Housekeeping and Homemade Sausage Patties

Happy November, friends!  I hope you all had a great weekend and lots of Halloween fun with your kiddies. Now that we've made it through the October festivities, which if you live in Canada means both Thanksgiving and Halloween, I'm looking forward to a quieter month.  With this new month comes big changes at our house and changes for me and this space as well.

I'm launching another website/blog in January 2010.  Something that will allow me to share more of my thoughts/ideas on food and family and how the two intersect.  I love sharing recipes here and still want to encourage the involvement of little chefs in the kitchen, however, I feel there is so much more I could be, want to be talking about - things that I discuss on the playground, at work, or on the phone with my girlfriends.  All topics will still be food related, and family focused, but more than just recipes.  So, here's where you come in...what topics would you like to see covered?  Some ideas I have are:

• Meals in less than 20 minutes
• Product reviews - food items, kitchen gadgets
• Cookbook reviews
• Links to other great recipes on the web 
• Tip and Suggestions
• Alternative foods and recipes
• Restaurant reviews and recommendations
• The dinner date night
• Entertaining on a budget
• Bakesale/Playdate goodies
• Kitchen organization
• Cooking 101 - how to series
• Ask a question and I'll post it with an answer/suggestion
• Food crafts
• Holiday and Seasonal ideas
• Party planning
• Guest food bloggers

Mixing Bowl Kids will still be up and running, with regular posting when the new website launches.  I still want to have a place to share recipes for all the cookin' kids out there.  But another space, with other topics for foodie mamas, will be fun too.

In the meantime, I made these little sausage patties for dinner.  My boys are carnivores and love their meaty dinners.  Sausages are popular in house, but sometimes I'm just not so sure what goes into them so I decided to make my own.  I don't have the equipment to put the meat into casings so I made a sausage patty instead.  A chicken, apple and sage sausage patty to be exact. They were a huge hit with the boys, who are thrilled that there is enough left over for today's lunch.  They look very similar to a hamburger, but my husband assures me they have the taste and texture of a sausage.  From the little research that I did prior to making these, it would seems as though sausages are made with a fat and a liquid where as hamburgers are not.  I'm not an expert at this, but would love to become one.  They were fun to make and delicious to eat.

So friends, please, please, please send any and all of your ideas for the new website my way.  I'm working on this now and would love to have everything up and running the first week of January.  Thank you all for reading and for your wonderful comments - have a great day!

Chicken, Apple and Sage Sausage Patties

2 lbs ground chicken

1/2 lb bacon, diced

2 apples, peeled, cored and diced

1 onion, peeled and diced

5 sage leaves, minced

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground pepper

1/2 cup chicken stock.

1 tbsp olive oil

~ Place the oil in a medium sized skillet over medium high heat and add the apples and the onions.  Cook until softened, approx. 10 minutes.

~ While the apples and onions are cooking combine the remaining ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Add the onion/apple mixture and the stock to the meat mixture and incorporate well with your hands.  

~ Shape into small, flat patties and place on foil or parchment lined baking sheets.  Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

~ Bake in the oven at 350 degrees, for 20 minutes or cook in a sprayed or oiled pan for approx. 12 minutes (6 minutes per side).

~ Enjoy!

Comments

[Kate]

oh! So exciting! I can't wait for the new blog to come out-- food and family, and the way they intersect-- these are things I am so interested in:)! How about meals to freeze to-- in a way that allows us to take full advantage of the local harvests? And also, how to eat with the seasons/reduce non-local food consumption?

[Barbara]

Can't wait to see your new website! Sounds like a great combination of ideas, thoughts and recipes. I think restaurant reviews are fun, but difficult because of our far-flung locations. I have one for Miami I've been hesitating to post because it would really not interest that many people. Although they would probably love the recipe I re-invented from that particular restaurant.

I love the ingredients in your non-sausage sausage patties! Easy to make, too. The fresh sage would make it taste like the holidays.

[Kerry]

We've just been talking about making sausage around here. We'll have to give it a try. Thanks!
As for the new blog, so many awesome ideas, it is hard to choose. I agree with Kate about freezer recipes in order to take advantage of seasonal produce.
I think that a mix of many different ideas would be good. I like quick dinner ideas, also frugal entertaining, date night...
This is very exciting! Congrats on the new venture!

[M.J. Jacobsen]

Wow,sounds like you have covered all bases! Can't wait for the new site.
I'm going to make these patties this weekend for breakfast for company, they will be perfect. Thanks!

[Lori]

Sounds great!!
My motto in our home is cook once , eat twice!

So I would love recipes that are of this nature.

Keep up the great work?

Do you do this Full-time or do you have another job (aside form the care of your two boys)

Cheers,
Lori

[cate]

ooh la la. the new site sounds amazing! i cannot wait. huge congrats!