Homemade Italian Sausage

I wanted to make Zuppa Toscana but needed to make my own Italian sausage for it to be Whole 30 compliant. This recipe from Taste of Lizzy fit the bill perfectly, using a portion of the ground pork we have stockpiled in the freezer as a bonus. Here's the recipe with my adaptations.

Homemade Italian Sausage

2 tsp. parsley
2 tsp. Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 tsp. onion powder
1 1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 tsp. salt
2 lb. ground pork

 

Combine all ingredients together, and mix well. Use in recipes for ground Italian sausage or shape into patties to cook as patties. Makes 2 lb. of sausage.

Roasted Pecan Halves

I have no excuses for not posting since we returned from vacation except life. It happens. I'm back on the Whole 30 bandwagon because I wanted to feel better and feel better about myself. I'm about halfway through, and I made these pecans from Just a Pinch to take to a Halloween party, so I had a treat I could eat. Normally nuts aren't a treat unless they are coated in sugar like these delicious ones, but these were good enough they felt like one (at least on Whole 30).

Roasted Pecan Halves
1 lb. pecan halves
4 Tbsp. clarified butter
1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 300°F. Spread pecan halves evenly on a baking sheet. Break butter into small pieces and place on pecan halves. Sprinkle evenly with salt.

Bake 10 minutes, then gently stir. Cook another 10 minutes or until browned. Remove from the oven, and cool. Makes 1 lb. of nuts.

Slow Cooker Korean Beef

It's been quite some time since I posted here. Taking a 3-week vacation, coupled with school starting means that blog posting moves lower on the to-do list. But this recipe from I Heart Eating has been our meals both last week and this week, so I wanted to share it to easily find it in the future.

Korean Beef wasn't something we'd previously eaten, but it sounded like something we'd enjoy. I searched the Asian aisle at our grocery store and found the one ingredient we didn't have on hand (Gochujang). This comes together incredibly easy and is perfect served over rice with extra vegetables. The second time I made it, I added 16 oz. of button mushrooms to increase our vegetable consumption. They worked really well, so I've included them below.

Perhaps the best part of this recipe is the leftovers, which I think taste even better than the first day.

Slow Cooker Korean Beef
3/4 cup reduced-sodium beef broth, divided
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
5 cloves garlic minced
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. freshly grated ginger
1-2 Tbsp. Gochujang
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. pepper
3-4 pound boneless beef chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
16 oz. button mushrooms, sliced 
1-2 Tbsp. cornstarch depending on desired sauce thickness

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup beef broth and next 9 ingredients (up to roast). Place cubed roast into a slow cooker, layering with mushrooms. Pour sauce over cubed meat.

 

Cover, and cook on low heat for 6-8 hours. In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and remaining 1/4 cup broth. Stir cornstarch mixture into the slow cooker. Cover, and cook on high heat for an additional 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened.

 

Peanut Butter Twix Pie

Our old church in Denmark had its summer picnic every year. The goal for me and my husband was to see how many pieces of this incredible peanut butter pie we could snag in a given year. Someone made a wickedly good pie, loaded with peanut butter and chocolate.

This is not that pie. But this pie is still tasty. My topping didn't turn out nearly as pretty as shown in the pictures in the post on Crazy for Crust. I think in the future I'd make some sort of ganache as the topping for the pie instead. This is an easy recipe with pretty simple ingredients. And no bake is what I should be doing today when it's nearly 90°F instead of baking cupcakes.

Peanut Butter Twix Pie
2 cups of shortbread cookie crumbs, about 30 cookies
6 Tbsp. butter, melted
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
12 oz. Cool Whip

Combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press into 9-inch pie plate. Chill while you make the filling.

To make the filling, beat together cream cheese, peanut butter, sugar and vanilla. Fold in 8 oz. Cool Whip. Spread filling into pie crust.

Melt chocolate in 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring between each increment. Stir in remaining Cool Whip. Spread evenly over the pie. Chill pie at least 4 hours before serving.

Serves 8 (or more). Pie can be served chilled or frozen. Either way is delicious.

S'mores Cheesecake Pops

These cheesecake pops from Buzzfeed are tastily addictive. I'd imagine if you fully dipped them, like the pictures in the original post show, that they'd be fine stored in the refrigerator. If you halfway dip them like I did ... because it's a challenge to fully dip something for me ... then they are stored in the freezer.

These are delicious and perfect for summer. You could probably use a bit more marshmallow to add to the toasted marshmallow flavor, but these were fun to make and more fun to eat. These are worth repeating ... and maybe then I'd get a picture before we eat them all.

S'mores Cheesecake Pops
10 graham crackers
1/2 cup butter, melted
16 oz.cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups mini marshmallows
4 oz. white chocolate, melted
16 oz. dark chocolate, melted
2 tsp. coconut oil (optional)
16-30 cake pop sticks or lollipop sticks

Crush graham crackers. Combine with butter, and press into to an 8x8 baking dish lined with parchment paper. Firmly pack it down to form the crust. Freeze until the cheesecake mixture is ready.

While the crust is freezing, combine the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla, and mix until smooth. Spread the marshmallows a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silipat. Broil the marshmallows for about 1-2 minutes, watching closely to make sure they brown but don't burn. (I used a kitchen torch to finish toasting the ones that weren't quite toasted. Any excuse to play with that torch is worth it.)

Carefully scrape the marshmallows from the sheet into the cheesecake mixture. Mix thoroughly. Transfer the toasted marshmallow cheesecake mixture into the baking dish on top of the crust, and smooth until even. Freeze at least one to two hours until the mixture is firm enough to cut.

Remove the set cheesecake from the dish, and cut into even square shapes, depending on how big you want your pops. (Cutting into 20 makes fairly large pops, hence my dipping difficulties. Smaller pops would be easier to dip. Larger pops mean you don't eat as many in one sitting.) Dip each stick in melted white chocolate, and place into each cut square. Freeze until solid, at least 10 minutes.

Microwave the dark chocolate in 15 to 30 second increments to melt, stirring thoroughly each time. Add coconut oil if the chocolate seems too thick for dipping.Dip the set pops into the chocolate and stand upright to set or place on a cookie sheet. (A cardboard box or piece of styrofoam works best if you don’t have a stand.)

Decorate with the remaining white chocolate and crushed graham crackers if desired. Makes 16-30 pops.