemade Pasta Sauce

It's fall and it's chilly

Sometime around this time of year I start craving "comfort" foods

Lasagna and the like are one of those foods for me

I come from an Italian family and I grew up eating ONLY homemade pasta sauce

I mean... I couldn't even think of eating anything that came out of a jar

When I first met my husband, I made him lasagna from scratch... even shredding the mozzarella by hand

Then.... I had babies...lots of them.... and there was no more homemade for a while

My wonderful mom made me sauce and froze it so I could always have it on hand.....

But eventually I had to break down and but a jar here or there

Then I got used to it.... sort of

BUT.... my youngest child is now 2... so I have a lot more free time then I've had in years

I decided to make my own sauce again

OH MY! 

I had forgotten what I was missing!

I don't know that I will ever buy a jarred sauce again.

Seriously!

See for yourself:

Ingredients:

- 15 cloves of garlic, diced
- 3 Tbs butter
- 1 (29 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 3 (29oz) cans tomato sauce
- 2 (4oz) cans mushrooms (drained)
- 1 lb Italian sausage
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/2 C red wine
- 1/4 C white wine or sweet vermouth

Directions:

In a large pot melt 2 Tbs of butter add diced garlic and sautee for a few minutes (don't let it brown)

Turn heat to low and add crushed tomato and tomato sauces. 
Add your Italian seasoning and basil (and any other spices you might like in your sauce)

In a seperate fry pan, melt the leftover 1Tbs of butter.
Add cans of mushrooms and sautee
Once mushrooms are getting a little brown, add the white wine (or vermouth)

Let the liquid cook down then add the mushrooms to the sauce pot
In the same pan, fry the sausage (if you are using ground sausage)
Drain and add the sausage to the sauce pot
*If you are using sausage in the casings (tubes) you can add it to the sauce whole and uncooked if you like.  As long as you cook it for a few hours it will be fine.
Add the 1/2 C red wine...mix well
Cook on simmer/low for at least 3 hours
Stir every once in a while to make sure there is no sticking on the bottom
I cook it much longer than that (6 hrs) because I happend to be home all day.
That's it. 
Now it's ready to be used in any dish you like or once it cools you can freeze it for when you are ready for it.

Review:
This sauce was so good.  I was taking tastes of it all day.... so were the kids.  Everyone loved it. The kids ate many many servings of the sauce over noodles... it was a huge hit!  They even ate the mushrooms because they thought they were sausage...lol

Tips:
Do not cook this with a lid on the pan... it will make it watery.
Make sure to cook it on a low setting.. you don't want any boiling or burning on the bottom.
If you are not a wine drinker then you can buy these little mini bottles of wine (in a 4 pack similar to this) instead of buying a large bottle and letting the rest go to waste
Or you might have a neighbor/taste tester that loves red wine and you can borrow some from her :)
If you do use sausage in the casing, make sure to take it out at the end of cooking time and cut it up to put back in the sauce...and to make sure it's cooked through.
You can make this without the sausage... though my mom would have a heart attack and say you are losing a lot of flavor.
It can be made with ground beef or turkey or even no meat at all.
This can be used as a base... you can add any seasonings you want to make it your own. 
If you don't have the wines or vermouth you can still make this... they just add a little more to the flavor
Freezing:  When the sauce cools, you can place it in individual servings in a freezer bag to use for another time. 
It might seem like a lot of work... but it's work once for a lot of dishes later!
Let me know if you try this and what you think.
Do you have a sauce recipe that's different or an ingredient that you think makes your sauce great?  Share!

Penne Pasta & Sausage

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs Italian sausage
- 1 16oz. box of Penne pasta
- 6-8 cloves of garlic diced or pressed
- 1 C Spinach (frozen or fresh)
- 3 14oz. Cans of Diced tomatoes
- 1 tsp salt

Directions:
Slice sausage into chunks/circles
Boil the pasta
While the pasta is cooking, cook the sausage in a large fry pan.
When sausage is mostly cooked, set aside.
Wipe grease from pan and add diced garlic, cut spinach and cans of tomatoes.
Simmer the tomato mix for about 10 minutes.
Add the salt to the tomato mix.
Add the sausage and cook about 5 minutes to blend flavors.
At this point the pasta should be done and you are ready to eat.

***Review:
I love this recipe. It tastes great and takes about 40 minutes from start to finish! The kids love love love the sausage and noodles... they are not tomato fans... but they ate most of it. Hubby loves it and anyone I've ever made it for has loved it. My handy dandy neighbor/taste tester came over and tried it... she loved it too! This is probably one of my favorite easy quick meals, because it looks and tastes like it took all day... but it didn't! That's my kind of cooking! It also has a very "fresh & light" taste... which is great, becase some pastas just feel so heavy after you eat.

**Tips:
To cut the sausage more easily you should do it when it's slightly frozen... or it just falls apart. On the other hand, you could totally use a crumbled sausage in this too. It just wouldn't look as good. I used Johnsonville Italian sausage because my kids won't eat it if it's too spicy... but I have made it with super hot sausage as well. If you love spicy, that's the way to go. The sausage is really what seasons this whole dish.
Fresh spinach will give you much more of a green look... frozen gets this kind of dark browny-green color... can you guess which I used?
Obviously, you can add as much or as little garlic cloves and salt as you'd like. I LOVE garlic and tend to go pretty heavy on it in most recipes. And can I just add... PLEASE do not use that jarred diced garlic. It is nasty and doesn't have a real garlic flavor. You will not get the results you are looking for if you use that stuff.
As for Pasta, I used mini Penne this time because I was out of regular. I really liked it and will proabably use it again. You could really use any type of pasta with this though... so don't fret if you don't have what a recipe calls for.... it's pretty much interchangeable.

Breakfast for Dinner

Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients:
 - 6 slices of bread torn coarsely

- 1 lb bulk sausage cooked & drained

- 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar

- 6 med. eggs

- 2 cups Milk

- 1 tsp salt

-1/4 tsp pepper

Directions:

• Pre-heat ove to 350
• Lightly grease 13x9 baking pan or casserole dish
• Place torn bread in bottom of pan
• Top with sausage and cheese
• In seperate bowl, beat eggs, milk, salt and pepper
• Pour over bread/sausage/cheese mixture in pan
• Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until mixture is set in center and lightly browned.

*** Review:
This is a great dish. I got it out of the back of a magazine many years ago. I make it when I need to serve a lot of people for breakfast, because it's yummy and fast. But sometimes, breakfast for dinner is fun too.

Our whole family loves this dish.

**Tips:
One thing I do is leave the bread out overnight so it gets a little stale ... sometime I would like to try using some italian or french bread for a little bit of a different texture. You could also probably use leftover dinner rolls or anything similar. I like this dish just how it is.. but you cold probably experiment and add a few veggies if you wanted.... I bet that would be good. I also make the sausage the day before usually because I am NOT a morning person and it's just one less step... plus I hate going into the day smelling like fried food.
You can use any sort of shredded cheese too... I used Colby Jack this time because I was out of cheddar. In this recipe I used turkey sausage... it was the first time I'd done that and I loved it! 

Let me know what YOU think!!