Sausage Patties and busy mornings

As much as I love bacon, sometimes I do want a little something different for breakfast.  Pork sausage patties!

But...have you ever looked at what is in the pork sausage patties or links you get at your grocery store?  Most sausages are cured with sugar or have added corn solids.  A no-no in my book.  Others include MSG.  

Here is the ingredient list for a couple different sausages:

• Bob Evans sausage links:  Pork, Fresh Hams, Pork Tenderloins, Water, Salt, Dextrose, Spices, Flavoring, Monosodium Glutamate, Formed in Collagen Casing. 
• Jimmy Dean sausage links:  Pork, Water, Contains 2% or Less of the Following Salt, Sugar, Spices, Corn Syrup, Monosodium Glutamate, Spice Extractive, BHA, BHT, Citric Acid.

eeeewwww!  Why eat this garbage when it's super simple to make your own pork sausage patties?

 

Breakfast Sausage

1 pound ground pork (make sure it's just pork and nothing else added - read labels!)
1 tsp sea salt 

1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp fresh grated nutmeg - just a couple of grinds

Mix all together and form patties. Fry in a hot pan.  Depending on the fat content of your ground pork, you may or may not need to grease the pan first.  Use butter, olive oil, coconut oil or coconut oil spray.

You can use this sausage wherever you would normally use breakfast sausage.  To make my busy weekday mornings easier, I make a large batch of egg bake on the weekends.  We then pop a square of the egg bake into the microwave and munch on our commute to our jobs.  Easy and tasty!

Egg Bake

1 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped green pepper

1 pound breakfast sausage (from recipe above)

1 10 oz box of frozen spinach - defrosted, drained well and chopped

12 eggs

1 Tblsp hot sauce

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper 

optional:  1/2 cup grated cheddar (or other cheese)

Pre-heat oven to 350˚.  Heat a large skillet.  Saute the onions and peppers with enough butter, olive oil, or coconut oil to prevent sticking.  When onions and peppers are just starting to get soft, add the breakfast sausage and saute until sausage is done.  Drain any excess fat.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  Add spinach and mix well.  (You could also use about 1/2 bag of fresh spinach - chopped - instead of the frozen).  Add sausage mixture to egg mixture and combine well.  Mix in cheese if desired.

Spray a 13X9" pan with coconut oil (or butter or other oil) and pour in the egg/sausage mixture.  Bake at 350˚ for about 30 minutes.  (Mine usually takes about 35.)  It is done when the eggs are set and the top is just starting to brown.

Cut into 12 pieces.  Serving size is 1 piece (this gives you approximately 1 egg and 1 1/3 ounces of sausage in each piece).  Refrigerate and use as needed.  These can also be frozen.