Daddy Would You Like Some Sausage?

I've been wanting to make sausage at home ever since I started watching Top Chef -- the judges seem to always ask the contestants "did you make your own sausage?" Must be a big deal, right? So I browsed around for recipes and it seems like sausage is basically one thing: meat and spices. That's it?!?! I can handle that! And since I just got home from working out, I might as well make it a lean recipe:

• 1 lb. ground venison
• 1 lb. ground turkey
• 1 tbsp. parsley
• 1 tbsp. oregano
• 1/4 tbsp. salt (I used about 1/2, it turned out a little salty)
• 3/4 tsp. black pepper
• 3/4 tsp. thyme
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves (I used more, but it was a little too much)

1. Put all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix it well to make an even mixture.
2. Form into patties, balls or just brown it like ground beef.
3. If you freeze it, make sure to cook it well after thawing.

Apple Mango Crisp

Still trying to use up some of the stuff that's just been sitting around the house... This time, apples. But how could I make apple crisp even better? Add mangoes, that's how!

Filling:

• 3 lbs. apples (peeled, cored and cut into large chunks)
• 8 oz. (1/2 bag) frozen mangoes
• juice and zest from 1/2 orange
• juice and zest from 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• pumpkin pie spice to taste
• dash of ground ginger

Topping:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar/Splenda blend
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter

1. Mix filling ingredients in a large bowl. Pour into a 9"x12" baking dish at least 2" deep.
2. Preheat oven to 350.
3. Combine topping ingredients in a bowl and mix carefully using a hand mixer at the slowest speed or a large mixer with a paddle attachment. This can be messy, so be careful. I tried to mix it by hand but it didn't work, so I just used my hand mixer and put my hand in front of it so it wouldn't turn into an oatmeal machine gun.
4. Spread mix evenly over the fruit. Place the baking dish on a parchment-lined pizza pan (to catch any boil-overs). Bake for about 1 hour, checking it every few minutes after the 45-minute mark.
5. Serve warm with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.

Enjoy!

Cranberry Jam (Reduced Sugar version)

I have three bags of cranberries just sitting in my fridge. I've never done anything with cranberries, so I wanted to try my hand at making cranberry jam. I took a couple of recipes I found on the web and adapted to whatever ingredients I had at hand:

• 12-oz bag of cranberries - thawed, washed and picked through
• 1 cup "sugar equivalent" sweetener (i.e. Splenda)
• 1/2 cup diet ginger ale
• 1/2 cup orange & mango juice
• small jar(s) with lid(s). I used 2 small olive jars, but only completely filled one of them.

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium or large pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until somewhat thick. Jam will thicken when it cools down.
2. Fill a large stock pot with enough water to cover the jars and lids. Bring to a boil to sterilize the containers.
3. Beat mixture with a whisk until the remaining berries and peels are broken.
4. Remove jars and lids from boiling water. Fill them with jam. Wipe any spills and screw on the lids on tightly, but no need for a Hulk grip on the lids.
5. Let it cool for 12 to 24 hours. Transfer containers to the fridge -- it may be safe to store them in a dry, cool place, but cold jam makes more sense to me :)

Always be creative with the ingredients. Experiment, make the recipe your own. I used orange/mango juice because that's all I had. The original recipe called for water, not diet ginger ale, but that added a little spice to the mix. The sweetener I used was a stevia blend I brought from Brazil. It worked okay, Splenda probably would've worked better.