Reverse Meal Planning / Sausage: patties and balls

Life is hard; food doesn't have to be #136 [vol6, 5.1]

Standing in the kitchen under the pressure of hungry people, you take inventory of the things that could be cobbled together and keep you from making a trip trip to the grocery store.

This is reverse meal planning.

How it worked for me recently…

I bought 10 pounds of local ground pork in two packages. Immediately thawed 5 pounds. Life marched on and 3 days later remembered I needed to deal with it!

Decided upon breakfast sausage. Then sausage balls.

I’ve never flavored my own sausage before and was inspired by a friend who made some recently with a pound of ground beef.

Breakfast Sausage with Beef

• 1lb ground beef

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder

• 1/2 tsp sage

• 1 tsp fresh or dried Rosemary

• 2 tsp maple syrup

• Ground black pepper

I used:

• 1 lb ground pork

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp Italian seasoning

• 1 tsp desiccated liver we also take liver supplements.

• 2 tsp powdered mushrooms

Mixed then used an ice cream scoop to transfer balls to the hot pan. Flattened with the spatula.

Once receiving hearty approval from my fam, I made two more pounds. Then made patties on parchment and froze with parchment between patties for easy removal.

freezing sausage patties from ground pork

Two pounds of pork remained. I decided to make Sausage Balls without Bisquick and as I read through the recipe, it occurred to me to experiment with sourdough discard.

Sausage Balls with sourdough discard

note: the texture is different than the classic made with Bisquick. I don’t think my kids have had the original and they liked these.

• 1 lb ground pork- I used plain, but you could use flavored

• 1.5 tsp sea salt

• 1/2 tsp black pepper

• 1tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• dash of cayenne

• 1.5 tsp baking powder

• 1 cup starter

• 2 cups or 8oz cheese*

*I used a combination of smoked gouda, Parmesan and sharp cheddar. Shredded by hand because pre-shredded cheese has anti-caking agents on it that could interfere with balls coming together. That said, it’s probably not that big of deal.

Mix until combined. Shape into similar sized balls. Bake at 375 on parchment paper until golden brown.

Eat them straight out of the oven. I preferred the texture after they had cooled significantly.

I made a double batch and we didn’t eat it all for snacky supper. I left the remainder on the counter overnight and we finished them (cold) for breakfast.

Kitchen Tip

Have a jar that smells like food even though it’s been through dishwasher? Sprinkle baking soda add water. Shake. Rinse. Magical.

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Readers

My husband wrote up his Top Books from 2022.

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Easy Way to Eat More Veggies

aka: more reverse meal planning

This week I signed up for a weekly local veggie box from Rootbound Farm. (They supply Lou, Lex and Oldham Co. I’m picking up near Sunergos in Beechmont.)

The main motivation is to eat more veggies. I have to reverse meal plan to use up what’s coming in. With a weekly veggie basket, I find myself saying, “What do I do with this?” instead of “What will we eat?”

It’s a different problem.

If you want to force yourself to eat more veggies, sign up for something similar. Added bonus: the veggies are super fresh, nutrient dense and will ruin you from being satisfied with sad grocery store veg.

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Life is hard; food doesn’t have to be.

Julie