TWO TASTY SAUSAGE RECIPES

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Jimmy Dean®. All opinions are entirely my own.

About five years ago, I did something that I thought was pretty clever.  I sat down with my family and made a list of all the dinners that they liked to eat and that were affordable and easy to make.  After that brainstorming session, I had a neat list of 20 or so go-to dinners that I knew would be eaten without complaint.  Here’s the rub.  We’ve been eating that list of food for about five years.  I’m bored.

I have started to find ways to add little twists on the meals that I know my family loves.  Baked ziti instead of plain spaghetti.  Carrot cake pancakes instead of cinnamon pancakes.  Just taking regular versions of dinner recipes, and tweaking them slightly.  I’ve found that an easy way to tweak recipes that call for ground beef is to substitute sausage.  Since sausage already is flavored with a variety of spices, you can turn your dinner into something entirely new by only changing one ingredient. 

Sausage Smashed Burger Recipe

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This restaurant trending burger is coming to your home. Use Jimmy Dean® Roll Sausage with caramelized onions smashed together in a skillet or char-grill and topped with jarlsberg cheese. Layered between brioche bread, charred tomato, pickled cucumbers, shaved Brussel sprouts with garlic mayonnaise.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Jimmy Dean® Original Sausage
• ½ cup Homemade Pickles see recipe below
• 1 cup Sprout Slaw see recipe below
• 4 cups diced onions
• 2 tablespoons oil
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 8 slices brioche bread
• 2 tomatoes sliced
• 1 cup shredded jarlsberg cheese
• Homemade Pickles
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup water
• ½ cucumber seeded and sliced
• Sprout Slaw
• 2 cups shaved Brussels sprouts
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon garlic paste

Instructions

• Combine sugar, vinegar and water in a sauce pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add cucumber slices. Refrigerate for an hour before use, the cucumbers will be tender yet still have texture.
• Combine Brussels sprouts, mayonnaise and garlic paste in a mixing bowl; keep refrigerated until use.
• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium. Add onions, butter and cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring often until onions are tender. Drain and reserve excess butter to toast bread slices, refrigerate onions until cooled.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of reserved onion butter in the same skillet over medium. Toast 2 slices of bread at a time until desired doneness, repeat with remaining ingredients and set aside.
• In the same skillet, heat the tomato slices until a slight charring occurs, set aside.
• Combine the sausage and caramelized onions together in a mixing bowl. Divide the sausage mix into 4 equal parts and roll into individual ball-shapes. Using the same skillet, smash the sausage into the skillet with a flat spatula until you have your desired thickness. Cook over medium heat for 12-15 minutes or until the natural juices run clear. Finish with the shredded cheese and let melt before removing from the skillet. You can cook them all in the same skillet or two at a time. Layer the burger between toasted bread with tomatoes, pickles and slaw. Enjoy!

Jimmy Dean® Roll Sausage is a great-tasting versatile ingredient made with a unique, savory blend of seasonings.  I made the Sausage Smashed Burgers for my family, and they were a huge hit.  Burgers were, of course, already on list of dinners we all love.  Subbing out the ground beef for sausage introduced us to an entirely new version of one of our favorite meals.

When I was at Meijer, I bought two packages of Jimmy Dean® Roll Sausage.  I used the original flavor for our burgers and picked up a roll of Country Mild for some appetizers I was making for a girls’ night in.  If I had been making the apps for myself, I would have picked the Hot sausage but I have a girlfriend who is not into anything spicy.

These sausage and cheese wonton cups are very simple to make.  I spent more time tracking down the wonton wrappers in the store than I spent cooking the apps.  I like pre-portioned party snacks, especially when they are self-contained like these tasty cups.

As it turns out, we had way more food at our girls’ night than we needed, but we still managed to polish off more than half of these guys.  The savory sausage and crispy wonton shells make them kind of addicting.

Sausage and Cheese Wontons

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Ingredients

• 24 wonton wrappers
• 1 lb. Jimmy Dean country mild sausage
• 1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 c. jack cheese
• 1/2 c. ranch dressing
• 1/4 c. sour cream

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Place wonton wrappers into a muffin tin. Blind bake wontons for 5 minutes.
• Cook sausage fully. Crumble and drain of fat. Stir in cheeses, dressing, and sour cream.
• Spoon meat mixture into the wontons.
• Bake filled wontons for 5-10 minutes, or until bubbly. Be careful not to burn the wrappers.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Jimmy Dean®. All opinions are entirely my own.