My leukemia's back.

[donrae]

Rachel, if you all like Italian sausage like for pasta dishes, pizzas, etc., I have a good recipe I'd be glad to share with you. We get the plain ground pork and flavor our own too. Tastes better and cheaper than the pre-made sausage you can get in the grocery stores.

Yes please! I've made my own years and years ago and don't have a recipe anymore, so I'm throwing myself on your tender mercies

 

[N F C]

I don't know how tender my mercies are but here you go, lol:

Italian Sausage:
2 1/2 lbs. ground pork
3/4 tsp salt
1 Tab garlic powder
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tab paprika
1/8 Cup olive oil
3/4 tsp anise seed, ground
3/4 tsp fennel seed, ground
1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Mix everything together real well. Refrigerate 24 hours for the flavors to blend. You can test fry a little meatball to see if you want to adjust anything. Ready to use!

For the anise seed and fennel seed, we put that in pepper mills and grind them up but if you have a mortar & pestle that would do the job. Or just mix up a big bunch of them using a food processor.

 

[sourland]

Tender mercies - I prefer them fried.

 

[Blooie]

Okay, recipe time! This is originally for sausage stuffed apples, but it's too good to use for only one thing! I'm giving you the original recipe first, then I'll add what I do to make it as just stuffing.

6 large baking apples
3/4 pound sausage
3/4 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped onions
2 cups soft whole wheat bread crumbs
2/3 cups chicken stock or water
1/4 tsp ground sage
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Slice 1/2 inch off top of apples and core. Scoop out pulp and chop finely. Reserve 1/2 cup cup pulp and use remaining in mufins, salads or whatever else.

In a medium skillet, brown sausage over medium heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and replace with celery and onion, saute for 5 minutes. Stir in reserved apple pulp and cook, stirring, for 2-3 minutes. Drain off any fat. Return sausage to skillet. Add bread crumbs, stock or water, sage, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix well. Stuff apples with this mixture. You can freeze now if you wish.

To serve, place apples in a baking dish that has been coated with vegetable spray. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until apples are tender. If frozen, defrost slightly and and bake for 50 minutes or until apples are tender.

Now, to make it as just stuffing, forget all the scooping and pulping and that stuff. Just peel, core and chop up 2-3 large baking apples. Then follow the rest of the recipe. This stuff is so good there ought to be a law! And the best part is you can make it on days when you have the time, then roll it up in waxed paper, put in a freezer bag, and freeze until you want it. We sometimes just slice it like regular sausage and toss it in the skillet with eggs, too.

Edited to add: Over on Grampa, What's for Dinner thread I posted another apples and sausage stuffing recipe to use in squash. You can also use that recipe, omitting the Parmesan cheese and subbing an extra 1/2 cup of bread crumbs.

 

[N F C]

Sounds good Blooie!

 

[donrae]

Thank you both! Blooie, I remember the squash recipe, I'll have another look at that too. I have Granny Smith and Jonagold apples, which would be better?

I think I have everything but the anise for the sausage. I'll head to the little veggie store tomorrow where they have bulk spices and stock up. These sound wonderful, thanks so much

I bought 10 more birds today

Black copper Marans hens and a rooster. Not sure what I'm thinking, but we'll see how they go. They're nice large healthy looking birds. Older, the seller said she was getting about 3 eggs a day from them. I put the most likely looking layers in a pen with their rooster, the pale comb ladies went in with Eric. We'll just see how things go. I'd love to have some Marans to mix with my blue egg layers for Olive eggers. The price was okay, so I can always just sell them in the spring if I don't want to keep them. But, I'm very maxed out on space, so good thing I'm feeling good about the butchering....those cockerels gotta go!

 

[Blooie]

You're welcome, Rachel. I'm sorry it was so late in the day before I got it posted. Jenny had an MRI on her back a week ago and has an appointment with a spinal surgeon in January. But her primary called her Monday and told her she needed to get in to see him before that other appointment. Guess her MRI showed spinal stenosis at L4-5, a bulging disc, a pinched disc, and she's leaking spinal fluid. So today I took her in and she had an epidural with steriods put into her spine. She's a hurting turkey at the moment and can't pick up anything heavier than 5 pounds for the next few days, and then she can gradually increase that as the weeks go by. Kendra is now 45 pounds and 44 inches long, so Jenny just can't take care of her at all....can't lift her into the wheelchair, onto the catheter table, into the car seat....so I have Kendra. Katie is staying with my daughter Tammy for a few days since she only works weekends, but I'll have Kendra, Evan and Katie then. Jenny may need another one in week or so, because where they wanted to put the needle was so bad that they had to go one vertebrae up to get it in. So the theory is that she'll get enough relief to enable them to go back in and hit the spot they need to hit and they hope that will last her until she can see the surgeon and see if she needs any other kind intervention.

So my day: Get up, uncover chicken nests before dawn, (I still have 2 stoopid Buff Brahmas who sleep and poop in them all night if given the chance), get them fed and watered, go over and pick up Katie and Kendra, take Katie to school. (Normally Jen gets Katie to school and drops Kendra off here at 7:15 am, but she's really down with this back thing so I did it today.) Get Kendra fed (she will NOT eat breakfast when she first wakes up) give her her morning meds and cath, get her dressed and get her AFOs and KAFOs on her, Then I can have my morning coffee, check in here and on my other forum, start Kendra's 1 hour of speech and physical therapy.l That's every morning. Today I also had to go get Jenny at 9:45, take her to the hospital, entertain Miss Kendra while Jen was in getting her treatment at 10:30, then take her to the drug store to get her meds, bring her and Kendra home, drop Jenny off, come here and cath Kendra and feed her lunch, get her dropped off at her school at 1:00. Somehow with the grace of God we got it all done. Usually Jenny picks Kendra up at 3 and I'm off until the next morning, but today I picked Kendra up, brought her home with me, made supper, got us all fed and dishes done, got Kendra's 3rd cath of the day done, and then took her home when Kenny got home from work about an hour ago. Tomorrow we do it all again - well, without the hospital and pharmacy in there. I'm POOPED! But I'm so grateful to the Good Lord that I can still do those things for my kids and grandkids. It's exhausting sometimes but it gives me a sense of purpose.

 

[ronott1]

You're welcome, Rachel.  I'm sorry it was so late in the day before I got it posted.  Jenny had an MRI on her back a week ago and has an appointment with a spinal surgeon in January.  But her primary called her Monday and told her she needed to get in to see him before that other appointment.  Guess her MRI showed spinal stenosis at L4-5, a bulging disc, a pinched disc, and she's leaking spinal fluid.  So today I took her in and she had an epidural with steriods put into her spine.  She's a hurting turkey at the moment and can't pick up anything heavier than 5 pounds for the next few days, and then she can gradually increase that as the weeks go by.  Kendra is now 45 pounds and 44 inches long, so Jenny just can't take care of her at all....can't lift her into the wheelchair, onto the catheter table, into the car seat....so I have Kendra.  Katie is staying with my daughter Tammy for a few days since she only works weekends, but I'll have Kendra, Evan and Katie then.  Jenny may need another one in week or so, because where they wanted to put the needle was so bad that they had to go one vertebrae up to get it in.  So the theory is that she'll get enough relief to enable them to go back in and hit the spot they need to hit and they hope that will last her until she can see the surgeon and see if she needs any other kind intervention.

So my day:  Get up, uncover chicken nests before dawn, (I still have 2 stoopid Buff Brahmas who sleep and poop in them all night if given the chance), get them fed and watered, go over and pick up Katie and Kendra, take Katie to school.  (Normally Jen gets Katie to school and drops Kendra off here at 7:15 am, but she's really down with this back thing so I did it today.) Get Kendra fed (she will NOT eat breakfast when she first wakes up) give her her morning meds and cath, get her dressed and get her AFOs and KAFOs on her,  Then I can  have my morning coffee, check in here and on my other forum, start Kendra's 1 hour of speech and physical therapy.l  That's every morning.  Today I also had to go get Jenny at 9:45, take her to the hospital, entertain Miss Kendra while Jen was in getting her treatment at 10:30, then take her to the drug store to get her meds, bring her and Kendra home, drop Jenny off, come here and cath Kendra and feed her lunch, get her dropped off at her school at 1:00.  Somehow with the grace of God we got it all done.  Usually Jenny picks Kendra up at 3 and I'm off until the next morning, but today I picked Kendra up, brought her home with me, made supper, got us all fed and dishes done, got Kendra's 3rd cath of the day done, and then took her home when Kenny got home from work about an hour ago.  Tomorrow we do it all again - well, without the hospital and pharmacy in there.  I'm POOPED!  But I'm so grateful to the Good Lord that I can still do those things for my kids and grandkids.  It's exhausting sometimes but it gives me a sense of purpose.

I had micro surgery for spinal stenosis 8 years ago. I had crushed my sciatic nerve and still limp from foot drop nerve damage.

This whole nerve death process was horribly painful. The surgery has stopped the nerve damage. Give her my sympathy and tell her it will get better.

 

[Blooie]

Thanks, ronott! I'll tell her!

 

[LittleLakePhil]

Nerve pain is about the most miserable pain there is. I had a very bad pinched nerve years ago...They injected steroids under an x ray Machine 4 times and relief came slow...the problem with nerve pain is nothing helps it....I take morphine for chronic back and joint pain and at least it helps...But nothing works for nerve pain....I really feel for her...I hope she gets better quickly....And your schedule is wearing me out....Phil