Sausage and Vegetable Roast

This is a kind of suggestion-type recipe, throw in your favorite vegetables and ignore the ones you don’t like (or don’t want to do today).

Ingredients

  • Two medium-sized red potatoes
  • 1 head of broccoli (or cauliflower)
  • 2 bell peppers (use two different colors, for the look)
  • 1/2 pound green beans (a couple of handfuls)
  • 1 bunch of asparagus
  • 3/4 pound of sausage
  • Olive oil
  • 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Steps

  1. Heat up an oven to 400° F
  2. Cut up the potatoes into small (less than 1 inch) pieces. If they’re too big they won’t cook fast enough
  3. Cut up the broccoli, peppers, and asparagus into comfortably-bite-size pieces, and snap the stems off the beans
  4. Slice the sausage into “coins”
  5. Toss veggies, sausage, cheese, and spices into a large bowl with enough olive oil to lightly coat everything (a few tablespoons)
  6. Spread out onto a couple of pans
    1. Everything should be a single layer; doubling up will lead to a mix of burnt and raw bits
  7. Bake for 15 minutes
  8. Flip the veggies and reverse the pans top to bottom
  9. Bake for another 10-15 minutes

Serve with brown rice!

Variations

Swap in a cup of any of the following:

  • butternut squash
  • zucchini
  • sliced carrots
  • a sweet potato
  • turnip
  • radishes
  • sliced jalapeños
  • cherry tomatoes (cut in half)
  • red onions
  • mushrooms

Breakfast Casserole

breakfast casserole - finished product
Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

  • 1 pound of frozen hashbrowns (about 1/2 package)
  • 1/2 pound sausage (we like spicy chicken, but pork or another kind is good too)
  • 1 small/medium onion, diced
  • 1/4 bell pepper (any color) (optional)
  • handful of sliced mushrooms (optional)
  • 5 eggs
  • 1/2 cup of milk
  • 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1-2 cups mexican cheese
  • black pepper to taste

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 350°
  2. grease a 1-2 quart baking dish
  3. Brown the sausage, onions, and peppers/mushrooms/what-have-you in a skillet over medium heat
  4. Whisk the eggs, milk, garlic powder, and pepper
  5. Spread the hashbrowns into the baking dish
  6. Pour the egg mixture over the hashbrowns
  7. Layer down half the cheese – enough to cover the hashbrowns
  8. Spread out the sausage mixture
  9. Layer down the rest of the cheese – enough to cover everything
  10. Cover with aluminum foil and back for an hour
  11. Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes to brown the cheese a little

Makes 5-6 servings.  Serve with a dollop of sour cream on top!

Meatballs

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound sausage
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup freshly grated Romano cheese
  • salt and ground black pepper to taste
  • 2 cups breadcrumbs
  • 1 cup olive oil

Directions

  1. Combine beef and sausage in a large bowl. Add garlic, onion, eggs, cheese, salt and pepper.
  2. Blend bread crumbs into meat mixture. The mixture should be very moist but still hold its shape if rolled into meatballs. (I usually use about 1 1/4 cups of water). Shape into meatballs.
  3. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Fry meatballs in batches. When the meatball is very brown and slightly crisp remove from the heat and drain on a paper towel.