Tasty Tuesday: Homemade Turkey Sausage, Homemade Fried Corn Mush and Homemade Pancake Syrup

I try to plan my meals 2 weeks at a time; each Monday is usually spent getting a few things ready for the upcoming week or weeks, depending on what is needed. Every 2 weeks I make a batch of homemade turkey sausage ... YUM!!! It's very simple.

Homemade Turkey Sausage
3lb ground turkey
1T ground ginger
1T salt
2T sage
1 1/2t cayenne pepper
2T maple syrup

Place the ground turkey in a bowl and set aside. In a small bowl mix the spices till combined. Add the spices to the turkey and mix/knead with your hands till well incorporated. Add the maple syrup. Mix well. Fry as is (turkey sausage crumbles) or form in to patties and fry. Portion out and freeze till needed. Note: the spiciness of your sausage will depend greatly on the quality of your spices :) and your personal preferences. Try it as-is the first time but note any needed changes on your recipe card for next time.

We like to use the crumbles for savoury dishes like homemade pizza rolls, biscuits and gravy, pizza soup, white bean and sausage soup, and so on. We like to use the patties for fried egg sandwiches.

Homemade syrup is really quite easy and there are so many different recipes out there to choose from. I have been experimenting with different recipes trying to find one we like ... and the newest try was really good! 2c brown sugar, 1c water, 3/4c brown rice syrup. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 8 minutes till it begins to thicken a little (it will still be pretty thin though).
Remove from heat. Stir in 1 teaspoon each: vanilla, maple flavor and salt. Cool.
Transfer to a container (a used ketchup bottle works great) and store at room temp. 

Last, I'd like to share a super simple, cheap, healthy and tasty breakfast meal: Fried Corn Mush. It's basically just a polenta recipe ... or a 3/1 water to cornmeal/grits/polenta ratio with some salt and butter (I put in a little buttermilk powder too for flavor). It's easier to put 2/3 of the water to a boil first and save back the remaining third to whisk the grains. This makes it a lot easier to add to the pot!!

Pour the just-cooked polenta/cornmeal into greased bread pans.
Refrigerate over night.

Invert and cut in to slices.
This batch was a bit runny but that did not matter.

Fry in plenty of butter. It might take a while!

We like this best with molasses - it sure makes a nice breakfast!