Turkey Sausage Breakfast Gravy - Dairy, Soy Free with Wheat Free Option

  I've done a few different breakfast gravy recipes that were decent, but after a recent trip to Penzeys Spices and finding this breakfast sausage seasoning, our lives have been changed for the better! I now can make turkey breakfast sausage anytime with the ground turkey of my choosing rather than having to use the ultra watery Jenni-O tube of ground turkey sausage we had been relying on. I HIGHLY recommend you pick yourself up some of this seasoning mix. Seriously. Also, using coconut milk instead of almond milk really improved the flavor and made the gravy whiter than the previous versions. To boot, this recipe is a lot simpler in that you make it all in the same skillet without having to remove the meat. This is really good stuff, we had it for breakfast one day and then for dinner two days later because we loved it so much!

Turkey Sausage Breakfast Gravy 

 
1.25 lb lean ground turkey
1 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbl Penzeys Breakfast Sausage Seasoning*
2 Tbl Bisquick, GF Bisquick, or other GF flour of your choice
1 cup unsweetened plain coconut milk, plus more if needed
1/2 tsp sea salt
a few cracks of fresh ground black pepper

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add turkey and sausage seasoning. Break meat up with wooden spoon and stir until completely browned, about 5 minutes. Push all of the turkey meat to the back of the skillet, allowing the juices to come to the front. Add the flour to the juices and stir quickly to form a paste. Whisk the coconut milk into the flour paste until there are no lumps, then incorporate the turkey into the flour/milk mixture. If it is very thick, add more coconut milk. Remember that the gravy will thicken slightly as it cools so try to get it just slightly thinner than you'd like. Stir in salt and pepper and taste, adjust seasonings as desired. (For spicier gravy, add a pinch more of sausage seasoning). Serve over hot biscuits or toast.


 * The ingredients are:  salt, sugar, paprika, black pepper, dextrose (a simple sugar), nutmeg, cayenne pepper, sage, and thyme. I do not know the exact amounts of each, but you could try to make your own seasoning (and store in a small mason jar or other air tight container). Here is my best guess at the measurements for an 4-6oz jar:

4 Tbsp salt
4 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp black pepper
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme 
  

Apple Sage Turkey Chops

  Turkey breast cutlets. I wish there was something nice I could say about them, but I can't. They are dry, filled with gristle, and generally awful. Around here it's very easy to find turkey breast cutlets, but finding their delicious cousins, turkey breast tenderloins, is a whole different thing. We have to go 40 miles into Fort Worth and even then the only place we can find them is the Joint Reserve Military Base which has limited to no access to the general public, especially not for grocery shopping. Needless to say, we don't get a hold of them often,so I'm trying to find more things to make with the dreaded cutlets.
  In the past, we've always tried to use cutlets in the place of chicken breast in recipes, but I mentioned to my husband that they seem more like a pork chop than a chicken breast when *LIGHT BULB* it hit me! What if I prepare them like pork chops? Maybe I could find a way to make them more edible and to be honest, I do miss pork chops. So I tried my favorite pork chop recipe and it came out really great. My husband even said if we fed them to someone who didn't know, they wouldn't be able to tell they weren't pork chops. The meat was moist and juicy and I did not notice much gristle, at least in my piece. I'd like to try breading them at some point, but for now, here is my recipe!

Apple Sage Turkey Chops

1 package turkey breast cutlets (usually 3 large 'chops')
1 1/2  tsp sage
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 Tbl GF all purpose flour OR whole wheat flour
2 Tbl olive oil
1 medium white onion, sliced
2 red apples, cored and sliced thinly
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbl brown sugar

Mix flour and seasonings in a small bowl. Sprinkle both sides of each cutlet with seasoning mix, retaining about 1/2 for later in the recipe.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet (use a skillet you have a lid for) over medium high heat. Once just barely smoking, add chops and brown, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Remove cutlets and set aside. (Turkey will still be uncooked in the middle.) Add onions to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Add apple slices and cook another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in vegetable broth, brown sugar, and remaining flour mixture. Bring to a boil. Return cutlets to the skillet. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 6-8 minutes.

Serve cutlets with apples and onion on the side and sauce from the pan drizzled over the top.

Eat Like Jack For a Day!

National Eosinophilic Awareness Week is May 13th-19th this year! I have challenged my friends and family to try to eat like Jack for just one day (May 14th), to get a glimpse into what will likely be a life long struggle for Jack, and to help raise awareness, compassion, and understanding for all those individuals affected by Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders (EGIDs). Scroll to the bottom of this page to learn more about EGIDs.

 Now it's not enough to just avoid milk, eggs, wheat, soy, rice, oats, apples, coconut, beef, pork, and chicken. Nope, You also have to read labels. That favorite pasta sauce of yours? I can almost guarantee it has soy in it. Mmmm, turkey bratwurst! But wait... it's wrapped in pork casing. Alright then, well I'll just have Corn Pops in Almond Milk....ah, but Corn Pops are manufactured on equipment with items containing wheat, milk, and soy and some almond and hemp milks contains rice syrup. By the way, anything containing 'vegetable' oil almost surely contains soy. What the heck, WHAT CAN YOU EAT?!
Well without having everyone go out  to specialty stores and buy ingredients they probably will never use again (like Daiya Cheese, Nutritional Yeast Flakes, or Wheat Free bread), here's a list of things to get you started. Every time you think "There's nothing to eat!" remember that for you, it's just today. For people with EGIDs, this feeling never really goes away.

Again, make sure to read labels!

Oscar Mayer turkey bacon
Nathan's turkey hot dogs
Turkey Spam
Hormel Turkey Pepperoni
Butterball turkey cutlets and ground turkey
Jenni-O ground turkey and ground turkey breakfast sausage (which is good in pasta sauce)
non-breaded fish fillets
Zatarain's Southern Fish-Fri (I recommend this on fish, or on turkey cutlets cut into nugget sized pieces!)
Slap Yo Mama! spicy fish-fry
Almond Breeze almond yogurt
Almond Breeze or Silk almond milk
quinoa
barley
lentils and beans of all kinds
fruits other than apples
all veggies (try roasting fresh green beans with a little olive oil and garlic salt for 20 mins at 400 degrees, yummy!)
Ghirardelli Twilight Delight dark chocolate
cocoa powder
Corn chips such as Fritos or corn tortilla chips (read labels!)
some corn tortillas
some hummus, or make your own!
non battered french fries (no seasoned curlies, sorry!)
some brands of hashbrowns
grits/polenta
Kirkland, Bertolli, Classico pasta sauces (other than those containing cheese)
corn or corn/quinoa pasta
vegetable broth (read labels)
Bush's Grillin' Beans in Southern Pit BBQ, Bourbon and Brown Sugar, and Steakhouse Recipe
Idaho instant mashed potato flakes (prepared with just water and salt, or vegetable broth)
Corn Chex, regular Kix, Honey Kix and Berry Blast Kix, some corn flakes maybe

Condiments, Seasonings, Etc: French's (and some other) mustards, Heinz ketchup, pickle relish, some syrups (butter flavored ones can contain milk), Stubb's bbq sauce, honey, McCormick Cocktail sauce, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, A1 Steak Sauce, some Italian or vinaigrette salad dressing, sugar and spices, herbs, and extracts (no taco seasonings or chili starters, but you can make your own)

I will add more as I think of things that are available at a typical grocery store, and you can always browse around this blog to find ideas. You can also search for vegan, wheat, rice, oat and soy free recipes online if you are feeling adventurous! (You don't have to eat vegan, you can eat turkey or fish, but if it's vegan you can be sure it also doesn't contain egg or milk or hidden meat by products). Thank you SO MUCH for participating!!!


Eosinophilic Gastrointestinal Disorders are rare allergic diseases in which an individuals immune system attacks specific parts of the digestive tract in reaction to food proteins. A difficult part about EGIDs is that those affected can literally be allergic to anything, and generally children affected by EGIDs have multiple allergies. Eosinophils are white blood cells that usually help your body fight infection. In typical food allergies, the body mistakes certain food proteins for harmful intruders and attacks them. This causes runny noses, itchy eyes, swelling of tongue and lips, and even breathing trouble. But with EGIDs, the attacks occur, not systemically throughout the body, but in one specific place. Each of the diseases are named after the area affected:

Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE)- the esophagus
Eosinophilic Gastritis (EG)- the stomach
Eosinophilic Enteritis (EE)- the small intestine
Eosinophilic Colitis (EC)- the large intestine

The effect of having large numbers of eosinophils present is chronic inflammation, pain, and eventual scarring and atrophy of healthy tissue. When not aggressively treated, EGIDs can lead to malnutrition, growth restriction, and in some cases eventual loss of ability to eat by mouth.

Treatment for EGIDs includes swallowed topical steroids, allergy and reflux medications, avoidance diet (avoiding the specific things you are allergic to. It is not rare for kids to have only 1 or 2 'safe' foods), elemental diet (removing all foods and relying soley on a special formula for nutrition), NG and G tubes (tubes that put liquid foods directly into your stomach or intestines), as well as routine eondoscopies and biopsies done under general anesthesia which are invasive and generally no fun.

To find out more about EGIDs and what you can do to help, please visit Apfed.org and CUREDfoundation.org.

Jumpin' Jack (Vegan and Rice Free Hoppin' John)

It's Meatless Monday! I decided to make a sort of version of Hoppin' John, a southern, slightly spicy dish made with rice, bell peppers, celery, black eyed peas, and bacon or ham of some sort. It's sort of like the white bean version of red beans and rice, in my opinion. I wanted to make it with barley instead of rice but after I was already cooking I realized I didn't have quite a full cup of barley. I decided to do half barley, half quinoa, but you could do either on their own. Also I did not have black eyed peas but I did have cannellini and to me, there's really not much difference other than aesthetics. Since it's Monday, I just left the meat out all together.
  This was yummy, especially with  braised kale greens and cornbread!
(On that note, I used Bob's Red Mill gluten free cornbread mix with Ener-G Egg Replacer, Soy Free Earth Balance Buttery Spread, and water instead of milk/dairy free milk. They were moist and delicious!)

Vegan and Rice Free Hoppin' John

1 Tbl olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped (red would also be great)
2 cloves minced garlic
2 cup vegetable stock or broth, soy free
1/2 cup quick cooking barley*
1/2 cup quinoa*
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 cans cannellini beans or black eyed peas, drained and rinsed
*you could use both of these or 1 full cup of either

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion and bell pepper. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 min. Add vegetable broth, barley/quinoa, thyme, lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes, until barley and quinoa are cooked and there is no liquid left. Remove from heat and stir in beans. Let sit for 5 minutes to heat beans through and serve.

Pork Free Red Beans and Quinoa

  My dad grew up in New Orleans. As kids, we were no strangers to delicious spicy wonderful cajun cooking. One of my dad's go-to recipes on rare nights that he cooked was red beans and rice, and I loved it! It's made with all sorts of pig products though; a ham bone, bacon, pork andouille sausage, sometimes a smoked pork chop thrown in for good flavor. It's so good but not the healthiest thing in the world and definitely not Jack friendly. But with quinoa instead of rice and all the great turkey products (including sausages!) hitting the market lately, I thought I'd try to replicate this greasy but delicious dish in a Jack friendly, healthier manner. Though this recipe takes about 3 hours, it's so worth it. This was absolutely a success!

  Just as a side note, though there are all types of turkey sausages available, if you are avoiding pork due to allergies or religious reasons, be sure to read the ingredients fully as a lot of them are still in pork casing. Look for artificial casing or just use ground sausage.

Pork Free Red Beans and Quinoa

1 lb red kidney beans, rinsed and picked over
1/2 large yellow or white onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 slices of turkey bacon, cut into pieces
2 cloves minced garlic
2 bay leaves
1+ Tbl Penzey's cajun seasoning (or your favorite cajun seasoning)
1 lb turkey smoked sausage (such as Oscar Mayer)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup cooked quinoa per person
Tabasco (optional)
cocktail onions (a must for me, but not everyone's cup of tea)

In a large stock pot, cover beans with 3 inches of water. Bring to a boil, allow to boil for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat and let sit for 1 hour. Add onion, bell peppers, garlic, bacon, and bay leaves plus a good pinch of salt, pepper, and 1 Tbl cajun seasoning and return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are soft, about 1.5-2 hours.
Cut the sausage into rings and then cut in half again to make half circles. Add to the pot and continue to simmer about 20 mins. Add Tabasco and adjust seasoning, if needed.
Remove bay leaves and serve heaping spoonfuls over quinoa. Garnish with cocktail onions and enjoy!!